15/03/2018 BBC World News America

This is BBC World News America.

Reporting from Washington,

I'm Jane O'Brien.

President Trump joins

the international chorus in blaming

Moscow for the poisoning

of a Russian spy.

He also has new problems

from the Mueller probe.

A bridge collapses in Miami

killing several people

at a local university.

We'll have the latest

from the scene.

And, it's all smiles in Finland.

Why the Nordic nation is ranked

the happiest country on earth.

Welcome to our viewers on public

television here in America,

and also around the globe.

The US has joined France,

Germany and the UK in a joint

statement demanding that Russia

explain the use of a military grade

nerve agent in an attack on a former

Russian spy in England.

The US Treasury Department also

ordered further sanctions

against a number of Russians

for meddling in the US

presidential elections.

Moscow denies any involvement.

Today the British Prime Minister

visited the scene of the attack

in Salisbury as the BBC's

James Landale reports.

This was Theresa May's

first visit to Salisbury

since the nerve agent attack.

A chance to be briefed by the police

and public health experts,

but also a chance to meet

and reassure members of the public,

whose lives have been so disrupted.

The spirit of those that live

here has been fantastic.

She visited the scene of the attack

on the former Russian intelligence

officer and his daughter

11 days ago.

The restaurant where they ate

and a park bench, under a tent,

where they were found.

The Prime Minister thanked some

of the police officers who first

responded to the call.

Thank you, what you did

is what the police do

day in and day out.

You go to a routine call,

you don't know what you find.

Then at the local hospital

she met and thanked

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey,

who is still recovering

from exposure to the nerve agent.

Russia, she said, was guilty

of a brazen and despicable attack.

She expelled 23 of its diplomats,

but is ready to do more.

There are other things

we're looking at.

If we face further provocation,

there are other measures we can

deploy.

What is important in

the international arena and we have

taken this into Nato,

the United Nations and we will be

taking it into the European Union,

allies are standing alongside us.

That came in a joint statement

from the leaders of Britain,

France, Germany and the US,

blaming Russia for what they called

an assault on UK sovereignty.

I spoke with the Prime Minister

and we are in deep discussions,

very sad situation and it looks

like the Russians are behind it.

Something that should never,

ever happen and we are taking it

very seriously, as I think

are many others.

The joint statement is significant

because it shows the Foreign Office

and Downing Street are convincing

Britain's allies that the Salisbury

attack is different,

it represents an escalation

of Russia's hostile behaviour.

And as such, those allies are ready

to crank up the pressure on Moscow.

That diplomacy continued today

in Brussels, where British security

officials briefed Nato allies.

The head of the alliance said Russia

had clearly breached

international agreements.

It is important to express

strong, political support

to the United Kingdom,

sending a clear message that

the United Kingdom is not alone.

We stand together with them.

In Moscow, President Putin

discussed the Salisbury

case with his ministers,

who denied Russia and the Soviet

Union had ever run a Novichok nerve

agent programme and promised

to respond soon to the expulsion

of its diplomats.

The Porton Down military

research laboratory,

which identified the nerve agent,

is to get an extra £48

million in funding.

Ministers confirmed it would provide

a sample to the chemical watchdog.

Ministers, whose diplomacy is not

extending to Russia.

If you are a nation and another

nation has launched a nerve agent

attack on your people,

you have every right to tell Russia

to shut up and go away.

Meanwhile, this afternoon

near Salisbury, the investigation

continued with the Army recovering

a car from the village near the home

of Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.

President Trump has often appeared

reluctant to publicly confront or

criticise Russia, and the latest

round of sanctions are the toughest

yet. Anthony Zurcher joined me a

short time ago. Has the Trump

administration actually changed its

stance on Russia? The sanctions seem

to be pretty tough?

They are, they

are the toughest so far. They will

also effectively mandated by a law

that Congress passed last year that

said the administration should

punish Russia for meddling in the

election. There is a deadline to

impose sanctions that was passed 45

days ago. So there was increasing

pressure on the Trump administration

to do something about this. You

could say they drew from some of

Robert Mueller's investigation, a

number of the people identified were

indicted in the investigation, and

then also naming the hacking into

power plants and things. I think we

are going to see more calls now to

do something directly related to the

chemical attack in the UK.

Talking

about the Mueller investigation, the

New York Times is reporting that he

has subpoenaed the Trump

Organisation for documents relating

to the investigation. How

significant is that?

