:00:07. > :00:11.This is BBC World News Today with me, Nuala McGovern.
:00:12. > :00:14.The headlines: The man Donald Trump wants to be the US Attorney General
:00:15. > :00:17.faces protesters as he is questioned by fellow senators.
:00:18. > :00:20.Jeff Sessions said claims he'd once sympathised with the Ku Klux Klan
:00:21. > :00:22.were "damnably false" and denied failing to protect
:00:23. > :00:30.the rights of minorities in the past.
:00:31. > :00:41.This caricature of Louis in the 86 was not correct. I had become the
:00:42. > :00:43.latest attorney. I supported civil rights attorneys, major civil rights
:00:44. > :00:46.cases in my district. we'll be live in Chicago
:00:47. > :00:50.to enter the White House where President Obama's preparing
:00:51. > :01:00.to make his farewell address. Emotional scenes in Iran
:01:01. > :01:03.as an estimated 3 million people pay their last respects to former
:01:04. > :01:05.President Rafsanjani - a hugely
:01:06. > :01:06.influential reformist leader. Also coming up,
:01:07. > :01:09.from 32 countries to 48 - Fifa says it's expanding
:01:10. > :01:10.football's World Cup. The woman who sat on the
:01:11. > :01:13.front row of history. British war correspondent
:01:14. > :01:37.Clare Hollingworth 1935, I went out and I got to Warsaw
:01:38. > :01:43.and he said, one of us has got to go to the frontier and I was on the
:01:44. > :01:58.German- Polish frontier and the German hordes, tanks, moved in.
:01:59. > :02:02.the next President of the United States in ten days' time.
:02:03. > :02:05.On Tuesday the team he has picked to help him govern came
:02:06. > :02:08.under the spotlight as Republicans and Democrats clashed over his picks
:02:09. > :02:18.for the cabinet, in confirmation hearings by the US Senate.
:02:19. > :02:20.Trump's choice for Attorney General - Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions -
:02:21. > :02:23.is the first to be put through his paces.
:02:24. > :02:24.Mr Sessions is regarded as staunchly conservative
:02:25. > :02:27.though he says he's been misjudged because he's from South Alabama.
:02:28. > :02:29.Throughout his career he's been accused of racism,
:02:30. > :02:32.but at the hearing he repeated his assertions
:02:33. > :02:38.that he doesn't harbour race-based discrimination.
:02:39. > :02:41.Mr Sessions also opposes amnesty for undocumented immigrants
:02:42. > :02:43.and was an early supporter of Donald Trump's call
:02:44. > :02:45.to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
:02:46. > :02:47.From the beginning, the hearing was interrupted several times
:02:48. > :03:26.Barbara Plett Usher is in Washington.
:03:27. > :03:33.Barbra, good to have you with us. When it began, those previous
:03:34. > :03:40.controversies followed Senator Sessions into the room. His
:03:41. > :03:44.ultraconservative positions have many people worried about whether
:03:45. > :03:49.he's going to protect gay rights, women's rights, minority rights. The
:03:50. > :03:54.leading Democratic Senate committee said it had received thousands of
:03:55. > :04:02.opposition letters. As you saw from the protesters there are, there is
:04:03. > :04:06.particular concern about his civil rights record and allegations of
:04:07. > :04:12.racism as well as allegations that he supported the Ku Kux Klan in the
:04:13. > :04:18.past, things he firmly denies. The complaints about the Klan case that
:04:19. > :04:24.I prosecuted and supported are false. And I do hope this hearing
:04:25. > :04:30.today will show that I conducted myself honourably and properly at
:04:31. > :04:33.that time and that I am the same person, perhaps wiser and maybe a
:04:34. > :04:43.little better, I hope so, today, than I was then, but I did not
:04:44. > :04:47.harbour the kind of animosities and raced -based discrimination ideas
:04:48. > :04:50.that I was accused of. I did not. He was hoping that his record might be
:04:51. > :04:58.improved somehow by this hearing. What would you say after watching
:04:59. > :05:05.this hearing take place? He was given plenty of a chance to defend
:05:06. > :05:10.his record as well as 20 challenges to explain the skin changes those.
