:00:00. > :00:07.This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox.
:00:08. > :00:10.The headlines - Russia accuses the US of protecting Syrian rebels
:00:11. > :00:17.Russia's Foreign Minister tells the BBC that America is failing
:00:18. > :00:25.to separate their moderate rebel allies from Islamist fighters.
:00:26. > :00:30.They either are driven by Al Nusra, or they tacitly support this
:00:31. > :00:37.Mission accomplished - the space probe Rosetta ends its 12
:00:38. > :00:39.year voyage in a planned crash-landing on the comet
:00:40. > :00:50.Former Israeli president Shimon Peres is buried in Jerusalem -
:00:51. > :00:53.with dozens of world leaders paying tribute to his seven-decade
:00:54. > :01:03.And we'll have more later on how the mystery of two missing
:01:04. > :01:07.Italian police recover two priceless Van Goghs stolen from a museum
:01:08. > :01:34.A year to the day since Russia's bombing in Syria began,
:01:35. > :01:36.the Russian foreign minister has defended his country's actions
:01:37. > :01:40.Sergei Lavrov accused America of trying to protect the Islamist
:01:41. > :01:42.group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front in the battle
:01:43. > :01:45.Monitoring groups say more than 9,000 civilians have been
:01:46. > :01:48.killed in Syria since Russia started bombing - but Mr Lavrov said
:01:49. > :01:54.Violence in Syria claimed more lives on Friday,
:01:55. > :01:57.with 12 people killed in the city of Aleppo.
:01:58. > :02:03.Here's what Sergei Lavrov said to the BBC's Stephen Sackur.
:02:04. > :02:12.We take all necessary cautions not to hit civilians. The term
:02:13. > :02:18.collateral damage was invented not by us. You know by whom. We are
:02:19. > :02:24.taking, as I said, most strict precautions to make sure that we
:02:25. > :02:30.don't hit civilians by any chance. If this happens, well, we are very
:02:31. > :02:34.sorry but we need to investigate each and every accusation. So far,
:02:35. > :02:40.we haven't been given any meaningful proof of what is being said about
:02:41. > :02:44.the convoy which was bombed or attacked on the 19th of September,
:02:45. > :02:53.which we have good reasons to believe was a provocation.
:02:54. > :03:09.Earlier this week, the Americans threatened to break off talks
:03:10. > :03:13.because of what is happening. The entire problem is that the United
:03:14. > :03:18.States refuses basically to separate the opposition from Al-Nusra and the
:03:19. > :03:24.terrorist groups who joined Al-Nusra. Instead of separation, we
:03:25. > :03:31.see more people in alliance with them. When ever we hit Al-Nusra, we
:03:32. > :03:36.are told, you shouldn't do it because there are good people in the
:03:37. > :03:41.middle of this position. We cannot fight terrorists and less we agree
:03:42. > :03:43.that those of us who want to be part of the cessation of hostilities get
:03:44. > :03:54.out of the parts occupied by them. Let's speak to our correspondent
:03:55. > :04:02.Gary O'Donoghue in Washington. Later in that interview he said the
:04:03. > :04:07.US were not able to separate out the terrorists. What are they saying
:04:08. > :04:13.now? What we have heard in the last few minutes is an interview with one
:04:14. > :04:17.of their officials who is now saying, and has been saying for the
:04:18. > :04:20.last couple of days, but it is difficult to believe that the
:04:21. > :04:23.continuation of the democratic process can happen given the reality
:04:24. > :04:29.of what is happening on the ground in Syria. It is a very gloomy
:04:30. > :04:35.atmosphere about the prospect for continuing talks and getting that a
:04:36. > :04:41.ceasefire re-established under any kind of coordination. The war of
:04:42. > :04:45.words has escalated yet further with this BBC interview and these two
:04:46. > :04:50.powers are now as far apart as they've ever been. And yet both men
:04:51. > :04:57.are talking on a daily basis according to Sergey Lavrov. Yes,
:04:58. > :04:59.they are, and both men are under different bridges from their own
:05:00. > :05:06.governments, their own domestic audiences. Here in the United
:05:07. > :05:11.States, John Kerry has faced internal difficulty, I suppose you
:05:12. > :05:14.could call it, in proposing to cooperate with Russia in targeting
:05:15. > :05:20.some of the jihadist groups. That was on the table, the Pentagon
:05:21. > :05:24.didn't like that very much. A lot of people in those circles believed
:05:25. > :05:31.John Kerry was spun a line by Russia, was taken along really by
:05:32. > :05:34.them. Particularly Republican senators have said similar things,
:05:35. > :05:40.that he has been strung along by Moscow, and they have also called
:05:41. > :05:42.for other actions to be taken. The administration has been talking
:05:43. > :05:47.about other things being considered in the last few days but we don't
:05:48. > :05:51.know what they are. It's very vague talk and it's difficult to see what
:05:52. > :05:56.their options could be at this stage because they don't want to get into
:05:57. > :05:58.a conflict with Russia, certainly, and their options for movement on
:05:59. > :06:00.the ground given they don't want to put troops in either very limited.
