:00:07. > :00:11.This is BBC World News Today, broadcasting in the UK and around
:00:12. > :00:22.the world. The top story: a huge snowstorm starts to
:00:23. > :00:26.hit the east coast of the United States. 50 million people are
:00:27. > :00:31.expected to be affected by the blizzard and state of emergency is
:00:32. > :00:35.declared in some areas. This is a city in shutdown. People have been
:00:36. > :00:36.told to stay at home as this potentially crippling storm hits the
:00:37. > :00:43.nation 's capital. Satellite images
:00:44. > :00:44.reveal the first evidence of a growing US presence
:00:45. > :00:49.in northern Syria. More than 40
:00:50. > :01:03.migrants drown as two boats sink, And the Oscars race row. The Academy
:01:04. > :01:13.pledges to double the members of women and minorities.
:01:14. > :01:20.Hello and welcome to the problem. A powerful snowstorm has just reached
:01:21. > :01:28.the east coast of the United States, with some forecasters predicting
:01:29. > :01:31.Snow-mageddon, the heaviest snowfall in 100 years. The extreme weather
:01:32. > :01:35.has led to a state of emergency in Washington, DC, the federal
:01:36. > :01:38.government is shutdown and the transport system closed. More than
:01:39. > :01:42.3,000 flights have been cancelled across America, at least eight
:01:43. > :01:46.people have died in traffic accidents. Members of the public are
:01:47. > :01:51.being advised not to travel where possible. Six states have declared a
:01:52. > :01:56.state of emergency. The National Weather Service said the storm could
:01:57. > :02:14.affect well over people. Our North American editor Jon Sopel reports.
:02:15. > :02:16.A massive blizzard takes aim at 75 million Americans.
:02:17. > :02:18.The north-eastern seaboard of the United States is bracing
:02:19. > :02:20.itself for a once in a hundred years event.
:02:21. > :02:24.Washington, DC is bracing itself for a combination of epic snowfall,
:02:25. > :02:28.A state of emergency is in place and the public transport network
:02:29. > :02:30.is shutting down and apocalyptic warnings are being given.
:02:31. > :02:33.I want to be very clear with everybody, we see this
:02:34. > :02:37.It has life and death implications and all of the residents
:02:38. > :02:40.of the District of Columbia should treat it that way.
:02:41. > :02:48.Folks need to understand that this is a life-threatening storm.
:02:49. > :02:52.If you do not need to be out, we are asking folks to,
:02:53. > :02:54.by three o'clock today, be where they are going to be
:02:55. > :03:01.People are taking heed, if the lines in shops are anything
:03:02. > :03:05.to go by, by yesterday afternoon the supermarket in Washington had
:03:06. > :03:17.Hardware shops too have been doing a roaring trade.
:03:18. > :03:32.It is crazy, there is no bread and no milk.
:03:33. > :03:36.It is like Snowmageddon from a couple of years ago
:03:37. > :03:42.A little snow did fall on Wednesday, and it caused total chaos
:03:43. > :03:52.No one was exempt, not even a passenger on this flight,
:03:53. > :03:55.the President returned from Detroit only to find his armoured limo
:03:56. > :04:00.and the rest of the motorcade caught in the gridlock
:04:01. > :04:15.Two feet is forecast to fall over the next 36 hours.
:04:16. > :04:22.Let's go to Washington and speak to Laura Bicker, who is outside in the
:04:23. > :04:26.snow. Are people following the advice to get home? There seems to
:04:27. > :04:30.be a lot of people who have heeded the warnings and certainly, this
:04:31. > :04:35.forecast has been in place for several days now. I think some
:04:36. > :04:40.people thought, is it too much? Are these apocalyptic warnings going too
:04:41. > :04:44.far? Well, it does seem now that the forecasters are fairly confident
:04:45. > :04:54.they have it right. People have been heading home, these are the
:04:55. > :04:56.tail-enders of traffic of people heading home from work. People
:04:57. > :04:59.already out trying to clear roads and pavements but it is expected, as
:05:00. > :05:02.the snow continues to fall, and certainly into the early hours of
:05:03. > :05:08.Saturday, the snowploughs and shovels will not be able to keep up.
