:00:00. > :00:08.Hello. This is BBC World News.
:00:09. > :00:13.Sectarian tensions rise across the Middle East
:00:14. > :00:15.as Saudi Arabia executes a prominent Shia cleric.
:00:16. > :00:18.The Saudi government says Nimr al-Nimr was put to death
:00:19. > :00:26.after being convicted of terrorism offences.
:00:27. > :00:45.There have been Shia protests inside the country and a furious
:00:46. > :00:47.reaction from Iran, which compares Saudi executioners with IS.
:00:48. > :00:50.India says it has beaten off a militant attack on an Air Force
:00:51. > :00:53.Five attackers and three soldiers are dead.
:00:54. > :00:55.British soldiers accused of mistreating civilians
:00:56. > :00:57.during the Iraq conflict are warned they could face prosecution
:00:58. > :01:01.Donald Trump's pledge to bar Muslims from entering the United States
:01:02. > :01:03.is used in a recruitment video my Islamist militant group
:01:04. > :01:22.There've been protests amongst Saudi Arabia's minority Shia
:01:23. > :01:24.population, following the execution of a prominent Shia cleric,
:01:25. > :01:29.He'd been convicted of terrorism offences in 2012 and was one of 47
:01:30. > :01:40.There's also been a furious reaction from Iran.
:01:41. > :01:44.As news of the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr spread,
:01:45. > :01:46.protesters took to the streets of Saudi Arabia's
:01:47. > :01:48.Shia city of Qatif, an act of defiance in the kingdom
:01:49. > :01:54.where public dissent is not tolerated.
:01:55. > :01:56.The sheikh was a leader of this religious
:01:57. > :01:58.minority, in a country whose royal family see themselves as leaders
:01:59. > :02:09.As the Saudi authorities cracked down during the Arab Spring on Shia
:02:10. > :02:12.attempts to bring calls for political reform
:02:13. > :02:19.into the kingdom itself, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was arrested.
:02:20. > :02:23.He had defied the Saudi authorities to prove their charge
:02:24. > :02:27.that he was acting on behalf of Iran, the leader of Shia Islam,
:02:28. > :02:32.and regional rival for power to Saudi Arabia.
:02:33. > :02:35.Iranian reaction to the execution has been angry.
:02:36. > :02:36.The Foreign Ministry in Tehran accused
:02:37. > :02:39.Saudi Arabia of supporting extremism abroad and oppressing its critics
:02:40. > :02:49.at home, and said it would pay a heavy price.
:02:50. > :02:51.That ancient religious fault line is a dangerous division
:02:52. > :02:55.Sunni fighters are pitched against Shia in the fighting
:02:56. > :03:06.TRANSLATION: I think Saudi Arabia made a big mistake when it executed
:03:07. > :03:08.al-Nimr, as it will fuel the existing sectarian violence
:03:09. > :03:14.Saudi Arabia's execution of Nimr al-Nimr will
:03:15. > :03:27.deepen those tensions at a dangerous moment.
:03:28. > :03:29.Earlier, I spoke to BBC Persian's, Siavash Ardalan, who told me more
:03:30. > :03:32.about images posted on the website of Iran's Ali Khamenei,
:03:33. > :03:36.in reaction to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr.
:03:37. > :03:49.These images came out on the supreme leader's English website, depicting
:03:50. > :03:54.an executioner, divided in half, one side is Isis and the other side is a
:03:55. > :04:00.Saudi executioner, to highlight today are parts of the same entity,
:04:01. > :04:07.that Saudi Arabia is supporting Isis, which is Iran's narrative in
:04:08. > :04:14.the region. Acknowledging many of the people who were executed were
:04:15. > :04:18.Sunni extremists as well. Different from an official communique he was
:04:19. > :04:23.right and have read out on state TV, perhaps wary of the fact he does not
:04:24. > :04:28.want to outrage protesters in Iran because rallies are scheduled
:04:29. > :04:32.tomorrow but we are getting reports from north-western Iran where
:04:33. > :04:40.protesters have thrown firebombs at the Saudi consulate, which has been
:04:41. > :04:44.set on fire. It is not only Iran where protests are planned, there
:04:45. > :04:50.are protests in the Middle East. A few hours after the news came out
:04:51. > :04:53.there were protests in Saudi Arabia, inside Bahrain, where there were
:04:54. > :05:01.clashes with security forces and they threw tear gas at the testers.