:06:01. > :06:05.Thank you very much. For 12 years, the Rosetta probe
:06:06. > :06:07.travelled deep into space. But this afternoon, it's mission
:06:08. > :06:16.came to an end, crash landing deliberately on the comet it's been
:06:17. > :06:18.circling, more than four billion The valuable scientific data
:06:19. > :06:21.Rosetta has gathered, will be studied long
:06:22. > :06:23.into the future. The project's been seen as a major
:06:24. > :06:34.success for the European Space It's been an emotional day at
:06:35. > :06:38.Mission control. Our science editor was there.
:06:39. > :06:41.In one of the greatest ventures in space exploration, the strange
:06:42. > :06:44.landscapes of a comet are revealed in more detail than ever before.
:06:45. > :06:46.Cliffs and rocks, nearly 500 million miles away, photographed this
:06:47. > :06:50.morning and beamed back to us during the day,
:06:51. > :06:54.as the Rosetta spacecraft inched towards the surface.
:06:55. > :06:57.An animation shows how the touchdown was planned.
:06:58. > :07:00.Rosetta drifting down at walking pace.
:07:01. > :07:03.The end of a 12-year journey, a last chance to
:07:04. > :07:14.Rosetta has achieved more than anyone expected.
:07:15. > :07:18.We will be listening for the signal...
:07:19. > :07:21.Many here have devoted decades to this project, so all eyes
:07:22. > :07:25.were on a signal from a spacecraft which suddenly switched off.
:07:26. > :07:27.This is the end of the Rosetta mission.
:07:28. > :07:47.You know that when you do these things it comes to an end.
:07:48. > :07:51.But, you know, it is the end of a long, long mission.
:07:52. > :07:54.Emotions were so different two years ago.
:07:55. > :08:02.Monica Grady was leaping for joy back then.
:08:03. > :08:05.A tiny lander launched by Rosetta had made it down onto the comet.
:08:06. > :08:09.It did not anchor itself but it did deliver
:08:10. > :08:13.What's remarkable is that all of these manoeuvres in deep
:08:14. > :08:16.space were run from this control centre, and the mission has proved
:08:17. > :08:23.so successful that the volume of data flooding back will keep
:08:24. > :08:27.In fact, what they have seen already has left them amazed.
:08:28. > :08:29.They found that dust blasting off the comet
:08:30. > :08:31.contains many of the chemical ingredients needed for life.
:08:32. > :08:34.And this really matters, because one theory is that comets
:08:35. > :08:40.crashing into the early Earth helped to kick-start life here.
:08:41. > :08:43.It seems a bit crazy to fly hundreds of millions of
:08:44. > :08:44.kilometres through space to what looks
:08:45. > :08:47.like a cold, dead body, but
:08:48. > :08:50.it's actually full of complex molecules that we know if you were
:08:51. > :08:53.to bring them to the planet Earth when it was young, add water and
:08:54. > :08:55.sunlight, you could make life out of.