:05:09. > :05:11.There is a warning that perhaps over 20 inches of snow could fall in
:05:12. > :05:18.parts of Washington, DC. The previous record was in 1922, 20
:05:19. > :05:24.eight inches of snow, so that could be near, or there are fears it could
:05:25. > :05:27.be surpassed -- 28 inches. People are hunkering down, including
:05:28. > :05:31.President Obama, who said he will be hunkering down in the White House
:05:32. > :05:35.for the duration of the storm, which could last up to 36 hours and
:05:36. > :05:40.already, the snow is beginning to fall. This is just the edge of it.
:05:41. > :05:45.It has tracked north, so there have been several inches of snow in
:05:46. > :05:49.Kentucky, Arkansas, also in Tennessee, and it is expected by the
:05:50. > :05:55.end of this storm that one in seven of Americans could have up to a foot
:05:56. > :06:02.of snow outside their front door. What about looking after the more
:06:03. > :06:07.vulnerable members of the society? Are the National Guard out, for
:06:08. > :06:12.example? Certainly in Virginia, 300 members of the National Guard have
:06:13. > :06:15.been called in to help. Other places, as you have heard, a state
:06:16. > :06:20.of emergency has been declared, which allows them to access funds to
:06:21. > :06:24.get extra help. There are people mobilising and getting ready for
:06:25. > :06:27.early tomorrow morning, because they are expecting that by the early
:06:28. > :06:32.hours of Saturday morning, the snow will begin to fall and be at its
:06:33. > :06:36.heaviest, so certainly that is when you will see most of the cruise
:06:37. > :06:40.mobilising. But when it comes to empty shells, if you haven't got
:06:41. > :06:46.food by now, you could be struggling to get it. Get back inside into the
:06:47. > :06:49.warm, Laura, thank you very much. Washington isn't the only city in
:06:50. > :06:53.the world which experiences heavy snowfall at this time of the year.
:06:54. > :06:56.The BBC International correspondence have been looking at the winter
:06:57. > :07:11.weather where they are and have sent this message.
:07:12. > :07:26.We have watched with mounting concern as that monster storm has
:07:27. > :07:31.barrelled towards you. So reassurance from cities around the
:07:32. > :07:41.world. About how they cope, or don't cope, with snow.
:07:42. > :07:47.This time of the year, in Kabul, it used to be pretty cold, -5, on
:07:48. > :07:56.average, but this year, it feels very warm, it feels like spring.
:07:57. > :08:03.In January, it snowed in Moscow, as for most of this week but for us,
:08:04. > :08:07.even the heaviest of snow is not a problem, but for those who drive,
:08:08. > :08:17.heavy snow can become a big issue if the authorities decide to send
:08:18. > :08:21.10,000 sweepers all-out at once. Hello, DC. Here in Geneva, we
:08:22. > :08:26.haven't had too much snow yet but we certainly are prepared. This is
:08:27. > :08:35.Switzerland, after all. And we have got more snow coping tools that the
:08:36. > :08:40.Swiss Army knife. -- can pay. Hello. So, when it snows in London, it is
:08:41. > :08:45.on the front pages of all the newspapers, we love taking pictures
:08:46. > :08:50.of the snow, but the trains get delayed, the buses are stopped and
:08:51. > :08:54.cars start crawling along the roads. Some of us can't even make it into
:08:55. > :09:04.work, so we are not very good when it comes to dealing with snow.
:09:05. > :09:13.Still hasn't arrived here yet in London. Moving on.
:09:14. > :09:16.by the international intelligence consultancy Stratfor indicates
:09:17. > :09:19.that the United States is extending an airstrip in the north
:09:20. > :09:32.This shows the lengthening of the runway from 700 metres to over 1300.
:09:33. > :09:34.That's enough to land a Hercules aircraft.
:09:35. > :09:36.The site is located near to the town of Rmeilan.
