:00:00. > :00:00.This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.
:00:07. > :00:12.The American President takes on the nation's powerful gun lobby.
:00:13. > :00:15.In the past hour, an emotional Barack Obama unveils new gun control
:00:16. > :00:18.measures and asks Americans to support them.
:00:19. > :00:28.Every time I think about those kids, it gets me
:00:29. > :00:32.Alarm in Germany at reports of gangs sexually assaulting around 90 women
:00:33. > :00:36.in several cities on New Year's Eve.
:00:37. > :00:41.A bionic eye is offering hope that vision can be
:00:42. > :01:04.Each year, more than 30,000 American lives are cut short by guns -
:01:05. > :01:07.Those statistics come from President Obama,
:01:08. > :01:09.who has demanded that Congress "stand up" to America's
:01:10. > :01:14.Here's what Mr Obama is proposing to introduce by executive order.
:01:15. > :01:18.Mr Obama said he would close a loophole where background checks
:01:19. > :01:20.were not carried out on people buying guns over the internet
:01:21. > :01:26.The President said background checks would be expanded and linked
:01:27. > :01:29.to mental health and criminal records.
:01:30. > :01:32.And he announced that $500 million would be made available to provide
:01:33. > :01:37.better access to mental health care.
:01:38. > :01:48.Our unalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit
:01:49. > :02:03.And from first graders in Newtown. at Columbine.
:02:04. > :02:13.And from every family who never imagined
:02:14. > :02:16.that their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet
:02:17. > :02:37.Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad.
:02:38. > :02:40.And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago
:02:41. > :02:50.The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives,
:02:51. > :02:53.Paul Ryan, says the President's actions will be challenged
:02:54. > :02:56.Mr Ryan said Mr Obama has never respected the right to safe
:02:57. > :02:59.and legal gun ownership that the country has valued
:03:00. > :03:12.Our North America Editor was at the news conference. If you cast your
:03:13. > :03:16.mind back to when you interviewed the president six months ago he said
:03:17. > :03:22.his inability to do anything on gun control was the greatest frustration
:03:23. > :03:25.of his presidency. We saw today, frustration, anger, impatience. As
:03:26. > :03:32.you rightly point out, emotion as well. He visibly teared up and had
:03:33. > :03:38.to wipe tears away as he remembered the children who lost their lives.
:03:39. > :03:44.But is not going to affect the people who arranged against him in
:03:45. > :03:49.this debate? -- is that? Almost certainly not. Opponents say it is
:03:50. > :03:53.unworkable what he is suggesting. On philosophical grounds they say the
:03:54. > :03:57.president is meddling with the second Amendment right to bear arms.
:03:58. > :04:01.Even though if you can be called later date at the proposals, they
:04:02. > :04:05.are comparatively modest. Well, it is no surprise that the NRA is
:04:06. > :04:08.fiercely opposed. A statement from Chris Cox,
:04:09. > :04:10.the executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative
:04:11. > :04:18.Action which says: They say the proposals are ripe for
:04:19. > :04:21.abuse from the Government and the American people don't need any more
:04:22. > :04:32.condescending lectures... Sarah Trumble is Senior Policy
:04:33. > :04:34.Counsel at Third Way, a US think tank which supports
:04:35. > :04:44.tighter gun controls, Sarah, I know you are sitting in the
:04:45. > :04:49.East room watching President Obama delivered that statement. It is a
:04:50. > :04:55.cause that is intellectually and emotionally very dear to him.
