26/07/2017 World News Today

President Trump will not permit transgender people to serve

in the US military in any capacity - because of the costs and disruption.

The prospect of new US sanctions on Russia provokes reaction

from Moscow to Berlin - but we're still waiting

to see if the White House will back the bill.

And it was one of the most shocking string of murders in US history.

Nearly a century later - new light is being shed

Yet again President Trump's early morning tweets

Today this was the unexpected one about transgender

"After consultation with my generals and military experts,

"please be advised that the United States Government

"will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve

For more on today's announcement and the reaction to it

I spoke a brief time ago with Eric Fanning, the first openly

gay secretary of the army under President Obama.

Eric Fanning, what is your reaction to President Trump overturning

President Obama and banning transgender people from serving

I'm disappointed, I think it's the wrong decision to have made.

We already have, currently, thousands of transgender

Americans serving in the military with distinction.

And I think it was an important step of many to open up opportunity

for service in the military for a number of important reasons.

It aligns with core American values of equality and opportunity.

And it helps ensure that we can recruit from the best and brightest

However, President Trump says he consulted with generals

and military experts, and he cites the tremendous medical

costs and the disruption that having transgender people in the US

Well, I don't know which generals and military leaders

I spoke with many of them myself across all the services,

and there were certainly a lot of questions and concerns,

but there was a lot of support from moving forward as well

because in many ways opening up service to transgender Americans

in policy was just catching up with reality, and I haven't seen any

good evidence to support the idea that this is going to be expensive.

The two independent reports, Rand and the Palm Centre say there

The president also says this is about focusing on victory,

so he is raising the idea that it is a distraction trying

to cater to the needs of transgender and the military.

Well, I think that is an argument that has been used repeatedly over

When Truman integrated the military 69 years ago to the day, by the way,

this is the anniversary of that, when we repealed Don't Ask Don't

Tell, when we opened all military positions,

including combat positions, to women, and now with transgender

we hear that argument over and over again.

And Rand said that they anticipated, as they have said previously,

minimum disruption to the force, and that is really short-sighted

because there are tremendous long-term benefits

But given what the president has said, what does this mean

for the thousands of transgender members of the US military?

Well, I think it's obviously very alarming for them.

There are two parts to this issue, one was who should be allowed

to assess who should be allowed to join the military, and we issued

The second is what happens if you decide to transition once

And we thought that we were at least secure on the issue of people

in the military being able to serve because they had proven

This is a far broader and more sweeping decision and policy change

than we anticipated, to say, not only can you not join

So he is telling thousands of people already wearing the uniform

Do you think this means a return to the days

of Don't Ask Don't Tell in the US military?

I Don't Think That We Will Go All The Way Back To reinstitute

The progress in these areas is never linear,

and you have setbacks, but I think in general,

year after year, we make more progress than we get pushed back,

and I would have hoped that transgender service

was safe because I think, by and large right now,

it's largely an issue of who can meet the requirements,

and then the establishment of medical community

guidelines, but I think Don't Ask Don't Tell is safe.

Eric Fanning, thank you so much for joining us.

And the transgender announcement was one of many topics the president

He unloaded once again on his Attorney General Jeff Sessions,

who's under fire for recusing himself from

It comes as the Senate is taking up legislation which would put more

sanctions on Russia - the president hasn't said

Well, luckily we have our resident political expert Ron Christie

Let's start with the embattled Attorney General. Yet again the

President was tweeting about him this morning. This time he was

saying why didn't you replace the acting FBI director. Who is this

damaging more? I think it hurts the president. The

Attorney General was selected by the president, and now the president is

going after one of the most senior people of his Cabinet. You say, why

in the world would you do that? I think if you look back to the

coverage of sessions, he was said to be a racist, all these terrible

things about him, now I think it might be quite moved by the

president to garner sympathy for Jeff Sessions.

How will this end? Will cut back sessions sit it out.

Yes, I think, I spoke to a person who had spoken to be resident Trump

yesterday, saying that this is that his management style. If he

continues to do this to Mr sessions, he will be more loyal and he will do

the job that President Trump asked him to do.

The president is serious with the Attorney General. The sanctions, the

Bill will head to the President's desk soon, he has to sign it.

