:00:00. > :00:07.This is BBC World News Today with me, Karin Giannone.
:00:08. > :00:13.Defeated by the narrowest of margins - Austria's new president won't be
:00:14. > :00:18.With less than a percentage point in it, Alexander Van der Bellen sees
:00:19. > :00:27.off Norbert Hofer to become Austria's head of state.
:00:28. > :00:29.The Islamic State group says it's behind bombings in two cities
:00:30. > :00:31.on Syria's Mediterranean coast - Government strongholds that
:00:32. > :00:35.had previously escaped the worst of the conflict.
:00:36. > :00:38.Also coming up - serious allegations are made about the death of Turkish
:00:39. > :00:44.civilians at the hands of security forces.
:00:45. > :00:47.And just not special enough - Louis Van Gaal gets the sack
:00:48. > :00:49.from Manchester United, but guess who's
:00:50. > :01:06.In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party candidate,
:01:07. > :01:09.Norbert Hofer, has been narrowly defeated in the presidential
:01:10. > :01:13.election by this man, the independent candidate Alexander
:01:14. > :01:16.van der Bellen, the former Green Party leader.
:01:17. > :01:19.The contest between Hofer and van der Bellen in Sunday's election had
:01:20. > :01:21.been too close to call, and depended on postal ballots
:01:22. > :01:27.A key campaign issue was Europe's migration crisis,
:01:28. > :01:30.which has seen asylum-seeker numbers soar in Austria,
:01:31. > :01:39.as our correspondent Jenny Hill reports from Vienna.
:01:40. > :01:41.It's a decision which has divided Austria.
:01:42. > :01:44.Alexander Van der Bellen won the presidential election - just.
:01:45. > :01:48.He is liberal, pro-EU and wants to welcome refugees.
:01:49. > :01:53.TRANSLATION: I will represent Austria to the outside,
:01:54. > :02:03.I will represent us as best as I can.
:02:04. > :02:06.And again, I will try to stress the cooperative, what connects us.
:02:07. > :02:16.And of course I want to be an opener of doors for the economy of Austria.
:02:17. > :02:21.Mr Van der Bellen may struggle to unite his country.
:02:22. > :02:25.Earlier today, we found his nationalist opponent at home
:02:26. > :02:31.Regardless of the outcome, Norbert Hofer told us,
:02:32. > :02:37.What does it say for Austria if you do win?
:02:38. > :02:46.If I win, I have to try to keep Austria together.
:02:47. > :02:49.If Van der Bellen wins, he has to try to keep
:02:50. > :02:56.They may have lost the election, but his Freedom Party has
:02:57. > :03:02.It is anti-EU, anti-migrant and it gained momentum
:03:03. > :03:08.No wonder the eyes of Europe are on Austria.
:03:09. > :03:11.Right-wing parties are gaining ground elsewhere as well -
:03:12. > :03:12.France, Germany, Denmark, and so is disillusionment
:03:13. > :03:19.at the established political mainstream.
:03:20. > :03:22.TRANSLATION: There is a sea change in Europe, many people can't cope
:03:23. > :03:28.The FPO is the only party that addresses this problem.
:03:29. > :03:32.He tells us lies and it's not true what he says and it's not good.
:03:33. > :03:42.The presidency of Austria is a largely ceremonial role -
:03:43. > :03:44.nevertheless these elections may yet have wide reaching consequences.
:03:45. > :03:49.This vote has split Austria right down the middle.
:03:50. > :03:52.It's also exposed again the divisions at the heart
:03:53. > :03:59.Norbert Hofer came within a hair's breath of winning the presidency
:04:00. > :04:01.and for many that raises questions not just about the future
:04:02. > :04:09.direction of this country, but of Europe itself.
:04:10. > :04:15.Our correspondent, Bethany Bell, is in the Austrian capital, Vienna.