:05:11. > :05:13.One of those was with regards to the issue of Muslims being banned from
:05:14. > :05:18.the country. Remember that Mr Trump during his campaign proposed having
:05:19. > :05:23.this temporarily ban on Muslims. He stepped back from that, later. When
:05:24. > :05:25.the Democrats try to propose the red legislation in Congress,
:05:26. > :05:29.specifically saying that no one should be barred for religious
:05:30. > :05:33.reasons, Mr Sessions voted against that. He was asked about that and he
:05:34. > :05:38.said he did not support banning Muslims as a religion or banning any
:05:39. > :05:43.group as a religion but he did want the freedom or the right to ban
:05:44. > :05:47.terrorists who might be inspired by their religion and he spelt that out
:05:48. > :05:51.fully in this exchange. Would you support a law that says you cannot
:05:52. > :05:56.come to America because you are a Muslim? No. Would you support a law
:05:57. > :06:01.that says that, if you are a Muslim, you say you're a Muslim, I'm going
:06:02. > :06:06.to ask what that means you, does that mean that I have to kill
:06:07. > :06:11.everybody that's different me, to say they cannot come? I heard that
:06:12. > :06:15.would be a pertinent decision. I hope that we can kill everybody was
:06:16. > :06:18.the come to the country who wants to kill people because of their
:06:19. > :06:23.religion but that is not what most people of the Muslim faith belief.
:06:24. > :06:29.But it can be the religion of that person. That's right. That is the
:06:30. > :06:35.point we are trying to make here. The quizzing and the tone of this
:06:36. > :06:39.hearing showed just how concerned minorities in particular are about
:06:40. > :06:43.Mr Sessions, the possibility of him being Attorney General and about the
:06:44. > :06:47.Trump presidency in general. The Democrats will use the file two days
:06:48. > :07:02.they have to continue exploring that. -- the full two days. Let's
:07:03. > :07:04.turn now to another story in the United States.
:07:05. > :07:07.As President Obama prepares to leave the White House,
:07:08. > :07:09.many are taking time to assess his time in office.
:07:10. > :07:11.His farewell address will come from Chicago later today.
:07:12. > :07:13.President Obama is expected to highlight his achievements
:07:14. > :07:15.including promoting America's place in the world.
:07:16. > :07:18.He may point to his successes - negotiations of a deal with Iran
:07:19. > :07:20.over its nuclear programme, for example,
:07:21. > :07:21.or the capture of Osama Bin Laden.
:07:22. > :07:24.But the conflict in Syria, the rise of so-called Islamic State,
:07:25. > :07:26.and deteriorating relations with Israel and Russia
:07:27. > :07:29.Our North America Editor Jon Sopel looks at
:07:30. > :07:31.President Obama's foreign policy legacy.
:07:32. > :07:34.There was always something upside down about Barack Obama receiving
:07:35. > :07:38.the Nobel Peace Prize before he had really done anything as president.
:07:39. > :07:43.When he came to office, one the greatest strategic threats
:07:44. > :07:45.was Iran, a resurgent power in the region.
:07:46. > :07:49.But more important than that was securing a multinational deal
:07:50. > :07:51.to curb the nuclear ambitions of Tehran.
:07:52. > :08:02.despite fierce opposition from the Israeli Prime Minister.
:08:03. > :08:05.When Benjamin Netanyahu came to address Congress two years ago,
:08:06. > :08:08.there was fury in the White House, they were angry that an invitation
:08:09. > :08:09.had been extended by Republican leaders
:08:10. > :08:11.and accepted without the president knowing.
:08:12. > :08:13.But very soon someone much more to the Israeli Prime Minister's
:08:14. > :08:21.liking will be occupying the White House and the quest
:08:22. > :08:24.-- question the world is asking, will the Iran nuclear deal survives
:08:25. > :08:29.Over here we have been told that no deal is better than a bad deal.
:08:30. > :08:43.His relationship with Netanyahu was one low point, culminating
:08:44. > :08:46.in the US refusing to veto a UN resolution critical of the Israeli
:08:47. > :08:54.The chemistry with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin
:08:55. > :08:58.Crimea, cyber espionage and Syria left them barely speaking.