:08:56. > :08:57.That's a huge discovery for us from Rosetta.
:08:58. > :09:00.We have all of the ingredients in place.
:09:01. > :09:07.So for understanding our own origins, this
:09:08. > :09:08.mission is turning up some key evidence.
:09:09. > :09:11.It's caught the imagination of people
:09:12. > :09:22.The funeral has taken place in Jerusalem of
:09:23. > :09:24.the former Israeli President, and Nobel Peace Prize
:09:25. > :09:30.Dozens of current and former world leaders attended the open-air
:09:31. > :09:32.service, including Mahmoud Abbas, President
:09:33. > :09:35.of the Palestinian National Authority, who exchanged
:09:36. > :09:37.a rare handshake with the Israeli Prime Minister,
:09:38. > :09:51.Our correspondent Orla Guerin watched the ceremony.
:09:52. > :09:56.A poignant final prayer for Shimon Peres.
:09:57. > :10:01.Mourned today by his family and by world leaders who viewed him
:10:02. > :10:08.We gather here in the knowledge that Shimon never saw his dream
:10:09. > :10:14.The region is going through a chaotic time.
:10:15. > :10:30.And yet he did not stop dreaming and he did not stop working.
:10:31. > :10:32.In death, he brought Palestinian and Israeli leaders
:10:33. > :10:39.Mahmoud Abbas was warmly welcomed to the funeral, though the peace
:10:40. > :10:47.Israel's hawkish Prime Minister said Shimon Peres spent every minute
:10:48. > :11:15.But we find hope in his legacy, as does the world.
:11:16. > :11:18.As the tributes are being paid here now there is a real sense
:11:19. > :11:26.Shimon Peres was part of the fabric of Israel right from its birth.
:11:27. > :11:29.He is the last of the generation that helped to build the state,
:11:30. > :11:32.he occupied virtually every major post.
:11:33. > :11:35.Israelis are saying goodbye today, not just to an elder
:11:36. > :11:42.statesman but to a key part of their own history.
:11:43. > :11:45.Decades ago, it was Peres who helped buy weapons for the Israeli
:11:46. > :11:50.army and who founded the countries's nuclear programme.
:11:51. > :11:52.In the 1970s, he supported the building of Jewish settlements
:11:53. > :12:02.Many Palestinians will remember him as a man of war, not peace.
:12:03. > :12:08.Shimon Peres was taken for burial in the soil
:12:09. > :12:23.Orla Guerin, BBC News, Mount Herzl Cemetery, Jerusalem.
:12:24. > :12:26.Deutsche Bank's shares have rebounded in the US after reassuring
:12:27. > :12:30.words from the German lender's CEO and reports of a possible deal
:12:31. > :12:36.There had been fears over the bank's ability to pay the record
:12:37. > :12:39.$14 billion fine for selling toxic mortgage bonds,
:12:40. > :12:44.but it's reported it could settle for closer to $5 billion.
:12:45. > :12:46.The Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he's
:12:47. > :12:49.willing to slaughter his country's three million drug addicts
:12:50. > :12:55.The controversial leader compared his war on drugs
:12:56. > :12:57.to Adolf Hitler's genocide of the Jews in Nazi Germany.
:12:58. > :13:01.The remarks have been condemned by Jewish groups.
:13:02. > :13:04.Three Chinese fisherman have died in a fire
:13:05. > :13:07.after their boat was boarded by the South Korean coastguard.
:13:08. > :13:10.The men, who were suspected of illegal fishing, were caught
:13:11. > :13:13.in the blaze after the coastguard officers threw a stun grenade
:13:14. > :13:16.into part of their boat where they were hiding.
