02/07/2017 World News Today

Hello and welcome to World News Today.

Interior ministers from three European countries are meeting

in Paris to decide how to tackle the growing migrant crisis

Italy has become increasingly alarmed by a sharp rise in arrivals

and wants other EU countries to open their ports.

And there's concern the number of rescue boats are encouraging

ever more people to make the perilous journey.

Over the long hours of the Mediterranean summer,

migrants cram into boats as they venture from Libya

towards Europe's most accessible border, Italy.

The numbers are unimaginable and the risks are high.

The work of Justice, one volunteer agency dedicated

to rescuing migrants, reveals the fear, desperation

They flee failed states, persecution, hunger and war.

All seek a fresh start, a better life.

Italy has taken over 12,000 migrants in the past week alone.

It says without greater help, it will close its ports

TRANSLATION: It's not possible to not understand that

If we have vessels coming from all European countries flying

various European flags, sailing in the Mediterranean Sea,

which rightly rescue human lives and nevertheless,

the only ports where these rescued lives are brought

It's to France that migrant boats could be sent to land.

As Paris hosts a minisummit of key European leaders,

to discuss the crisis, its own citizens have the streets

to remind them of the challenges of migrant settlement and integration.

Redistributed migrants around European Union members

is the approach backed the UN HCR, but Eastern EU states are saying no.

TRANSLATION: We did not exploit these countries

from which the refugees come to Europe today.

We did not exploit their labour force and finally, we did not call

We have a full moral right to say no.

Hungary has already blocked the Balkan route into Europe.

It wants economic migrants transported out of the continent.

And it's calling for what it calls the line of defence to be pushed

all the way to Libya and from there, towards Libya's southern border.

We can now speak to Stefano Argenziano -

he's the Manager of Migration Operations for the medical

humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres -

which helps migrants in the Mediterranean.

Welcome. How do you respond to what the Italian government says, this

charities and aid groups rescuing people from the sea are part of the

problem? Bet you encourage people to make the journey? Thank you very

much for having me and good evening. -- that you encourage people. We are

not part of the problem. We are not either the solution. We represent an

absolute necessity for saving lives where those lives are most in

danger. We fundamentally reject the allegations and accusations which

are mostly baseless and without any form of evidence about the role of

NGOs and the role of rescue in the central Mediterranean in the element

of contributing to calling more people to come to try to attempt the

dangerous crossing. The real problem is the absence of alternatives for

tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, looking for

protection. Looking for better lives. Looking for... A different

option in their lives. There is no alternative, apart from the illegal

and dangerous passages, which are left at the moment... Watt sorry to

into rock you, we were talking to the European Coast Guard force, the

official task force. Even they said the presence of the rescue boat was

encouraging people smugglers to pack even more people onto boats that are

not seaworthy. We are seeing huge numbers of people on those boats

because they know they are not see but they know those passengers will

be rescued. They have no capacity to show casual links and evidence for

what they say. Right now, the so-called Western Mediterranean

Road, between Morocco and Spain, whereby there is no mechanism of

search and rescue capacity presence has seen an increase of 46% of the

migration pressure from the south. In a place where there is no NGO.

There is no actor carrying out a systematic effort to save lives at

sea. The problem is much more ample and much more complex than this

oversimplification, which at some point, a number of mass media is

trying to portray. At what point do you consider the capacity of a

country like Italy to cope with a number of people who are coming to

it? If Italy says it has reached its limit, do you accept that? It is not

up to us to accept or not. Nor are we in the capacity of defining what

is the benchmark of reception of a member state of the European Union.

We realise that Italy is a country with 60 million people. It has been

receiving 180,000 last year. Lebanon has four million and is hosting over

1.5 million refugees in its territory. It is not really up to us

to take a position on what is the limit and what is the ceiling for

reception. If Italy has... Has a specific call to the other member

states to contribute to its ongoing effort, we can understand that very

well. We are witnessing first-hand the willingness to show solidarity

provided by Italian coastguards, for example. In coordinating and

supporting the life-saving operations of the central

Mediterranean. What we wish for is a larger capacity at sea for rescue,

saving lives. I'm afraid we are out of time, we really appreciate your

time. Thank you for joining us from Rome.

Iraqi special forces have recaptured more territory

in the Old City of Mosul, in the final stages

of the operation to drive out so-called Islamic State.

Troops and police are now closing in from three sides

on the IS militants, who captured the city in June 2014.

But Iraqi commanders say as many as 50,000 civilians may be

trapped behind IS lines, as Orla Guerin reports from Mosul.

From the dying days of battle against IS.

Traumatised civilians fleeing with little more

"Every day you ask me how I am", she says.

The civilians here have just managed to escape the fighting.

They're hungry and tired and they looked scared.

They've been caught between the two sides,

at risk both from Islamic State and the operation against them.

But the troops here are being cautious, they want to make sure

that no-one has emerged who could be a risk.

They are concerned that suicide bombers could be trying to come out

We're fine to carry the women and the kids out, but if it's

a medical emergency, it's better if we have

British volunteer Sally Becker is here with a medical charity.