:08:59. > :09:00.The pledge at the beginning of his presidency was all about disengaging
:09:01. > :09:03.from costly conflict and bringing the troops back home.
:09:04. > :09:06.We can say to those families who've lost loved ones to Al-Qaeda terror,
:09:07. > :09:20.But the optimism brought by the successful raid
:09:21. > :09:22.to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011 and the spread
:09:23. > :09:26.Would eventually be replaced by a middle east in flames.
:09:27. > :09:28.And the rise of so-called Islamic State, the fight against
:09:29. > :09:31.Arguably the low point for President Obama
:09:32. > :09:34.in the Middle East has been Syria, which has been a humanitarian
:09:35. > :09:42.catastrophe, sparking the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
:09:43. > :09:45.And the president's failure to act against President Assad
:09:46. > :09:47.in spite of much huffing and puffing,
:09:48. > :09:58.A red line for us is, we start seeing a whole
:09:59. > :10:00.of chemical weapons moving around before being utilised.
:10:01. > :10:10.I think it was a mistake not to enforce the red line.
:10:11. > :10:13.When the US is clearly saying there could be
:10:14. > :10:15.consequences for a certain action, it is important
:10:16. > :10:18.I also would not confuse that with crossing the chemical weapons
:10:19. > :10:21.red line with the notion that there was intervention
:10:22. > :10:29.Obama's policy toward Syria is much like the embassy here in Washington,
:10:30. > :10:32.an empty shell, newspapers piling on the doorstep, the windows barred.
:10:33. > :10:34.And in the talks to bring peace to the country,
:10:35. > :10:38.Barack Obama has flip-flopped over whether to take military action,
:10:39. > :10:41.too slow to react to the dangers of so-called Islamic State.
:10:42. > :10:43.It has been a period in which American influence
:10:44. > :10:55.From one empty embassy to another, influence has increased.
:10:56. > :10:57.that has had new life breathed into it,
:10:58. > :10:59.this is the Cuban Embassy in north-west Washington.
:11:00. > :11:11.For over 50 years it lay derelict, last legacy the Cold War.
:11:12. > :11:17.In the warmth of the Caribbean island, Barack Obama consigned
:11:18. > :11:19.the last piece of icy Cold War legacy to history.
:11:20. > :11:22.Cuba had brought the world to the edge of nuclear war.
:11:23. > :11:23.Now diplomatic relations are restored,
:11:24. > :11:27.He leaves office largely admired and popular around the world.
:11:28. > :11:30.Not least for his role in the global climate change deal.
:11:31. > :11:32.He tried to carve out a foreign policy
:11:33. > :11:36.that he saw as right for the times.
:11:37. > :11:39.But as the commander-in-chief was given the traditional
:11:40. > :11:42.sendoff, in his own way, was he as destructive
:11:43. > :11:54.to US power and influence as his predecessor, George W Bush?
:11:55. > :11:57.And what would the Nobel committee make of him, eight years on?
:11:58. > :12:03.Our Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue joins us now from Chicago.
:12:04. > :12:10.Good to have you with us. It looks incredibly cold well you are. Tell
:12:11. > :12:19.me about the mood in the run-up to this farewell speech. It is going to
:12:20. > :12:25.be a momentous occasion. It is an overused word, but it really is,
:12:26. > :12:30.because it will mark, in a sense, President Obama's last chance to sum
:12:31. > :12:36.up what he thinks he has achieved, to book end his presidency, do not
:12:37. > :12:39.just list his achievements as he sees it but do tried to weave
:12:40. > :12:46.together those achievements into some sort of idea of how America has
:12:47. > :12:50.improved over the last eight years, in his view, under his stewardship.