:13:17. > :13:19.The incident began when a coastguard vessel identified the fishing boat
:13:20. > :13:21.in South Korean waters and ordered it to
:13:22. > :13:34.It's been tried before - by both invading German troops
:13:35. > :13:37.and the Russian government during the Second World War -
:13:38. > :13:39.but now President Putin is hoping he'll succeed where others have
:13:40. > :13:43.The multi-billion dollar project got under way two years ago
:13:44. > :13:45.after Russia seized control of Crimea from Ukraine.
:13:46. > :13:51.It's scheduled to open in 2019, providing a land and rail
:13:52. > :13:59.link across the Black Sea from the town of Taman
:14:00. > :14:01.on the Russian mainland to the Crimean port of Kerch.
:14:02. > :14:06.The BBC's Oleg Boldyrev has been down to take a look.
:14:07. > :14:14.On the shores of the Black Sea, an enormous construction project is
:14:15. > :14:20.under way. Russia is building a 19 kilometre bridge to Crimea, in fact
:14:21. > :14:27.to bridges, one each for cars and trains. It will provide a road link
:14:28. > :14:32.to Crimea wrap which has been all but cut off since it was annexed by
:14:33. > :14:36.Russia last year. This is the most expensive bridge ever built by a
:14:37. > :14:41.Russian company. They discussed building a bridge here for almost 20
:14:42. > :14:46.years but only after Russia annexed Crimea, the political will is now
:14:47. > :14:54.pushing the project forward. This project is being given top priority
:14:55. > :15:00.in Russia. The main project was given to a company owned by a close
:15:01. > :15:04.friend of President Putin. Both the businessman and his company are
:15:05. > :15:13.subject to international sanctions put in place after the annexation of
:15:14. > :15:17.Crimea. I cannot say this seriously limits our company. It is more
:15:18. > :15:21.difficult to get spare parts for our machines but in general, our
:15:22. > :15:26.contractors from Russia have enough expertise to deliver on time. One of
:15:27. > :15:29.Russia's leading experts on transport says the country is not
:15:30. > :15:35.building enough roads for the size of its economy and this year alone,
:15:36. > :15:41.the bridge alone is taking half of Russia's road-building budget for
:15:42. > :15:50.2016. Does the project really make sense? With this project so big and
:15:51. > :15:55.expensive -- with this project are big and expensive hold-up to usual
:15:56. > :16:00.economic assessment? Probably not or it would have been built some time
:16:01. > :16:04.ago. But I take a more philosophical approach and say that in two
:16:05. > :16:08.generations time, everyone will forget the economic problems and we
:16:09. > :16:12.will simply have a good bridge. A century from now, will be bridge be
:16:13. > :16:17.seen as beneficial for the region or will it remain a concrete symbol of
:16:18. > :16:23.Vladimir Putin biggest geopolitical gamble?
:16:24. > :16:26.Donald Trump has used Twitter to attack a former beauty queen
:16:27. > :16:29.who accused him of making sexist remarks and who is supporting his
:16:30. > :16:32.In a series of tweets, Mr Trump urged his followers
:16:33. > :16:36.to check out an alleged sex tape of Alicia Machado -
:16:37. > :16:41.Ms Machado's case was raised by Mrs Clinton in the first
:16:42. > :16:43.Presidential debate earlier this week as an example of
:16:44. > :16:59.One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest.
:17:00. > :17:05.He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them, and he
:17:06. > :17:10.called this woman Miss piggy. Then he called her Miss housekeeping
:17:11. > :17:16.because she was glad to know. Donald, she has a name. Her name is
:17:17. > :17:19.Alicia Machado -- Machado and she has become a US citizen and she is
:17:20. > :17:23.going to vote this November. Laura Bicker is our Washington
:17:24. > :17:35.reporter - she joins me now. There was a flurry of tweets before
:17:36. > :17:40.6am. What does it say, do you think? It is either trying to distract
:17:41. > :17:45.voters from a series of negative newspaper headlines that he has had.
