20/03/2016 World News Today

Making history, President Obama arrives in Cuba. He's the first US

President to visit for nearly 90 years. Turkey says it's identified

the suicide bomber responsible for Saturday's attack in Istanbul and he

had links to Islamic state. Boat-loads of migrant continue to

arrive in Greece despite an agreement to send them back to

Turkey. A very warm welcome to you.

We are taking you straight to Cuba where President Obama has arrived on

what is being termed an historic visit, the first to the island by a

sitting President for nearly 90 years. He'll be there for two days

and will meet President Raul Castro where the pair will discuss trade

and political reform. Well, Dr Helen Yaffi is economic history fellow at

the London School of Economics and the author of Che Guevara; the

Economics of the Revolution. Welcome. You and I were watching the

arrival of the first family of the United States arriving en mass OK on

the tarmac in Havana just about 15 minutes ago now. The term historic

is often overused by us journalists, we are horribly guilty of it but in

this instance it's justified? Absolutely. If you think these are

two countries who brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war in

1962 and who would have thought this just a few years ago when the

relationship between the countries seemed to be at crisis point. So

yes, since the announcement in December 2014 that the countries had

re-established diplomatic relations, and that was the result of 18 months

of secret talks which really took the world by surprise. There's been

a sort of positive spiral between the two countries and there are many

issues still to be resolved but the first steps are being taken.

The first important steps being taken. Dr Helen please stick around

because we have a lot to talk about over the next half hour. Right now,

I want to check in with Barbara Plett-usher who is on the streets of

Havana for us. We were talking earlier about the slight make-over

that the central states of old Havana have undertake none the

run-up to this visit by President Obama, the smell of paint still

wafting about in the air? Yes. The Cubans have done as much as

they can to make the city look good for President Obama. Not only in old

Havana where he'll be going on a walkabout shortly if the weather

clears, but in other parts of the city, the streets he'll drive on,

the streets from the airport and in the city on which he'll drive. They

haven painted buildings, repaired the pavement and put up some bill

boards. Posters have been put up of President Obama himself, including

one of Obama and Raul Castro, things that you wouldn't have believed you

would have seen just 18 months ago. The city has been undergoing a

make-over for President Obama and the people themselves have been

eagerly looking forward to his visit. I think many are fairly

understanding that him actually stepping on to Cuban soil isn't

going to radically thing their lives right away.

The reproachment happened and Cubans' lives haven't changed right

away. But they understand the symbolic importance of Mr Obama.

Visiting with his entire family, Malia, Sasha and Michelle. We won't

see the streets swamped. Cubans have been encouraged to stay

home during this visit. The weather is not so great at the

moment. The images of endless sunshine here, but you get,

especially at this time of year what they call cold fronts and rain

sweeping in, which is bad timing unfortunately. So less people on the

street for this reason. Also, as you said, the Cubans government have

been telling people it would be better for them if they didn't come

out on the street. There'll be street closures for security

reasons. They wouldn't get a close look at the President anyway.

Anything else President Obama does during this trip, the emphasis of

the trip has been on the Cuban people. President Obama will be

meeting President Castro and there'll be press conferences and

pomp and ceremony around that. The Obama administration's always said

its policy is aimed at engaging the Cuban people and hoping that will

bring change about, rather than isolating the leadership.

Stimulating the private sector is a big part of the American approach.

He'll go to a baseball game. Again, something common between Cuba and

the United States. They all love baseball and a lot of the American

leagues are Cuban. He's also going to address the nation, he'll be

speaking at a famous theatre down town.

Remarks will be broadcast on state television which would be

unprecedented. It's an amazing thing that this is something they plan to

do, meaning all Cubans will be able to hear his message. He'll be

meeting with the dissidents that the Americans have been backing all

along, saying this is an issue of human rights to stand up against an

authoritarian regime, something the government said they wouldn't want

interference on but it's something Mr Obama is going to be raising with

President Raul Castro, that is the area of his visit.

Really gad to check in with you Barbara. For now, thank you.