:04:16. > :04:22.In so the freedom party defeated on this occasion, but this really was
:04:23. > :04:31.extraordinarily close, within the? Extremely close. I mean, he came as
:04:32. > :04:34.was set there within a hair's breath of winning this election and there
:04:35. > :04:39.are some Austrians I've been speaking to this evening here in
:04:40. > :04:43.Vienna that said, they may have lost this presidential election, but they
:04:44. > :04:48.are doing very well in the polls at the moment, regularly scoring over
:04:49. > :04:53.30% and when it comes to a general election in just under two years'
:04:54. > :04:59.time, they could even come out as a first party. In a sense, it's now up
:05:00. > :05:04.to the Coalition Government to see whether it can address the many
:05:05. > :05:08.concerns of the Austrians who voted for Norbert Hofer. If it can, that
:05:09. > :05:14.is one thing, but if he cannot, we could be seeing the Freedom Party
:05:15. > :05:17.rising to you even more power in that general election. What is being
:05:18. > :05:24.said there about what's behind this rise of the Freedom Party? It's a
:05:25. > :05:30.complicated picture. There are a number of things behind this. One is
:05:31. > :05:34.the extreme weakness of the established political parties here
:05:35. > :05:38.in Austria, the centerleft and centre-right parties which have
:05:39. > :05:42.dominated politics here for decades. They are widely being seen as sort
:05:43. > :05:49.of having come to a stalemate, not moving forward on key performs, not
:05:50. > :05:53.addressing people's concerns on migrants or the economy. That is a
:05:54. > :05:59.very key part of this. This widespread disillusionment. You out
:06:00. > :06:03.on top of that to enormous numbers of migrants who passed through
:06:04. > :06:08.Austria on their way to Germany this last year, the 90,000 applied for
:06:09. > :06:15.asylum here, over the last few months. People sense of really being
:06:16. > :06:21.overwhelmed by the migrant crisis, these things together have combined
:06:22. > :06:27.to really come in and played into the hands of the Freedom Party. A
:06:28. > :06:31.word about the winner, Alexander Van der Bellen, former leader of the
:06:32. > :06:38.Green Party. Tell us a little bit about him. Alexander Van der Bellen
:06:39. > :06:44.is a long-term player in Austrian politics, a member of the Green
:06:45. > :06:50.Party, an economics professor, who for many on the left was seen as a
:06:51. > :06:54.very good candidate, but for people in the centre he wasn't the obvious
:06:55. > :06:59.choice for president either and yet another sign of the weakness of the
:07:00. > :07:05.centrist parties. It was interesting to see the presidency, largely a
:07:06. > :07:09.ceremonial figure, it does have the power to swear in the new
:07:10. > :07:12.Government. Mr Van der Bellen has expressed great concern about the
:07:13. > :07:17.prospect of swearing in any Chancellor from the far right
:07:18. > :07:22.freedom party. So that as well is something that could come into play
:07:23. > :07:27.in the next year or two if the freedom party does very well at the
:07:28. > :07:29.ballot box. Thank you very much, Bethany was live in Vienna.
:07:30. > :07:32.The Islamic State group says ITS militants carried out
:07:33. > :07:34.the deadly attacks on two Syrian cities in President Assad's
:07:35. > :07:38.Syrian state media says 78 people were killed -
:07:39. > :07:40.independent monitors placed the toll higher, and around 150.
:07:41. > :07:42.Near simultaneous explosions in the cities of Tartous -
:07:43. > :07:50.where Russia has an airbase - and Jableh, came as a shock
:07:51. > :07:53.to residents, in an area that has seen less of the violence
:07:54. > :08:02.This was about as close to a safe haven as can
:08:03. > :08:09.The city of Tartous on the Mediterranean came under
:08:10. > :08:11.a devastating attack this morning for the first time.
:08:12. > :08:12.TRANSLATION: People were running away.
:08:13. > :08:15.This was at 10am and the time students were leaving for school.
:08:16. > :08:17.The fourth explosion took place near the supermarket.
:08:18. > :08:21.Many people were killed and many were injured.
:08:22. > :08:27.Further up the coast in Jableh, a similar horrific scene unfolded.
:08:28. > :08:29.In both cities the targets couldn't have been softer.
:08:30. > :08:41.The city, like Tartous, may be seen as a stronghold
:08:42. > :08:43.of President Assad, but it was civilians who were killed.