:05:02. > :05:06.Also something in Lebanon, as well. We expect more protests. It probably
:05:07. > :05:11.speaks to the fact that there will be allegations Iran might be
:05:12. > :05:16.stirring up protests is, it happens so spontaneously, it is difficult to
:05:17. > :05:22.prove those charges. It increases the distance between two different
:05:23. > :05:27.and opposing countries in a region that is tipping the balance. They
:05:28. > :05:34.are two powerhouses that need to get on if problems are to be solved. The
:05:35. > :05:40.civil war in Syria, if that goes anywhere, it will have to go through
:05:41. > :05:49.an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia so this execution might make
:05:50. > :05:54.that object more elusive. And strong words about Saudi Arabia but what
:05:55. > :06:02.can Iran do, what power does it have against Saudi Arabia? Not much. It
:06:03. > :06:10.has a popular base among the Shia. It will probably not call on them to
:06:11. > :06:16.take out into the street, but for a year they have warned of the
:06:17. > :06:20.consequences of executing Sheikh Nimr.
:06:21. > :06:23.The BBC understands that a gunman who killed
:06:24. > :06:25.Irish cameraman, Simon Cumbers, in Saudi Arabia in 2004 was among
:06:26. > :06:30.Mr Cumbers was on assignment with the BBC correspondent
:06:31. > :06:33.Frank Gardner, who was severely injured in the same attack.
:06:34. > :06:36.Adel al-Dhubaiti was sentenced in 2014 for taking part in a number
:06:37. > :06:41.Neither the Saudi authorities nor the Irish Foreign Ministry have
:06:42. > :06:52.A ceasefire in Yemen has collapsed with the Saudi-backed coalition
:06:53. > :06:55.announcing it would resume military operations.
:06:56. > :06:58.The coalition said Shia Houthi rebels had mounted numerous attacks
:06:59. > :07:04.on Saudi border posts and fired missiles at Saudi cities.
:07:05. > :07:08.A suicide bomber dressed in a business suit has blown himself
:07:09. > :07:10.up in a restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
:07:11. > :07:13.Witnesses said journalists who were having tea
:07:14. > :07:15.at the Village Restaurant ran away after becoming suspicious
:07:16. > :07:19.about the man who had wires hanging from his chest.
:07:20. > :07:28.Authorities in the US state of Illinois have warned that dams
:07:29. > :07:32.Days of rain have swamped Illinois and Missouri, killing at least
:07:33. > :07:40.British soldiers who served in Iraq from 2003, are being warned
:07:41. > :07:47.they could face prosecution for war crimes, including unlawful killing.
:07:48. > :07:49.The head of a Ministry of Defence unit that is looking
:07:50. > :07:52.into allegations that some civilians were mistreated during the conflict,
:07:53. > :07:54.says there'll be discussions with prosecutors about whether there
:07:55. > :08:00.Claims of mistreatment of Iraqis by British personnel have been rife
:08:01. > :08:03.in the aftermath of the Iraq war, so much so that the Government has
:08:04. > :08:10.set up a team to investigate historic allegations.
:08:11. > :08:17.Today, its head said there could be criminal charges.
:08:18. > :08:33.This historic allegations team is costing
:08:34. > :08:35.a total of ?57 million, and is examining more
:08:36. > :08:40.It's not due to finish its work until the
:08:41. > :08:43.Lawyers representing alleged victims say it's taking too
:08:44. > :08:49.long, and will not confront systemic abuse.
:08:50. > :08:52.They were established in 2010, and we're now at the beginning
:08:53. > :08:54.of 2016, and there hasn't been a single
:08:55. > :09:08.prosecution as a result of their work.
:09:09. > :09:11.So when we look at it like that, there isn't much to indicate
:09:12. > :09:13.that we are going to get very far any
:09:14. > :09:15.time soon in terms of prosecuting soldiers.