:04:56. > :04:58.Absolutely. It was an incredibly emotional experience. Also
:04:59. > :05:04.infuriating that we still need to be dropping about this in 2016. And yet
:05:05. > :05:10.as we have just heard from the NRA, it says it speaks for many thousands
:05:11. > :05:16.of Americans who hold gun rights dear. They see it as part of their
:05:17. > :05:19.very American nature. There is nothing inherently opposed to gun
:05:20. > :05:23.rights in any of these executive actions today. In fact the president
:05:24. > :05:27.was quite clear that he supports the second Amendment. All that these
:05:28. > :05:31.laws do and all these executive actions will do is ensure that
:05:32. > :05:35.people are following the laws we already have. Making sure that guns
:05:36. > :05:40.stay out of the wrong hands. Who is forming in behind President Obama in
:05:41. > :05:45.terms of putting money into this fight because the NRA as we know has
:05:46. > :05:49.a huge amount of it? The NRA has always been rich and they are loud
:05:50. > :05:53.and powerful. But like the president said today, they may Congress but
:05:54. > :05:57.they don't own the American people. In recent years we see the American
:05:58. > :06:04.public rising up, a big groundswell in support of people want stronger
:06:05. > :06:11.gun laws led by people like Gabby differs who was shot in the head and
:06:12. > :06:14.almost killed right by Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New
:06:15. > :06:19.York City who has put in millions of dollars to this fight. Isn't this a
:06:20. > :06:24.particularly different year in which they have this fight, because we are
:06:25. > :06:28.limbering up for the present campaign, if anything, politics gets
:06:29. > :06:32.more partisan, not less? That is true but the president waited as
:06:33. > :06:35.long as he could for Congress to act and they failed to do so. The
:06:36. > :06:39.American public are demanding action and of Congress won't do it, the
:06:40. > :06:43.president will. Paul Ryan the Speaker of the president of the
:06:44. > :06:47.House of Representatives has already said there will be legal action and
:06:48. > :06:51.we are hearing that from primarily republican sources, are you
:06:52. > :06:56.convinced this battle can be one? Yes. The president is a
:06:57. > :06:59.constitutional lawyer. He specialises in this. The smartest
:07:00. > :07:03.lawyers in the country work for him and I am confident that these are
:07:04. > :07:07.constitutional. He did not write new legislation, he is only enforcing
:07:08. > :07:11.laws that exist. Are you confident that enough Americans care enough
:07:12. > :07:16.about this when you have an election, generally issues like the
:07:17. > :07:20.economy come to the fore, gun control is often not pushed by the
:07:21. > :07:24.candidates. We used to worry that after a mass shooting there would be
:07:25. > :07:28.lots of public sympathy and after a few weeks attention would win, but
:07:29. > :07:34.in 2015 we had on average more than one mass shooting every day, there
:07:35. > :07:39.is no time for attention to win and attention is -- Americans are
:07:40. > :07:41.scared. Thank you for speaking with us.
:07:42. > :07:43.The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has voiced outrage
:07:44. > :07:46.over the sexual assaults and thefts that male gangs inflicted on women
:07:47. > :07:51.This evening a crowd of around 150 most female protesters gathered
:07:52. > :07:56.by the cathedral in Cologne to denounce the assaults.
:07:57. > :08:03.Police suspect that organised groups of young drunk men, perhaps as many
:08:04. > :08:07.as 1000 carried out the attacks. They said the men appeared to be of
:08:08. > :08:14.Arab or North African appearance. Damian McGuinness is in Berlin and I
:08:15. > :08:18.asked him about the reaction. It was chaotic. Thousands of people in
:08:19. > :08:22.front of the cathedral in Cologne. Usually New Year's Eve is chaotic
:08:23. > :08:25.anyway with fireworks being set off in all directions, but this was
:08:26. > :08:30.particularly disturbing with the sexual assaults. What has really got
:08:31. > :08:35.Germany talking is the comment by police officers that the men
:08:36. > :08:39.appeared to be, the attackers appeared to be of north African or
:08:40. > :08:44.Arabic appearance. There is no evidence that the perpetrators were
:08:45. > :08:48.actually migrants or refugees or seekers themselves, but anti-migrant
:08:49. > :08:52.far right groups have been saying that this proves that Germany has
:08:53. > :08:58.been taking in too many migrants and refugees because of course, in 2015,
:08:59. > :09:04.more than a million refugees and asylum seekers and migrants came to
:09:05. > :09:08.Germany just in 2015 alone. So this event has sparked outrage. The
:09:09. > :09:14.assaults on women, but also a lot of discussion amongst people in Cologne
:09:15. > :09:18.themselves. The problem is of course where did 1000 people suddenly come
:09:19. > :09:20.from. They said there was North Africans who were not asylum seekers
:09:21. > :09:28.but where did they come from all of its open in such a large amount, you
:09:29. > :09:30.do ask yourself that. TRANSLATION: I think you should just be prepared.
