12/05/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, with me, Philippa Thomas.

Our top story: Political blood-letting in Brazil.

The Senate votes to impeach the President.

Dilma Rousseff vows to continue her fight,

and condemns the move as a threat to democracy and the constitution.

I want to clarify the facts and point out the risks

of a fraudulent impeachment which would be a coup.

Top US Republicans appear to make their peace with Donald Trump,

From here we're going to go deeper into the policy areas to see

where that common ground is and how we are operating off

Also coming up: Rescuing the Libyan migrants,

the charity which has saved 900 lives from Mediterranean

The man who shot dead unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin was planning

She says she is hurt and betrayed and, above all, she is innocent.

Brazil's first female president Dilma Rousseff has been suspended,

ending 13 years of leftist government,

with her Vice President promising a more business-friendly Brazil.

In her speech to the nation, Mrs Rousseff condemned the Senate

vote to impeach her as a coup and a farce, a move which she says

will condemn the country to permanent instability.

My government has been undergoing sabatage

from governing and trying to create a prepicious

When an elected President is suspended because of an accusation

of a crime I haven't committed the name we give is not

there is no reason for me to be impeached.

I don't have bank accounts abroad, I've never taken bribery,

Well, Dilma Rousseff's replacement is Michael Temer,

Within the last few hours he's signed on the dotted line,

Temer shifts Brazil's government to the centre right.

He's already named his Cabinet, saying his priority is to reboot

the economy and end the paralysis that has gripped Congress

Our correspondent Julia Carniero is in Brasilia.

That was a very emotional goodbye, wasn't it?

It was. President Dilma Rousseff is known to be a tough figure and a bit

stubborn and not very able politically, but she did open up a

lot in this goodbye that she gave in the presidential palace. She was

greeted there by thousands of supporters, a few thousand

supporters that were waiting outside as she was exiting after the press

conference that we saw. She said it was a very sad moment for her, a

very painful moment. She said painful especially because of what

she said was a betrayal, referring to the vice President, her former

ally now considered a foe by the president. He is taking over now as

president of Brazil but he had been articulating and negotiating what

his government would look like for the past weeks and perhaps months so

it was already very clear that he was expecting this to happen,

getting ready for this moment. And now we have seen him just announced

his new cabinet and he is expected to deliver his first speech as

president in a few hours. There are much expected measures of what he

will do to try and Mark the shift away from President Rousseff's

government and bring the economy of this country back on track.

Will he have the ability to make changes? Does he have Congress

behind? Yes, that will be a very big

difference in comparison to President Dilma Rousseff. She, as I

said, was not a very tactful political figure. He, on the

opposite, has been in politics since the early 1980s and he belongs to

the biggest party in Brazil, has been in that party since 1981 and it

is perhaps a rare case of faithfulness to a party here in

Brazil where there are so many different parties that people move

around a lot, according to conveniences. Because of this he is

unable politician and it will help him a lot in Congress. He has quite

strong backing in Congress. People who were voting in favour of his

impeachment in Senate and the lower house are certainly backing him. It

will make life easier for him to implement the measures that he will

try to implement for the economy and the cuts that he will perform, he is

already cutting many of the ministries. Dilma Rousseff had over

30 ministries and he is cutting that number back by about ten so this is

his first symbolic move to try and signal that he is cutting the

government Budget and that is one of the first moves of the changes he

will implement in the economy, a move to show that he is starting to

do his own work at home. Thank you for keeping us up to date.

