13/10/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Tom Donkin.

He was the world's longest serving monarch.

Outside the hospital where he was being treated people

World leaders have also been paying tributes.

Donald Trump strongly denies a series of new reports

that he groped or kissed women without consent.

These vicious claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with women are

totally and absolutely false. An alleged prisoner swap in Nigeria

sees 21 kidnapped schoolgirls Bob Dylan becomes the the first

musician to win the Nobel The death of Thailand's King

Bhumibol Adulyadej marks "the most devastating

moment for Thais". Those were the words

of the country's prime minister after it was confirmed that the 88

year old king - the world's longest President Obama said the king had

been a, "tireless champion There is widespread grief

in Thailand and members of the international community have

also been paying tribute. President Obama said the king had

been a "tireless champion And at the United Nations General

Assembly in New York, a minute's silence was observed

in honour of King Bhumibol. Then, this tribute from

the Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. He was revered as a unifying

national leader and a highly respected figure internationally.

The outpouring of emotion in Thailand itself, has been acute.

Here, outside the hospital where the king had been

undergoing treatment - hundreds of people

TRANSLATION: I feel crushed. We will make him proud when he looks down

and he will feel proud. We have two be strong, Thailand has to be strong

and move forward. The country's strict laws means that there is no

public discussion about the monarchy but the Prime Minister has confirmed

the crown prince will be the new king.

It was a moment everyone here knew was coming but few

The long-expected announcement from the Palace, that the king

who had reigned and inspired them for 70 years, had died.

Still the cry went out - "Long live the king."

Well, we've seen an intensely emotional reaction here to the news

The unquestioned reverence to the monarchy in Thailand is not

what it was, but the emotional bond that people across this country

feel, to a man they still refer to as "Father of the nation",

His death will leave an enormous void, one which may well have

consequences for this country's political stability.

He'd acceded to the throne when the monarchy was

During his long life, the country modernised quickly.

Yet, the king was treasured as a symbol of older, spiritual

values, against the backdrop of rapid growth and messy politics.

But, as he aged, Thailand became more polarised and the royal brand

By the time of his death, he'd been out of sight for years.

Yet, the grief on display was raw and very real.

They remember a king, who, in earlier years,

devoted himself to public duty and his charisma,

they believe, underpinned their country's fortunes.

Tim Forsyth is Professor of South-east Asian Studies

I'm happy to say that he joins me now, it is good to see you. The

country has boosted security because of this, we are in uncharted

territory, we have not had this before. We have spoken of the Crown

Prince saying he wanted to delay the process but what do we know about

what will happen now? The technical role of the Privy Council Office to

nominate the future monarch and they've already done that, they have

basically said that it will be the Crown Prince and he is showing a

mark of respect by undergoing one month of morning and then he will

take up the role and the rest of Thailand will undergo another year

of mourning. The big question is, what will happen to the government?

In 2014 a military government took over, there was a military coup and

they have undertaken various steps to control the politics and now the

monarchy is assured and we will know what will happen, the likelihood is

we move towards a general election and a new form of politics. A smooth

transition is important in the country. It is hard and in some

cases against the law to talk about the royal family in tile and

especially. It is there to say the new king, the

Crown Prince, he will not have the same reverence or respect as his

father? Well, it is fair to say that he is not as popular as his father.

But I also think the circumstances have changed a great deal, King

Bhumibol Adulyadej has been in power for 70 years. In that time, Thailand

has transformed from a relatively poor and rural country into a

relatively successful and industrial power. In those years, the

government and monarchy were seen as a strong counterpoint to communism

in Southeast Asia and now the situation is very different. I think

the role of the monarchy has changed. And on that point of the

role of the monarchy, how do you see it going forward? The King was very

much out of politics, he did not deal with it except in 1992 when he

intervened in a coup but that was because of his ill health.

Now we have a younger model, throwing, will he be more involved

in politics? As things stand, the Crown Prince has not particularly

been involved in politics and will take over where his father left.

It's good to talk to you, Tim Forsyth, the professor of East Asia

studies at the London School of economics. Thank you.