:09:37. > :09:39.American airpower has been used to help a Kurdish alliance trying
:09:40. > :09:41.to repel the forces of the so called Islamic State.
:09:42. > :09:44.But there are claims the US operation in the area could become
:09:45. > :09:46.a lot more substantial, involving troops and helicopters.
:09:47. > :09:51.Sim Tack works as a military analyst for Stratfor and says
:09:52. > :09:55.The Obama administration may be changing strategy.
:09:56. > :09:58.The significance of this is that this would be an important,
:09:59. > :10:01.qualitative step for the US to take in its support for the SDF,
:10:02. > :10:03.the Syrian Defence Forces, which is one of the branches
:10:04. > :10:06.of its strategy against Islamic State in Syria.
:10:07. > :10:09.By supporting this group, they are guaranteeing some sort
:10:10. > :10:14.of ground force that can push IS back.
:10:15. > :10:20.They have been supporting YPG in the past through air drops
:10:21. > :10:24.and that's fairly limited, so in terms of putting an actual
:10:25. > :10:29.presence on the ground or using that runway for logistical support
:10:30. > :10:32.of them, that really increases the ability of the US to push
:10:33. > :10:44.Murad Shishani, a correspondent with the BBC World
:10:45. > :10:52.I spoke to him earlier and he said it might be a riposte to Moscow's
:10:53. > :10:57.greater involvement in the Syrian conflict. This is one of the biggest
:10:58. > :11:01.challenges or more deep in the conflict in the Middle East as we
:11:02. > :11:11.can see. Russians have their own bases, even concentrating on air
:11:12. > :11:14.strikes and military experts and on the other side, Americans, always
:11:15. > :11:20.banking, relying on the Kurds and taking the front lines in fighting
:11:21. > :11:23.against the Islamic State. We have seen that with the Peshmerga. But
:11:24. > :11:30.now they are going into north-eastern Syria, which means
:11:31. > :11:36.Ankara, as we said in the introduction, but will they take
:11:37. > :11:46.this part, because it is very close. It is very close to Raqqa, which is
:11:47. > :11:49.a supply route to Mosul. And the Americans with air strikes, trying
:11:50. > :11:52.to stop the flow of weapons and manpower for Islamic State in this
:11:53. > :11:59.area, it could be very important, because they have places beyond
:12:00. > :12:02.Raqqa which is one of the major routes for support for Islamic
:12:03. > :12:05.State, but if we look at this development in north-eastern Syria,
:12:06. > :12:09.that is the plan for the Americans as I can see it. If airdrops were
:12:10. > :12:13.already taking place, why would they need to extend the runway like this,
:12:14. > :12:19.bearing in mind that I think the various supported forces have
:12:20. > :12:24.already retrieved a significant amount of land from Islamic State.
:12:25. > :12:27.It seems to me that they want to boost support and logistics.
:12:28. > :12:33.Many observers say, they downplay the ideal routes on the ground one
:12:34. > :12:36.Many observers say, they downplay the idea of boots on the ground one
:12:37. > :12:45.But, now, in this case in Syria, for all the region.
:12:46. > :12:48.American special forces overseeing it, or would
:12:49. > :12:54.From local sources, in the last few days they were talking
:12:55. > :13:00.They control the large area to expand the runway.
:13:01. > :13:14.We don't know who is exactly going to be behind it.