The first thing

that is significant is that it is

not a request, it is a subpoenaed,

it means you have to turn over any

documents connected to dealings with

Russia. The Trump organisation say

they are being cooperative, but they

don't have business dealings in

Russia. But it represents an

expansion, as far as we know, of the

cent Robert Mueller probe, into some

of the Donald Trump's business

dealings and shows that the probe is

not going to be winding up any time

soon.

How relevant is it to the core

of the investigation, which is to

look into allegations of collusion

with Russia during the presidential

election?

That was the question. But

the mandate for the Department of

Justice said if you find any crimes,

look into it. Donald Trump, in an

interview with the New York Times,

asked if he would be OK with the

investigation looking into his

business dealings unrelated to the

Russian investigation, he said he

didn't think that was going to

happen, but if it did, it would be a

bad thing. Interview said, it was a

red line? Would you fire him? He

said, he wasn't going to answer that

question, he BC doesn't want this

investigation going to his personal

things. We saw Paul Manafort going

into indictment for business

dealings of his own well before the

election. It is possible it could be

an expansion of the probe.

He seems

to be in firing mood, with the

departure of Secretary of State Rex

Tillerson. How safe could Robert

Mueller or Jeff Sessions be?

I think

Jeff Sessions is the person to

watch first and he has recused

himself from the investigation, his

replacement would have the authority

to rain in or terminate Robert

Mueller's investigation. You can go

down the chain and say Rod

Rosenstein has also been the subject

of criticism. There has been told

that this is just the first of many

staff turnovers after Tillerson.

Donald Trump tweeted that changes

come and go, but there is no chaos.

I guess we will find out in the

coming weeks.

Thank you very much

indeed.

A brand new pedestrian bridge

in Miami has collapsed,

killing several people.

At least three vehicles were crushed

and a number of victims are reported

to be trapped in the rubble.

The bridge, which opened

on Saturday, connected

Florida International University

to a student housing area.

Gary O'Donahue reports

Scrambling to rescue the trapped

and injured after 950 tonnes

of a newly installed pedestrian

bridge crashed down

onto the road below.

A number of vehicles were crushed

as the bridge came down,

shortly before 2pm.

The emergency services,

dashing to help those

pinned under the concrete.

The footbridge had only

just been completed,

designed to take students

from the Florida International

University safely across a six-lane

highway to their accommodation.

What was soon to become an iconic,

staple part of the connectivity

between the city and the University

has actually turned out

to be a national tragedy.

Our hearts are extended out

to those, the victims that

were actually able to be transported

away, as well as those that may not

be walking away from the scene.

The collapsed section of the bridge

was only put in place last Saturday,

using a method known as advanced

bridge construction,

designed to be fast and cause

the least disruption

as possible to traffic.

Three, two, one...

CHEERING.

The National Transportation Safety

Board says it is sending

investigators to the scene,

and the building company employed

to put up the bridge, MCM,

says it will co-operate fully.

Earlier I spoke to BBC

Mundo's Patricia Solburon,

who is at the scene.

What is the latest you have?

The

latest information, Jane, is that so

far there aren't any official

numbers of deaths or casualties

here, after the collapse of this

bridge. However, we can't see rescue

teams trying to rescue people from

under the debris. We are seeing four

cranes working, trying to collect

all of the concrete. Let's remember,

this bridge is 950 tonnes, and the

officers I spoke to told us that at

least eight cars are trapped

underneath the debris.

What about

the bridge itself? How on earth did

a brand-new bridge come to collapse

like this?

Well, this bridge was

actually built and a record time, it

was built in about a week. It was

supposedly done on Saturday. It was

not opened to the public yet. It was

$40 million. We don't really know

the cause of the collapse of this

bridge yet, but we do know that it

was built in order to give safety to

the students, because we have the

Florida International University

across the place where I am talking

to you now, and we have a

residential area. The bridge was

meant to transport these students in

a more Safeway, since below the

bridge there is a very hectic

traffic area.

The rescue operation

is still going on, the situation

must be very confused. What are

people being told at the moment?

Well, the reports are being really

cautious right now. The police have

said that they are going to

personally addressed the families of

the injured people. So far, eight

people have been transported to

hospital. I have spoken to some of

the witnesses, some of them said

that they first thought that it was

like a bomb exploding, because it

sounded so, so hard.

Thank you very

much for the latest.

Slovakia's prime minister,

Robert Fico, has resigned

following protests sparked

by the murder of a journalist

investigating government corruption.

In his final article,

the murdered reporter Jan Kuciak

claimed that government circles had

been infiltrated by the Italian

mafia and spent years

embezzling EU funds.