:17:46. > :17:49.It could also be to distract from his performance in the debate but
:17:50. > :17:55.his campaign team have urged him to try to stick if he is going to make
:17:56. > :18:00.any attacks, to stick to Hillary Clinton, her e-mails, the fact she
:18:01. > :18:03.is an established politician, stick to her past, and now he has decided
:18:04. > :18:09.to bring up this beauty contest winner. You saw how the case was
:18:10. > :18:14.made by Hillary Clinton. It's turned out to be a masterstroke by her. He
:18:15. > :18:19.couldn't let it lie just after the debate. He called Fox News the next
:18:20. > :18:23.morning and he said she had admitted the whole thing -- and he admitted
:18:24. > :18:27.the whole thing had got under his skin. He then said she was the worst
:18:28. > :18:33.contestant ever because she had put on a massive amount of weight and it
:18:34. > :18:39.was a real problem, not only that, attitude. Then, days later, he is
:18:40. > :18:44.with this tirade of tweets suggesting that she has a sex tape.
:18:45. > :18:50.The contestant in question has now issued a statement accusing him of
:18:51. > :18:55.making a hate campaign, saying, generating attacks, insults and
:18:56. > :18:59.trying to resurrect false allegations in my life, he insists
:19:00. > :19:06.on discrediting and demoralising women, his worst characteristics.
:19:07. > :19:10.Certainly he has a number of cases of picking a subject and then going
:19:11. > :19:17.after them and many of them have been women. Briefly, in his defence
:19:18. > :19:26.perhaps, she has in the past said she ain't no saint, but that is a
:19:27. > :19:30.slightly better -- that is a slightly different thing. You
:19:31. > :19:35.actually make these tweets? Is he lying in bed doing them himself or
:19:36. > :19:39.does an aid do them for him? During his speeches, an aide may do them
:19:40. > :19:45.for him but most of the told Donald Trump -- many of the time, Donald
:19:46. > :19:48.Trump is in charge of his own Twitter account. These were sent
:19:49. > :19:53.very early on. He fills the need to defend himself on this one, feeling
:19:54. > :19:57.he is entirely right, but when it comes to the voting public, he
:19:58. > :19:59.really needs to win women owe that and perhaps this isn't the way to do
:20:00. > :20:03.it. Thank you very much. They were missing for 14 years,
:20:04. > :20:06.but now two stolen paintings by Vincent Van Gogh -
:20:07. > :20:08.pictured here - have been The pictures were taken
:20:09. > :20:12.from a museum in Amsterdam in 2002 They are the 1882 work, Seascape
:20:13. > :20:17.at Scheveningen, and a later work, Congregation leaving
:20:18. > :20:20.the Reformed Church in Nuenen. The discovery was made by anti-Mafia
:20:21. > :20:27.police in the city of Naples. Alex Ruger, Director
:20:28. > :20:31.of the Van Gogh Museum, has been giving his reaction
:20:32. > :20:42.to the discovery of the paintings. Needless to say, it is a great day
:20:43. > :20:46.for us today, to see the works and to know that they are safe and in
:20:47. > :20:51.safe hands. Of course, we hope that they will be able to return to our
:20:52. > :20:56.museum as soon as possible. That is our great hope but, of course, we
:20:57. > :21:00.respect the procedures of the Italian authorities and since this
:21:01. > :21:04.is part of and larger investigation, we may have to be a bit patient. We
:21:05. > :21:07.hope that we will soon have them back where they belong.
:21:08. > :21:09.Joining us from Rome is Lynda Albertson, who's
:21:10. > :21:11.Chief Executive of the Association for Research into Crimes
:21:12. > :21:14.Against Art, which looks into trends related to art crime.
:21:15. > :21:21.You have followed this case really quite closely. You must be relieved.
:21:22. > :21:27.Argue also surprised about what appears to be the background of his
:21:28. > :21:36.paintings for the past 20 years? I am very -- the past 14 years? I am
:21:37. > :21:42.very pleased. A lot of people have worked on this for so many years.
:21:43. > :21:46.Surprised? No, not necessarily. Often times, a high value painting
:21:47. > :21:50.will be held by an organised crime unit. I wasn't surprised at all.
