24/02/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, broadcasting in the UK

-- Geeta Guru-Murthy. It was badly hit. Malaysia and police confirm

there was an air of chemical attack on the Korean leader's brother.

Donald Trump hits out at the press and confirms he intends to build the

wall on the border with Mexico. We are building the wall. And Claudio

Ranieri's sadness at being sacked just nine months after winning

Leicester City their only Premier League title.

Police in the say a highly toxic nerve agent called VX has been found

on the face of Kim Jong-nam, the murdered half brother

Mr Kim died last week after two women accosted him

briefly in a check-in hall at Kuala Lumpur airport.

The nerve agent, VX, is classified as a weapon of mass

Our correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

Last week at Kuala Lumpur airport someone chose to attack Kim Jong Nam

Last week at Kuala Lumpur airport someone chose to attack Kim Jong-nam

in full view of at least half a dozen CCTV cameras.

It was a very deliberate and very public act of violence.

It is the VX nerve agent, which is a chemical weapon.

Kim Jong-nam was walking across this busy departures hall last week

Now we know what was used to kill him, VX, one of the most

Just a tiny drop, one hundredth of a gram,

VX is also banned under international convention,

and yet someone decided to use it here in the midst of this

VX is colourless and odourless with, the feel of engine oil.

It is so deadly it is classified by the United Nations as a weapon

Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath,

South Korea says the North started producing chemical weapons

in the 1980s and has up to 5000 tonnes of stocks.

North Korea's young dictator Kim Jong-un already

Some think he is now sending a chilling new message,

by killing his older brother with the world's

What they have demonstrated is that they do have a weapon

of mass destruction, VX, which has the potential to kill

They have shown that they want to be part of the weapons

of mass destruction club and that they should

And if we do nothing, then we're going to be

The more we learn, the more bizarre this story becomes.

This is one of the alleged assassins taking part

Nothing about her suggests she could be a killer.

About the only thing we know for sure is that Kim Jong-nam must

His body convulsed, his lungs gasping for air.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, in Kuala Lumpur.

Joshua Pollack is the editor of The Nonproliferation Review

and a leading expert on nuclear and missile proliferation.

Thank you for your time. Can you tell us a bit more about this nerve

agent? VX is an especially potent nerve agent, and has traditionally

been used as a battlefield weapon, not as a tool of assassination. The

only exception I am aware of where some attempts in the 1990s by a

group in Japan the boys in some of their enemies with VX among other

chemical and biological agents -- group Japan to poison some of their

enemies. It had mixed success. The success of this was not in doubt he

suddenly. What do we know about how it was made, whether North Korea has

it and has used it? It is a synthetic chemical. It has long been

strongly suspected that the North Koreans have it. It is one of the

preferred military nerve agents. You can read for example South Korean

Defence Ministry papers on the subject which suggest that VX and

also selling are the mainstay of the North Korean chemical arsenal. This

report, if it is accurate in the end, tends to confirm they do have

VX, but it does not tell us a much. Can you explain a bit more about the

biological effects on the victims hit with this, and also what about

using this drug, it seems a pretty exotic approach? Well, yes, the

effects. It is inhaled, absorbed through the eyes or even through the

skin, and if that happens it will cause a lot of the body systems to

shut down. I think approximate cause of death is that you stop breathing

because your central nervous system stops telling you to breathe and

your muscles that control your breathing also fail. I would say

that the power of this agent, and it is an especially deadly agent, using

it in an exposed public space, especially in a foreign country, is

especially provocative and is likely to have consequences for North

Korea's relationship with Malaysia, among other countries, along with

China which apparently had extended some form of protection to the late

Kim Jong-un -- Kim Jong-nam. So there will be consequences. There

are really two hypotheses right now about the decision to use this nerve

agent. Firstly, that it was meant as a demonstration of North Korea's

capabilities and its willingness to use them against its enemies. A

warning that it could enhance its deterrence of South Korea or the

United States. Another hypothesis is that the agent is so exotic, so

unusual, as a tool of assassination, that it would not be detected in

time by the Malaysian authorities who would hand over the body to the

North Korean authorities and nobody would ever be the wiser. That may

have been what the Russians intended with polonium in London seven years

ago. Sorry to interrupt, Joshua Pollack, we are out of time, but we

do appreciate your time and expertise.

Iraqi forces are launching attacks on a neighbourhood in the west of

Mosul a day after troops recaptured the city's airport.

Mosul is Barack's second-largest city.

It fell to IS in June 20 14th and the Iraqi

military operation to retake it began in October last year.

Government forces retook the eastern side across the River Tigris last

The river, which splits the city in two, is now the front line.