Dr Helen, who is still hear with me in the studio from the London school

of economics, Barbara touched on it at the end there that President

Obama will be meeting with political dissidents during this visit,

including this group that was demonstrating a few hours before his

arrival the ladies in white. Could you explain who they are and the

significance of that? The ladies many white got set up as

the wives and sisters of a group of people who were arrested a few years

ago and accused by the Cuban government of receiving money from

the US or through agencies funded by the US to break the laws in Cuba

through various means of promoting regime change. The interesting thing

is that all those prisoners have subsequently been released in Cuba,

they have had an amnesty. But the ladies in white have continued

protesting, they are free to do so, they have a protest every week and

obviously for them, the opportunity provided by Obama's visit to draw a

bit of the Spotlight to themselves, is something that wouldn't be

missed. They are a controversial group, they don't have much

following, hardly any among the Cuban people, not least because they

receive payment for their activism. So the payment they receive for

attending one march is almost the same as a monthly average monthly

salary of a Cuban. That is interesting. Yes. Important to

remember that although there's been so many steps taken in the lead up

to this visit in terms of the thawing of relations, including

economic relations between the two, this visit does not mark the

complete normalisation of a relationship between Cuba and the US

because that 54-year-old economic embargo, that's still in place isn't

it? Absolutely. It's codified in law through congress so it would require

a vote. However, the Cubans have been very clear in laying out the

aspects that could be removed very quickly by executive degree. Obama

took some measures, or rather his administration did, which were

announced a couple of days ago. Among these measures, it gives you

an idea, I don't think people realise the extent of the blockade,

so one of the measures that's just been removed was that US citizens

visiting any country in Europe would have been breaking the law to drink

any drink that had a Cuban product in, so if they'd gone to a bar, I'm

thinking about my students at the London School of Economics, there

are many from the US, if they went to the student bar and had a Cuba

drink, they would have been violating the US blockade. So there

are some quite absurd measures which are thankfully being removed. But

it's interesting that all this sort of apparatus or infrastructure

that's impeding the relationship is on the US side so the onus is really

on the United States administration and Obama has shown, particularly

with the announcement a couple of days ago, that he is serious. There

are many more measures he can take using his presidential privilege.

What a wonderful first step to have been taken today, the first of many

perhaps. Dr Helen from the London school of economics, many thanks.

We are following this historic visit on BBC News, by not only President

Barack Obama but also his wife Michelle, their daughters Sasha and

Malia having touched down in the last half hour or so on the runway

in Havana in Cuba, the first visit by a sitting US President in 88

years. More on the BBC website and we'll be returning to this, our top

story here on BBC News throughout the hour.

There is some other news happening in the world, including officials in

Turkey, saying that the suicide bomber behind an attack in Istanbul

on Saturday has been identified as a member of the Islamic state militant

group. The Interior Minister announced the findings of their

investigation, referring to Islamic state as Daesh.

Our findings though the terrorist is afilliated with the terrorists of

Daesh. We investigated whether there are other connections to others

behind the attack. The information I received was there was no warrant

issued so far. Fever people have been detained. -- five people have

been detained. Five people were killed

and more than 30 wounded And the city remains on edge today

as officials postponed a football match earlier, citing

an unspecified threat. Daniel Boettcher has

the latest from Istanbul. This is the heart of Istanbul, its

most popular shopping street. This is where the suicide bombing

happened yesterday. Last night this area was emptied. People are coming

back out on to the streets here. The authorities say they have now

formally identified the suicide bomber who they say was linked to

Islamic state. This is the site of the bombing and people have put up

banners saying "we are not afraid, we are not going away". There's

carnations that have been set on the ground there. There's a mood of

defiance. Some people are staying away. This area would normally be

even busier on a weekend. Some embassies have been warning

visitors, tourists, to stay away from crowded areas and from the main

tourist sites. There is a sense here of a city on

edge and while the main concerns are of course about safety and security,

people are also beginning to wonder what all of this will mean for

businesses like these for shops, restaurants, cafes and also for

Turkey's tourism. I'm a restaurant owner so I know

that it's going to a risk. For a couple of months actually, there's a

huge decrease in the number of people coming to the restaurant. How

would you judge the mood amongst people in Istanbul at the moment?