:09:31. > :09:37.You should be careful and always wait for the help of the police.
:09:38. > :09:42.TRANSLATION: I would advise young people not to get so drunk that you
:09:43. > :09:47.don't know what is going on, and to perhaps not be alone, and to call
:09:48. > :09:50.for help as quickly as possible. And especially at large events, there
:09:51. > :09:54.are always enough people around who hopefully are not drunk. It is worse
:09:55. > :10:00.in areas where there is nobody and where you can't get help. The next
:10:01. > :10:03.challenge that Germany faces is the Carnival season at the beginning of
:10:04. > :10:09.February and particularly in Cologne, where the whole city shuts
:10:10. > :10:12.down for street parties. Officials have to find out what happened on
:10:13. > :10:16.New Year's Eve and make sure it doesn't happen again.
:10:17. > :10:19.The Turkish authorities say the bodies of at least 34 migrants
:10:20. > :10:22.who were trying to reach Greece have now been discovered on beaches
:10:23. > :10:25.The deaths occurred after yet another boat carrying migrants
:10:26. > :10:27.capsized en route to the Greek island of Lesbos.
:10:28. > :10:31.It isn't clear how many boats have sunk in rough seas, but the Turkish
:10:32. > :10:34.authorities said some of the bodies had been washed up on a beach
:10:35. > :10:35.while others were recovered from the water.
:10:36. > :10:38.Several children were found among the dead, fully clothed and wearing
:10:39. > :10:44.Now a look at some of the day's other news.
:10:45. > :10:46.American defence officials say at least one member of the US
:10:47. > :10:49.Special Forces has been killed during operations against Taliban
:10:50. > :10:54.The officials said two other US servicemen were wounded in fighting
:10:55. > :10:59.near the town of Marjah in Helmand Province.
:11:00. > :11:04.Turkish authorities have freed an Iraqi translator four months
:11:05. > :11:07.after he was detained in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir,
:11:08. > :11:11.The translator, Mohammed Rasool, still faces trial, while the two
:11:12. > :11:12.journalists were freed in September and deported.
:11:13. > :11:15.All three had been accused of helping militant groups.
:11:16. > :11:22.Here in Britain, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has confirmed that
:11:23. > :11:25.government ministers will be able to campaign for either side
:11:26. > :11:28.in a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union.
:11:29. > :11:32.Mr Cameron has made clear he will argue for the UK's continued
:11:33. > :11:38.membership if he secures reforms from Brussels.
:11:39. > :11:41.Now, the latest video from the so-called Islamic State group.
:11:42. > :11:44.In the footage, five men are murdered -
:11:45. > :11:49.The relative of one of the victims has been speaking to the BBC
:11:50. > :11:52.about the killings - and what it's done to the families.
:11:53. > :11:54.He's been talking to our world affairs correspondent,
:11:55. > :12:09.The so-called Islamic State captured these five men. It forced them to
:12:10. > :12:26.confess to espionage. Then it killed them. The men, one of them was 25, a
:12:27. > :12:34.31-year-old, an 18-year-old, a 30-year-old, and a 40-year-old. At a
:12:35. > :12:40.secret location, in Turkey, we met one of them. He is a democracy
:12:41. > :12:48.activist. He says his brother, in Isis controlled Syria, was just a
:12:49. > :12:58.normal person. My brother is normal, just like all the people inside my
:12:59. > :13:03.city. Has shown he fixed the air conditioning, electric, things in
:13:04. > :13:07.the homes, he lived a normal life. He hasn't slept since he learned of
:13:08. > :13:17.his brother's death. How do you understand what happened? Until now,
:13:18. > :13:26.I don't really accept the reality, of it. Up until now, I didn't
:13:27. > :13:37.accept, just this moment, it came to me, my brother is... Sorry.