Iraqi forces advanced into the western side

via the south on Sunday, moving in on the airport,

and also cutting off exit routes to the Syria

border to stop IS militants from escaping.

Well, our Middle East correspondent Quentin

Sommerville is with the Iraqi army in Western Mosul,

and - as he's been doing throughout the week -

he's sent a flurry of tweets from the front line.

Here's a look at part of his story today.

And Quentin's Twitter address is of course on-screen there.

Donald Trump, speaking to the conservative wing

of the Republican Party at an event in Maryland, has renewed his

He said "fake news outlets" where the enemy of the people.

He also said he was going ahead with building the wall

For too long we have traded away our jobs to other countries. So

terrible. We have defended other nations' borders while leaving ours

wide open so anybody can comment. We are going to build the wall, don't

worry about it. -- anybody can come in. In fact, it is going to start

soon, way ahead of schedule. We ahead schedule. -- way ahead. Way,

way, way ahead of schedule. I am not against the press. I don't mind bad

stories if I deserve them. And, I tell you, I love good stories, but I

don't get too many of them. But I am only against the fake news media or

press. Fake, you're that worried. I am against the people that make up

stories and make up sources -- you hear that word. They should not be

allowed to use sources are mostly use somebody's name.

We are also putting in a massive budget request

And we will be substantially upgrading all of our military,

Bigger and better and stronger than ever before.

And hopefully we'll never have to use it.

But nobody is going to mess with us, folks.

Well, another line coming out of Washington at the moment, the White

House correspondents' Association has protested about some journalist

are apparently being excluded from a press briefing. China wass from

several organisations were told they could not attend an off-camera

meeting -- some journalists from several organisations were told.

Laura Bicker is in Washington for us.

What do we know about this? From what happened today, we understand

the white House press officer Sean Spicer said they have expanded the

call to include other networks, including the likes of the right

wing conservative publication and the Washington Times. When they

included the list from today's briefing, these were allowed in, but

we understand certain others were not, including the BBC, CNN, the New

York Times, political and others. I have a statement from our editor in

Washington and he said he understands the white -- White House

restrict certain press, however he says on this occasion selected media

were not allowed to attend including the BBC. The BBC has a

representative at every daily White House briefing, so we are not clear

why we were barred from today's and we are seeking clarification from

the White House press team. That is going on at the moment. He just

mentioned there the White House correspondents' association is all

school -- also asking why this has happened. Apart from referring to

the press again publicly in Maryland, Donald Trump also spoke

about that wall, which is not going away. The new US delegation has been

in Mexico as well this week? Yes, that was interesting. He said they

were ahead of schedule when it comes to plans for that border wall and

work will start soon. The first we have heard there. There were other

interesting briefings within that speech, where he spoke about a plan

that is being developed to combat the so-called Islamic State. We

heard a bit about a plan during his campaign, one he said that would not

be made public, but we now understand our plan is being put

together. I think the biggest cheer for his speech today, and remember

this is almost preaching to the choir, the right wing conservatives

happy to have a right-wing president, and the biggest cheer

came during the America, first, when he said he would fight for American

jobs and American democracy. Laura, from Washington, DC, thank you very

much. Stay with us on BBC

World News - still to come: Something of interest to the Friday

night team in the newsroom, we will look at the new drive in Japan to

get people to leave work early on Fridays.

The Conservatives have beaten Labour to win the Cumbrian seat of Copeland

But Labour held Stoke-on-Trent Central seat, seeing off

But the reaction from Jeremy Corbyn, and first the Prime Minister.

This is an astounding victory for the Conservative Party but also for

the people of Copeland. You know, Labour have held the seat since the

1930s. A party in government hasn't won a by-election from the ... From

a seat held by the opposition for 35 years. I tell you what happened

yesterday, people came out, worked and knocked on doors to deliver a

message, a message about the economy, about jobs, about this

country, but above all it was a message that hope triumphs over

there. -- message that hope

triumphs over fear. The brother of North Korean leader

Kim Jong-un was reportedly killed by a nerve agent in Malaysia. Donald

Trump has claimed he will build the wall on the border with Mexico ahead

of schedule. Remember his rally last weekend in Florida, those comments

about Sweden? Those comments but a lot of

attention and he touched on that again today... I took a lot of heat

on Sweden. And then a day later I said, has anybody reported what is

going on? It turned out they didn't. Take a look at what happened in

Sweden. I love Sweden, great country, great people. But they

understand I am right. The people over there understand I am right.