:12:51. > :12:56.There will be much about the economy and about jobs. A lot about criminal
:12:57. > :13:04.justice reform. Of course there will be talk about his signature policy
:13:05. > :13:08.on health care. And there may be an admission two about what he would
:13:09. > :13:14.have liked to have done but didn't get done such as comprehensive
:13:15. > :13:19.immigration reform and gun control. What will be interesting, I think,
:13:20. > :13:24.is the extent to which he sort of sounds a warning bell about the
:13:25. > :13:30.future, about the risks he would proceed to all that from the Trump
:13:31. > :13:34.presidency. I would be surprised if he did an all-out attack on Donald
:13:35. > :13:39.Trump. That wouldn't be very statesman-like or very much like
:13:40. > :13:42.Obama, to be honest. I wonder if he will try to work in America about
:13:43. > :13:49.the risks he sees going forward, because, of course, it is not just
:13:50. > :13:53.the consequences for those people out there, if 20 million people were
:13:54. > :13:58.to lose their health insurance, it is his legacy that is at stake. This
:13:59. > :14:06.is his last big platform to secure that legacy. Is it just support that
:14:07. > :14:12.you are seeing for Obama in his adopted hometown? There have been
:14:13. > :14:18.many disillusioned or disappointed Obama voters, too. Yes, there have.
:14:19. > :14:23.He leaves office with extraordinary approval ratings of 55-57%. That is
:14:24. > :14:27.pretty good for an outgoing president after eight years in
:14:28. > :14:30.power. Bill Clinton had something around that when he left. It is
:14:31. > :14:36.really uncommon for that sort of level. The audience here tonight
:14:37. > :14:40.will be interesting. Many of them will be from Chicago. And of course
:14:41. > :14:45.this city has been through some terrible times recently. Take this
:14:46. > :14:50.for a statistic. 762 people were murdered in this town last year.
:14:51. > :14:55.That is more than New York and Los Angeles put together. There are
:14:56. > :15:00.still problems in America. There are still problems in his back yard, his
:15:01. > :15:08.adopted town. People will feel that perhaps he could have done more to
:15:09. > :15:11.do something about that. You can understand why Chicago is known as
:15:12. > :15:22.the Windy city! Stay warm, thank you for coming on the programme today.
:15:23. > :15:24.Some estimates say 3.5 million people turned out
:15:25. > :15:29.in the streets for the funeral of one of the key figures
:15:30. > :15:30.in post-Revolution politics, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
:15:31. > :15:33.It was the biggest show of force by the supporters
:15:34. > :15:35.of the reform movement for many years.
:15:36. > :15:37.Initially criticised for his harsh rule, he became a key reformist.
:15:38. > :15:39.Mr Rafsanjani has been buried alongside the founder
:15:40. > :15:48.of the Islamic Republic - Ayatollah Khomeini.
:15:49. > :15:52.Prayers for one of the last major figures of the 1979 revolution,
:15:53. > :15:54.Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose white cleric's turban
:15:55. > :15:59.They were led by Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who, despite
:16:00. > :16:01.their differences, has described Mr Rafsanjani
:16:02. > :16:13.At the Supreme Leader's side, the current moderate President,
:16:14. > :16:15.Hassan Rouhani, who has now lost a key backer
:16:16. > :16:20.Some estimates put the number of mourners paying
:16:21. > :16:25.as the cortege made its way to his burial place.
:16:26. > :16:26.The tussle between moderates and hardliners
:16:27. > :16:37.Some mourners held portraits of the former president.
:16:38. > :16:39.Others chanted the name of his even more reformist
:16:40. > :16:45.State television responded by turning up the background music
:16:46. > :16:56.In recent years, the media has been banned from publishing
:16:57. > :17:00.the name or images of Mr Khatami, who was not present at the funeral.
:17:01. > :17:02.He had called for supporters to come out in force
:17:03. > :17:06.to show their solidarity with the reform movement.
:17:07. > :17:08.Iran is holding three days of national mourning
:17:09. > :17:12.for the late Ayatollah Rafsanjani.
:17:13. > :17:17.Deep divisions over social and economic freedoms and
:17:18. > :17:19.further potential rapprochement with the West will remain.
:17:20. > :17:31.in a succession of militant attacks in Afghanistan.
:17:32. > :17:34.The Taliban said it was responsible for the twin bomb attacks
:17:35. > :17:37.There's also been an explosion in the centre of Kabul.
:17:38. > :17:40.in the compound of the governor of the southern province of Kandahar.
