30/08/2016 World News Today

Reporting from Washington, I'm Jane O'Brien.

The European Commission orders Apple to pay almost $15 billion

We look at the global fallout from the ruling.

Making the perilous journey to reach the shores of Europe -

a record number of Migrants are rescued in a single day off

Concerns that more girls and women could be affected by autism.

How health campaigners are working to get them the help they need.

And the first day of school - a big moment for any child.

But for these twins who were once conjoined, it's a very

The world's most profitable company, US technology giant Apple,

has been told it's got a huge tax bill to pay.

The European Commission has ordered the company to pay $14.6 billion

That's the equivalent of the total amount the country spends

Two years ago, the tech giant paid just point 0.005% tax

Companies in Ireland usually have to pay 12.5%.

To look at it another way, that means for every million

dollars of profit Apple paid just $50 in tax.

In a moment we'll be live in California.

But, first, this report by Rory Cellan Jones.

It's a vastly wealthy technology company. Whose products are money

right around the world. But outside America, nearly all of Apple's sales

revenues are channelled through one small country. Now the deal made

between the Irish government and Apple has been ruled illegal. The

tech firm has been ordered to pay billions in back taxes. What we have

found is that the Irish have allowed the huge, huge, huge majority of the

profits of Apple sales internationally to be attributed to

a head office that only exists on paper and which is nontax. That

means that the large majority of the profits are not taxed. It was in

1980 that Apple's founder, Steve jobs, opened his company's first

European operation in Cork. These days it was nearly 6000 people in

Ireland, but along the way it signed a tax deal with the Irish government

which the European Union says was unfair. In Cork, reaction to today's

ruling was mixed. They shouldn't have given them a deal like that. If

it is the case we did, that is wrong. It will be marvellous if the

country got that much tax. But at the other end, Apple could and leave

which would be terrible. I think it's fair because they're making a

lot of profit. The European Commission says at one point Apple

was paying an effective tax rate of 0.005%. That meant that on every 1

million euros it took in revenues, it pay tax of just 50 euros. But

Apple says all of the expensive research and development on products

like this takes place in America and that is where it should pay its tax.

Apple vowed to overturn the ruling, saying...

Apple says it is the largest taxpayer in both Ireland and the

United States, and this afternoon the White House also expressed

concern about Europe's jungle stands on tax. We are concerned about a

unilateral approach in state negotiations that threaten to

undermine progress that we have made collaboratively with the Europeans.

Ireland has worked hard to persuade technology firms to bring jobs to

the country, but Brussels believes multinationals are playing one

country off against another and it's determined to change the rules of

the game. We can speak now to our

correspondent, Dave Lee, who is outside Apple's

headquarters in California. Shares have dipped on this news for

Apple. What will be the impact of this ruling? The immediate impact is

that they will have to pay that fee, there's back taxes of 13 billion

euros. That will happen fairly quickly, even though Apple are going

to appeal the decision they will have to pay the money before the

bill has concluded. Ireland will not get that money until after the

appeal. It may have an impact on Apple's operations in Ireland. They

have so they have committed to a European country, but... INAUDIBLE

we are having a problem with the line.

The US is not very happy about this, either. Why not? The USA sees this

as money coming out of their tax what. It is essentially going from

the US to Europe because the taxes Apple will now have to pay in the EU

can be offset against the taxes it would pay in the United States...