Julia referred there to the speech that is expected in a couple of

hours. You can keep up to date by visiting

our website or smartphone app. We have asked the question, what has

gone so wrong for Brazil? There were warm words

of encouragement but The most senior elected member

of the US Republican Party, Paul Ryan, has finally met

with the party's presumptive It was a start, and Mr Ryan

described it as The two men issued a joint statement

touting their Paul Ryan, who is speaker

of the House of Representatives, has in the past expressed concern

about Mr Trump's volatile style indeed about whether he's

a conservative at all. But he stated the obvious

as he told a news conference I was very encouraged with what I

heard from Donald Trump today. I do believe that we are now planting the

seeds to get ourselves unified, to bridge the gaps and differences and

from here we are going to go deeper into the policy areas, to see where

that common ground is and how we can make sure that we are operating off

the same core principles. Yes, since our first meeting, I was very

encouraged with this meeting but it is a process and it takes time, you

do not put it together and 45 minutes. We have had a very good

start to process and we unified. Let's speak now to our correspondent

Gary O'Donoghue, who is outside the Republican National Committee

building in Washington. Gary, the Republicans have money or

the apparatus to raise it and Donald Trump has new voters.

Who has the upper hand? It is a marriage made in heaven, money and

voters. They need one another and that is the brutal truth about all

of this. Donald Trump brings with him all these new people who are

coming into the party, a fresh approach, and anti-politics message.

The Republican party would like a slice of that. What the Republican

party brings is a whole bunch of money and this organisation across

the country that Donald Trump will need come the November general

elections. What we are going through now is elaborate choreography where

they will get nearer and nearer to one another. They are not quite

hand-in-hand yet but you heard there from Paul Ryan, progress being made

and warm words. Differences of course on some big issues like

immigration and social security but they want to both get to that point

where they can show some kind of unity, some kind of credible unity

after what has been a very visceral process of the primary.

If you had to describe them both to a visitor in Mars, how would you

describe them as politicians? What is the big difference politically?

Their style is utterly, utterly different. They are chalk and cheese

in terms of style. Donald Trump is brash and loud and shoots from the

hip, very primary colours, if you like. Painting primary colours. Paul

Ryan is much more low-key and considered and a bit of a policy

wonk and he likes to get down in the weeds of this and that policy

discussion. They couldn't be more different in style but they are

essentially meant to be both conservatives, meant to be both

Republicans and that is what the basis of this relationship will be,

going forward. They will try to come to some accommodations and you have

seen in the last day or so Donald Trump trimming on some of those big

issues, like immigration. He said before that all Muslims should be

prevented from coming into the country but he described that as a

bit of an idea, something he has floated and not necessarily a firm

policy pronouncement, so you are seeing some of that trimming

already, which actually is inevitable for all candidates as

they get towards the general election, as they make that play for

the voters in the centre, the independent voters.

Has the idea of an independent candidate gone away?

Well, I think there are some that would still wish for that. There is

still time. We haven't got to the convention yet, but I think

realistically, who could it be? There is no obvious person it can

be. They would be starting, it would be a standing start for them and

Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee and it would be an

incredible process to see that come about. You would have to have

another massive civil war inside the Republican party for that to happen

and their time is beginning to run out if they want to get their acts

together in time for a proper campaign in the autumn. You know, I

think the odds against that are pretty big, frankly.

Thank you very much. Now a look at some of

the day's other news. An explosion close to a military

barracks in the Turkish city of Istanbul has injured

at least five people. The car bomb went off as a military

vehicle drove past in the eastern district of Sancaktepe,

away from the historic old town. The British Prime Minister,

David Cameron, has announced the creation of a global forum

to step up international efforts The announcement was made

at a global anti-corruption He said the forum would bring

together countries that have had assets stolen and those

where assets are hidden. The Malaysian government

has confirmed that washed ashore in South Africa and

Mauritius, are almost certainly from the

missing flight MH-370. A total of five pieces

of wreckage have now been The Malaysian airliner vanished more

than two years ago with more A World Anti-Doping Agency committee

has unanimously recommended that Kenya be declared in breach

of anti-doping rules, a move that could prevent Kenyan

athletes from taking part It said Kenya's legislation

was not in line with Last month, Kenya passed

legislation that created a new national anti-doping agency,

but it has already missed two deadlines to show

that it is effectively tackling This is very serious for Ken you. It

does not look good but it does not automatically trigger an Olympic

ban, that will be up to the International Olympic Committee who

have the power to exclude nations who fail to live up to the

requirements of the anti-doping code, so they will have a look at

this and my understanding is that it has never happened before and it is

unlikely to happen this time, they are more concerned that Kenyan

athletes being tested by Wada and they are being tested frequently to

ensure that athletes who make the games are clean.