:17:41. > :17:44.Up to 12 people were killed in that incident.
:17:45. > :17:46.Football's governing body, Fifa, has approved plans to expand
:17:47. > :17:50.It'll open up the tournament to nations who've previously found
:17:51. > :17:52.it difficult to qualify and is set to boost
:17:53. > :17:55.the number of African and Asian countries taking part.
:17:56. > :17:58.The move will also generate millions more from advertising and TV rights.
:17:59. > :18:05.Our sports correspondent Richard Conway reports from Zurich.
:18:06. > :18:10.Fifa has finally cleared a path to a World Cup
:18:11. > :18:14.From 2026, 16 more countries will join
:18:15. > :18:20.Speaking to me today, the world governing body's president insisted,
:18:21. > :18:23.in the face of much criticism, it's time for the sport to look
:18:24. > :18:29.Football has become a truly global game because many more
:18:30. > :18:32.countries, many more teams, will have the chance to qualify,
:18:33. > :18:36.so they will invest in developing football.
:18:37. > :18:38.They will invest in developing elite football
:18:39. > :18:42.as well as grass-roots football.
:18:43. > :18:44.They will invest in their technical developments
:18:45. > :18:46.and this will make sure that the quality raises.
:18:47. > :18:49.The growth of the World Cup will bring in revenue.
:18:50. > :18:52.Fifa stand to make ?500 million profit in 2026,
:18:53. > :19:01.according to its own research.
:19:02. > :19:07.Gianni Infantino was elected on a pledge to deliver a bigger
:19:08. > :19:09.competition and insists it is not about cash or politics.
:19:10. > :19:12.It's not at all a money and power grab, it's the opposite.
:19:13. > :19:18.So the way we presented it was - OK - we present four formats,
:19:19. > :19:21.every one of the four formats has advantages in terms of
:19:22. > :19:24.the financial situation which means we are in a comfortable situation
:19:25. > :19:43.to be able to take a decision simply based on the sporting merit.
:19:44. > :19:44.Asia, where interest in football is booming,
:19:45. > :19:47.and Africa stand to benefit the most when the extra 16
:19:48. > :19:50.There will be more slots too for European nations.
:19:51. > :19:53.The Scottish FA welcomed today's decision, believing it will give
:19:54. > :19:54.them and others a better chance of qualifying.
:19:55. > :19:57.After a number of years when Fifa was a by-word for corruption,
:19:58. > :19:59.its new leadership is determined to assert itself.
:20:00. > :20:02.Gianni Infantino's task is now to convince his critics a reformed
:20:03. > :20:13.It was the scoop of the century - the news
:20:14. > :20:16.triggering the start of World War Two.
:20:17. > :20:18.Today, that British war correspondent who broke the story,
:20:19. > :20:21.As a rookie reporter in Poland in 1939,
:20:22. > :20:26.she spotted German forces gathering on the border.
:20:27. > :20:35.James Robbins looks back at her life and career.
:20:36. > :20:37.NEWS REEL: This is the national programme from London.
:20:38. > :20:39.Germany has invaded Poland and has bombed many towns.
:20:40. > :20:41.But three days earlier, Clare Hollingworth's greatest scoop
:20:42. > :20:43.had already appeared in the Daily Telegraph.
:20:44. > :20:44.Alone, inside Germany, she'd seen the Nazis
:20:45. > :20:50.Aged 27 and a journalist for less than a week,
:20:51. > :20:55.a woman in a man's world had beaten the lot of them.
:20:56. > :21:00.1939, I went out to Poland to become number two
:21:01. > :21:09.to Hugh Carleton Greene of BBC fame, and I got to Warsaw and he said,
:21:10. > :21:13."One of us has got to go to the frontier."
:21:14. > :21:15.And I was on the German-Polish frontier
:21:16. > :21:17.when the German hordes, tanks, moved in.
:21:18. > :21:20.And Clare Hollingworth's scoops kept coming.
:21:21. > :21:25.In 1963, she uncovered Kim Philby's escape to Russia as an MI6 traitor.
:21:26. > :21:29.For weeks, the Guardian refused to publish, fearing a libel action.