Toys R Us is closing

all its shops in America,

putting about 33,000 jobs at risk.

The struggling business has failed

to find a buyer for about 900 stores

and hasn't struck a deal

with creditors to rescue it

from bankruptcy after racking up

$5 billion of debts.

A 20-year-old woman has been jailed

for six months in Minnesota

for fatally shooting her boyfriend

in a botched You Tube video

they hoped would go viral.

Pedro Ruiz convinced Monalisa Perez

to shoot him at close range

with a powerful pistol,

believing that a thick

book he held in front

of his chest would shield him.

He died at the scene.

A French baker has been fined the

equivalent of $3700 for opening his

business seven days a week. The

Baker runs the only shop on his town

in north-east France, and stayed

open last summer to serve tourists.

Local employment law requires bakers

to have one day of rest a week. He

is reportedly refusing to pay the

fine.

Thousands of people have been

fleeing Syria's rebel-held

area of Eastern Ghouta,

as government forces

step up their offensive.

The month long assault has already

killed hundreds of people

and doctors say they are overwhelmed

by the number of casualties.

This report by our Middle East

editor Jeremy Bowen contains

some distressing scenes.

Thousands of people are fleeing

parts of Eastern Ghouta,

trudging into an uncertain future

that looks better now than

the deadly present.

These are the people

who have spent weeks hiding

in basements from the shelling.

Eastern Ghouta is a big area

and this isn't happening everywhere.

Many tens of thousands

are still besieged.

This was filmed by Omar, a cameraman

who gives his material to the BBC.

The attack happened

outside his building.

A small boy, Omran,

was caught up in it.

He is deaf, so he hadn't heard

warnings to take cover.

Omar, the cameraman,

worried the boy would bleed to death

and told us the eight minutes it

took for the ambulance to arrive

were the worst he had

endured since the battle

Omar carried him to the ambulance

where he was squeezed in next

to the bodies of the dead.

Omar has seen a lot of death.

He said Omran was a soul

he wanted to save.

We have been following Dr Amani,

a paediatrician in an underground

hospital, who spends every day

with the wounded and the dying.

In that place, they are all fighting

fear, where regime soldiers

are advancing into Eastern Ghouta.

Dr Amani sent a message.

TRANSLATION:

It is the worst it

has been for many days,

the shelling is brutal,

bombs, rockets,

all kinds of weapons.

This may be my last message.

The injured are everywhere,

the operating theatres

are full of wounded people.

We don't have enough

doctors to help them

and our own homes are being shelled.

A small amount of aid is being

brought into Eastern Ghouta.

All the talk of a humanitarian

ceasefire is being ignored.

This war started seven years ago.

Its horror goes on.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC News.

You're watching BBC

World News America.

Still to come on

tonight's programme:

Taking a closer look

at micro-plastics.

Why the World Health Organization is

concerned about what's in our water.

In a remote part of Kenya,

there's a series of

islands where health care

facilities are rare.

But help is at hand from a group

called the Safari Doctors who travel

long distances by boat,

by road and by air, to

bring free medical

aid to the islands'

increasingly isolated people.

David Wafula went to

see them in action.

This is an isolated

village on a remote island

on Kenya's coast.

The people here are isolated

from basic amenities

including healthcare.

Help is available but it is

an overnight sail away.

As day gives way to night,

the volunteers known

here as Safari Doctors

make their way here to the village.

The last box with medicine has been

put on the dhow and it is leaving.

How long is it going to take?

About eight hours, almost overnight.

As the dawn breaks,

the tide invites the dhow

on the shores of the island.

It is cost effective because it has

enough room for volunteers and

supplies.

We trek to the village,

where a temporary medical centre

is set up in a school building.

Two women are already

waiting, they come with

a wide range of needs.

We are doing immunisation, we are

doing also mother care, natal care.

And then we are treating

the islanders.

We are also doing screening of HIV,

we are also screening for malaria.

In any case we get any of them

would put them on treatment

and do the follow-up next.

With one island already done,

the dhow will be leaving

for five more islands,

a journey taking three days

to deliver much-needed medical

services to hundreds of villagers

who have been desperately

waiting for weeks.

The World Health Organization

is set to launch a review

into the potential risks of plastic

in drinking water.

In particular, it will focus

on so-called microplastics -

particles that are small enough

to be ingested.

Our science editor

David Shukman reports.

In the latest research

into plastic, more than 200

bottles of water were put

through a screening process.

Most turned out to have particles

of plastic floating around inside.

There is no evidence this is harmful

but we asked people around the world

what they think of this discovery.