:21:51. > :21:54.They weren't actually on the walls either from what I have read. They
:21:55. > :22:00.were wrapped up in plastic sheeting and put in some room somewhere. Is
:22:01. > :22:07.that because art now is used to love rich money? To get ransoms? Not
:22:08. > :22:14.because people are stealing it to hang on their walls. Ransoms are not
:22:15. > :22:19.used so much as they were in the late 1980s but they are used for
:22:20. > :22:23.collateral. Organised crime unit like this particular one, like this
:22:24. > :22:29.splinter group from the Mafia, was probably using this art as a
:22:30. > :22:32.possible collateral peaceful negotiations. If someone was
:22:33. > :22:36.arrested, they needed to plea bargain the case down, turning state
:22:37. > :22:41.'s evidence would give them something to bargain with. One of
:22:42. > :22:46.these had been stolen before. Are there at any one time lots of stolen
:22:47. > :22:51.Vincent Van Gogh paintings in existence, do you think? Three
:22:52. > :22:55.Vincent van Gogh paintings have been stolen, each two times separately
:22:56. > :23:00.and yes, there have been quite a few paintings over the years. I think
:23:01. > :23:07.the current list is something like 36 paintings overall. 36 of his that
:23:08. > :23:13.have been stolen but only two are apparently still missing. 36 were
:23:14. > :23:19.stolen in 17 different thefts in total. The museums around the world
:23:20. > :23:22.need to take more care? This was an audacious heist before the museum
:23:23. > :23:28.opened. Do we need better protection for these arts -- artworks which are
:23:29. > :23:33.valued at hundreds of millions of dollars or beyond that? I think the
:23:34. > :23:38.museum directors of security have come a long way since 2002, since
:23:39. > :23:44.some of the earlier great big thefts we have had in museums. Risk
:23:45. > :23:48.analysis trends now are on proactive ways of securing museums, so not
:23:49. > :23:51.just waiting until something happens with an alarm system, but looking at
:23:52. > :23:57.ways to prevent out from being stolen in the first place in a more
:23:58. > :24:02.proactive profiling scenario. Sometimes it is considered in a
:24:03. > :24:06.positive or negative light, but in the case of New Zealand worth
:24:07. > :24:11.innumerable amounts of money -- in the case of a museum with pieces
:24:12. > :24:19.worth so much money, it is a good idea. In this case, the thieves who
:24:20. > :24:25.had stolen it didn't let on whom they had stolen it for and this came
:24:26. > :24:34.from a gang member telling the police who were probing the Mafia.
:24:35. > :24:37.This came from an investigation into organised crime, specifically
:24:38. > :24:41.trafficking drugs, so the fact this painting came up was not something
:24:42. > :24:46.most people were thinking was going to come up, but the conversations
:24:47. > :24:51.arose after search and seizure at multiple properties from different
:24:52. > :24:56.gangland members who are currently over -- under investigation. OK,
:24:57. > :25:01.thank you very much indeed for joining us. Let's just show you some
:25:02. > :25:07.pictures before we go. Mexico's Colima or Fire
:25:08. > :25:10.Volcano continued to spew gas, ash and incandescent
:25:11. > :25:25.fragments into a cloudy Activity over the past week has
:25:26. > :25:36.increased as the dome, which was discovered
:25:37. > :25:48.in February this year. To tell you about our Sergey Lavrov
:25:49. > :25:53.story, the State Department have just said that the rushing bombing
:25:54. > :25:58.of -- the Russian bombing of civilian targets was inexplicable.
:25:59. > :26:00.More on that I am sure, but for now, from me and the team in London,
:26:01. > :26:11.goodbye. Good evening. We will all get at
:26:12. > :26:16.least one fine day this weekend but it will not be Sunday -- Saturday
:26:17. > :26:19.for the southern half of the UK thanks to this area of low pressure
:26:20. > :26:20.which is going to move in. It