:13:15. > :13:19.Greek and Turkish coastguards have recovered the bodies of more than 40
:13:20. > :13:20.migrants, including 20 children, whose boat ran into trouble in the
:13:21. > :13:22.Mediterranean. Dozens of other people
:13:23. > :13:24.remain unaccounted for. This latest tragedy comes
:13:25. > :13:26.as the Turkish and German governments held a special meeting
:13:27. > :13:28.in Berlin to discuss Afterwards, a communique was signed
:13:29. > :13:33.by both countries in which Turkey promised to do more to stem
:13:34. > :13:36.the migrant flow into the EU. These people were trying
:13:37. > :13:45.to reach Greece. In the last 24 hours,
:13:46. > :13:48.more than 40 have died This baby was rushed
:13:49. > :13:53.to intensive care. Europe's leaders barely
:13:54. > :13:58.agreed on how to help. Today the German Chancellor met
:13:59. > :14:01.the Turkish Prime Minister TRANSLATION: Deep inside,
:14:02. > :14:07.I am convinced that the problem of illegal migration can only be
:14:08. > :14:11.solved if we work together in fighting the root causes
:14:12. > :14:14.of the refugee crisis. Europe's leaders have yet to fully
:14:15. > :14:24.implement a controversial quota system to relocate 120,000 refugees
:14:25. > :14:30.and migrants across Europe. They are setting up so-called
:14:31. > :14:33.hotspots, special reception centres in Italy and Greece
:14:34. > :14:36.from which migrants can be sent on to other countries
:14:37. > :14:40.or turned away. And they offered Turkey more
:14:41. > :14:43.than ?2 billion in return TRANSLATION: I want to tell people
:14:44. > :14:51.in Germany and the EU that this is not a German crisis,
:14:52. > :14:54.or a European crisis, We can't just pass this
:14:55. > :15:00.crisis onto each other. We have to solve it
:15:01. > :15:05.in Syria and in Iraq. Germany was the promised
:15:06. > :15:09.land of Europe. These people told us they have
:15:10. > :15:17.waited here for days and need money, but they couldn't manage these
:15:18. > :15:33.people in Germany and they can't. Across Europe,
:15:34. > :15:34.attitudes are hardening. Germany, after the sex
:15:35. > :15:38.attacks, is divided. Germany has it half right and half
:15:39. > :15:43.wrong. We have to help refugees
:15:44. > :15:46.by all means but not by opening the gates and allowing
:15:47. > :15:48.millions to come. You cannot plan when war
:15:49. > :16:00.is in a country, so I think we're But Europe's doors are closing,
:16:01. > :16:01.there will be border checks, fences, limits.
:16:02. > :16:03.Politically, the refugee crisis has exposed fault lines running
:16:04. > :16:06.through Europe as one by one, member states prioritise national
:16:07. > :16:08.interest over European responsibility.
:16:09. > :16:12.There is now a fear at the highest level.
:16:13. > :16:14.The German President, the French Prime Minister,
:16:15. > :16:20.that the crisis as instantly testing Europe, but that it could destroy
:16:21. > :16:23.that the crisis isn't simply testing Europe,
:16:24. > :16:29.but that it could destroy it all together.
:16:30. > :16:37.Stay with us here, still to come, we live in Los Angeles for the latest
:16:38. > :16:38.on the Oscars race row. The Academy has just announced drastic changes
:16:39. > :16:48.to try and increase diversity. A woman from East London who was
:16:49. > :16:52.sentenced to three and a half years in prison for killing a convicted
:16:53. > :17:00.paedophile has had her sentence more than doubled. Sarah Sands, a mother
:17:01. > :17:04.of five, stabbed her neighbour, Michael Pleastad in November 2014
:17:05. > :17:07.after learning he had been charged with sexually assaulting young boys.
:17:08. > :17:10.He was stabbed eight times and bled to death. Appeal Court judges ruled
:17:11. > :17:17.the original sentence given was too lenient. The Scottish Government is
:17:18. > :17:23.considering adding folic acid to flour to prevent brain and spinal
:17:24. > :17:26.disorders in babies. The US has been fortifying flour for years but
:17:27. > :17:30.successive UK governments have chosen not to. The substance has
:17:31. > :17:34.been shown to reduce the incidents in some babies if women take it
:17:35. > :17:38.before and during pregnancy. It occurs naturally in green, leafy
:17:39. > :17:43.vegetables but many women don't get enough. Experts say 2,000 birth
:17:44. > :17:53.anomalies could have been avoided if flour had been fortified since 1998.