It's the first time that we are living in that kind of mood that any

time, anywhere, there could be blast bombings. This has been the fourth

suicide bombing in Turkey's two main cities this year and, although there

isn't a visible presence, there is a heightened state of security as

Turkey faces threats from Kurdish militants. Some other news: The

lawyer for Paris attack suspect says he's planning legal action against a

French prosecutor for revealing details of his first interrogation

to journalists. The prosecutor told reporters that he admitted backing

out of blowing himself up during the November attacks.

The European Union's new rules for migrants crossing from Turkey

From today, all migrants who don't prove a case for asylum in Europe

can expect to be sent back to Turkey.

But the new rules haven't stopped people from making the short

but dangerous trip from Turkey to the Greek Island of Lesbos.

It's emerged it could take months to decode the flight data recorders

from a plane that crashed while trying to land at Rostov

It happened in the early hours of Saturday killing all 62

The chief executive of FlyDubai made an appeal not to speculate

A top Rwandan genocide suspect has been sent

from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda where

Ladislas Ntaganzwa is accused of organising the killing and sexual

abuse of tens of thousands of ethnic Tutsis in 1994.

The US had placed a five-million-dollar bounty

Do stay with us. Still to come from Rome to deal, famous landmarks

around the world go dark as part of a huge campaign to these awareness

of environmental issues. Here in the UK the fallout has continued from

the dramatic resignation from the government of Iain Duncan Smith, the

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Today, in his first

interview since stepping down on Friday, Mr Duncan Smith repeated his

criticisms of the government planned cuts to disability announced by

Chancellor George Osborne earlier this week. He is Mr Duncan Smith

speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr. ?33 billion a year out of working

age benefits. My argument now is we cannot on doing this. Too far now,

the straw that broke the back? I care for my countrymen and women, I

am resigning because I want my government to think again about this

and get back to that position which I believe is about an a one nation.

This is not some second attempt to attack the Prime Minister or

anything about Europe. It is nothing to do with that at all. This is ABC

world News today. The latest headlines: Michael making history,

President Obama arrives in Cuba. He is the first US president to visit

for nearly 90 years. Now, in us carrying foreign students has

crashed in Spain cooling at least 13 people. The accident happened early

in the morning on the highway between Valencia and worse alone.

Most of the 57 people on board the bus where international students on

an EU exchange programme returning to Barcelona after a fireworks

festival. I have been speaking to our reporter in Madrid who has more

details on this terrible crash. Well, we have heard from both the

regional government of Catalonia with this accident happened and from

the central government in Spain but they believe that this was human

error, this accident was caused by human error, the driver certainly

seems to have lost control of the bus in the early hours of this

morning. It appeared across the road heading a barrier then veered into

the middle of the road and turned over on its side and a car coming in

the other direction then struck the bus and 13 people were killed on the

bus in that accident. Other people have an taken to hospital throat the

day. Many of them have been discharged throughout the day but

the investigators at this moment are still looking into exactly what

happened and they are trying to identify the bodies. The

nationalities and identities of the 13 people who were killed, all of

whom were young women. Let's catch up with all the latest sports news

now. I am Jessica Crichton and I have the latest in the sports news.

Marco Fu Ashford scored the only goal of the game as Manchester

United week rivals Manchester City in the Derby. The 18-year-old coolly

slotted home in the 15th minute and now just a point between fourth

placed city who also lost Raheem Sterling and Joe Hart to injury. We

have to fight to the end because we were tired. We have played Thursday

and they have pleased Tuesday or Wednesday, I don't know but one day

more and that is very important. We did it also against Arsenal. If you

weeks ago. Now again against Manchester City so, here you are

seeing a very road manager. We dominated the game from the first

minute. We mist three or four chances to score. He scored the goal

in a mistake we made defending and that was the thing. Every player

makes mistakes but Martin Demichelis did not have a great day today.

