30/09/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox.

The headlines - Russia accuses the US of protecting Syrian rebels

Russia's Foreign Minister tells the BBC that America is failing

to separate their moderate rebel allies from Islamist fighters.

They either are driven by Al Nusra, or they tacitly support this

Mission accomplished - the space probe Rosetta ends its 12

year voyage in a planned crash-landing on the comet

Former Israeli president Shimon Peres is buried in Jerusalem -

with dozens of world leaders paying tribute to his seven-decade

And we'll have more later on how the mystery of two missing

Italian police recover two priceless Van Goghs stolen from a museum

A year to the day since Russia's bombing in Syria began,

the Russian foreign minister has defended his country's actions

Sergei Lavrov accused America of trying to protect the Islamist

group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front in the battle

Monitoring groups say more than 9,000 civilians have been

killed in Syria since Russia started bombing - but Mr Lavrov said

Violence in Syria claimed more lives on Friday,

with 12 people killed in the city of Aleppo.

Here's what Sergei Lavrov said to the BBC's Stephen Sackur.

We take all necessary cautions not to hit civilians. The term

collateral damage was invented not by us. You know by whom. We are

taking, as I said, most strict precautions to make sure that we

don't hit civilians by any chance. If this happens, well, we are very

sorry but we need to investigate each and every accusation. So far,

we haven't been given any meaningful proof of what is being said about

the convoy which was bombed or attacked on the 19th of September,

which we have good reasons to believe was a provocation.

Earlier this week, the Americans threatened to break off talks

because of what is happening. The entire problem is that the United

States refuses basically to separate the opposition from Al-Nusra and the

terrorist groups who joined Al-Nusra. Instead of separation, we

see more people in alliance with them. When ever we hit Al-Nusra, we

are told, you shouldn't do it because there are good people in the

middle of this position. We cannot fight terrorists and less we agree

that those of us who want to be part of the cessation of hostilities get

out of the parts occupied by them. Let's speak to our correspondent

Gary O'Donoghue in Washington. Later in that interview he said the

US were not able to separate out the terrorists. What are they saying

now? What we have heard in the last few minutes is an interview with one

of their officials who is now saying, and has been saying for the

last couple of days, but it is difficult to believe that the

continuation of the democratic process can happen given the reality

of what is happening on the ground in Syria. It is a very gloomy

atmosphere about the prospect for continuing talks and getting that a

ceasefire re-established under any kind of coordination. The war of

words has escalated yet further with this BBC interview and these two

powers are now as far apart as they've ever been. And yet both men

are talking on a daily basis according to Sergey Lavrov. Yes,

they are, and both men are under different bridges from their own

governments, their own domestic audiences. Here in the United

States, John Kerry has faced internal difficulty, I suppose you

could call it, in proposing to cooperate with Russia in targeting

some of the jihadist groups. That was on the table, the Pentagon

didn't like that very much. A lot of people in those circles believed

John Kerry was spun a line by Russia, was taken along really by

them. Particularly Republican senators have said similar things,

that he has been strung along by Moscow, and they have also called

for other actions to be taken. The administration has been talking

about other things being considered in the last few days but we don't

know what they are. It's very vague talk and it's difficult to see what

their options could be at this stage because they don't want to get into

a conflict with Russia, certainly, and their options for movement on

the ground given they don't want to put troops in either very limited.

Thank you very much. For 12 years, the Rosetta probe

travelled deep into space. But this afternoon, it's mission

came to an end, crash landing deliberately on the comet it's been

circling, more than four billion The valuable scientific data

Rosetta has gathered, will be studied long

into the future. The project's been seen as a major

success for the European Space It's been an emotional day at

Mission control. Our science editor was there.

In one of the greatest ventures in space exploration, the strange

landscapes of a comet are revealed in more detail than ever before.

Cliffs and rocks, nearly 500 million miles away, photographed this

morning and beamed back to us during the day,

as the Rosetta spacecraft inched towards the surface.

An animation shows how the touchdown was planned.

Rosetta drifting down at walking pace.

The end of a 12-year journey, a last chance to

Rosetta has achieved more than anyone expected.

We will be listening for the signal...

Many here have devoted decades to this project, so all eyes

were on a signal from a spacecraft which suddenly switched off.

This is the end of the Rosetta mission.

You know that when you do these things it comes to an end.

But, you know, it is the end of a long, long mission.

Emotions were so different two years ago.

Monica Grady was leaping for joy back then.

A tiny lander launched by Rosetta had made it down onto the comet.

It did not anchor itself but it did deliver

What's remarkable is that all of these manoeuvres in deep

space were run from this control centre, and the mission has proved

so successful that the volume of data flooding back will keep

In fact, what they have seen already has left them amazed.

They found that dust blasting off the comet

contains many of the chemical ingredients needed for life.

And this really matters, because one theory is that comets

crashing into the early Earth helped to kick-start life here.

It seems a bit crazy to fly hundreds of millions of

kilometres through space to what looks

like a cold, dead body, but

it's actually full of complex molecules that we know if you were

to bring them to the planet Earth when it was young, add water and

sunlight, you could make life out of.