:13:38. > :13:44.I was saying, my brother was still alive, but after that, back to
:13:45. > :13:53.reality, Isis executed him and he is innocent. At astonishing risk,
:13:54. > :13:57.activists inside wrecker smuggle out footage of life inside the Isis
:13:58. > :14:06.ruled city. Where conmen are in charge and it is safest simply to
:14:07. > :14:15.keep quiet. -- gunmen. What is it life now for people in Riker? It is
:14:16. > :14:19.held. -- hell. Isis arrest people without any charge just like that.
:14:20. > :14:23.The five men who were forced to make confessions had no chance to give
:14:24. > :14:26.their defence and tell their own stories. They paid with their lives.
:14:27. > :14:29.The masked front man in that IS video is thought to be
:14:30. > :14:35.The man suspected of being in the video is Siddhartha Dhar,
:14:36. > :14:38.who disappeared after being granted bail at a UK court
:14:39. > :14:42.Now the British Home Office is facing serious questions over how
:14:43. > :14:44.an extremist suspect could flee the country while
:14:45. > :14:59.Commemorations have been taking place in France in memory of the 17
:15:00. > :15:04.people who died in Islamist attacks last January. President Hollande
:15:05. > :15:08.unveiled a plaque outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo where most
:15:09. > :15:13.of the victims were shot dead. He also took place in ceremonies at a
:15:14. > :15:14.site where policemen were killed and a kosher supermarket where officers
:15:15. > :15:15.died. The row between Iran
:15:16. > :15:17.and Saudi Arabia over the Gulf kingdom's execution of dissident
:15:18. > :15:19.Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr and the subsequent attack
:15:20. > :15:22.on Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran continues to expose fault
:15:23. > :15:27.lines in the region. Bahrain has now suspended
:15:28. > :15:29.flights to and from Iran, Kuwait has recalled its ambassador
:15:30. > :15:34.from Tehran - and Gulf foreign ministers are preparing to meet
:15:35. > :15:36.in Riyadh on Saturday to take The BBC Arabic security
:15:37. > :15:43.correspondent Murad Shishani says tension between Riyadh
:15:44. > :15:59.and Tehran is nothing new. This is the iceberg of the sectarian
:16:00. > :16:06.tensions ongoing for a decade now, coming from the Middle East.
:16:07. > :16:11.Secondly, this is politicised, after a proxy war was ongoing in Syria and
:16:12. > :16:14.Iraq. Between both parties, supporting militant groups on the
:16:15. > :16:20.ground, either diplomatically lobbying against each other in
:16:21. > :16:24.various places, now coming to a clear political tension. Whether it
:16:25. > :16:27.will escalate or not, we don't know yet, all indications both parties
:16:28. > :16:32.don't want to go further than this. However they want to play the same
:16:33. > :16:37.rule by supporting their own tools in different lists. That is the
:16:38. > :16:42.situation we can see, from the Middle East. Of course, that has
:16:43. > :16:46.impact on real lives on the ground outside diplomatic matters. If you
:16:47. > :16:51.look at the Yemen or Syria, you need reconciliation. Yes, you need them,
:16:52. > :16:58.but Yemen and Syria specifically which had had some talks, supposedly
:16:59. > :17:03.to be held soon, this will be definitely affecting that. All
:17:04. > :17:09.escalations in my opinion will go to these places, where there will be no
:17:10. > :17:14.confrontation between both parties but they will be playing supporting
:17:15. > :17:18.the proxies in different places. We have just had a wire comes through
:17:19. > :17:22.from Reuters agency saying the Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister says recent
:17:23. > :17:26.tensions won't affect political negotiations on Syria, I suppose the
:17:27. > :17:31.answer to that is, you hope they won't. Exactly, you can hope that,
:17:32. > :17:37.but it's seems if both parties have big influence in Syria. They have
:17:38. > :17:44.their own allies. Both are influential on the ground, let alone
:17:45. > :17:48.jihadist, who are striking chords on their own, but there are other
:17:49. > :17:55.influential guys, the jihadis local groups, they are not adopting the
