17/12/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, broadcasting in the UK

A political crisis grips Poland over limits on press freedom.

In Poland demonstrators block the parliament in the capital.

The Prime Minister calls it scandalous.

China tells the United States, stop spying around our coast,

Thousands of Syrians wait in freezing conditions

for a new deal to evacuate eastern Aleppo.

And tributes to Henry Heimlich, the man who invented the technique

thought to have saved thousands from choking.

A political crisis is taking hold in Poland

Thousands of people have taken to the streets to show their anger

at Government plans to limit media access to parliament.

Here's the live scene outside parliament in Warsaw.

Demonstrators, with flags are blocking the entrance

They say the media freedom is being threatened.

In the last couple of hours, Poland's prime

She says the protests are scandalous.

The demonstrations have continued into a second day was no sign of it,

right. -- with no sign of compromise.

TRANSLATION: I am here because I love Poland, freedom and democracy.

I want Scotland to be free and democratic. I will not give back

democracy. -- I want Poland to be free and democratic. Opposition MPs

crisis session to a halt, brandishing signs that said, free

media and Parliament. They were protesting against the Government's

plan to restrict journalist access to the building.

TRANSLATION: The journalists will have to sit outside of the

parliament. They will not be able to film the MPs. There will just be a

few chosen correspondence. It calls into question the future of our

work. TRANSLATION: Reporters access to the

parliament Hall will not be limited. What is being practised in many

parliaments around the world will be practised. Limiting the reporters

access to parliaments in either parliaments, including in Europe,

are far more far-reaching. Governing lawmakers eventually went to another

and continued recession. -- continue their session. Outside, thousands

gathered to protest, chanting, we will not give back democracy.

Protesters later blocked the parliaments's boating entrance.

Police officers forcibly removed them. It was called an illegal

attempt to seize power. Let's speak to as the Eastern. The Prime

Minister has been speaking in the last few hours and she is not happy

with the protests. She's not. She's particularly not happy with the

sitting by the other MPs. She called that scandalous. She said that

essentially the opposition is leading the protesters and sprinting

polls against one another. -- rating Polish people against one another.

Promoting conflict in society. Its -- its vertices that they have

popularity amongst the country but there are some opposition Polish

people that seizes particular issue of restricting access to the

parliament building as part of the administration's attempt to roll

back democratic values. They are holding an unprecedented review into

the Polish Government's attempt to neuter the top court. They are

considering whether that will constitute a serious breach of the

law. This has been a year of protests on almost a monthly basis.

That is by the opposition and liberal minded polls. They say that

they have a very strong mandate to introduce serious reform. They say

that they have a lot of support. How unusual is that there has been an

individual in this loan and that she says that this has been a threat to

democracy? Yes, she it to the lack of access to information indignity

ships. -- in dictatorships. He was in a conference. It is reaffirmed to

make statements about domestic politics since he's been the

president of the repealing Council. It is a significant statement.

Having said that, he is the arch enemy of the head of the governing

Law and Justice. He is considered to be the man who wield ultimate power

in this country. There is no love lost between the stable. It is not

surprising that he would make these comments. Thank you very much.

China has told the United States to end spying operations

near its coastline, in a worsening dispute about an underwater drone.

A Chinese naval vessel took the American drone when it was off

But The US President-elect, Donald Trump has already pitched in,

tweeting to say China's actions are unprecedented.

What happened on Thursday is that China intercepted an unmanned drone

that the United States survey ship was just about to collect, off the

coast of the Philippines. It was hundreds of commanders from the

Chinese mainland. On Saturday morning, China admitted that they

had taken the drawn when the states asked for it to be given back. The

Ministry of Defence, in China, issued a statement saying that the

Americans have been carrying out this activity for some time. They

don't want any surveillance reconnaissance activities taking

place off the Chinese coast. What does this say about US and China

relations at the moment? China are testing Donald Trump. Effectively,

China wants to control the south China Sea. It has great territorial

claims that. Since the Second World War, America has been the dominant

paradigm. China is testing American reactions. It is saying that it can

intercept and acts on what you are doing if we see fit to do so. They

are pushing back at Donald Trump, trying to test has reaction. Does

this have anything to do with the row over Taiwan over the last few

weeks? Yes, Donald Trump already indicated that when he becomes

president, she might change the policy with China. They have up

until now acknowledged that Taiwan is part of China. Donald Trump

accepted a phone call from the president of Taiwan. That made China

angry. China is saying that they boards take this lying down. They

are saying, this is a recording of you and these are our core

interests. We will push back. -- this is our core area and these are

our core interests. What are the consequences? It would have serious

consequences but it is the Chinese Government saying to the United

States, we have here, we're powerful, we have own interests and

you'd better be aware of those when you get into power, Donald Trump.

