10/01/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Nuala McGovern.

The headlines: The man Donald Trump wants to be the US Attorney General

faces protesters as he is questioned by fellow senators.

Jeff Sessions said claims he'd once sympathised with the Ku Klux Klan

were "damnably false" and denied failing to protect

the rights of minorities in the past.

This caricature of Louis in the 86 was not correct. I had become the

latest attorney. I supported civil rights attorneys, major civil rights

cases in my district. we'll be live in Chicago

to enter the White House where President Obama's preparing

to make his farewell address. Emotional scenes in Iran

as an estimated 3 million people pay their last respects to former

President Rafsanjani - a hugely

influential reformist leader. Also coming up,

from 32 countries to 48 - Fifa says it's expanding

football's World Cup. The woman who sat on the

front row of history. British war correspondent

Clare Hollingworth 1935, I went out and I got to Warsaw

and he said, one of us has got to go to the frontier and I was on the

German- Polish frontier and the German hordes, tanks, moved in.

the next President of the United States in ten days' time.

On Tuesday the team he has picked to help him govern came

under the spotlight as Republicans and Democrats clashed over his picks

for the cabinet, in confirmation hearings by the US Senate.

Trump's choice for Attorney General - Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions -

is the first to be put through his paces.

Mr Sessions is regarded as staunchly conservative

though he says he's been misjudged because he's from South Alabama.

Throughout his career he's been accused of racism,

but at the hearing he repeated his assertions

that he doesn't harbour race-based discrimination.

Mr Sessions also opposes amnesty for undocumented immigrants

and was an early supporter of Donald Trump's call

to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

From the beginning, the hearing was interrupted several times

Barbara Plett Usher is in Washington.

Barbra, good to have you with us. When it began, those previous

controversies followed Senator Sessions into the room. His

ultraconservative positions have many people worried about whether

he's going to protect gay rights, women's rights, minority rights. The

leading Democratic Senate committee said it had received thousands of

opposition letters. As you saw from the protesters there are, there is

particular concern about his civil rights record and allegations of

racism as well as allegations that he supported the Ku Kux Klan in the

past, things he firmly denies. The complaints about the Klan case that

I prosecuted and supported are false. And I do hope this hearing

today will show that I conducted myself honourably and properly at

that time and that I am the same person, perhaps wiser and maybe a

little better, I hope so, today, than I was then, but I did not

harbour the kind of animosities and raced -based discrimination ideas

that I was accused of. I did not. He was hoping that his record might be

improved somehow by this hearing. What would you say after watching

this hearing take place? He was given plenty of a chance to defend

his record as well as 20 challenges to explain the skin changes those.

One of those was with regards to the issue of Muslims being banned from

the country. Remember that Mr Trump during his campaign proposed having

this temporarily ban on Muslims. He stepped back from that, later. When

the Democrats try to propose the red legislation in Congress,

specifically saying that no one should be barred for religious

reasons, Mr Sessions voted against that. He was asked about that and he

said he did not support banning Muslims as a religion or banning any

group as a religion but he did want the freedom or the right to ban

terrorists who might be inspired by their religion and he spelt that out

fully in this exchange. Would you support a law that says you cannot

come to America because you are a Muslim? No. Would you support a law

that says that, if you are a Muslim, you say you're a Muslim, I'm going

to ask what that means you, does that mean that I have to kill

everybody that's different me, to say they cannot come? I heard that

would be a pertinent decision. I hope that we can kill everybody was

the come to the country who wants to kill people because of their

religion but that is not what most people of the Muslim faith belief.

But it can be the religion of that person. That's right. That is the

point we are trying to make here. The quizzing and the tone of this

hearing showed just how concerned minorities in particular are about

Mr Sessions, the possibility of him being Attorney General and about the

Trump presidency in general. The Democrats will use the file two days

they have to continue exploring that. -- the full two days. Let's

turn now to another story in the United States.