He must sign it. It is important the United States send a signal to

Vladimir Putin and Russia, if you try to interfere with our election,

we will put sanctions on you as a result. As it relates to the

president and Jeff Sessions, he should have fired him the day he

said he was going to recuse himself or stop why did he wait all these

months? He should have fired him replaced, this is probably

President's own doing. We know the White House has problems

with the sanctions Bill, is it possible that the president vetoes

it? With Donald Trump you never know

what people really do. This will express the sentiment of the

American people will stop the American people do not like foreign

powers interfering with our elections, and Donald Trump must

sign this important piece of legislation.

We know that the president loves to tweet. He is also tweeting about the

transgender policy, he announced that ban on Twitter, Senator John

McCain says it is not clear. Should you be announcing policy via

Twitter much and Mark? You guessed it. This is something he

should be speaking about camera. But a send something out via Twitter

about something which will cause a social uproar in certain quarters, I

don't understand how he does business with Twitter.

What about the substance of it? Even a Conservative Republican is saying

we should not be discriminating against anyone. Is it good politics,

this transgender band? Good politics, no. 99.7% of people

are not transgender, in America, and certainly when I was an Army officer

many decades ago, they did not ask me about sexual orientation or my

social views, they asked me if I was willing to put on the uniform and

serve my country. And so I do believe that there are many in the

military who think this is a distraction.

Thank you so much joining us. Good to see you.

If you live in the UK, you won't be able to buy

a new diesel or petrol car after 2040 - as the government

The new plan follows a ruling by judges, that ministers have to do

Britain's move follows a similar announcement in France,

with politicians, at least in theory, eager to

consign traditional cars to the history books.

We have come a long way in terms of design, but for 100 years we have

been relying on vehicles with an internal combustion engine,

Several major car-makers, including BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo,

have already announced ambitious plans for electric cars,

seeing them as a key way of tackling air pollution.

And now the government is signalling the end of petrol and diesel engines

in the UK with a ban on sales by 2040.

We have to get rid of petrol and diesel cars off our roads

if we're going to make sure not only that we deal with the health

problems that air pollution causes, but also that we meet our

And the good news is that the car industry is already

It is part of a ?3 billion air quality strategy that also includes

?255 million to help local authorities cut pollution.

It will mean a ban on sales and production of new petrol

or diesel vehicles in the UK, as well as a consultation

The move follows a similar pledge earlier this month

by President Macron of France, where the ban will also be

Campaigners are likely to complain that the government has not gone

far enough or fast enough, while Labour is saying nearly

40 million people are living in areas with illegal levels of air

pollution, and action is needed now and not in 23 years' time.

And joining me now is David Shepardson, who covers

David, we have got these moves in Britain to get rid of diesel and

petrol cars by 2040, following moves in France. Is the future going to be

electric cars? Must admit, the question is how long

it will take to get there. 23 years is a long time, but auto companies

are making investments. Volvo are going to start in 2019, no longer

build traditional cars. This is the direction, but there are a lot of

concerns about the industry, the infrastructure, is it ready for such

a big shift? We would have to have plug-in points

all over the place for electric cars. Does that infrastructure exist

anywhere? In the UK, there are 1200 charging

points. But you need tens of thousands if you're going to need a

rapid ramp up. Only 1% of US vehicle sales are electric cars.

We know that President Ron is taking the US out of the climate change

accord. How do you see the market developing in the US? -- President

Trump. Billions of dollars are being spent,

but at the moment the shift is away from cars to bigger vehicles. At

companies will continue to roll out electric vehicles as batteries get

better. You will be less concerned about running out of juice. They are

not moving away from electric vehicles but in the short-term

focused on bigger and more powerful vehicles.

We're seeing moves by cities all over the world running to ban diesel

cars from city centres by 2025. RUC in anything like that happening in

the US? You have seen companies move away

from diesel entirely. Boxlike, Mercedes-Benz dropped plans to sell

diesels -- Volkswagen. Chrysler, other companies, the Volkswagen

investigation is going on. Companies are moving away from diesel, but in

the short term they are pushing electric vehicles. The point to a

certain extent, Tesla is leading the push.

What is it going to be like for consumers driving electric cars

rather than the traditional gas guzzler?