:08:44. > :08:45.The relative safety of both cities has long drawn internal
:08:46. > :08:49.They are by no means simply the Alawite minority
:08:50. > :08:52.But they are also near military targets.
:08:53. > :09:02.Belonging to the President's key backer Russia.
:09:03. > :09:04.One is the Russian naval base in tatters and another,
:09:05. > :09:08.So, those who carried out these attacks were likely sending
:09:09. > :09:10.a message to Moscow as well as to the Syrian government.
:09:11. > :09:12.IS was quick to say that it was responsible.
:09:13. > :09:15.After a series of battlefield defeats in Syria, the group clearly
:09:16. > :09:18.wants to show how hard and how deep it can still strike
:09:19. > :09:23.It may also be hoping to shake the bedrock of support
:09:24. > :09:26.for President Assad which has already been stretched thin
:09:27. > :09:28.by the huge losses the community has suffered in sending its sons
:09:29. > :09:34.As the people of Tartousand and Jableh clear away the wreckage,
:09:35. > :09:45.Some directed at the displaced Sunnis who have taken refuge there.
:09:46. > :09:48.But many are also calling for unity and solidarity with the victims,
:09:49. > :09:54.whether they are Alawite, Christian or Sunni.
:09:55. > :10:00.The Iraqi army has launched what it is calling a major assault to retake
:10:01. > :10:08.the city from Islamic State. The militants seized
:10:09. > :10:10.the Sunni-dominated city - 65 kilometres west of
:10:11. > :10:12.Baghdad, two years ago. Hours after launching the offensive,
:10:13. > :10:14.Iraq's Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, says the operation
:10:15. > :10:14.was making better progress than expected.
:10:15. > :10:17.President Obama has announced a total end to the US embargo
:10:18. > :10:22.During a three-day visit to the country, he said it
:10:23. > :10:24.would remove a lingering vestige of the cold war.
:10:25. > :10:28.A court in the United States has found a white police officer not
:10:29. > :10:31.guilty of the assault of Freddie Gray -
:10:32. > :10:33.a black man from Baltimore, whose death provoked
:10:34. > :10:38.Edward Nero has also been cleared of reckless endangerment and two
:10:39. > :10:43.Freddie Gray died in April last year, a week after he suffered
:10:44. > :10:49.a severe spinal cord injury while riding in a police van.
:10:50. > :10:51.Pope Francis has held talks at the Vatican with Sunni Islam's
:10:52. > :10:53.highest religious authority at a meeting designed to build
:10:54. > :11:02.The Pope met Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyib, the grand Imam of Al-Azhar
:11:03. > :11:08.As Turkey hosts a World Humanitarian Summit,
:11:09. > :11:11.serious allegations have been made about the death of civilians at the
:11:12. > :11:18.The United Nations Human Rights Chief has expressed his concern
:11:19. > :11:22.Local people have told the BBC and human rights groups that
:11:23. > :11:25.earlier this year, Turkish security forces killed up to 160 civilians
:11:26. > :11:31.in the mainly Kurdish town of Cizre in south-eastern Turkey.
:11:32. > :11:33.The Government dismisses the allegations.
:11:34. > :11:42.Our Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen reports from Cizre.
:11:43. > :11:45.In a beautiful place, these are dark times.
:11:46. > :11:52.War has come back to the mountains of southeastern Turkey.
:11:53. > :11:56.The long fight between Turkey and the PKK, the armed
:11:57. > :12:08.The 78 days from December to March, the focus was Cizre,
:12:09. > :12:16.When the Turks lifted the curfew and pulled back,
:12:17. > :12:18.local people went into three basements, looking for traces
:12:19. > :12:24.of at least 100 men, women and children who sheltered there.
:12:25. > :12:31.Only a few charred bone fragments were left -
:12:32. > :12:36.local people believe Turkish security forces massacred them.
:12:37. > :12:41.On the 30th of January, Kurdish MPs were on the phone,
:12:42. > :12:44.promising ambulances and evacuation, when Turkish forces stormed
:12:45. > :13:01.Before the troops left, they bulldozed flat the ruins
:13:02. > :13:05.of the areas wrecked in the fighting.
:13:06. > :13:12.No crime scene investigators were able to get to the basements
:13:13. > :13:21.Human Rights Watch suspects a cover up.