As President Obama prepares to leave the White House,

many are taking time to assess his time in office.

His farewell address will come from Chicago later today.

President Obama is expected to highlight his achievements

including promoting America's place in the world.

He may point to his successes - negotiations of a deal with Iran

over its nuclear programme, for example,

or the capture of Osama Bin Laden.

But the conflict in Syria, the rise of so-called Islamic State,

and deteriorating relations with Israel and Russia

Our North America Editor Jon Sopel looks at

President Obama's foreign policy legacy.

There was always something upside down about Barack Obama receiving

the Nobel Peace Prize before he had really done anything as president.

When he came to office, one the greatest strategic threats

was Iran, a resurgent power in the region.

But more important than that was securing a multinational deal

to curb the nuclear ambitions of Tehran.

despite fierce opposition from the Israeli Prime Minister.

When Benjamin Netanyahu came to address Congress two years ago,

there was fury in the White House, they were angry that an invitation

had been extended by Republican leaders

and accepted without the president knowing.

But very soon someone much more to the Israeli Prime Minister's

liking will be occupying the White House and the quest

-- question the world is asking, will the Iran nuclear deal survives

Over here we have been told that no deal is better than a bad deal.

His relationship with Netanyahu was one low point, culminating

in the US refusing to veto a UN resolution critical of the Israeli

The chemistry with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin

Crimea, cyber espionage and Syria left them barely speaking.

The pledge at the beginning of his presidency was all about disengaging

from costly conflict and bringing the troops back home.

We can say to those families who've lost loved ones to Al-Qaeda terror,

But the optimism brought by the successful raid

to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011 and the spread

Would eventually be replaced by a middle east in flames.

And the rise of so-called Islamic State, the fight against

Arguably the low point for President Obama

in the Middle East has been Syria, which has been a humanitarian

catastrophe, sparking the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

And the president's failure to act against President Assad

in spite of much huffing and puffing,

A red line for us is, we start seeing a whole

of chemical weapons moving around before being utilised.

I think it was a mistake not to enforce the red line.

When the US is clearly saying there could be

consequences for a certain action, it is important

I also would not confuse that with crossing the chemical weapons

red line with the notion that there was intervention

Obama's policy toward Syria is much like the embassy here in Washington,

an empty shell, newspapers piling on the doorstep, the windows barred.

And in the talks to bring peace to the country,

Barack Obama has flip-flopped over whether to take military action,

too slow to react to the dangers of so-called Islamic State.

It has been a period in which American influence

From one empty embassy to another, influence has increased.

that has had new life breathed into it,

this is the Cuban Embassy in north-west Washington.

For over 50 years it lay derelict, last legacy the Cold War.

In the warmth of the Caribbean island, Barack Obama consigned

the last piece of icy Cold War legacy to history.

Cuba had brought the world to the edge of nuclear war.

Now diplomatic relations are restored,

He leaves office largely admired and popular around the world.

Not least for his role in the global climate change deal.

He tried to carve out a foreign policy

that he saw as right for the times.

But as the commander-in-chief was given the traditional

sendoff, in his own way, was he as destructive

to US power and influence as his predecessor, George W Bush?

And what would the Nobel committee make of him, eight years on?

Our Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue joins us now from Chicago.

Good to have you with us. It looks incredibly cold well you are. Tell

me about the mood in the run-up to this farewell speech. It is going to

be a momentous occasion. It is an overused word, but it really is,

because it will mark, in a sense, President Obama's last chance to sum

up what he thinks he has achieved, to book end his presidency, do not

just list his achievements as he sees it but do tried to weave

together those achievements into some sort of idea of how America has

improved over the last eight years, in his view, under his stewardship.