:09:16. > :09:18.The Ministry of Defence says it takes all allegations of abuse
:09:19. > :09:21.or unlawful killing very seriously, but the vast majority of those
:09:22. > :09:22.in the Armed Forces conduct themselves professionally
:09:23. > :09:25.Some have expressed frustration at continued
:09:26. > :09:28.claims against military personnel, and doubts over the sheer numbers.
:09:29. > :09:30.The British Army has an incredibly effective disciplinary system
:09:31. > :09:32.and chain of command, which makes sure
:09:33. > :09:35.this kind of thing doesn't happen on a frequent basis.
:09:36. > :09:36.Occasionally, it will happen, but our system prevents
:09:37. > :09:40.That's why I say that thousands of cases just
:09:41. > :09:51.And critics say fear of future prosecution could prevent soldiers
:09:52. > :09:54.The Defence Secretary has criticised "ambulance-chasing" law firms.
:09:55. > :09:56.Two previous public inquiries have already looked
:09:57. > :10:02.Now, almost 13 years since the war there started,
:10:03. > :10:16.A group calling itself New World Hacking says it carried
:10:17. > :10:25.out a cyber attack on the BBC website on Thursday.
:10:26. > :10:36.In messages to the BBC's technology correspondent it said the hack had
:10:37. > :10:39.been a test of its capabilities. The US group said they had not planned
:10:40. > :10:42.to take down the BBC website for as long as they had.
:10:43. > :10:44.You may remember the comments made by American presidential hopeful
:10:45. > :10:46.and Republican Party frontrunner Donald Trump last month,
:10:47. > :10:49.when he called for a ban on all Muslims entering
:10:50. > :11:00.Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of
:11:01. > :11:05.Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives
:11:06. > :11:07.can figure out what the hell is going on.
:11:08. > :11:10.The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab certainly remember that.
:11:11. > :11:13.It's released a recruitment video featuring the same footage of Donald
:11:14. > :11:23.Yesterday America was a land of slavery, segregation, lynching and
:11:24. > :11:26.Ku Klux Klan. The footage of Trump is flanked
:11:27. > :11:29.by an old video of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki,
:11:30. > :11:31.a former top recruiter for al-Qaeda who was killed by a US drone
:11:32. > :11:34.strike in Yemen in 2011. He warned that the US would turn
:11:35. > :11:37.against its Muslims. Trump's comment on banning Muslims
:11:38. > :11:39.has been rebuked by both Democratic Mr Trump's campaign team has not
:11:40. > :11:48.responded to the video. Abdihakim Ainte is an independent
:11:49. > :11:51.Somali political commentator and analyst who previously lived
:11:52. > :11:53.in the United States, and is currently speaking
:11:54. > :12:06.to us from Germany. Thanks for joining us. What do you
:12:07. > :12:16.make of the use of Donald Trump's audio? -- video. I am not surprised.
:12:17. > :12:23.We need to understand why Al-Shabab feature Donald Trump in the video,
:12:24. > :12:28.as they have been making videos over the past years. In part because
:12:29. > :12:35.Al-Shabab have been on the back foot and losing territory. They know with
:12:36. > :12:39.this video featuring Donald Trump, it will make great headlines and
:12:40. > :12:45.grabbed a significant amount of media attention and this is their
:12:46. > :12:49.way of lashing out and trying to attract as much attention as
:12:50. > :12:57.possible. This is nothing more than a PR stunt aimed at Al-Shabab,
:12:58. > :13:03.capturing global headlines. This is what is happening right now. What do
:13:04. > :13:09.you think Al-Shabab is thinking in terms of how Muslims are treated in
:13:10. > :13:16.America? Do you think Al-Shabab is seen differently to other terrorist
:13:17. > :13:24.groups by Muslim Americans? No. As they have indicated in their video,
:13:25. > :13:30.this video was aimed at trying to exploit and to appeal to those in
:13:31. > :13:36.America who might otherwise be outraged all vulnerable at Donald
:13:37. > :13:44.Trump's comments and what he said about the Muslim community. They
:13:45. > :13:50.were trying to see if they could pursue vulnerable Muslim communities
:13:51. > :13:57.in the US, particularly in Minneapolis. They are trying to see
:13:58. > :14:02.if they could appeal and try to entice young kids who are frustrated
:14:03. > :14:10.and somewhat appalled by the Donald Trump comments. This is one way,
:14:11. > :14:16.their way of trying to reach out and speak to Muslim communities and say,
:14:17. > :14:20.look, look who is turning against you. A frontrunner presidential
:14:21. > :14:30.candidate who potentially could be the next president of the US. They
:14:31. > :14:38.are saying the message, we are offering you a path, one path is you
:14:39. > :14:44.have to migrate from the US and join the jihadis. You have friends in
:14:45. > :14:50.America who are Somali and Muslim. What do they make of the comments?