:17:56. > :18:02.global ideologies. There are also Shia militants who are supported in
:18:03. > :18:05.Iraq and Syria and these are I think the main factors which will be
:18:06. > :18:12.effective at keeping the conflict ongoing. In Australia, fire
:18:13. > :18:16.destroyed a whole house after a hover board level to charge set the
:18:17. > :18:20.place alight. The blaze ripped through the entire property but the
:18:21. > :18:25.family escaped unharmed. This was in Melbourne. It was a gift for
:18:26. > :18:29.Christmas, the hover board, it was plugged into the wall in the
:18:30. > :18:34.daughter's bedroom and it's just ignited. You can see the damage it
:18:35. > :18:38.caused to the house, the whole house has had to be demolished. Apparently
:18:39. > :18:44.you can get hover boards in Australia but as Doctor as 150 US
:18:45. > :18:50.dollars, as in many countries, they have been become in vogue and this
:18:51. > :18:54.went badly wrong. In the US, a three-year-old girl who was strapped
:18:55. > :18:58.into a car when it was stolen was found unharmed. A frantic search was
:18:59. > :19:03.launched after a thief drove off leaving her mother just feet away
:19:04. > :19:06.filling up a water jug. The car was found abandoned without the child
:19:07. > :19:11.and it wasn't until four hours later that she was discovered shivering
:19:12. > :19:15.and alone at 1am in a car park. A police officer's body camera video
:19:16. > :19:19.shows him chopping up this patrol car and scooping her up. This
:19:20. > :19:20.happened in Albuquerque in New Mexico. Thank goodness for that
:19:21. > :19:23.officer. A new implant or "bionic eye" has
:19:24. > :19:25.helped a blind woman It's hoped it could eventually help
:19:26. > :19:30.restore the sight of thousands A computer chip - costing around
:19:31. > :19:33.$75,000 - is implanted over the retina and sends light signals
:19:34. > :19:36.to the brain. If trials are positive,
:19:37. > :19:38.surgeons hope it could be available on the National Health Service
:19:39. > :19:42.in as little as two years. Our medical correspondent
:19:43. > :19:55.Fergus Walsh has the story. Since the age of five, Rhian Lewis
:19:56. > :20:02.has been gradually losing her sight as a result of a rare condition,
:20:03. > :20:06.retinitis pigmentosa. It is a bit like if someone has put the dimmer
:20:07. > :20:10.switch off ever so gradually. It has been maybe 80 years since I had any
:20:11. > :20:16.idea what my children looked like. I certainly don't know how I have
:20:17. > :20:20.aged. But now surgeons at Oxford I Hospital are to fit a German-made
:20:21. > :20:25.implant in a bid to return -- restore some of her vision. The tiny
:20:26. > :20:30.chip is fitted over the retina's like processing cells which have
:20:31. > :20:36.stopped working. Just three by three millimetres. The implant has 1600
:20:37. > :20:39.light-sensitive pixels, when like it's the implant it sends electronic
:20:40. > :20:46.signals to the optic nerve and onto the brain, which processes them. She
:20:47. > :20:54.has to learn how to interpret those messages. This control box allows
:20:55. > :20:57.her to adjust the contrast and frequency of the pixelated images.
:20:58. > :21:07.But can she now tell the time? Three.
:21:08. > :21:22.Oh, it is. Oh, my God! Well done. I got it. It is very nice to compare
:21:23. > :21:26.that to TV pictures. An outline of things moving and coming and going.
:21:27. > :21:31.Compared to what we see, we consider that to be low-level vision. Someone
:21:32. > :21:36.who is completely blind, the ability is actually life changing. She still
:21:37. > :21:42.needs help getting around, but she says having the implant is pure joy.
:21:43. > :21:46.You're not completely helpless, you can actually find the edge of a
:21:47. > :21:54.wall. I really can't put it into words. I just felt elated. Switch
:21:55. > :21:58.the machine on. It comes on completely instantly. I will move my
:21:59. > :22:02.head around there, the flashing his starting. Mac in 2012I met Robin
:22:03. > :22:07.Miller, one of the first patients to receive an earlier version of the
:22:08. > :22:12.implant. Those devices lasted up to 18 months. It is hoped, this new
:22:13. > :22:16.implant, could stay in place for up to five years.