There will be much about the economy and about jobs. A lot about criminal

justice reform. Of course there will be talk about his signature policy

on health care. And there may be an admission two about what he would

have liked to have done but didn't get done such as comprehensive

immigration reform and gun control. What will be interesting, I think,

is the extent to which he sort of sounds a warning bell about the

future, about the risks he would proceed to all that from the Trump

presidency. I would be surprised if he did an all-out attack on Donald

Trump. That wouldn't be very statesman-like or very much like

Obama, to be honest. I wonder if he will try to work in America about

the risks he sees going forward, because, of course, it is not just

the consequences for those people out there, if 20 million people were

to lose their health insurance, it is his legacy that is at stake. This

is his last big platform to secure that legacy. Is it just support that

you are seeing for Obama in his adopted hometown? There have been

many disillusioned or disappointed Obama voters, too. Yes, there have.

He leaves office with extraordinary approval ratings of 55-57%. That is

pretty good for an outgoing president after eight years in

power. Bill Clinton had something around that when he left. It is

really uncommon for that sort of level. The audience here tonight

will be interesting. Many of them will be from Chicago. And of course

this city has been through some terrible times recently. Take this

for a statistic. 762 people were murdered in this town last year.

That is more than New York and Los Angeles put together. There are

still problems in America. There are still problems in his back yard, his

adopted town. People will feel that perhaps he could have done more to

do something about that. You can understand why Chicago is known as

the Windy city! Stay warm, thank you for coming on the programme today.

Some estimates say 3.5 million people turned out

in the streets for the funeral of one of the key figures

in post-Revolution politics, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

It was the biggest show of force by the supporters

of the reform movement for many years.

Initially criticised for his harsh rule, he became a key reformist.

Mr Rafsanjani has been buried alongside the founder

of the Islamic Republic - Ayatollah Khomeini.

Prayers for one of the last major figures of the 1979 revolution,

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, whose white cleric's turban

They were led by Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who, despite

their differences, has described Mr Rafsanjani

At the Supreme Leader's side, the current moderate President,

Hassan Rouhani, who has now lost a key backer

Some estimates put the number of mourners paying

as the cortege made its way to his burial place.

The tussle between moderates and hardliners

Some mourners held portraits of the former president.

Others chanted the name of his even more reformist

State television responded by turning up the background music

In recent years, the media has been banned from publishing

the name or images of Mr Khatami, who was not present at the funeral.

He had called for supporters to come out in force

to show their solidarity with the reform movement.

Iran is holding three days of national mourning

for the late Ayatollah Rafsanjani.

Deep divisions over social and economic freedoms and

further potential rapprochement with the West will remain.

in a succession of militant attacks in Afghanistan.

The Taliban said it was responsible for the twin bomb attacks

There's also been an explosion in the centre of Kabul.

in the compound of the governor of the southern province of Kandahar.

Up to 12 people were killed in that incident.

Football's governing body, Fifa, has approved plans to expand

It'll open up the tournament to nations who've previously found

it difficult to qualify and is set to boost

the number of African and Asian countries taking part.

The move will also generate millions more from advertising and TV rights.

Our sports correspondent Richard Conway reports from Zurich.

Fifa has finally cleared a path to a World Cup

From 2026, 16 more countries will join

Speaking to me today, the world governing body's president insisted,

in the face of much criticism, it's time for the sport to look

Football has become a truly global game because many more

countries, many more teams, will have the chance to qualify,

so they will invest in developing football.

They will invest in developing elite football

as well as grass-roots football.

They will invest in their technical developments

and this will make sure that the quality raises.

The growth of the World Cup will bring in revenue.

Fifa stand to make ?500 million profit in 2026,

according to its own research.

Gianni Infantino was elected on a pledge to deliver a bigger

competition and insists it is not about cash or politics.

It's not at all a money and power grab, it's the opposite.

So the way we presented it was - OK - we present four formats,

every one of the four formats has advantages in terms of

the financial situation which means we are in a comfortable situation

to be able to take a decision simply based on the sporting merit.

Asia, where interest in football is booming,

and Africa stand to benefit the most when the extra 16

There will be more slots too for European nations.