Turkey is under attack from terror organisations -

that's the claim by the country's President

This time 13 military personnel died in an explosion

which the Government is blaming on Kurdish militants.

The blast was aimed at a bus in the central city of Kayseri,

The Prime Minister said a suicide bomber struck the bus carrying

The latest target in Turkey's wave of terror.

It was hit this morning as it waited at a traffic light

a suicide bomber pulling up in a car.

On board were off duty soldiers, enjoying their weekend leave,

Some of the wounded were taken to intensive care

Kayseri, a largely peaceful industrial city

It is a week since Turkey's last attack.

Twin bombs in Istanbul that killed 44 and injured dozens,

Kurdish militants said they were behind those blasts

and the PKK, again the prime suspects today.

President Erdogan referring to them as he blamed the

Kurdish militants have hit police and military over the year

since the ceasefire with the Turkish state broke down.

So-called Islamic State have bombed Turkey but have tended to strike

Arguably the most turbulent year in Turkey's history has

as Turks ask which corner is really safe from the violence?

In neighbouring Syria both the Government and rebels say

details are being worked out on a new deal to allow more people

Thousands of civilians and fighters are waiting in freezing conditions.

The evacuations were suspended on Friday after both

sides accused the other of breaching the ceasefire.

Here's our correspondent in neighbouring Lebanon Lina Sinjab,

on what we know about the evacuation.

An agreement has been reached between the government

and the opposition on resuming the evacuation.

Of course, the Syrian government has put priority to evacuate

loyalists to President Assad from the Shi'ite villages

The details are the ones that are difficult in

The Syrian government made it clear that first,

we will evacuate the loyalists to President Assad and then

Now, we've learned from the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights that

more than 20 buses have actually departed the city of Aleppo.

But then there were disputes, disagreements on how many people

The government wanted 4000, but the Syrian Observatory said

the numbers have been dropped to 1500.

We're still waiting to see the actual evacuation of people

from Fua and Kefraya, who are not living in conditions

that are comparable to the residents of Eastern Aleppo,

And since yesterday, since the evacuation was on hold,

they've been out in the cold waiting to be evacuated.

Many children, women, elderly and wounded as well,

in really difficult conditions, waiting to leave.

Stay with us on BBC World News, still to come:

Thousands gather in Ohio to pay tribute to American

space legend John Glenn, who died last week aged 95.

After eight months on the run, Saddam Hussein has been captured.

Saddam Hussein is finished. He killed our people and our women and

children. They brought a formal end to three and a half years of

conflict. Conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. Before an

audience of voltages, the president is put their names to a peace

agreement. -- an audience of world leaders. The mania has cut itself

off from the outside world. This is in order to prevent the details of

the presumed massacre of looking at. The Lewinsky affair has guaranteed

Bill Clinton's place in history as only the second president ever to be

impeached. In Poland demonstrators block

the parliament in the capital. The Prime Minister

calls it scandalous. China tells the United States stop

spying around our coast Pollution in the Chinese capital,

Beijing, has reached ten times the level considered safe

by the World Health Organisation. That's on the first day

of a five-day smog alert which will see traffic restrictions

and other measures aimed To give you an idea of the scale

of the problem, these are air quality readings taken

at the top of the American As you can see, pollution

there has been building up. They have already reached

hazardous levels today. Friday evening in northern China.

Police enforce a ban on vehicles, taking half of them off the streets.

According to an even, odd number plate system. Earlier, factories,

schools and construction sites were ordered to close. The measures

followed the first modern red alert and will last five days. They have

prompted mixed reactions from the distance.

TRANSLATION: If the situation is really that bad, it is good to

implement measures like suspending skill classes and vehicles. It is

good for the physical and mental public health.

TRANSLATION: I don't quite agree with Rogic this kind of their too

often. It brings in a lot of trouble to our daily light. It is difficult

for people and makes it difficult to make Christmas. -- to make

arrangements. TRANSLATION: Going out is

inconvenient. I will just take a rest and not go outside. Some 20

cities across China are adopting similar measures. Religion is an

issue of increasing public concern in the world's's second-largest

economy. Pollution is annexed issue. There is -- pollution is an

increasing issue. Let's go to import them.

Chelsea have stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League

to nine points after a one nil victory at Crystal Palace.

The result was Chelsea's 11th win in a row under

manager Antonio Conte - equalling their club record.

Diego Costa got the crucial goal just before half time.