INAUDIBLE. It could be that other company is also under investigation

by the European Commission also have back taxes to pay. The US is worried

that there could be a loss of money coming out of US multinationals that

may have been going to the US taxpayer instead is now going to

Europe. Thank you. The impeachment trial of Brazil's

suspended President, Dilma Rousseff, has entered its fifth day

in the Senate. Ms Rousseff has been accused

of illegally manipulating the budget The main prosecutor in the trial has

said the country has had enough Let's tak to the BBC's

Julia Carneiro, who's What have her accusers been saying

today? They have been presenting the arguments that have been the basis

of the impeachment trial against her, that the mini is as she

resorted to in the government budget to Masco what they argue is the

deficit and illegally borrowing and state banks, that is the main

accusation being made by the prosecutors. Her defence lawyers

have also been talking saying she is the victim of a defamation campaign

and that there are many lies in this process. We have the two sides

battling against each other. Weitzel what we're seeing is the session has

started in Senate where all the senators will have the chance to

deliver a speech justifying their votes. Over 60 senators have put

their name from the list to do so. That will be another very long

sessions are when they will justify whether they will vote in favour of

her impeachment or not. It is supposed to stretch into the night

and early tomorrow will we have the final vote cast, an electronic vote

deciding on her political future and whether she is to be ousted from her

presidency or not. She hasn't lost all support, has she? There have

been some demonstrations today in support of Dilma Rousseff. Whatever

the public generally made of this trial? The country is still very

polarised. We are seeing less demonstrations now because it has

been such a lengthy process lasting over nine months. There have been

demonstrations in Sao Paulo and Brasilia and in Rio as well. In Sao

Paulo there were heavy clashes between police and demonstrators.

There are more protest expected today. They are defending the

impeachment of Dilma Rousseff so we still see this as a division in

society and expect this to continue will stop if she is impeached then

her former vice President, now interim President, will be as

Brazilian President. He seems fairly certain of that outcome, so much so

that he is making plans to travel to China tomorrow as soon as the result

is out for the G20 summit in China. That is very telling of how certain

the interim government seems to be of the impeachment of the suspended

President, Dilma Rousseff. Julia in Bristol with the very latest. Thank

you. -- in Brazil. The Italian coastguard says it

rescued around 6,500 migrants off They are calling it one

of their busiest life-saving More than 100,000 migrants have

arrived in Italy so far this year and many more are expected to make

the perilous journey from Libya to Europe in the coming days,

as the weather calms. The BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent,

James Landale, report. When you are tired and desperate

and so close to safety, A final leap of hope

after a journey that, for many, Just some of the almost 7,000

who were rescued on Monday. A record number for a single day,

in a crisis where the numbers Most were picked up 13 miles off

the western Libyan coast. Packed into fishing boats and some

44 inflatable dinghies, often with just enough fuel to reach

international waters. We set off about 5:30 in the morning

and we finished after 14 hours. In all that time, we rescued over

5,000 people, according to information we got

from the authorities. Rescuers said most of the migrants

appeared to be from sub-Saharan Africa - from Eritrea,

Somalia and Nigeria. Encouraged by calm conditions

and southerly winds to leave the beaches and take to the sea,

where they were rescued by ships from the Italian coastguard,

aid agencies and even the The survey vessel, HMS Enterprise,

picked up more than 700 of the migrants and will land them

in Italy tomorrow. The International Organisation

for Migration says that, so far this year, nearly 100,000 migrants have

been rescued in the central At the same time, some 2,700 have

died trying to make the crossing. Those are pretty similar numbers

to the same period last year Even though migration

across the eastern Mediterranean has dropped substantially

since an EU deal with Turkey, the numbers crossing

from Libya do not appear to have risen as a result.