Does this mean bringing in new officials and independent outsiders

to test the athletes as they train? Because of the inefficiencies of the

system in a Kenya most of the testing has been done by Wada and

the anti-doping agency. They will be targeting Kenyan athletes before the

games. They could also be banned by the IAAF, the governing body for

track and field. They have already said and they already know that the

Kenya had a doping problem. More than 40 athletes since 2011 have

failed tests from that country. Sebastian Coates said he would be

prepared to ban can you and at their meeting in March whilst Kenya work

on a list and they had called for improvements he said it did not

necessarily mean they would miss out on the Olympics.

If they do that is a really big hole in the world athletics and running.

Absolutely, Kenya is a powerhouse in athletics and they finished top of

the table in Beijing and they have fantastic runners in middle distance

and long distance but for Ken you not to be there and possibly for

Russia not to be there, it is a big decision. -- for Kenya not to be

there. It could bring into question the track and field process at the

Olympics of those countries are not there.

We will stay across that story, thanks a lot.

The French government has survived a no-confidence vote

The vote was brought by the centre-right opposition party,

in response to controversial labour reforms which were pushed

through by the Prime Minister earlier this week.

Thousands of people marched through Paris as the vote took place,

Well, our correspondent Lucy Williamson is in Paris for us

with the latest update on the story.

Lucy, does this mean the reforms are going to come in?

Well, there are a couple of stages to go through first but it means

these controversial reforms now move on to the Senate and after that they

may have to come back to the lower house of parliament, but in essence

what is happening here is what the government did last year, which is

to force through reforms that it believes are absolutely essential to

improve the French economy and not least to allow President Francois

Hollande to stand again for election next year. In doing so they have had

to force it through without parliamentary approval and

against the opposition of many of the core groups of Socialist party

supporters in France. So it really is quite a tough call and even

though they won the no-confidence vote in Parliament today, there was

a move yesterday by some of their own backbench MPs, Socialist

backbench MPs, to bring a second vote of no-confidence against their

own government. They narrowly managed, they narrowly failed to do

that, but it was still pretty embarrassing. You can see that they

have won but they an awful lot of opposition to contend with.

If these reforms get to their stages, what difference does it make

to working life in France? It could make quite a big

difference. They are trying to tackle some of the really big key

icons that have been very popular to the French working public. They are

trying to tackle things like the 35 hour working week. It is slightly

easier for companies to extend that in negotiation. They are trying to

make it easier for companies to fire people on the basis that it will

make them easier to hire them as well. They are changing the

relationship of the unions with companies, which is again a bit of a

sacred cow here in France. Their asked changes that are quite

significant and have been very difficult to get through and it

seems that this government is really putting everything on to this

reform, to try and turn the economy around before the country goes into

presidential election campaign next year.