:21:30. > :21:32.But above all, she was a war correspondent,
:21:33. > :21:34.across the Middle East and notably in Vietnam,
:21:35. > :21:41.revealing secret talks between Hanoi and Washington.
:21:42. > :21:43.I'm really passionately interested in war and if one
:21:44. > :21:52.# Happy birthday, dear Clare...# one can't help like being in it.
:21:53. > :21:55.Last year in Hong Kong, fellow journalists celebrated
:21:56. > :21:59.Clare's 105th birthday as even more extraordinary stories emerged
:22:00. > :22:03.of her role before World War II, helping refugees escape the Nazis.
:22:04. > :22:10.In danger herself so many times, Clare Hollingworth was witness
:22:11. > :22:18.to great events across more than a century.
:22:19. > :22:28.The writer and broadcaster Isabel Hilton new Claire Hollingworth. What
:22:29. > :22:37.are women. Perhaps we could start with her significance. She was
:22:38. > :22:41.remarkable. She was a woman and she got the biggest scoop of the
:22:42. > :22:44.century. She was the most tenacious reporter. She would never be noted
:22:45. > :22:52.for her fine writing but there was no one like Clare for getting the
:22:53. > :22:57.story. She was born in 1911. It was appealed that was difficult for
:22:58. > :23:03.women even in recent decades. Going back, she was 27 years of age when
:23:04. > :23:07.she broke that story. You would see that her father insisted on sending
:23:08. > :23:10.her to domestic science College which still makes me laugh, because
:23:11. > :23:17.anyone less inclined to do domestic science, I have yet to meet. She
:23:18. > :23:21.came from a well-to-do rural family who thought that girls ought to
:23:22. > :23:26.learn cooking and get married. But she went on to work with refugees,
:23:27. > :23:30.she signed so many visas for refugees in 1938 that there were
:23:31. > :23:34.complaints from the British government about the numbers
:23:35. > :23:42.arriving. She was wonderful. And she was fearless. She was remarkable.
:23:43. > :23:50.You met her in Hong Kong, Asia, China, big parts of her life. What
:23:51. > :23:56.was it that Rover, do you think? She was dedicated to the craft of
:23:57. > :24:01.journalism. -- that drove her. I met her in Beijing when I was a student
:24:02. > :24:06.there. At that time there were very few foreigners in Beijing. So when
:24:07. > :24:12.Clare saw a bunch of new Celsius to cultivate, which she did with style,
:24:13. > :24:16.Lord Hartwell would like you to have a decent lunch, my dear, she would
:24:17. > :24:28.say. She would grow as about what was going on in university. -- she
:24:29. > :24:32.would grill us. She said she felt uncomfortable if she did not write a
:24:33. > :24:37.story every day. And in China it was difficult. There were lots of places
:24:38. > :24:43.you couldn't go, and there was difficult, difficulties with access
:24:44. > :24:47.to sources. Thank you very much for coming in and talking about the
:24:48. > :24:54.memories that you have of Claire Hollingworth.
:24:55. > :24:59.Jeff Sessions, the man picked to be the next US Attorney General,
:25:00. > :25:01.has told his Senate confirmation hearing that he's no racist
:25:02. > :25:04.and has never supported the Ku Klux Klan.
:25:05. > :25:15.Jeff Sessions. There was a Democratic senator who expressed
:25:16. > :25:20.deep concern about the Alabama Republican's nomination. The
:25:21. > :25:24.Democrats do not have the power in the chamber to block his
:25:25. > :25:27.confirmation, but that does not put them off trying their best to bring
:25:28. > :25:30.up some of the issues that they feel should be front and centre when it
:25:31. > :25:37.comes to these confirmation hearings. You will see lots more
:25:38. > :25:39.coming up over the next few days, before the inauguration of President
:25:40. > :25:42.elect Donald Trump on January 20. Don't forget you can get
:25:43. > :25:45.in touch with me and some of the team on Twitter -
:25:46. > :25:52.I'm @BBCNuala. And you can see what we are
:25:53. > :25:55.working on via facebook. Lots there to look at about our
:25:56. > :25:59.programmes coming up