:13:22. > :13:25.This man took me to the site of the basements.
:13:26. > :13:34.He says Turkey's European allies are letting it get away with murder.
:13:35. > :13:36.Turning a blind eye to get Turkish help with the wider
:13:37. > :13:45.TRANSLATION: Europe blatantly watched all those atrocities
:13:46. > :13:53.I'm not bothered about Europe anymore.
:13:54. > :13:55.What they did or didn't do, the whole world is responsible
:13:56. > :14:05.The UN wants to send human rights investigators to this wasteland.
:14:06. > :14:07.There is no physical trace left of the lives,
:14:08. > :14:14.the thousands of civilians, Kurdish civilians, who lived
:14:15. > :14:19.But this is about much more than the personal tragedies.
:14:20. > :14:27.It is deeply involved in the war in Syria
:14:28. > :14:36.The EU hopes that Turkey will be a big part of the solution
:14:37. > :14:40.So instability in Turkey is a problem for Europe and it's
:14:41. > :14:43.Violence has spread to Ankara, the capital.
:14:44. > :14:51.In March, a PKK suicide bomber killed 37.
:14:52. > :14:54.The Turkish Government denies any wrongdoing in Cizre.
:14:55. > :14:59.It says the PKK are the ones that kill civilians.
:15:00. > :15:02.What they did was they held them as human shields and they did not
:15:03. > :15:06.While we were there, not one person complained to me
:15:07. > :15:15.Well, Turkey would not kill its own citizens.
:15:16. > :15:18.Turkey has never done this before, it will never do it now.
:15:19. > :15:30.Turkey's military operations have moved on.
:15:31. > :15:42.This is near the borders with Syria and Iraq -
:15:43. > :15:45.the Turks say they are going to finish the PKK once and for all.
:15:46. > :15:58.Her 20-year-old son was killed in Cizre's basements.
:15:59. > :16:00.Politics change - heartbreak stays the same.
:16:01. > :16:03.The head of the World Health Organisation has blamed the spread
:16:04. > :16:07.of the Zika virus on a massive policy failure in the
:16:08. > :16:13.WHO leader, Margaret Chan, said scientists had -
:16:14. > :16:19.as she put it - "dropped the ball" by failing to build on the success
:16:20. > :16:21.of mosquito eradication programmes in the early '60s.
:16:22. > :16:24.Speaking in Geneva, she highlighted the problems that lie ahead.
:16:25. > :16:27.Changes in the way humanity inhabits the planet have given the volatile
:16:28. > :16:30.microbial world multiple new opportunities to exploit.
:16:31. > :16:43.The possibility that a mosquito bite during pregnancy could be linked
:16:44. > :16:45.to severe brain abnormalities in newborns alarms the public
:16:46. > :16:55.Confirmation of a causal link between infection and microcephaly
:16:56. > :16:58.has transformed the profile of Zika from a mild disease to a devastating
:16:59. > :17:00.diagnosis for pregnant women and a significant
:17:01. > :17:06.Venezuela is in a state of emergency - as the country's economy
:17:07. > :17:09.Queues for basic daily necessities are growing,
:17:10. > :17:13.as it struggles to deal with the crash in world oil prices.
:17:14. > :17:16.The Supreme Court in Venezuela ruled that President Maduro's use
:17:17. > :17:18.of emergency powers was legal, despite being rejected
:17:19. > :17:19.by the parliament - which is controlled
:17:20. > :17:40.We've never been more prepared to defend our borders, said President
:17:41. > :17:45.Maduro as Venezuelan troops and civilian militias this week in Tempe
:17:46. > :17:49.did operation Independence, exercises to prepare the country for
:17:50. > :17:55.eminent invasion. Where the threats come from isn't clear but blaming
:17:56. > :17:58.foreign governments, the US in particular, for Venezuela's economic
:17:59. > :18:05.and political crisis is very much part of the President's rhetoric.
:18:06. > :18:10.But this is a crisis made in Venezuela and people are suffering.
:18:11. > :18:13.In hospitals with power cuts and acute shortages, patients told me
:18:14. > :18:17.they could only have operations if they provide their own supplies.