:14:51. > :14:59.They are outrage, as every decent American is. They are seeing this as
:15:00. > :15:07.inflammatory comments, as nothing... Donald Trump trying to gain in the
:15:08. > :15:17.polling points. They are outraged. They see this as a heinous attempt
:15:18. > :15:20.to defame Muslims. Thank you very much.
:15:21. > :15:27.Stay with us on BBC World News - still to come...
:15:28. > :15:33.The results from the English Premier League and the latest from a good
:15:34. > :16:43.opening day for England in South Africa.
:16:44. > :16:46.Saudi Arabia says it has executed the prominent Shia cleric,
:16:47. > :16:52.Nimr al-Nimr, for terrorism offences.
:16:53. > :16:57.reaction from Iran, which says Saudi Arabia will pay
:16:58. > :17:00.After 14 hours, an attack on an Indian air base is over.
:17:01. > :17:07.At least four gunmen and two soldiers are dead.
:17:08. > :17:11.The Indian Prime Minister has praised his security forces
:17:12. > :17:14.for ending a militant attack on an Indian Air Force base.
:17:15. > :17:17.Five attackers and three Indian officers were killed in a gun fight
:17:18. > :17:24.The base at Pathankot, near the border with Pakistan,
:17:25. > :17:27.was broken into early on Saturday by heavily armed men dressed
:17:28. > :17:33.We are now in the north Indian city of
:17:34. > :17:37.Pathankot, which is also a prominent military base.
:17:38. > :17:40.The Indian Air Force station which was attacked in the early
:17:41. > :17:42.hours of Saturday by heavily armed gunmen wearing Indian Army uniforms
:17:43. > :17:47.is just round the corner, heavily fortified now.
:17:48. > :17:50.As we drove into this town this evening, we could see
:17:51. > :17:51.choppers hovering above, continuing search operations.
:17:52. > :18:04.The streets, at this hour, look unusually quiet and deserted.
:18:05. > :18:05.The Indian government, meanwhile, has been congratulating
:18:06. > :18:08.the security forces for thwarting an attack which could have
:18:09. > :18:13.What is more interesting is the fact that this attack comes a week
:18:14. > :18:16.after the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, paid an unofficial
:18:17. > :18:18.visit to Pakistan and met his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif,
:18:19. > :18:28.in what was seen as a revival of peacetalks.
:18:29. > :18:31.As part of an end of the year series this week
:18:32. > :18:33.we've been revisiting stories on artificial intelligence.
:18:34. > :18:35.Intelligent machines are playing an ever-increasing role
:18:36. > :18:39.But can a machine ever be imaginative or creative?
:18:40. > :18:42.Our arts editor Will Gompertz has been finding out how AI
:18:43. > :19:01.I have come to Hollywood to meet a man trying to turn the artificial
:19:02. > :19:10.intelligence fantasy into a reality. Will I am, entrepreneur and musician
:19:11. > :19:13.invited me to his studio to show me a programme he is working on that
:19:14. > :19:21.creates a soundtrack by mapping his movements. I love to be on the phone
:19:22. > :19:28.and move from my house to hear. And because my movements were moving,
:19:29. > :19:39.the tempos speeded up. This is going to the airport. You are in the air?
:19:40. > :19:50.I am not moving. And so there is no drum. That is very interesting, but
:19:51. > :19:55.is it a I? We could get excited about a couple of tricks. He is
:19:56. > :19:59.clearly tech friendly but does he have any tech fears? There is a
:20:00. > :20:06.limited amount of money we are investing in people versus machines.