But the problem remains. The migrants keep coming

because there is no And there is always a chance

of rescue in the sea. It's a very dangerous

journey and people don't They're desperate to leave,

a lot of the time. They're desperate

to be somewhere safe. This evening, the first of those

rescued in recent days Others like them are also

prepared to go to sea, even with newborn twins,

they would not be the last. The Italian coastguard said

they expected more to come Now a look at some of

the day's other news. Singapore is advising all pregnant

women with Zika-like symptoms to be The move follows an outbreak

of the disease in the city state. 26 new cases were confirmed

on Tuesday, taking the total The virus, detected

in Brazil last year, The Uzbek president, Islam Karimov,

remains in intensive care in hospital, after suffering

a brain haemorrhage. The news was confirmed

by his daughter's Instagram post. She added that his

condition is stable. Mr Karimov is the first and only

president Uzbekistan has had since gaining independence

from the Soviet Union 25 years ago. A funeral mass for victims

of the Italian earthquake is taking place in Amatrice -

one of the worst-affected towns. The coffins of 37 people,

including two children, have been laid out in a marquee

on the edge of the the town. More than 200 residents

and visitors lost their lives when many of Amatrice's

medieval buildings collapsed. Let us return to our top story now -

that big tax bill Apple has been told to pay

by the European Commission. Let us get the perspective

from Ireland and go to the BBC's Shane Harrison,

who is in Dublin for us. You would think that most

governments would welcome a windfall of almost $15 billion. Why is

Ireland appealing against this? I've likened the Irish government to the

winner of the National Lottery, but it's thinking of tearing up its

ticket before he or she collect the prize. Why is Ireland appealing

against this? It is an awful lot of money, it's the equivalent to the

Irish annual health budget. It is appeal to the European Court of

Justice in Luxembourg because it says the ruling is profoundly wrong.

It says or implies that it is an attack on Ireland's low corporation

tax rate of 12.5% and it says that it's not its job to collect taxes

from other countries from Apple for those other countries, and

particularly for the European Commission. Ireland doesn't seem to

have been particularly dishonest because it does advertise the fact

that it has very favourable corporate tax rate. Ireland has used

foreign direct investment for a long time to attract the likes of Apple,

Google, Facebook to Ireland. All of the major Silicon Valley companies

are based here. Because Ireland didn't have an industrial revolution

it is capitalising on its low corporation tax is to invite

companies to come here. You will hear in the coming days an awful lot

of Irish politicians also saying wait, look at this, this is an

attack on Ireland. It's an attack on the Netherlands because of its

relationship with Starbucks, on Luxembourg because of Amazon. Why

isn't the European Commission going after the bigger countries? I think

that's the line we will expect to hear the government taking in the

coming days and weeks. It is going to appeal this judgment to the

European Court in Luxembourg. That process could take anything between

18 months and six years. Don't tell up your lottery ticket! Thank you

very much indeed for the latest on the Apple tax bill.

Turning now to the presidential election here in the US.

Hillary Clinton still leads Donald Trump in

the latest nationwide polls, but the race is tightening.

Donald Trump is launching a new ad campaign, his biggest

so far, targeting nine key battleground states.

One of those is Ohio, which the Republican nominee

The BBC's Nick Bryant has been speaking to voters in the town

On the banks of the Ohio River, this election could be decided.

In every presidential contest for the past 50 years,

The town of Bellaire has precisely the sort of

post-industrial landscape that has become a seedbed

Four steel mills have shut down in this area over the past decade.

This stretch of river used to be bustling with 300 barges

Captain Bob Harrison reckons America needs a businessman

That's what we need to get things going again.

We have been overregulated, the trade deals have all failed.

Bellaire still proudly calls itself The All-American Town.

But for decades, it has been in decline.

Donald Trump should win here, but he has a problem.

American politics has become so polarised in recent decades that

presidential elections tend to be won by the candidates

who can maximise turn-out amongst their own party's supporters

and polls repeatedly show the Republican voters are less loyal

to Donald Trump than Democrats are to Hillary Clinton.

Getting out the vote is called "the ground game" - a term borrowed

from American football - and something the Democrats

It is all new to Donald Trump and what makes his operation

all the more difficult is that Republicans,

like coach Bill, are refusing to campaign,

If you're going to deal with world leaders, you have to have tact.

You can't sit there and say, "It's my way or the highway".

He's bombastic, he is obscene and I just don't like the guy.

No, without a doubt, he lacks presidential qualities.

So, you're actually campaigning for Mitt Romney?

This is a staunchly conservative household.

At the last election, Annette Thompson actively campaigned

for the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney.

But she cannot stomach Donald Trump as the party's standard-bearer.

The decline in support from Republican women is one

He doesn't like women who aren't supermodels.

He does not like Muslims. He does not like immigrants.

He does not like POWs, like John McCain.

These are people that I respect and care about.