A lot at stake. Thank you. More than 2,000 migrants have been

rescued off the coast of Italy This year has seen a dramatic

increase in those taking the long and perilous central Mediterranean

migrant route from Libya. In the first three months

of the year, Italy registered that's 80% more than in

the same period last year. An early-morning call

on the bridge of the Aquarius. In Europe's epic migration story,

part of the rescue operation has Aquarius is chartered

by SOS Mediterranee, an international charity trained

in dangerous marine rescue. Already this year they

have saved 900 lives. The chart tells us we

are almost upon them. And then we see it, in the haze,

a streak of grey balanced In Libya, people-smuggling

is a low-risk, high-profit business. Rubber boats from China are cheap

and quickly inflated. The safety of the paying

cargo is incidental. The smugglers give them a phone

to call the Coast Guard, a compass and just enough fuel

to leave Libyan waters. This particular boat had drifted 24

miles in ten hours, a huddle of humanity at the whim of the sea

and the people who save them. The first to arrive

are the children. On Aquarius it is the medical

charity MSF that takes charge. The migrants are exhausted,

some have injuries, but there is relief they have

finally escaped Libya. You know, Libya is not a

free country. It is very, very crime,

you know, killing, shooting. They don't want to see black,

they don't want to see black at all. But would they really come if these

rescue boats weren't here? The determination to relieve

the danger is so huge that they are not afraid to step

on the rickety boat and basically They already have 120 migrants

on board the Aquarius, without picking up another 140

that the Italian Navy The Italians tell us they expect

a record number of people to make this journey from Libya to Europe

this year, perhaps An hour after everyone was safely

transferred the weather turned, a force-six squall that would surely

have destroyed their boats. On the stern of the Aquarius

they slept soundly, but had we arrived just in hour later

they would certainly be dead. The pistol used to kill unarmed

black teenager Trayvon Martin appears to have been removed

from an online auction. George Zimmerman, who shot

and killed the 17-year-old, had planned to auction it

on the website Gun Broker. He was cleared of the death in

central Florida after saying he acted in self defence.

News of the auction sparked a lot of reaction on social media.

The shooting in 2012 lead to mass protest across the United States.

The UK Government has announced plans for a major shake up

The Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale,

wants to scrap the body that oversees the BBC

and replace it with a board on which

several members would be government appointed.

That's led to concerns that the BBC's independence

Our Political Editor Laura Kuennsberg reports on a proposal

that could have far reaching consequences for the BBC's future

The BBC has been everywhere for all of our lives

Changes in how it works and you will know what the top stars get paid.

This is not rocket science, if I was in charge

I would definitely have a word about what we get paid!

The Culture Secretary, who once said he was tempted to abolish the BBC,

Mr Speaker, the BBC is and must always

We want the BBC to thrive and make fantastic programmes for audiences

and act as an engine for growth and creativity.

The BBC Trust will be replaced with a new independent board.

As many as half of the members will be

There will be new rules on diversity and impartiality.

And Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog,

will regulate the BBC for the first time.

The government will not stick its nose into schedules

and the 93-year-old licence fee survives for at least a decade.

One of the big issues, the future of the licence fee and how

the BBC competes with rivals, you have ducked the big questions?

I think the changes we are making are substantial,

they will have a significant effect.

I think they will ensure the BBC excels even

more on the things that the BBC does, which are prized by audiences

And we put in place a completely different governance structure.

It will be a stronger board, more involved in day-to-day running,

why should half of them be appointed by the government?

The BBC benefits from ?3.7 billion of government money and

I think the government is entitled to have representation.

But there is a fear of the BBC would have to doff

The idea that the government of the day,

whichever government it is,

can put six political supporters onto the editorial board

of a Public Service Broadcasting is anathema to me.

But if you get your drama fix only through iPlayer,

you will have to pay the licence fee.

And for new services, there might be a subscription.

I think the main message of the White Paper about distinctive,

high-quality programming is exactly what I think the BBC is about and

If you are honest with yourself, do you have even any tiny

inkling that somehow the BBC got away with it?

I don't think the BBC got away with it!

I think if you look back at where we were one year ago,

the debate and discussions which have been had

involving the CMS and other parts of government,

some in public and some behind closed doors,

are exactly the discussions and debates you should have.

But with the days of huddling around the television set

disappearing fast, shouldn't the BBC change more quickly?

There will be disappointment in the commercial

sector that the BBC has not been reduced in scope and size.

At times it seemed that the BBC could have been served an ultimatum.

But these talks have come to a less dramatic end.

Britain says its fighter jets have approached three Russian fighter

jets approaching the United States. They intercepted the Russian

aircraft that were not transmitting a Russian -- recognised

identification code. There has so far been no comment from the

Russians. Now an update on the meeting between Donald Trump and

Republican meetings -- leaders. He said things are working out really

well. As we have heard earlier, perhaps the idea of an independent

Conservative candidate is fading if the party does pull behind Donald

Trump. But for now from me and the rest

of the team, goodbye.