:20:07. > :20:12.That concerns me. I went down the coast to San Diego to meet a man who
:20:13. > :20:17.has invested almost 50 years into trying to turn a computer into a
:20:18. > :20:23.functioning artists. Have you got close to creating an autonomous
:20:24. > :20:28.artist? I came up with this extraordinary algorithm for handling
:20:29. > :20:33.colour. When I let the programme take care of colouring, the
:20:34. > :20:37.colouring was almost guaranteed to be exciting, worth having. I have
:20:38. > :20:46.achieved this tiny bit of autonomy in a programme. To be an autonomous
:20:47. > :20:50.artist, it would have had to have been this big. I started to realise,
:20:51. > :20:58.this is not going to happen in my lifetime. Maybe it might. Hello.
:20:59. > :21:03.Back in London a team of academics think they have developed a
:21:04. > :21:07.programme that is creative. It is a programme that behaves like a human
:21:08. > :21:13.learning and uses what it learnt to produce new things. The tasks set is
:21:14. > :21:26.to create a jazz score that sounds like this. MELLOW JAZZ.. Is this
:21:27. > :21:31.composition a sign of creativity? I would say it is challenging the
:21:32. > :21:34.human creative in trying to respond to what it throws up and that is
:21:35. > :21:36.significant. Maybe that is where we are at the moment with computers
:21:37. > :21:41.lacking imagination but inspiring art.
:21:42. > :21:55.A lot of inspiration in the sport. We will start with cricket.
:21:56. > :22:04.England won the toss and opted to bat and it looked a good decision.
:22:05. > :22:10.Half centuries from Alex Hales, Joe Root and an unbeaten 74 for Ben
:22:11. > :22:21.Stokes. Kagiso Rabada, 20, playing in his fourth test. He starred with
:22:22. > :22:28.the ball,. You want to push on for three figures. It shows there is
:22:29. > :22:33.seem movement. It is a good contest. Given the way Ben Stokes has batted,
:22:34. > :22:39.what total might she be able to push onto? The next two wicket
:22:40. > :22:46.partnerships will be massive, if they can get themselves in, Moeen
:22:47. > :22:56.Ali, Ben Stokes, they can take the game away. Hopefully we can push on
:22:57. > :23:04.past 450. A good day for arsenal. They beat Newcastle. Arsenal were
:23:05. > :23:08.1-0 winners in torrential conditions. Goalless at half-time
:23:09. > :23:14.but Laurent Koscielny made the breakthrough in the second half,
:23:15. > :23:15.proving to be the only goal in the game. Newcastle stay in the
:23:16. > :23:20.relegation zone. It was hard work, but we prepared
:23:21. > :23:23.ourselves mentally to work hard and to earn the right
:23:24. > :23:25.to win the hard We are not at our best today,
:23:26. > :23:32.we know that and we had to dig deep, but we can dig deep as well
:23:33. > :23:35.when it is needed and on top of that we played
:23:36. > :23:49.against a good team, There was relief at old Trafford.
:23:50. > :23:54.Wayne Rooney scoring the winner against Swansea for Manchester
:23:55. > :23:57.United's first victory in six weeks. There was talk Louis Van Gaal would
:23:58. > :24:03.not survive another defeat that way really's leatherback flick earned
:24:04. > :24:13.them a 2-1 win and might have bought Louis Van Gaal more time. Sigurdsson
:24:14. > :24:17.had just equalised for Swansea after Anthony Martial put them ahead.
:24:18. > :24:21.I am happy for the players, because the players have to play
:24:22. > :24:27.We are still at the top of the league.
:24:28. > :24:44.It takes eight months or something like that
:24:45. > :24:48.That I had said and I hope that this is a fantastic
:24:49. > :25:15.Elsewhere, wins for West Ham, Norwich and West Brom. Aston Villa
:25:16. > :25:22.losing to Sunderland. And Manchester City came from behind to win with
:25:23. > :25:31.two late goals from Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero. Today it was
:25:32. > :25:48.important to trust in the way we play. We try to play to score a goal
:25:49. > :25:55.in any way. And we scored those beautiful goals. That is all the
:25:56. > :26:09.sport. That is it from me and the team. Thanks for watching. Goodbye.
:26:10. > :26:13.Good evening, the weather will be dominated by low pressure, which
:26:14. > :26:14.means