:18:18. > :18:22.Parents having to buy an ill fitting mask to keep a sick child alive. But
:18:23. > :18:29.need a makeshift accident and emergency room runs an open sewer.
:18:30. > :18:35.There are patients who are dying. Doctor say the system is close to
:18:36. > :18:39.collapse. We have power cuts everyday and we haven't had basic
:18:40. > :18:46.supplies like saline solutions for months. I often buy medicines with
:18:47. > :18:50.my own money to treat patients. And the shortages go much than
:18:51. > :18:56.medicines. This has become a nation of cues. Household goods are scarce,
:18:57. > :18:58.and a country that became so dependent on oil revenues, it
:18:59. > :19:05.couldn't cope with the price crashed. This woman needed nappies
:19:06. > :19:14.for her child, but didn't know if she would find them. IQ every sip of
:19:15. > :19:19.day, she tells me. These days, there are almost nothing on the shelves,
:19:20. > :19:24.she says. President Maduro blames the chronic shortages of food and
:19:25. > :19:26.other basic groups on business elite and foreign governments trying to
:19:27. > :19:30.deliberately destabilise his socialist Government. Either way,
:19:31. > :19:35.these cues are getting longer, the shortages more acute and a force --
:19:36. > :19:39.sense of foreboding even greater. The Government says it will use the
:19:40. > :19:43.security forces to defend the revolution at all costs. Denouncing
:19:44. > :19:50.opposition protesters as stooges for business interests at home and
:19:51. > :19:54.abroad. That is where let's feels primed to explode, and international
:19:55. > :19:58.mediators have urged both starts to talk before Latin America's most
:19:59. > :20:06.unstable nation descends further into chaos. Let's go live and speak
:20:07. > :20:13.to our reporter. The centre of how bad things are on a day-to-day
:20:14. > :20:17.basis, how are people able to cope? They find it very difficult, as we
:20:18. > :20:20.saw in my piece. People queue for hours every day. A lot of people
:20:21. > :20:25.have had to give up their jobs. There was a lot of black market
:20:26. > :20:28.trading going as well, people queuing for cheap subsidised goods
:20:29. > :20:31.and then selling them on the black market, but that is a product of the
:20:32. > :20:36.economic policies of the Government. The real danger for President
:20:37. > :20:39.Maduro's Government is many of his traditional supporters, those who
:20:40. > :20:42.supported the revolution, had benefited from the welfare
:20:43. > :20:45.programmes, the investment in education and housing, are also now
:20:46. > :20:48.abandoning the Government because of the crisis in the economy here. It
:20:49. > :20:53.is very difficult for Venezuelans to make ends meet in a cannot even get
:20:54. > :20:56.sugar, flour, nappies for the children. This country really is in
:20:57. > :21:01.crisis. Remember this is a country with some of the world's biggest
:21:02. > :21:11.proven oil reserves in the world and should be a lot wealthier, a lot
:21:12. > :21:13.more settled than it is today. How did things get so bad? Why wasn't
:21:14. > :21:17.Venezuela better prepared for this fall in the price of oil? It put all
:21:18. > :21:24.its eggs in one basket. They got rid of a lot of its food production,
:21:25. > :21:29.more than 95% of Venezuela's for in earnings come from oil. When time is
:21:30. > :21:32.good, oil is $40 a barrel, they can afford to pay for whatever they
:21:33. > :21:36.like. It is the price of oil fell, Venezuelans had nothing to fall back
:21:37. > :21:42.on. Other countries that suffered through falling oil revenues, like
:21:43. > :21:45.Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Norway, they had wealth funds and they had
:21:46. > :21:51.other industries. Venezuela has had nothing to fall back on, so when the
:21:52. > :21:54.bottom fell out of the oil market, the whole economy basically
:21:55. > :21:58.collapsed as well. We saw the unrest on the streets. How frightened our
:21:59. > :22:05.people in the further descent into chaos and is anyone proposing a real
:22:06. > :22:09.way forward? That is very real possibility, with the weekly
:22:10. > :22:14.protests in this country, it will end up in some kind of full civil