A veteran of war, she says nothing compares to Mosul.

We've got the vehicle-borne explosives.

People. Suicide bombers.

Even a woman yesterday, which makes it extremely

Because most of who we carry is women and children.

And many come here to a field hospital nearby.

Doctors say they have been losing children to mortars and shrapnel.

But soon, hundreds could die of hunger.

They see dozens per day who are severely malnourished.

Much of the civilian suffering here has gone unseen but three years

of IS rule have deeply scarred Mosul and its people.

From this one street in the Old City, IS executed four men.

"Sometimes I worry they will be back".

"When I hear fighting at night, I hope I can forget them".

A military victory looks close here but there are fears

about IS sleeper cells and about the future that may

President Trump has been accused of inciting violence

against the media, after he tweeted a spoof video showing him physically

assaulting a man with a CNN logo super-imposed on his head.

He is shown slamming the CNN symbol to the ground

One CNN contributor has said the President would end up getting

It all relates to a feud the President has with CNN.

That latest controversy comes after President Trump

defended his use of Twitter in a new oline tirade.

"My use of social media is not Presidential" - he says,

It follows a personal attack he made on two US news presenters.

He tweeted this week that he had refused to meet MSNBC's

Mika Brzezinski because she was, he says, bleeding heavily

after a facelift, he continued his criticism on Saturday

I share the opinion of the American people, we want the president of the

United States to concentrate on his agenda, we want him to concentrate

on what is important to the American people, like tax reform and

repealing Obama care and national security. We would really like for

him to put down the twitter account. People might be wondering, and

interested to know why you support him, even if he does so many things

you find distasteful, that you wouldn't want your children to hear.

Of course, there are things that I do find objectionable, like the war

on Twitter that we are talking about. But I think the fact that the

vast majority of the American people, myself included, has a great

distrust for the American press. I think that is why the American

people are willing to give such a pass to the president on things like

this, on matters like this. It wasn't just a couple of weeks ago

when a producer on CNN referred to one of Trump's special advisers,

Kellyanne Conway, he said she looked like she was hit by a shovel. MSNBC,

Chris Matthews, the other day he said Mussolini did a good thing by

assassinating his son-in-law. Made the insinuation that Donald Trump

should do the same. These are the kind of things the president of the

United States puts up with on a daily basis from the American press.

But... Leiua this is why people are so angry and sympathetic. But those

people aren't the president of the United States, shouldn't he be well

above that sort of thing. Absolutely he positively showed. The twitter

war, the insults, those are beneath the dignity of the president of the

United States and the office. This needs to stop. He needs to get to

the business of governing, which is what the American people want. Are

you concerned, are you worried that if he continues this sort of

behaviour, he is going to start losing the support of the people

voted for him, who still stand by voted for him, who still stand by

his side but also, crucially, senior Republicans who had criticised his

behaviour on twitter might start bailing out on him and not helping

him carry out the things he wants to do as president. If the president

concentrate on his agenda and he does move forward with that and get

away from watching television so much, so much concentration on

social media. If he gets to the business of governing the United

States of America and the agenda that he promised to bring forth

during the election, then I believe people will remain supportive of him

but he needs to do that if and he needs to stop this ridiculousness

with Twitter. It is not a winning situation for him. He is going to

get caught in the negativity of all this. As we discussed before, it is

beneath the dignity of the office. Stay with us on BBC World News,

still to come: On his 75th birthday,

Stephen Hawking criticises President Trump's decision to pull

out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Challenger powered past the

lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering the record that stood for

34 years. No hiding the elation of Richard Branson and his crew.

Interior ministers from Germany, France and Italy meet for crisis

talks as broken warns the influx of migrants is unsustainable. -- as

Italy warns. Iraqi special forces recapture more

territory in the Old City of Mosul, but commanders say as many as 50,000

civilians may be trapped The French president,

Emmanuel Macron, says he's determined to help eradicate

terrorists in the Sahel He was speaking at a security summit

in Mali, alongside the leaders They're seeking support

for a 5,000-strong regional force to combat Islamist militants

in the Sahel. The French president,

Emmanuel Macron, and his West African counterparts together

to launch a regional force. Mali, Chad, Niger, but also

Mauritania and Burkina Faso, France will support them

with equipment and it will help them convince Western countries

to fund their operations. Only the EU has so far

pledged nearly $16 million, a fraction of the force's total

cost, but France remains keen to see TRANSLATION: Our enemies

want only one thing - They feed themselves

on our weaknesses, the complexities of our past and our ineffectiveness

as a collective, but together we can make the decision

to proceed differently. To tell ourselves everything,

whether it pleases us or not. To expect things of one

another, because we believe The original force will face jihadi

groups linked to Al-Qaeda, drug traffickers as well as smugglers of

migrants bound for Europe. This deployment is part of a huge

security build-up in Mali where a foreign military presence

has increased in the last few years. The US and Germany are also

operating in the region. The French may be here for the long

haul, but they are hoping that they won't remain the only

ones standing guard. I have a German producer talking in

my ear and he's very excited! I bet he is.

