31/08/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, reporting from Washington.

Brazil's Senate decides overwhelmingly

But she wins a second vote, meaning she won't be completely

An alarming trend in Africa's elephant population.

A new study shows a dramatic decline and warns the numbers

If this current rate continues, within nine years, Africa could be

left with half of the current estimate of African elephants.

Donald Trump is headed to Mexico ahead of a long-anticipated

What we might expect from his surprise trip?

And, talking Trump on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Our BBC Pop-up team is in Russia, asking passengers their thoughts

The Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff, has been removed

from office at the end of a heated impeachment trial.

61 senators out of 81 found Ms Rousseff guilty of breaking

the law by tampering with the budget to hide a growing deficit.

There were celebratory scenes in the Senate as the result of

It was then announced by Supreme Court judge

But in a second vote, senators chose not to bar her

The Vice-President Michel Temer is to be sworn in as the new interim

Let's take a look at some of the key dates which led to today's vote.

In 2010, Dilma Rousseff became the first woman to be elected

In March 2013, just over halfway into her first term in office,

she was on a career high, enjoying approval ratings

She then narrowly won her second election in October 2014.

But following this, her approval ratings plummeted.

According to a poll released in April this year, 63%

of respondents across the country said her government

Experts said this reflected voters' disillusionment with a deep

recession and the corruption scandal involving the state-controlled

She was then suspended in May this year after the Senate voted to go

And for the latest, let's cross live to the BBC's Julia Carneiro

Julia, this is not surprising, of course, but it is still pretty

shocking. Just how significant is this vote? It is a very dramatic

moment here in Brazil. We have been discussing this proceeding is nine

months, since it was established by Congress, and now we have had the

decisive moment with President Dilma Rousseff stripped of her mandate.