Every player has a bad day, I think he was nervous and it was not good

for him to continue but we didn't score a goal and that is not his

fault. Also in the English Premier League Tottenham have cut Leicester

City's read at the top 25 points after a win against Bournemouth, two

goals from Harry Kane and one from Christain Eriksen shows the title

race is not over yet. Leicester played before us and most of the

games coming up so we know what we have to do but it is still a long

way to go. A lot of points up for grabs but we go away now in the

National break and we focus on that and when we come back it is a game

away from then and we have to focus. Two other results to tell you about

from England's top-flight. The result in the north-east derby

leaves both in the relegation zone. Liverpool lost 3-2 to Southampton.

Nico Rosberg has won the first race of the Formula 1 season in

Australia. He finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel

came third. After 17 yards it was halted after this man hit the

concrete wall but was able to walk away seemingly unhurt. The Moto GP

season is underway in Qatar. Jorge Lorenzo took the win. And as the

world T20 tournament South Africa have winds back from their opening

game defeat to England by beating Afghanistan by 37 runs. South Africa

made 209 from the 20 overs, the sixth highest total ever. AB de

Villiers made 64 including 29 off just one over. Afghanistan is

Mohammed Shazad made 20 overs of 19 balls but it was not enough to win

the game the other light for 172. The Indies have listed their chances

of regressing from the same group. Chris Gayle did not bat for the West

Indies because of injury, Sri Lanka were reduced to 120 949. The West

Indies not that off with almost two overs to spare. Serena Williams has

been beaten. The world number one went down in straight sets to the

fact teens seed six -- four, 6-4. The men's final is underway now.

That is all the sport for now. Many thanks. Let's go back now to have

banner and our correspondence I will ask on what has been an historic day

the first visit of the US president to due in nearly 90 years. We were

talking earlier about the significance of this visit and also

what is on the agenda because it sounds like nothing is off the table

when it comes to the discussions that will take least not only

between President Obama and his counterpart role Haass talks but

also the ordinary people of Cuba. -- Raul Castro. Yes, a lot to talk

about. On the agenda for the official talks what the Americans

would like to see particularly from an economic point of view is for the

Cuban government to respond to the steps the US has been taking. The US

has eased some of the sanctions, allowed more trade and some

interaction but it needs steps on the Cuban side for that to move

ahead and the Cubans have been reluctant. They have economic

reforms that they have been working on that have an slow in general but

on top of that I think he would also want to be moving quite cautiously

when it comes to the US because of their very fraught history. They do

not trust the US is stored at the Andy moving slowly possibly for that

reason. The Americans will possibly bring up democracy and human rights.

They have do because that has been the centre point of their policy

towards Cuba for the last few years. Something critics back home will be

looking for. The Cubans said we will talk about anything but we will not

be negotiating, we have our own system of government. Evidence we

think are mercenaries underfunded ride the US out against state. Those

positions which have an like that for years are not going to change

and I do not think the Americans expect that to change but the issue

will be raised. President Obama has a full agenda of meeting Cuban

people in various settings one of which will be to meet entrepreneurs

because a big part of the policy is to try to stimulate the private

sector. He will also attend a baseball game and meet with some

dissidents at the embassy, some of whom support what he is doing and

say the best way to do with our problems is to have a more open

environment between the US and Cuba and some new say he is selling them

out because he is giving the Cuban government legitimacy when it has

not changed its authoritarian policies. Good to talk to you. On

the streets of the rainy Habana awaiting the arrival of President

Barack Obama and the entire first family from the United States.

Barack Obama touched down on the runway in Havana about 40 minutes

ago with his wife and daughters marking the significance of what is

a truly historic visit. From all of us here at BBC News, fax for

watching. -- thank you for watching. Hello again we are expecting a big

change in the weather pattern later this week. Or the moment it is as

you wear, high-pressure sitting close to the