World champions Germany have added the Confederations Cup

to their trophy cabinet after a 1-0 win over Chile in St Petersburg.

Lars Stindl scored the only goal of the match

in what was an entertaining, but at times ill-tempered affair

as Joachim Loewe's team won this tournament for the first time.

They also go top of the Fifa world rankings ahead of next year's

Top seed Andy Murray says he is fit to defend his Wimbledon title.

The 30-year-old, who's also announced that wife Kim

is expecting their second child, has been hampered by a hip problem.

Despite looking less than comfortable in practice,

the two-time champion has declared himself ready for Monday's

Centre Court opener against Alexander Bublik.

It's been sore for a little while, now. With each day that I was

practising, it was feeling a bit worse. It was hampering my movement.

Therefore, I wasn't getting loads out of my practice sessions. I had

to make the decision with my team. You know, to take a feud day's

break. To allow its time to rest. Hopefully spending a lot of time

with my physio. That is loosens up a little bit and that it eases off.

And some of the inflammation dies down a bit. I did that.

The last few days, practice has been good.

I would have liked to have trained the whole we can get a couple of

exhibition matches but the positive from it is that I'm fresh.

I certainly haven't played too much tennis.

But I'm certainly going to have to work my way into the tournament.

I probably won't come out and play great straight off the bat.

All eight teams have been in action at the women's

The match-ups included two intense sporting rivalries as holders

Australia faced New Zealand and India played Pakistan.

Patrick Gearey wraps up all the action starting

with England's comprehensive win over Sri Lanka.

It's been a busy and dramatic day in the winning's World Cup and a very

good day for the hosts in Taunton. England made light work of Sri

Lanka. Their slow bowlers did the job for them with Laura Marsh taking

four wickets and Sri Lanka's total of 204-8 from their 50 overs was

never likely to be enough on a pitch which traditionally does produce

very big scores. In that got to the total with some comfort, Captain

Heather Knight scored 82 and Sarah Taylor not out. They got a seven

wicket victory. A good win, but their next game will be very much

more tricky against South Africa. Today, they bowled out West Indies

448. The South African captain took four wickets and didn't concede a

single run. The West Indies are the runners-up of the last women's World

Cup. And the holders of the T20 Trophy. A very impressive win for

South Africa at their next game against England is on Wednesday

against Bristol. A big win for India against Pakistan. Their traditional

-- they are traditional rivals. They made 169 from their 50 overs but

dealt with Pakistan very well. They took five wickets to get an easy win

for the Indians. Impressive tournament continues. Australia and

New Zealand, two of the traditional heavyweights at the tournament,

Australia came out on top winning by five wickets. Perry top scoring.

Australia seen the team to beat in this women's World Cup but the next

few games could be crucial. It is about to get very interesting.

Whisper it very quietly for your German producer.

Marcel Kittel won stage two of the Tour de France on Sunday,

from Dusseldorf in his home country Germany to the Belgian city

But Britain's Geraint Thomas retains the race leader's yellow jersey.

Professor Stephen Hawking has told the BBC that Donald Trump's decision

to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, could doom the planet,

and that future generations will have no choice

He was speaking on the occasion of his 75th birthday,

a milestone he says he never thought he'd reach.

Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports.

When I was diagnosed at 21, I was told it would kill me

Now, 54 years later, albeit weaker and in a wheelchair,

I'm still working and producing scientific papers.

Today, Stephen Hawking celebrates his 75th birthday.

But it's been a great struggle, which I have got through only

with a lot of help from my family, colleagues, and friends.

At an event at Cambridge University to pay tribute to his life,

he was applauded for his scientific achievements.

The legacy will be the scientists that he inspired.

And there will be thousands of them, and they're

So there will be ten-year-olds today, or eight-year-olds,

who are reading about Stephen, reading about the work

that he did, and may go on to be the next

In an exclusive interview with BBC News, Professor Hawking told me

that he was worried about the future of our species.

What are your views on President Trump's decision

to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, and what impact do

you think that will have on the future of the planet?

We are close to the tipping point where global warming

Trump's action could push the earth over the bridge,

to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees

His daughter Lucy says his life is an inspiration,

People who've lived in really extreme circumstances seem

to find something very, very inspirational in his example

of perseverance and persistence, and his kind of ability to rise

above his suffering, and still want to communicate at a higher level.

His ideas have transformed our understanding of the cosmos.

But what's also being celebrated is his determination and humanity.

Apparently it's a past time of many a Friday afternoon, office chair

racing. If you think you have perfected your technique, look at

this lot. The World Championships have been taking place in

Switzerland. Crash helmets and knee pads are essential. They rolled

through the streets of Alton. For the record, the new world champions

won a travel voucher worth 500 Swiss francs and lots of bruises. Thank

you for watching World News Today. The weather prospects for the next

few days across the British Isles. Just about to show you some on