:22:15. > :22:18.conflict. There are negotiators in town at the moment and they
:22:19. > :22:22.occasionally get foreign presidents, especially from the region, try to
:22:23. > :22:25.urge both sides to come together, the opposition controlled Congress
:22:26. > :22:28.and President Maduro's socialist Government. They are very far apart
:22:29. > :22:32.at the moment. There was those in the dialogue am a real sense of
:22:33. > :22:35.trying to advert this critical situation. Thank you very much. Our
:22:36. > :22:41.reporter there. It's been the worst kept secret
:22:42. > :22:46.in football for a few days now - but finally Manchester United has
:22:47. > :22:51.confirmed that manager Louis van Leading the club to FA Cup glory
:22:52. > :22:54.over the weekend was Now all eyes are on the man who's
:22:55. > :22:59.likely to replace him - former Here's our sports correspondent
:23:00. > :23:03.Katie Gornall. He arrived with a big reputation
:23:04. > :23:08.and a record that boasted success, but even adding the FA Cup to that
:23:09. > :23:11.resume was not enough This morning he arrived alone
:23:12. > :23:20.at the club's training ground, not to plan for the future
:23:21. > :23:22.but to discuss his departure. How different his mood
:23:23. > :23:24.was just 36 hours earlier. Manchester United have taken
:23:25. > :23:27.the lead in extra time Here at Wembley he celebrated
:23:28. > :23:36.as United won their first But his fate had already been
:23:37. > :23:39.decided. For the majority of clubs,
:23:40. > :23:42.winning the FA Cup would be All I want to do is for
:23:43. > :23:54.Manchester United to act in the best Personally, you know,
:23:55. > :24:00.treat van Gaal right. I am only sorry that it has
:24:01. > :24:05.ended this way for him. It all started to seriously unravel
:24:06. > :24:07.for van Gaal in December when the club endured their worst
:24:08. > :24:10.run of form in 26 years. The team struggled to score
:24:11. > :24:12.and managed only 49 It meant they failed to qualify
:24:13. > :24:16.for the Champions League, Now they will turn to former Chelsea
:24:17. > :24:19.manager Jose Mourinho. Today in London he gave no hint
:24:20. > :24:22.he was about to step into one of the biggest
:24:23. > :24:24.jobs in modern football. He is actually a very
:24:25. > :24:26.intelligent manager. I think tactically he is
:24:27. > :24:28.incredibly good as well. What he manages to do is get
:24:29. > :24:31.the very best out of Mourinho can be controversial,
:24:32. > :24:34.but his methods bring success. This time United hope
:24:35. > :24:36.they have a manager Another thing that Chelsea is famous
:24:37. > :24:48.for, the annual flower show. London has come into full bloom
:24:49. > :24:50.this week for the annual Chelsea Flower Show,
:24:51. > :24:52.which attracts thousands The most famous guest is likely
:24:53. > :24:55.to be Queen Elizabeth, Many of the exhibits on show this
:24:56. > :24:59.year pay tribute to her 90th birthday, including one
:25:00. > :25:01.of interlocking portraits made using 10,000 flowers
:25:02. > :25:09.in purples, pinks and oranges. There's also a field of knitted red
:25:10. > :25:20.poppies designed as a tribute Just time to return to our main
:25:21. > :25:27.story. In Austria, the presidential elections there. The independent
:25:28. > :25:30.candidate has narrowly won Austria's presidential election, denying his
:25:31. > :25:36.sole rival the chance of becoming the European Union's first far right
:25:37. > :25:42.head of state. The candidate was declared the winner by less than a
:25:43. > :25:46.single percentage point over his rival, of the anti-immigration
:25:47. > :25:49.Freedom Party. There was more on the election results on what this means
:25:50. > :25:51.for Austria's political future on the BBC website. You can get in
:25:52. > :25:55.touch with me on twitter. But for now from me and the rest
:25:56. > :26:11.of the team goodbye. Good evening. A day of sunshine and
:26:12. > :26:14.showers. Sunglasses one minute, probably the next. More effective
:26:15. > :26:18.come through tomorrow, although fewer showers. Or many of us, more
:26:19. > :26:19.the way of sunshine, mainly dry,