:17:54. > :17:57.This is BBC World News today. The latest headlines: a huge blizzard
:17:58. > :18:02.has begun to hit the United States east coast, and is expected to bring
:18:03. > :18:07.near record levels of snow. Satellite imagery obtained by a
:18:08. > :18:12.private security forum Matthew Wade firm indicates the United states is
:18:13. > :18:17.extending an airstrip in northern Syria -- obtained by other private
:18:18. > :18:20.security for academic firm. Now developments over the row for the
:18:21. > :18:25.Oscars. The Academy has announced they will be doubling the number of
:18:26. > :18:30.female and non-white members by 2020, in response to the race
:18:31. > :18:33.controversy and a number of Hollywood stars, including Spike Lee
:18:34. > :18:38.and Will Smith, boycotting next month's ceremony in protest against
:18:39. > :18:42.the lack of racial diversity in this year's nominations. All of the
:18:43. > :18:47.actors nominated for the Oscars are white for the second consecutive
:18:48. > :18:51.year. Let's go to our Los Angeles correspondent James Cook. The chair
:18:52. > :18:56.of the Academy promised radical action, is this going to do enough,
:18:57. > :19:01.do you think? Well, I think it is significant. It does sound like the
:19:02. > :19:08.Academy is actually determined to make significant changes. The
:19:09. > :19:11.president of the Academy is its first-ever black president and said
:19:12. > :19:17.she was heartbroken about the Oscar nominees when, as you say, for the
:19:18. > :19:20.second year in a row, all 20 of the actors and actresses in the
:19:21. > :19:27.performing categories were white and there was a notable absence for one
:19:28. > :19:32.film in particular, which many felt deserved the best picture
:19:33. > :19:37.nomination, Straight Outta Compton. So the measures announced do go some
:19:38. > :19:42.way to addressing the problem. The problem, in a sense, is about the
:19:43. > :19:46.Academy's membership and in the wider industry than about individual
:19:47. > :19:51.performances this year. To explain how it works, the Academy is made up
:19:52. > :19:56.of around 6,000 or so voting members and that group is overwhelmingly in
:19:57. > :20:02.itself white, male and over the age of 50, hence this move to try and
:20:03. > :20:05.get far more diversity into that group in the next few years, and
:20:06. > :20:08.they are going to do that by stripping the voting rights from
:20:09. > :20:12.some of those members, not anyone that has ever been nominated for an
:20:13. > :20:16.Oscar and not anyone who has been in the industry for very long time, but
:20:17. > :20:19.those who have not been active for the last ten years will not be
:20:20. > :20:23.allowed to vote in future and they will launch a recruiting drive to
:20:24. > :20:28.more people in. You have also got some fairly big name actors getting
:20:29. > :20:32.involved in this debate now. I'm thinking of Charlotte Rampling and
:20:33. > :20:39.Michael Caine. Yes, they are getting involved almost on the other side.
:20:40. > :20:43.We have seen actors such as Will Smith, saying they thought the
:20:44. > :20:47.situation was an acceptable. Michael Cain and Charlotte Rampling sound
:20:48. > :20:53.less sure. Charlotte Rampling, nominated this year for her
:20:54. > :20:58.prominent performance in 45 Years is more cautious, suggesting the danger
:20:59. > :21:03.of this is that it pushes people into categories, that people begin
:21:04. > :21:06.to think of actors and, indeed, people generally, as being either
:21:07. > :21:10.black or white or of a different race or ethnicity, rather than
:21:11. > :21:13.focusing on the performance. She said is it not possible the
:21:14. > :21:18.performances these actors gave in this particular year weren't good
:21:19. > :21:22.enough? But many other people take the opposing view, or agree with her
:21:23. > :21:28.to a certain extent but think, maybe or maybe not, but it isn't really
:21:29. > :21:30.the point, the point is that the industry does not accurately
:21:31. > :21:36.represent the United States of America and indeed the wider world.