Chelsea have gone on to win the Premier League every time

they've been top of the table at Christmas.

That's what are going to be this year. My players are deserving this.

I see them every day every single moment they are committed. The way

that we prepare, the way that they fight in every game and its

syntactic. I think that we can improve. I am pleased for the fans.

It looks like Chelsea's former manager Jose Mourinho is beginning

to turn things round at Manchester United.

They're now level on points with fifth place Spurs after a 2-nil

Both goals were scored by former Swedish international

When he decided to come to England to the most difficult championship

in the world, I think he's proved that he is Superman in his

mentality. He is doing fantastic. What he's doing at the age of 35 is

a for everyone at 25, every striker of 25 to arrive in the Premier

League and impressed and with that he is doing.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Middlesbrough, Sunderland

and West Ham Leicester came from behind to force a draw at Stoke

despite having Jamie Vardy sent off midway through the first half.

England are still in with a reasonable chance of a consolation

They recovered from a poor start to the second day in Chennai

to reach 477-477 all out - debutante Liam Dawson

and Adil Rashid both making half centuries.

In reply, India were 60 without loss at the close of play.

I didn't expect the call up. I was very happy to get it and to do well.

66, not out in your first innings, terrific. Tell us about your nerves.

May one 20 balls were nervous. I think that is natural. Any player

would go through that. After that, you can relax. Thankfully, I got to

that point. Rafa Nadal has turned to fellow

Mallorcan Carlos Moya in an attempt Moya is also a former world number

one and will join team Nadal, Moya will work alongside Rafa's

uncle Toni and Francis Roig. The Spaniard withdrew

from the French Open and missed But he finished the season

ninth in the rankings. Former world champion boxer

Bernard Hopkins will enter the ring for what he says will be the last

time later today - at the age of 51. The Executioner faces Joe Smith

Junior in a light heavyweight bout. Here he is at the weigh-in,

not in bad shape for a man who's He holds the record for the oldest

man to win a world title - that was when he was 46 and again

at 48 in a unification bout. Hopkins made his professional debut

in 1988 - before his The fight in Los Angeles

will be his 65th. the crash that killed most

of his team in Colombia last month says he changed

seats at the last minute. Alan Ruschel says a team mate

encouraged him to sit beside him. The Chapecoense player

is recovering from a back injury but says he hopes

to play football again. TRANSLATION: When we arrived in

Bolivia, we were going to take the chartered flight. Our football

director asked as to move to the front of the plane. I was sitting

more to the back and he asked me to move to the front so that the

journalists could sit at the back. At the time, I didn't want to move.

Then I saw over goalkeeper who insisted I sit next to him. I left

the back seat and sat with him. That's what I can remember. A very

emotional survivor of the Colombian plane crash.

Henry Heimlich, the man who gave his name to a technique

he created to save choking victims, has died at the age of 96

He came up with the Heimlich manoeuvre in 1974.

It's believed to have saved the lives of thousands of choking

David Campanale looks back at his life.

Doctor Henry J Heimlich. His name will be forever linked with saving

lives. Doctor Henry Heimlich, seen here giving a 1970s education videos

shown across America at the time, demonstrates the anti-choking

techniques that he had recently created. Still effective today, the

Heimlich manoeuvre has saved countless lives. The traitor should

millions how to do it. He came up with the technique after reading

about the amount of people killed by talking on food. -- the inventor

showed millions hardwood. He had to do it for the first time in a kiln.

She was sitting on a chair and turned around so that her back would

be exposed. I put my arms around her and pressed on the abdomen below the

rib cage and did three conversions. She just started breeding. --

started breathing. This patient was thankful to be alive. The next thing

I knew, I couldn't squeeze. When I bought my thank you note, I said,

God puts me in that seat next to you so that you could save my life.

Anyone can be a key role with the Heimlich manoeuvre. It requires no

equipment and only minimal training. She's never had to do it in real

life and I think it's amazing that this circumstance happened that he

got to perform it. For any artistic should all strive to be able to get

up and react and perform a first it never is impressive, but for the guy

who invested to do it is incredible. In a statement, the family said that

he had saved untold numbers of lives using what they called common sense

procedures. A public more real service was held

on the campus of Ohio State University for John Glenn. This is

the state capital. This is where he toured during the latter part of his

life. It can solve two days of public events that commemorated him.

He was the first American to orbit Earth. He was described by Nasa as a

true American hero. He was also the first senior citizen to venture into

safe. The Polish Prime Minister Beata

Szydlo has strongly condemned opposition protests against what it

says are restrictions on the media. She said people were free

to demonstrate, but she called her The opposition is blocking

parliament over plans