Take a look at what is happening in Sweden. The comments Mr Trump was

referring to concerned a Fox documentary about alleged violence

in Sweden. Our correspondent has been to Malmo, one of Sweden's most

diverse cities to see what the situation is really like. You look

at what was happening last night in Sweden, Sweden! Who would believe

this, Sweden! Since Donald Trump's comments there have been that has

been attention on Sweden's approach to immigration. It the more refugees

per capita than almost any nation in Europe. Many settled in Malmo, home

to one of Sweden's most notorious neighbourhoods. What is it really

like there? TRANSLATION: There are a lot more

problems in the US than in Sweden, so he should solve the problems in

the USA first then he can talk about the problems here in Sweden.

Bullies in Sweden did not publish data on the ethnicity of criminals

but they tell us that in Malmo, one of Sweden's most diverse cities,

crime has gone down actually in the last year. But at the same time fear

of crime here has gone up -- police in Sweden. It is this that is

driving support for the country's nationalist party who believes

Donald Trump was right to link crime and immigration. There are a lot

more problems here than we see in more Swedish parts of Sweden. I

think the military should help the police get control of these areas.

You one for me to going? Yes, exactly. The Swedish government says

discussion of no-go zones is wildly exaggerated. When we spend the night

there we did not see any outward signs of trouble. So was this

typical? Most of the nights are like this, OK, we have problems and we

cannot deny that and we have things to work on, absolutely. But,

overall, I would say it is quiet. And safe. Many locals say they are

fed up your feeling like political footballs in a global debate about

immigration, a debate plenty would like to call time on.

Let's get some of the sport now. Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes has all the

latest. A rather shocking editor to a football fairy tale? Yes, thank

you very much. Claudio Ranieri has claimed his dream died after he was

sacked as manager of Leicester City. He has now become one of sport's

most famous victims after the success of last year. BBC sports

editor Dan Rowan reports. At least there is still some loyalty left in

Leicester. Claudio Ranieri and the city both came to terms with his

dismissal, the miracle worker out of work -- Dan Roan. Emotions among the

neighbours, running high. It is a disgrace! Having masterminded the

least likely and most popular triumph ever seen in the Premier

League, the Italian has become the victim of its most controversial

sacking. Nine months ago he was the toast of Leicester... But the fizz

has long gone, today's press conference flat. The man who stood

beside him in the dugout was left to describe his mood. A bit shocked, as

we all were, but his tone was no different. Very level-headed in

terms of, that is football. Can you categorically say he had not lost

some parts of the dressing room, Claudio Ranieri? There was a lot of

frustration because of results but he had not lost the dressing room.

But the ruthlessness of the dismissal has shocked even those

spent a lifetime in the game. Former Leicester star Gary Lineker did not

just present Claudio Ranieri with coach of the year, he paid a very

public prize for doubting the team's success and he is angry. Just to

toss that all the way of a premature decision, over a disloyal... And in

many ways a lack of gratitude, it is quite gobsmacking. I am not ashamed

to say that last night when the news broke I shed a tear, I shed a tear

for Claudio, for football and for my club. Since then the euphoria has

evaporated. The champions languishing one point above the

relegation zone. The club's Thai owners said the club was in trouble

and they decided to act. The fans are divided. For me, I would have

kept him. To find out he had been sacked after what he did last year,

disgusting. It was not long ago Claudio Ranieri helped bring the

city to a standstill. Many wanted him to stay forever but the journey

has ended faster than many imagine. Apologies there for the Sound

problems on that film. The former Great Britain coach Brian Noble says

he is certain rugby league can be a success in North America. He is now

coach of the Toronto Wolfpack, a Canadian team who have begun life in

the third tier of British rugby league and have plans of reaching

the super league. Thanks to the better Toronto winter they will play

half of their home games in England before playing the remainder in

Canada. They will have to fund their opposition's travel and

accommodation. They play in the challenge cup tomorrow live on the

BBC sport website. Back to you. Thank you. Thousands of workers in

Japan had the chance to go home early today in the country's first

ever Premium Friday, part of a drive to tackle Japan's notoriously long

working hours. All offices are being encouraged to close early on the

last Friday of every month. People dying from overwork in Japan is such

a long-standing problem that it even has its own words...

a long-standing problem that it even has its own word...

Extraordinary! I will not tell you what we are all saying in the

newsroom here. It is of course 24/7 here at the BBC, and we don't mind!

All very happy to be here. Carry on watching, because BBC News continues

in the coming hours, and I am on Twitter, @ Geeta Guru-Murthy. I will

see you soon. Hello there. Good evening. There will be a detailed

look at the weather in the UK for the weekend and beyond. Right now we

will look at some weather stories elsewhere around the world,