Now a look at some of the day's other news.

The death of a Syrian refugee suspected of planning a bomb attack

in Germany has been condemned as a scandal by his lawyer.

Jaber al-Bakr strangled himself in a Leipzig jail with his shirt -

and the government has demanded an immediate inquiry.

The European Council President has suggested Britain might not leave

the European Union because it would mean a damaging "hard Brexit".

Donald Tusk, who will oversee negotiations between Brussels

and London, stressed that Britain had little chance of securing

a "soft Brexit" where kept the benefits of EU membership

Aid groups have asked a French court to delay the closure

of the Calais migrant camp, known as the "Jungle",

arguing authorities are not ready to relocate refugees.

French President Francois Hollande wants to close the "Jungle" and move

around 9,000 migrants who live there - to reception

The Portuguese politician Antonio Guterres has been

officially appointed the next Secretary General of

The appointment was made at the UN headquarters in New York.

Mr Guterres - who was also a former UN High Commissioner for Refugees -

will take over from Ban Ki-Moon in January.

21 of the Chibok schoolgirls - the same girls kidnapped more

than two years ago by Boko Haram militants - have been freed.

The announcement, which came from the President's office,

But authorities say the girls were released following negotiations

between the government and Boko Haram.

Four imprisoned militants were reportedly freed,

although the government denies the girls were released

It's good to see you. Let's talk about this allergic deal. It -- this

deal. Boko Haram wanted to swap prisoners with the government, that

has not happened. But they did say that there was some negotiations

which took place but they have not swapped any prisoners. But we do

know that many people have been taken from Boko Haram, not just the

schoolgirls from Chibok. Is there hope that there will be a new

relationship between the government and Boko Haram? The government says

it is doing everything it can to release the schoolgirls, what is

being withheld some information, they've not said much about

negotiations and what is taking place between them and Boko Haram

but what we have now is that 21 girls have been released and they

are still hoping for more to be released. For those of us who cannot

remember as well as you, I guess, take us back to when the schoolgirls

were taken. There was a huge social media campaign in this part of the

world and Nigeria, what was the reaction to such a brazen capture?

So many young girls? A lot of people are still in shock. There are a lot

of other girls not from the Chibok area who were stolen. There are a

lot of people looking for their children and all of that. Some

parents are still traumatised by that effect. There has been a lot of

social media issues and comments about stuff like that. Now, there

are 196 left after the 21 but there is renewed hope that they will be

released. The government is showing that they are doing more to get

these girls released. The government does not give a running commentary

on how they deal with Boko Haram but we are seeing a shift in terms of,

not a military campaign against the group, but negotiations moving

forward? They are still fighting Boko Haram but yes, they are

negotiating as they have said, but the negotiations have been put

through with the help of the Red Cross and the Swiss government.

Thank you. The Republican presidential

candidate Donald Trump is under renewed pressure tonight

following more allegations A woman has told the New York Times

that he grabbed her breasts and put his hand up her skirt

during a flight in the 1980s. Mr Trump has tweeted that the story

is a total fabrication - and his lawyers are threatening

to sue the paper, according Here's our North America Editor Jon

Sopel. This woman, talking

to the New York Times recounts how she was on a flight

and moved to first class. She found herself sitting

next to Donald Trump. He was like an octopus,

like he had six arms. He started putting

his hand up my skirt. Two of the allegation

that is emerged last night concern sexual misconduct by Mr Trump

at his One woman, a writer

for People magazine had gone to interview him and his wife

for a piece on their first wedding Melania Trump was heavily pregnant

at the time and gone upstairs it change when the reporter

claims Mr Trump pounced. In response on Twitter

Donald Trump says: He says: "The phoney

story is a fabrication." convinced there is effectively a

conspiracy between the liberal media and Clinton campaign but this many

stories from so many different In the last hour, Donald Trump has

been speaking at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida and repeated his

denial of this and says that he will prove that they are false.