:21:37. > :21:39.James, thank you very much. You are watching BBC World News today, still
:21:40. > :21:44.to come, the sport. We will start with tennis and it was
:21:45. > :21:48.a day when form one out at the Australian open, with wins for top
:21:49. > :21:55.seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams, and a landmark victory for
:21:56. > :22:00.former champion Roger Federer. The first man to reach 300 wins in Grand
:22:01. > :22:05.Slam single matches. No greater celebration from Roger Federer, he
:22:06. > :22:09.is 67 wins clear of number two Jimmy Connors. The Swiss player reached
:22:10. > :22:15.the milestone at rob Labour arena with a victory over a player a
:22:16. > :22:23.decade younger, Grigor Dimitrov, the man to fall. It is very special and
:22:24. > :22:31.you look deeper into it, where it has all happened and how and, it is
:22:32. > :22:35.very nice, I'm very happy. Maria Sharapova was made to work hard for
:22:36. > :22:40.the 600th win of her career, as the Russian booked her place in the last
:22:41. > :22:46.16. The 2008 Australian Open champion pushed hard against Lauren
:22:47. > :22:49.Davis. A spoonful of almond butter was the stack of choice for the
:22:50. > :22:54.American, having edged the second set. That but a boost was not enough
:22:55. > :23:02.against a four-time finalist. The win for Sharapova sets up a meeting
:23:03. > :23:10.against Belen Church. No issues for the world 11. Serena Williams is
:23:11. > :23:15.looking unstoppable. She is now fast heading for a matchup in the
:23:16. > :23:19.quarters against Sharapova. No time troubles either for the men's world
:23:20. > :23:23.number one. Novak Djokovic is speeding towards a sixth title in
:23:24. > :23:29.Melbourne. He dispatched Italian Andreas Seppi. Matches begin in
:23:30. > :23:36.Melbourne in just under three hours' time. Muguruza is third act on it
:23:37. > :23:47.first on the Rod Laver. Victoria Azarenka is next up. Then it is
:23:48. > :23:51.2014's men champion -- men's champion Stan Wawrinka. Andy Murray
:23:52. > :23:55.plays jazz Sousa of Portugal. The South African batsmen have moved
:23:56. > :24:02.them into a strong position on the first day of the fourth and final
:24:03. > :24:05.test against England in Centurion. Amla and Stephen Cook made
:24:06. > :24:13.centuries. Although South Africa endured a mini collapse, Quinton De
:24:14. > :24:20.Kock held an unbroken stand of 76 to guide South Africa to 329-5.
:24:21. > :24:24.Ackerman, a legend to South Africa, said to me that for too many people,
:24:25. > :24:29.the dream to play the South Africa is the end goal and you don't think
:24:30. > :24:33.of thereafter. The end goal should be to get 104 South Africa and if
:24:34. > :24:36.more people had that attitude, they would be more successful, so a
:24:37. > :24:40.massive thank you to Ackerman for that piece of advice and that really
:24:41. > :24:45.stuck by me through the times when things were tough, when you think
:24:46. > :24:50.maybe the dream won't come true. We pride ourselves on the way we
:24:51. > :24:54.approach the game in the first two hours and we weren't probably at our
:24:55. > :24:58.best, if we are being really honest, but the way we applied ourselves and
:24:59. > :25:05.came back in the last session was a fantastic effort from the whole team
:25:06. > :25:09.and from the bowlers in particular. French diver Sebastien Auge remains
:25:10. > :25:14.on course for a third consecutive win in Monte Carlo. The three-time
:25:15. > :25:25.world champion made light of difficult conditions to take a 1.5
:25:26. > :25:33.second lead. It caused problems for many drivers, including Koubek. He
:25:34. > :25:37.lost control on the ice, and that proved costly, Koubek is now down in
:25:38. > :25:40.50th place. Let's stay with sport and if you
:25:41. > :25:49.watch International rugby, you will be familiar with the haka. Now it
:25:50. > :25:52.has gone viral. This is from a wedding video, it was posted on
:25:53. > :25:58.social media and it has been watched by millions. That is it so far, stay
:25:59. > :26:12.with us, plenty more. Hello. We will be coming back to
:26:13. > :26:15.look at the European weather seen in a couple of minutes but with good
:26:16. > :26:19.reason I want to take you straightaway over to the eastern
:26:20. > :26:21.side of the States, where you may remember, you were