That's a huge discovery for us from Rosetta.

We have all of the ingredients in place.

So for understanding our own origins, this

mission is turning up some key evidence.

It's caught the imagination of people

The funeral has taken place in Jerusalem of

the former Israeli President, and Nobel Peace Prize

Dozens of current and former world leaders attended the open-air

service, including Mahmoud Abbas, President

of the Palestinian National Authority, who exchanged

a rare handshake with the Israeli Prime Minister,

Our correspondent Orla Guerin watched the ceremony.

A poignant final prayer for Shimon Peres.

Mourned today by his family and by world leaders who viewed him

We gather here in the knowledge that Shimon never saw his dream

The region is going through a chaotic time.

And yet he did not stop dreaming and he did not stop working.

In death, he brought Palestinian and Israeli leaders

Mahmoud Abbas was warmly welcomed to the funeral, though the peace

Israel's hawkish Prime Minister said Shimon Peres spent every minute

But we find hope in his legacy, as does the world.

As the tributes are being paid here now there is a real sense

Shimon Peres was part of the fabric of Israel right from its birth.

He is the last of the generation that helped to build the state,

he occupied virtually every major post.

Israelis are saying goodbye today, not just to an elder

statesman but to a key part of their own history.

Decades ago, it was Peres who helped buy weapons for the Israeli

army and who founded the countries's nuclear programme.

In the 1970s, he supported the building of Jewish settlements

Many Palestinians will remember him as a man of war, not peace.

Shimon Peres was taken for burial in the soil

Orla Guerin, BBC News, Mount Herzl Cemetery, Jerusalem.

Deutsche Bank's shares have rebounded in the US after reassuring

words from the German lender's CEO and reports of a possible deal

There had been fears over the bank's ability to pay the record

$14 billion fine for selling toxic mortgage bonds,

but it's reported it could settle for closer to $5 billion.

The Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he's

willing to slaughter his country's three million drug addicts

The controversial leader compared his war on drugs

to Adolf Hitler's genocide of the Jews in Nazi Germany.

The remarks have been condemned by Jewish groups.

Three Chinese fisherman have died in a fire

after their boat was boarded by the South Korean coastguard.

The men, who were suspected of illegal fishing, were caught

in the blaze after the coastguard officers threw a stun grenade

into part of their boat where they were hiding.

The incident began when a coastguard vessel identified the fishing boat

in South Korean waters and ordered it to

It's been tried before - by both invading German troops

and the Russian government during the Second World War -

but now President Putin is hoping he'll succeed where others have

The multi-billion dollar project got under way two years ago

after Russia seized control of Crimea from Ukraine.

It's scheduled to open in 2019, providing a land and rail

link across the Black Sea from the town of Taman

on the Russian mainland to the Crimean port of Kerch.

The BBC's Oleg Boldyrev has been down to take a look.

On the shores of the Black Sea, an enormous construction project is

under way. Russia is building a 19 kilometre bridge to Crimea, in fact

to bridges, one each for cars and trains. It will provide a road link

to Crimea wrap which has been all but cut off since it was annexed by

Russia last year. This is the most expensive bridge ever built by a

Russian company. They discussed building a bridge here for almost 20

years but only after Russia annexed Crimea, the political will is now

pushing the project forward. This project is being given top priority

in Russia. The main project was given to a company owned by a close

friend of President Putin. Both the businessman and his company are

subject to international sanctions put in place after the annexation of

Crimea. I cannot say this seriously limits our company. It is more

difficult to get spare parts for our machines but in general, our

contractors from Russia have enough expertise to deliver on time. One of

Russia's leading experts on transport says the country is not

building enough roads for the size of its economy and this year alone,

the bridge alone is taking half of Russia's road-building budget for

2016. Does the project really make sense? With this project so big and

expensive -- with this project are big and expensive hold-up to usual

economic assessment? Probably not or it would have been built some time

ago. But I take a more philosophical approach and say that in two

generations time, everyone will forget the economic problems and we

will simply have a good bridge. A century from now, will be bridge be

seen as beneficial for the region or will it remain a concrete symbol of

Vladimir Putin biggest geopolitical gamble?

Donald Trump has used Twitter to attack a former beauty queen

who accused him of making sexist remarks and who is supporting his

In a series of tweets, Mr Trump urged his followers

to check out an alleged sex tape of Alicia Machado -

Ms Machado's case was raised by Mrs Clinton in the first

Presidential debate earlier this week as an example of

One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest.

He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them, and he

called this woman Miss piggy. Then he called her Miss housekeeping

because she was glad to know. Donald, she has a name. Her name is

Alicia Machado -- Machado and she has become a US citizen and she is

going to vote this November. Laura Bicker is our Washington

reporter - she joins me now. There was a flurry of tweets before

6am. What does it say, do you think? It is either trying to distract

voters from a series of negative newspaper headlines that he has had.