The Scottish FA welcomed today's decision, believing it will give

them and others a better chance of qualifying.

After a number of years when Fifa was a by-word for corruption,

its new leadership is determined to assert itself.

Gianni Infantino's task is now to convince his critics a reformed

It was the scoop of the century - the news

triggering the start of World War Two.

Today, that British war correspondent who broke the story,

As a rookie reporter in Poland in 1939,

she spotted German forces gathering on the border.

James Robbins looks back at her life and career.

NEWS REEL: This is the national programme from London.

Germany has invaded Poland and has bombed many towns.

But three days earlier, Clare Hollingworth's greatest scoop

had already appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Alone, inside Germany, she'd seen the Nazis

Aged 27 and a journalist for less than a week,

a woman in a man's world had beaten the lot of them.

1939, I went out to Poland to become number two

to Hugh Carleton Greene of BBC fame, and I got to Warsaw and he said,

"One of us has got to go to the frontier."

And I was on the German-Polish frontier

when the German hordes, tanks, moved in.

And Clare Hollingworth's scoops kept coming.

In 1963, she uncovered Kim Philby's escape to Russia as an MI6 traitor.

For weeks, the Guardian refused to publish, fearing a libel action.

But above all, she was a war correspondent,

across the Middle East and notably in Vietnam,

revealing secret talks between Hanoi and Washington.

I'm really passionately interested in war and if one

# Happy birthday, dear Clare...# one can't help like being in it.

Last year in Hong Kong, fellow journalists celebrated

Clare's 105th birthday as even more extraordinary stories emerged

of her role before World War II, helping refugees escape the Nazis.

In danger herself so many times, Clare Hollingworth was witness

to great events across more than a century.

The writer and broadcaster Isabel Hilton new Claire Hollingworth. What

are women. Perhaps we could start with her significance. She was

remarkable. She was a woman and she got the biggest scoop of the

century. She was the most tenacious reporter. She would never be noted

for her fine writing but there was no one like Clare for getting the

story. She was born in 1911. It was appealed that was difficult for

women even in recent decades. Going back, she was 27 years of age when

she broke that story. You would see that her father insisted on sending

her to domestic science College which still makes me laugh, because

anyone less inclined to do domestic science, I have yet to meet. She

came from a well-to-do rural family who thought that girls ought to

learn cooking and get married. But she went on to work with refugees,

she signed so many visas for refugees in 1938 that there were

complaints from the British government about the numbers

arriving. She was wonderful. And she was fearless. She was remarkable.

You met her in Hong Kong, Asia, China, big parts of her life. What

was it that Rover, do you think? She was dedicated to the craft of

journalism. -- that drove her. I met her in Beijing when I was a student

there. At that time there were very few foreigners in Beijing. So when

Clare saw a bunch of new Celsius to cultivate, which she did with style,

Lord Hartwell would like you to have a decent lunch, my dear, she would

say. She would grow as about what was going on in university. -- she

would grill us. She said she felt uncomfortable if she did not write a

story every day. And in China it was difficult. There were lots of places

you couldn't go, and there was difficult, difficulties with access

to sources. Thank you very much for coming in and talking about the

memories that you have of Claire Hollingworth.

Jeff Sessions, the man picked to be the next US Attorney General,

has told his Senate confirmation hearing that he's no racist

and has never supported the Ku Klux Klan.

Jeff Sessions. There was a Democratic senator who expressed

deep concern about the Alabama Republican's nomination. The

Democrats do not have the power in the chamber to block his

confirmation, but that does not put them off trying their best to bring

up some of the issues that they feel should be front and centre when it

comes to these confirmation hearings. You will see lots more

coming up over the next few days, before the inauguration of President

elect Donald Trump on January 20. Don't forget you can get

in touch with me and some of the team on Twitter -

I'm @BBCNuala. And you can see what we are

working on via facebook. Lots there to look at about our

programmes coming up