This is the second time this has happened since democracy was

re-established here in Brazil in 1985 after the military

dictatorship. Brazil is still a young democracy after that period,

and this is, of course, a moment of gravity. We have seen senators

celebrate inside Congress, singing the national anthem, but some

senators were also standing still, silent, with lots of gravity in

there. This reflects what is felt in the Brazilian population. We have

seen many people celebrating today, millions have taken to the streets

over past month calling for her impeachment, but there are also many

other people who did not agree with the way this was going forward. Is

this the end of her career because she did win that second vote that

could have barred her from politics for at least eight years? Yes, and

this was a surprise. This was a decision made today to separate that

decision and vote on whether she should lose her political rights or

not, and it turned out that she did manage to retain her political

rights. But I think the blow is still the same, having been stripped

of her mandate, it is almost a consolation is that she maintains

her political rights. She is not someone who had a political career

before being chosen as the president's successor. It was not

clear what she would do now, if she would still want to pursue the path

of the political life, especially after going through this painful

impeachment process. But now we are going to see the inauguration of the

interim president made official, he used to be the vice president of

Dilma Rousseff, and is from the Conservative Party here in Brazil

and he is promising to put the economy back on track. That will

probably include a series of austerity measures. He has signalled

that he will privatise lots of sectors of the economy, that he

wants to raise the retirement age. There will be a policy shift now for

Brazilians, and it is not clear yet if there will be political stability

in this country any time soon. Juliet, with the very latest there

in Brazil, thank you. It's one of his most

controversial ideas - building a wall along America's

southern border to keep Mexicans from illegally crossing

into the United States. Now, Donald Trump is expected

to arrive shortly in Mexico for a meeting with the country's

president, Enrique Pena Nieto. It comes just hours before he's due

to make a long-anticipated Some say Trump is softening

his stance on the wall. This was his latest statement

on the issue. We are also going to

secure our border and stop the drugs from pouring in and

destroying our country. We are going to build

a wall folks, don't worry. In the past, his determination

to build a walL, paid for by Mexico, He said it was needed

to keep out undesirables. They are bringing drugs in,

they are rapists, Not surprisingly, the reaction

from Mexico has been The president said Trump's

rhetoric is dangerous. There is already a barrier along

part of the Mexican border. One former Mexican president said

it was ridiculous to force Mexico to pay for an extension

right along the frontier. How can any human

being think like that? After his meeting in Mexico,

Mr Trump will be giving another big With me now to discuss

is the BBC's Katty Kay. Of all the things Donald Trump could

be doing, and all the places he could be, Mexico would not be top of

the agenda, you would think. What is he up to? Well, he likes to surprise

people, and this has certainly surprised everybody in the political

hierarchy. It has got him a lot of attention, we are talking about it,

which is exactly what he likes. It potentially gives him a chance to

look statesman-like, look presidential. This is his first

meeting with a foreign leader since he announced his bid for the

presidency. He could apologise. There is some expectation that he

might apologise to the Mexicans for some of the more incendiary things

he has said, though not necessarily for his policies, and I guess the

campaign is thinking that maybe with Hispanic voters it does not go down

too badly, although I suspect it doesn't make too much difference to

voters in America. What could possibly be in it for the Mexican

president? That is fascinating, why did he invite Donald Trump to visit

him? His approval rates are in the 20s, is one of the most unpopular

people in Mexico. There will be protests in Mexico City around this

visit. What does he get out of being seen with the person that Mexicans

love to hate? I'm not sure what is in it for him. He invited both

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I suspect he is sitting there wishing

he wasn't coming, this is just a headache for him and it does not

look great. There is no love lost between the two men they have traded

insults on social media. We don't know what they will talk about, do

we? Donald Trump has banned the press. The big issues for the

Mexicans are the way Donald Trump has spoken about the Mexicans,

calling them rapists and criminals who are crossing the border, and of

course the wall, which he says Mexicans should pay for. Donald

Trump is revising issues around deporting Mexicans who are here

illegally, he is fudging that one and we don't know what his policy

is, but he is not backing down on that wall, and I can't believe he

will go to Mexico City and say that is a mistake after all. We could

hear more about that later. Absolutely.

Now a look at some of the days other news.

A pregnant woman is among a new cluster of people diagnosed

with Zika in Singapore, where there are now more

The government announced the first locally transmitted infection

on Saturday and the number of people diagnosed with the virus

Pregnant women are most at risk because of Zika's potential

South Korea says North Korea has executed its vice premier

for education, who was spotted slouched in his chair

Officials in Seoul claim Kim Yong-jin was killed by firing

squad although his death is yet to be independently verified.