This phenomenon is really

a cause for concern.

And with the usage going up,

I think it's going to hit a large

segment of the population.

They tell you to not eat this

or drink this, that or the other.

I prefer bottled water than tap

water so I just have to carry on.

I'd rather just boil my own water.

That is more important,

than actually buying water

at an expensive price

which is actually a health risk.

It's kind of like damned if you do,

damned if you don't.

If you drink the bottled water,

if you drink the water it's scary.

Tests on this scale have

never been tried before.

A special dye which sticks

to particles of plastic was added

to more than 200 bottles.

In the right lighting conditions,

it makes the plastic glow.

And when the dyed water

was poured through a filter,

each particle was cracked so it

could then be counted and analysed.

each particle was tracked so it

could then be counted and analysed.

So what are the results from this

laboratory testing showing us?

On average, each litre contains ten

larger pieces of plastic.

That's bigger than the

width of a human hair.

And with smaller particles,

which were probably plastic, you get

an average of 314 per litre.

So, does this matter?

There's no evidence that ingesting

plastic causes any harm

but scientists say they can't

rule it out.

Plastic could release

chemicals inside the body.

Tiny particles could cross

from the gut into the bloodstream

and potentially they might

accumulate in organs like the liver.

The risks may turn out to be minor

but the World Health

Organisation wants to be sure.

We need to understand

what's in the plastic,

what the plastic might actually

carry on it - whether that's

microbes or chemicals -

and when it happens in the body.

So all those things need to be

explored with research.

There's a lot that scientists don't

know but they say it's plausible

that microplastics

could have an effect.

These are non-degradable persistent

particles that can enter the body

and cause an inflammatory response,

and there's potential for more

complex situations to arise

because of the plastic

itself and its chemicals.

The companies involved

told us they stand by

the safety of their products.

They've questioned how the study

was conducted, and they point out

there are no regulations

on microplastics or any agreed way

of testing for them.

This is a totally

new area of science.

The research is in its earliest

days but there a growing

demand for answers.

David Shukman, BBC News.

If you're feeling a little blue

today and think a change of scenery

would lift your spirits -

try Finland.

The country has overtaken Norway

as the happiest nation on earth

according to the UN's latest

World Happiness report.

Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland

are also in the top five.

The annual ranking asks

residents in 156 countries

to rate their lives.

It also looks at factors like

economic strength, life expectancy,

and perceived corruption.

For more on what makes

a happy nation I spoke

earlier to Arnu Partenan,

author of The Nordic

Theory of Everything.

Thank you for joining me. Why do you

think Finland is now the happiest

country in the world?

That is the

question, isn't it? If you ask them,

they will tell you that Finland is

not that happy, they complain a lot.

But I think it is because Nordic

countries do well because they have

systems that help people better to

combine work and family, feel like

they are in control of their lives.

Feel like they have freedom of

choice is. I think that is what we

often don't think, that Nordic

people, all people, people tend to

think that America is where you have

all of the choices and most freedom.

But much of the social security

systems that are put in place in

Nordic countries give people a sense

they are in control of their lives.

You live in America, having been

born and bred in Finland. What can

America do to catch up?

Nordic

people, these are simple things,

paid parental leave, affordable

daycare, paid vacation time,

universal health care. These are

things that love of European

countries have come at the Nordic

countries have, that the United

States don't have. It goes a long

way in helping people feel they can

manage their lives better.

It all

seems very serious for being happy.

Do the Finns also have a very good

sense of humour? You seem happy!

That is a good question. I think

they can seem very dour, very

deadpan, often, they don't smile and

laugh a lot. I think I learned a lot

of that in the United States. But I

do think that they have a good sense

of black humour, an understanding of

life. Also, being tough, but

appreciating good moments as well.

What is your personal secret to

being happy? As a person from

Finland?

I think it is just

appreciating... The cliche, but it

is your family, health, nature, all

Nordic people love walking in the

forests, enjoying nature in a

relaxed way. Living in the United

States, one great asset that the

United States has is that Americans

are very keen to achieve things, to

pack their days with all kinds of

activities, work hard, and it is a

wonderful quality, but it can also

become too much and create anxiety,

make life tough for you. I think the

Nordic people and I certainly value

a lot of downtime as well, just

appeared to be with your loved ones

and friends.

Thank you very much

indeed for joining me.

In case you're wondering, the US

dropped four points to 18, and the

UK is still behind the US on 19. But

I am a happy Jane O'Brien! Thanks

for watching Bbc World News America.