This is what he says. These vicious claims about me, about inappropriate

conduct with women, they are totally and absolutely false. CHEERING

The Clintons know it and they know it very well. These claims are all

fabricated. They are pure fiction and they are outright lies. These

events never, ever happened and the people who set them -- said them

fully understand. We have substantial evidence to dispute

these lies and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at

an appropriate time very soon. CHEERING

Let's get more from Katty Kay in Washington.

She has been watching today's events. These new claims about

Donald Trump, do they continue to hurt him or has the damage already

been done? In terms of going forward, what more can we expect

from this campaign, it's been quite remarkable? I think that we will

spend the next and final three weeks of the American presidential

elections caught in some sort of grotesque discussion of who treats

women worse, Bill Clinton or Donald Trump. That is effectively what we

have come to an Donald Trump has made it clear that he will hit back

against the Clintons, dredge up all of Bill Clinton's allegations of

invalid deleterious abuse that have come up against him as a retaliation

weapon. He was taking on the Clintons and taking on the media. He

laid it out as "Me against the world". And his supporters loved it,

they love him on offence, as he was in Florida now. He sees it as the

victim of this whole campaign and allegations against him but he

almost painted himself as a martyr as well, saying he was happy to baby

slings and arrows on behalf of his supporters because that is what it

was going to take -- happy to bear the slings and arrows. 21 days left,

he's not down and out. But he campaigns drastically and

frequently? Yes, but the polls are not looking great and generally

speaking, three weeks is not a long time to turn them around when they

are consistently showing him in a weak position. So, you can take a

whole slew of them and now we are having polls out, since the video

tape emerged last Friday, where we saw him caught on camera nicking

lewd comments about women. We are beginning to get polls out since

that video came out, showing that there's been a greater defection

among female voters who are important in American elections,

away from Donald Trump. It is hard to believe these kinds of

allegations have just come out in the New York Times and People

magazine, and they went out to that. Anything can happen in American

elections, they can be unpredictable and lord knows that this one has

been! But with so many polls pointing in the wrong direction for

Donald Trump, something pretty dramatic but had to happen for him

to turn it around. What is your impression of his game plan and

strategy? He is coming under weight of allegations and pressure. You

would be hard to see him as a Republican, he has distanced himself

from his party and is going it alone in a way. What can he gained from

that approach? His game plan is to make it through every day, I do not

think there is a long-term strategy but fight for another week and try

to turn the poll numbers around if he can and get the battle ground

states back into his field. We heard some of it there, it is to carry on

fighting and take on the Clintons and the establishment. Take on the

media and his own party, and to paint this as a movement of him and

his supporters against the world. Effectively, that is what he is

doing and we will take the world on, and we will show them and, if we do

not take them on or when something apocalyptic will happen. That speech

he just gave in Florida was very apocalyptic. It painted a very dark

picture of what is happening and what would happen in the USA if

Donald Trump is not elected president. If this was a normal

presidential campaign, if there is such thing as that, Hillary Clinton

would be facing more attention over these Wikileaks e-mails, has

anything yet emerged which could hurt her? It's interesting, this has

barely been a story. Donald Trump would love the Wikileaks to be a

story. And what he says is it is the crooked media that is ignoring a big

story about Hillary Clinton because they are so focused on him and it is

the press's boat that is not getting out. If you go through all of these

Wikileaks allegations, they suggest a campaign which is very political

and one that is very careful about polling, careful about what the

candidate should say and shouldn't save. There have also been

allegations that there is some sort of collusion between the Department

of Justice and Hillary Clinton's campaign on some of those things

that were on her e-mail server. That there was some collusion between

someone on her campaign and loyal to her, but was a paid member of the

press. It feeds into Donald Trump's portrait of a corrupt system which

is rigged against outsiders. And she is the ultimate, he says, outside in

that system. Fascinating, thank you.

You can follow Katty Kay on Twitter as well. She is following the

campaign very closely indeed. The Italian playwright

and actor, Dario Fo, Famed for his biting

political satires, Fo - went on to win the Nobel prize

for literature in 1997 - for works including

"Accidental Death of an Anarchist", and "Can't Pay?