A flight from Houston to London was full is to make an emergency landing

in Ireland after 16 people were injured during what was described as

severe and unexpected turbulence. Three of those injured on board the

United Airlines flight children. There is troubling news facing

elephants in Africa. The BBC has exclusively uncovered

that the number of elephants living in the wild in Africa has fallen

dramatically over the last decade. That's the finding of a wide-scale

census of the creatures, carried out over 600,000

square miles of territory, stretching from Mali in West Africa,

across to Ethiopia and The survey claims there are around

380,000 elephants living on the The numbers of elephants fell

by around 30% between 2007 and 2014. In the last two years,

that's sped up, with herd sizes Poaching for the ivory

trade is the main cause. Looking at individual countries,

60% of Tanzania's large herds have And, over the same time frame,

the number of elephants in Mozambique has also

more than halved. What other way to count

a whole continent of For two years, they have been

flying just 300 feet Sadly, their findings paint a

depressing picture. In country after country, they have

countered the carcasses. This is the cost of the poachers

and traffickers serving Asia's We have been flying along this

flood plain that divides Namibia and Botswana,

and all the way along here, we have been seeing

carcasses of elephants, some four months old,

some less than a week old. Clearly, poaching. The face has been

hacked away to get to the tasks. Mike Chase led the research. He

found the worst hotspot of poaching are in Tanzania, Mozambique and

Angola. Each year we are losing

30,000 elephants. If this current rate continues,

within nine years Africa could be left with half of the current

estimate of African elephants. Botswana has 40% of Africa's

elephants, but amid the worst drought in decades,

they are under increasing pressure. The only way to protect them

is to know how many there are, That means tranquillising some

to fit satellite tracking collars. It takes just a few minutes

for the drugs to take effect. They have got to be careful

the trunk is not blocked. This elephant is about 50 years old,

given his size, and the collar has to be really big to get that GPS

tracker around his neck. They are trying to work as quickly

as they can so they can get him The click of the whole process is

done, the better. Then, inject the antidote and retreat to a safe

distance. Let's get out of here. This map illustrates

the movement of five The tracking data shows how

the elephants, the dots, used to travel across

five countries, but now Elephants clearly have a cognitive

ability to understand where they are threatened

and where they are safe. In this case, they are seeking

refuge and sanctuary in Botswana. Is there room for them? No. Even

without a drought, Botswana can't cope with so many elephants. Hunting

has been banned here, culling is even being discussed. Currently we

are housing a lot of refugee elephants in Botswana. The numbers

of elephants in Botswana is so high that it puts a lot of pressure on

the environment. The last true century for Africa's elephants is,

for the first time, now firmly in the poacher's site. There were days

on the great elephant centres when the clay-macro I thought the only

good I was doing was reporting the disappearance of one of the most

marvellous animals that ever walked this planet. But we have to be

hopeful. The campaign to stop the poachers and traffickers across the

continent continues. The Italian Coastguard says it has

coordinated the rescue of more than 10,000 people in the last few

days off the coast of Libya. Today, thousands of these migrants

have been landing in European ports The BBC's special correspondent

Ed Thomas is at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, where he has been

speaking to some of those Off the Libyan coast there have

been 70 rescue missions Thousands, like this baby,

have been pulled A warning that this

crisis is not easing. These calm waters have given

the desperate These men, women and children

were picked up by the Italian Navy. There is relief,

but also exhaustion, All they have are the

clothes on their backs. If you take a look at this group,

they don't have any shoes. These are the lucky ones

because they have made it here. Nearly 3000 have died

in the crossing from Libya to Italy It is hard to understand why

anyone would do this. But then listen to this

man from Nigeria. I saw people die, people

cut off peoples' heads. Both say they are running

from Islamist What would have happened

to you if you had stayed? To me, if I was in Nigeria, I

believe I would no longer be alive. Why should Europe, Italy, give you

a job? 10,000 have crossed this

route since Sunday. People from Somalia, Eritrea,

the Middle East and Bangladesh. With the European fleet waiting

off the Libyan coast, some fear it has made life too easy

for the smugglers, exploiting those who will gamble

their lives to begin again. The British Prime Minister Theresa

May has repeated her insistence that there will be no second

referendum on Brexit. In a meeting to discuss developments

since June's vote to leave the European Union,

she told her colleagues they had a chance to forge a new role

for Britain in the world. As the BBC has reported,

the actor and comedian Gene Wilder died earlier this week due

to complications from Alzheimer's - a devastating disease that affects

millions of people around the world. Now, researchers are testing

a new drug they hope could one The normal electrical pathways

which transmit information become blocked with plaque,

cutting off thoughts It is an incurable disease,

but now a new drug being trialled is giving some

early signs of hope. Scientists at this centre in London,

who are about to take part in the next stage of the trial,

say it is exciting. If this is successful,

if we can show improvement or delay in progression

with Alzheimer's disease, That changes everything

about the way that we think about medical trials,

managing treatments for people with So, what do we know about how

effective this drug These are the scans of patients

at the start of the The red areas are a build-up

of damaging sticky proteins, characteristic

of Alzheimer's patients. Look at the same for patients

scanned after a No change in the placebo patient,

who did not get the drug, but the higher the dose,

the less red you can see, which are the proteins

being reduced. Problems are caused because

the proteins build up in clumps around the neurons in the brain,

blocking the connections and causing The drug is thought to work

by marking the plaques. This alerts the body's immune system

so it can target and destroy them. The drug is unlikely

to repair actual damage to the brain,

but the hope is it might stop That is something Susan

Jonas would welcome. She underwent the painful experience

of watching her mother's slow mental decline

as Alzheimer's took hold. My friend who came every day,

she found her one morning sitting on the sofa in front

of the television, which was not something she watched very much,

but she was still dressed and it was Alzheimer's research is littered

with failed drugs that looked If successful, this

drug would be the BBC Pop-up is back, this

time in Russia to report on stories suggested

by you, the viewers. This time the team set

off on a 31-hour train journey on the famous

Trans-Siberian Railway, giving them plenty of time to speak

with fellow passengers. There's no escaping it -

the US presidential election, and in particular, the Republican

nominee, Donald Trump. We are at Kaczynski train station

in Moscow and we are about to hop We are about to get on a 31 hour

train journey taking us across Russia to go

on the Trans-Siberian Railway. So, having recently flown

in from the US where there is a heated presidential election

going on, I'm curious what the Russian passengers

on board this train think about the United States right now,

and maybe, more specifically, We have some breaking news that

Donald Trump has now landed in Mexico for that extraordinary

meeting with the Mexican president. Hello, Thursday marks the first day

of mutual logical autumn. It is actually looking pretty good across

much of the UK, things to this ridge of high pressure building in from