:22:17. > :22:18.Fifa's ethics committee has recommended imposing a nine-year ban
:22:19. > :22:20.on the governing body's suspended secretary general,
:22:21. > :22:24.Mr Valcke was originally suspended for 90 days,
:22:25. > :22:28.but that has now been extended by a further 45 days.
:22:29. > :22:30.A statement from the committee also recommended that Mr Valcke serve
:22:31. > :22:33.a nine-year ban and pay a fine of $67,000 for alleged "misuse
:22:34. > :22:40.of expenses and other infringements of FIFA's rules and regulations."
:22:41. > :22:42.Former West Indies captain Chris Gayle has been fined $7,000
:22:43. > :22:45.by the Australian team he represents for flirting inappropriately
:22:46. > :22:53.with a female journalist during a live television interview.
:22:54. > :22:57.Gayle then went on to tell the journalist not to "blush."The
:22:58. > :23:03.cricketer has since apologised and said he'd been joking.
:23:04. > :23:10.There wasn't anything meant to be disrespectful or offending to her.
:23:11. > :23:16.She felt that way, then I am really sorry for that. There wasn't any
:23:17. > :23:21.harm meant in that particular way, to harm any particular person like
:23:22. > :23:26.that. It was a simple joke. The game was going on. Entertainment, you
:23:27. > :23:29.know, things get out of proportion. These things happen. There wasn't
:23:30. > :23:32.any harm done, and I will believe it at that and I am sorry for that, and
:23:33. > :23:34.I will just have to move on. The female commentator journalist
:23:35. > :23:36.interviewing Chris Gayle was Mel Here's what she had to say
:23:37. > :23:44.about the incident. It was more that it was just
:23:45. > :23:48.unexpected. Of course you don't expect to get that sort of answer. A
:23:49. > :23:53.little bit disappointing, because that just doesn't happen normally. I
:23:54. > :23:55.don't want to be the subject of such conversations, I like just going
:23:56. > :23:59.about their business and doing my job. It is a good thing that people
:24:00. > :24:04.are talking. We always want equality and I have always felt in my career,
:24:05. > :24:06.nothing but respect. He apologised and I accept that and we move on.
:24:07. > :24:09.You don't even have to be a fan of cricket to appreciate the amazing
:24:10. > :24:11.feat a 15-year-old Indian schoolboy has achieved.
:24:12. > :24:13.He's become the first batsman in the game's history to complete
:24:14. > :24:22.Our South Asia Correspondent Justin Rowlatt reports.
:24:23. > :24:30.15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade didn't expect to break any records today.
:24:31. > :24:36.He says he just played what he calls his natural game, attacking from the
:24:37. > :24:45.word go, and attack he did. He smashed 59 sixs, 127 fours. 6.5
:24:46. > :24:54.hours later, he had run up a total of ten centuries. 1009 and runs not
:24:55. > :24:58.out, and all in a single innings. Son of an auto rickshaw driver was
:24:59. > :25:03.powered into cricketing history, shattering the previous record of
:25:04. > :25:18.628 runs that had stood for 116 years. To play a big innings. After
:25:19. > :25:27.that, I scored 100, 200, 300, I want to play for India. Mumbai 's school
:25:28. > :25:32.cricket is seriously competitive, unlike my game. It has produced
:25:33. > :25:37.legendary cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, widely reckoned to have
:25:38. > :25:41.been deep test batsmen of all time. Today he tweeted his congratulations
:25:42. > :25:46.to the young player, urging him to work hard and scale even greater
:25:47. > :25:51.peaks. All right, come on, lads, let's try again. He is certainly a
:25:52. > :25:55.hero to these kids, but perhaps it is the rival team that needs to do
:25:56. > :26:01.the hard work. They were all out for a paltry 31 runs.
:26:02. > :26:10.I'm Philippa Thomas. Thank you for being with us here on BBC World News
:26:11. > :26:13.Today. Good evening. Still some heavy rain about this evening
:26:14. > :26:17.particularly across the north-east of England. An Amber warning in
:26:18. > :26:21.force until midnight. Tomorrow morning, dense fog could be the
:26:22. > :26:24.hazard across parts of England and Wales. It could form anywhere but
:26:25. > :26:25.particularly in the