It could also be to distract from his performance in the debate but

his campaign team have urged him to try to stick if he is going to make

any attacks, to stick to Hillary Clinton, her e-mails, the fact she

is an established politician, stick to her past, and now he has decided

to bring up this beauty contest winner. You saw how the case was

made by Hillary Clinton. It's turned out to be a masterstroke by her. He

couldn't let it lie just after the debate. He called Fox News the next

morning and he said she had admitted the whole thing -- and he admitted

the whole thing had got under his skin. He then said she was the worst

contestant ever because she had put on a massive amount of weight and it

was a real problem, not only that, attitude. Then, days later, he is

with this tirade of tweets suggesting that she has a sex tape.

The contestant in question has now issued a statement accusing him of

making a hate campaign, saying, generating attacks, insults and

trying to resurrect false allegations in my life, he insists

on discrediting and demoralising women, his worst characteristics.

Certainly he has a number of cases of picking a subject and then going

after them and many of them have been women. Briefly, in his defence

perhaps, she has in the past said she ain't no saint, but that is a

slightly better -- that is a slightly different thing. You

actually make these tweets? Is he lying in bed doing them himself or

does an aid do them for him? During his speeches, an aide may do them

for him but most of the told Donald Trump -- many of the time, Donald

Trump is in charge of his own Twitter account. These were sent

very early on. He fills the need to defend himself on this one, feeling

he is entirely right, but when it comes to the voting public, he

really needs to win women owe that and perhaps this isn't the way to do

it. Thank you very much. They were missing for 14 years,

but now two stolen paintings by Vincent Van Gogh -

pictured here - have been The pictures were taken

from a museum in Amsterdam in 2002 They are the 1882 work, Seascape

at Scheveningen, and a later work, Congregation leaving

the Reformed Church in Nuenen. The discovery was made by anti-Mafia

police in the city of Naples. Alex Ruger, Director

of the Van Gogh Museum, has been giving his reaction

to the discovery of the paintings. Needless to say, it is a great day

for us today, to see the works and to know that they are safe and in

safe hands. Of course, we hope that they will be able to return to our

museum as soon as possible. That is our great hope but, of course, we

respect the procedures of the Italian authorities and since this

is part of and larger investigation, we may have to be a bit patient. We

hope that we will soon have them back where they belong.

Joining us from Rome is Lynda Albertson, who's

Chief Executive of the Association for Research into Crimes

Against Art, which looks into trends related to art crime.

You have followed this case really quite closely. You must be relieved.

Argue also surprised about what appears to be the background of his

paintings for the past 20 years? I am very -- the past 14 years? I am

very pleased. A lot of people have worked on this for so many years.

Surprised? No, not necessarily. Often times, a high value painting

will be held by an organised crime unit. I wasn't surprised at all.

They weren't actually on the walls either from what I have read. They

were wrapped up in plastic sheeting and put in some room somewhere. Is

that because art now is used to love rich money? To get ransoms? Not

because people are stealing it to hang on their walls. Ransoms are not

used so much as they were in the late 1980s but they are used for

collateral. Organised crime unit like this particular one, like this

splinter group from the Mafia, was probably using this art as a

possible collateral peaceful negotiations. If someone was

arrested, they needed to plea bargain the case down, turning state

's evidence would give them something to bargain with. One of

these had been stolen before. Are there at any one time lots of stolen

Vincent Van Gogh paintings in existence, do you think? Three

Vincent van Gogh paintings have been stolen, each two times separately

and yes, there have been quite a few paintings over the years. I think

the current list is something like 36 paintings overall. 36 of his that

have been stolen but only two are apparently still missing. 36 were

stolen in 17 different thefts in total. The museums around the world

need to take more care? This was an audacious heist before the museum

opened. Do we need better protection for these arts -- artworks which are

valued at hundreds of millions of dollars or beyond that? I think the

museum directors of security have come a long way since 2002, since

some of the earlier great big thefts we have had in museums. Risk

analysis trends now are on proactive ways of securing museums, so not

just waiting until something happens with an alarm system, but looking at

ways to prevent out from being stolen in the first place in a more

proactive profiling scenario. Sometimes it is considered in a

positive or negative light, but in the case of New Zealand worth

innumerable amounts of money -- in the case of a museum with pieces

worth so much money, it is a good idea. In this case, the thieves who

had stolen it didn't let on whom they had stolen it for and this came

from a gang member telling the police who were probing the Mafia.

This came from an investigation into organised crime, specifically

trafficking drugs, so the fact this painting came up was not something

most people were thinking was going to come up, but the conversations

arose after search and seizure at multiple properties from different

gangland members who are currently over -- under investigation. OK,

thank you very much indeed for joining us. Let's just show you some

pictures before we go. Mexico's Colima or Fire

Volcano continued to spew gas, ash and incandescent

fragments into a cloudy Activity over the past week has

increased as the dome, which was discovered

in February this year. To tell you about our Sergey Lavrov

story, the State Department have just said that the rushing bombing

of -- the Russian bombing of civilian targets was inexplicable.

More on that I am sure, but for now, from me and the team in London,

goodbye. Good evening. We will all get at

least one fine day this weekend but it will not be Sunday -- Saturday

for the southern half of the UK thanks to this area of low pressure

which is going to move in. It