Won't Pay!". His radical politics

saw him banned from Italian television for years,

and led to him being stopped twice And speaking of the Nobel

Prize for Literature - this year the award has gone to Bob

Dylan. The legendary singer-songwriter

was praised for having created 'new poetic expressions

within the great American It's the first time, in 115 years

that the prize, has been Our Arts Correspondent

David Sillito reports. There was an expectant buzz outside

the Swedish Academy's The literature prize had

been delayed for a week. The academy said it was a diary

issue, but many suspected the jury was taking its time because it was

about to spring a surprise. The gasps and cheers

for a songwriter who, perhaps more than anyone, turned

the lyrics of pop music into poetry. For having created new poetic

expressions within the great It's more than 50 years ago

that he became a figurehead for a generation, with songs that

took the traditions of folk and protest and then span off

musically and lyrically into places that the rest of pop

music then followed. For years, his name has popped up

as a potential Nobel Prize winner, only for his fans

to be disappointed. The social conscious of his early

songs were followed by lyrics that removing, meaningful,

puzzling in a single verse. These are songs that have become

part of our culture. He's saying something that has

a depth and resonance that other Many people will love Bob Marley,

Joni Mitchell, will worship at the feet of Leonard Cohen,

which is all very fair and valid, but when all is said and done,

I think Bob Dylan will be the one He's an artist who's often seemed

uncomfortable with the awe and regard his work has attracted,

but he couldn't avoid the accolades. He never stopped performing,

never stopped writing. The prize was always

going to be has eventually. The prize was always

going to be his eventually. Joining me now is the musician,

broadcaster and writer, CP Lee who saw Bob Dylan play

at the Free Trade Hall Very jealous of you there! Good of

you to join us. He is the first songwriter to win the award and are

his lyrics really that good? Do they stand alone without the famous

harmonica and melodies? I think so, they draw from a very

deep well of human experience. When the Beatles were writing, he was

writing a Hard Rain is going to Fall. God knows where he got it

from, different influences in European Expressionism and Italian

romanticism, and Walt Whitman, American poets, he fundamentally

changed the approach of popular music. Now comedian his lyrics well.

Let's do a little test here to see if they stand out without the music.

If you would be so good as to recite some of your most favourite and

famous ones? I think one everyone would be familiar with is Mr

tambourine man, dance beneath the sky with one hand waving free

silhouetted beneath the sea. It is one of his first existential songs

which breaks away from protest songs which are more familiar. Like how

many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man? Black

American singer Sam Cooke, he wanted to change direction completely and

wrote a change is going to come. We can move through to the howl of

loneliness like a Rolling Stone, how does it feel to be on your own like

a complete unknown, like a Rolling Stone? All the way through to lines,

and lyrics like tangled up in blue, and his 1976 album. She opened up a

book of poems and handed them to me, written by an Italian poet from the

13th century. Every one of those words flowed true, pouring off every

page like it was written in my soul. We can go through to Tempest written

two years ago, he underwent a renaissance and began to produce

Scarlet Town, and old tin Angel, based on an Elizabethan ballad but

he writes he threw down his crosstown broadsword, he renounced

his faith. When he writes in that shrouded and almost religious

script, he is deeply effective at moving people. Briefly, there are

many lyricists are like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Komon comes to

mind, why Bob Dylan? -- Leonard :. He said that Elvis Presley freed our

bodies, and Bob Dylan freed our minds. He provided a springboard.

After the release of freewheeling, suddenly you have the folk tradition

of America. And then discovering a whole lot of other angles and

elements that he began to bring into his songwriting and from that point

on, limited: Heard Bob Dylan and tried to write songs, Joni

Mitchell... -- Leonard Cohen. I'm afraid we have to stop there.

That's all the time we have, next is the weather.

Goodbye. Hello. For a long while we have had

high pressure over Scandinavia and that has meant easterly winds

blowing across us. Over the next few days the pressure falls and wind

direction changes. Going more southerly and that