Are you going to sit this election out?

No Republican has ever become president without winning Ohio.

Donald Trump is trailing here in the polls.

He will struggle to go all the way to the White House, if he cannot get

mainstream conservatives to support him.

The latest there on the US presidential campaign trail.

Autism is often seen as a condition that affects boys.

But it is becoming widely recognised that it has been significantly

Campaigners are now calling for health professionals

to have a better understanding of autism because they fear women

are not getting the help they need. The BBC's Graham Satchell reports.

Millie is 14 and was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome two years ago.

She finds it hard to socialise, to make eye contact,

I find it really difficult to make friends, because I find people very,

very difficult to understand a lot, in the way that they feel

This leads me to feel embarrassed and I feel like I should get

out of everyone's way, for everyone's convenience.

Autism has been seen as a condition that mainly affects boys and men.

Now evident suggests autism in girls and women is being

Like many women with autism, she says she mask the symptoms.

Copying, rather than fully understanding, social norms.

When you meet me, I don't come across necessarily, on first

I will come in to work perfectly, get through the day perfectly,

and then I'll go home to a quiet room.

I will be non-verbal, so if I want to be able

it will me take about four hours to reset.

The anxiety of coping with day to day life and to a series

of what Emily called meltdowns and shutdowns, until she was finally

It was basically an instant turning point to get my diagnosis.

I'm a radically different person, because I understand who I am

and how my way of relating to the world might differ,

so I can make that something that is successful.

Health professionals are starting to realise that autism in girls

and women may be more common than had been thought.

In Scotland, guidance has just changed.

It now recognises the more nuanced ways girls and women may show

A teenage girl with autism might, for example, be integrated

into a peer group and often talking about how they are, in a way,

They're trying to fit in with the group and they are

following the same sort of interests that the peer group have got,

but perhaps in a more bizarre and unusual way.

When you get into the details, you start to see how this

problem is not camouflaged, but still subtly present.

Back in Norfolk, Millie is helping her dad in the garden.

For her family, the diagnosis was, at first, a shock.

But that was quickly followed by an acceptance.

There's a lot of really good points to the diagnosis.

Your child, because they look at the world in a completely

different way, they can pick up some things you can't.

She is. She's amazing.

My concern, more than anything else, is that when Millie is older,

that people are not going to see what I see.

Millie certainly faces challenges ahead, but she is now

The call today from the National Autistic Society

is for the diagnosis of girls and women to improve so many more

With summer vacation winding down, many children

That includes British twins, Rosie and Ruby Formosa.

But the first day of school holds even more significance for them.

The girls were conjoined at birth and given a slim chance of survival,

but thanks to an emergency operation four years ago, they are healthy -

and trying on their first school uniforms.

Like lots of children starting school, Rosie and Ruby are excited

And it marks a huge milestone in their lives.

The girls were born in 2012, joined at the abdomen,

About four hours after they were born, they went

I was kept at UCH because I just had a C-section, which wasn't very nice.

I was in a room with other women that had their babies

We walked to the theatre with the nurses and the doctors

At that point, I could never seen this day coming.

But it has, and what's more - they're thriving.

I always knew they were going to be strong,

I sometimes forget how special they are.

Like when they're being naughty and arguing!

Then, I sit down and think and remember what they've been

It's just overwhelming. It really is.

The girls know they were once joined together and Angela's kept

all the doctors notes, so they can learn more

about the incredible surgery when they are older.

I'm really excited for them, because they're excited.

It's just another milestone that we've reached.

I just want them to enjoy their childhood and try to have fun

and be little girls, not to worry about going into hospital.

We will deal with that when it comes.

The European Commission has ordered the board's most profitable company,

Apple, to pay almost $15 billion in back taxes to Ireland. Both Apple

and Ireland say they will appeal. Well, that is all

from the programme. But for now from me, Jane O'Brien,

and the rest of the team, goodbye. As we near the end of August it

seems like the summer is making up for lost time. Temperatures were

into the mid-20s on