The actual performance of electric cars is better, faster 0- 60. You're

getting used to plugging in your cell phones everywhere. Once you get

into the habit by the wheel, there is really no difference. Will there

be enough places to charge us to mark with fast charging, you can get

fully charged in ten minutes. No longer than it takes to fill your

car up with gasoline. Where are we going to get enough

gasoline from to power these cars? We will make sure people will charge

night. There are huge long-term implications going from the 85,000

vehicles sold this year to millions of vehicles, and what happens if we

have serious grid problems? It will require more problem -- money,

infrastructure, companies like false wagon -- Volkswagen are going to

spend millions on charging stations will stop. Is 2040 realistic, is the

question. Thank you for joining us.

More than 10,000 people in the south of France have been

forced to leave their homes and campsites overnight,

to escape rapidly spreading wildfires.

Many had to spend the night in public buildings,

Efforts to contain the fires continue, with aircraft dumping

The raging power of the fires was at its most terrifying doing the night.

This was Bormes-les-Mimosas, West of St Tropez, where hillsides

were engulfed by the burning shrubs and trees.

Four hours, it swept across the countryside

Thousands of people, including British tourists,

were forced out of campsites and other homes.

At about midnight we were then woken up.

I just looked up, and 180 degrees of my vision,

it was like Dante's Inferno, it was, you know, it was

You know, it was an amazing and very, very scary sight to see.

The sheer force of the fires were caught

Strong winds gave them an unstoppable energy, and many

Even the 4000 firefighters and soldiers sent in could not get

The fires led to a huge evacuation of ten thousand people,

They were told to spend the night on nearby beaches out in the open.

The morning brought no let up in the fires.

Some tourists were far enough away to continue their holiday,

but the lushness of their scenery now replaced by a menacing infernal.

but the lushness of their scenery now replaced by a menacing inferno.

In other places, all that was left was a vast, scorched

landscape, an area decimated across 15 square miles.

TRANSLATION: We beat out the flames with shovels,

we did all we could until the fire was put out.

We contained it until the firemen came.

19 aircraft, including ten water bombers, have been brought in,

with the French authorities asking other European governments

These fires have been burning for two days now,

and we are seeing fires on hills all around this area.

We're also seeing aircraft, helicopters, laden with water,

trying to put them out, but at the moment they do not

seem to be able to bring them under control.

Temperatures here are in the 30s, it is sunny, and the winds shown

A combustible, deadly mixture that will continue to threaten this area.

The parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard,

have given up the fight, for their son to die at home.

At the High Court lawyers accepted, that he should be

But there's still no agreement on when the 11-month-old's life

The BBC's Lisa Hampele joins us with the latest.

The judge has made an order. He is going to rule that Charlie

will have to go to a hospice and he will have his ventilator removed at

the hospice and be allowed to die. He said it has been three and a half

months, and when he first ruled that Charlie may be suffering, he may be

in pain. Nobody knows, they cannot tell if he is awake or asleep, he is

unable to move, he is kept alive by a ventilator, and he has serious

irreversible brain damage. Today, the court started at 2pm British

time this afternoon, Charlie's mother Connie arrived, his father

has been at his bedside in London's famous children's hospital, Rick

Ormond Street. The judge finally waited all afternoon for a doctor to

arrive here because the family pleaded for someone to come forward

who was a paediatric, intensive care doctor, who could oversee treatment

in a hospice or at home for Charlie so that he could have longer. The

site today has not been about where he will die, but how long he will

have 1's the ventilator is removed. So the family conceded early on

today that he will not be able to die at home. Tomorrow, they have got

tomorrow to find an intensive care paediatric doctor to come forward.

They pleaded again tonight, that is looking highly unlikely, it did not

happen today, the doctor we waited for all afternoon turned up in

court. It turned out he was simply a family GP not suitable to oversee

this. So Charlie is highly likely to be taken to a hospice in the next

few days. We will not be allowed to tell you where this hospice is and

where he is going to die, and how many hours, that is a private

matter. It would be in contempt of court to report that.

Thank you for joining us. Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news: As a two-day general strike gets

underway in Venezuela, US officials say Washington

will impose sanctions on some of Venezuela's

most senior officials - The strike's been called to try

to force President Maduro to drop Barricades have been set

up across the capital, The European Court of Justice has

ruled that Austria and Slovenia did act legally when they returned

asylum seekers to Croatia during the migrant crisis

two years ago, rather EU rules state migrants must apply

for asylum, in the first One of the Vatican's

highest ranking officials, Cardinal George Pell,

has faced charges of During a brief court appearance,

Pell's lawyer said he will plead not guilty to all the accusations

against him, which date back years. Our correspondent Phil Mercer

was at the hearing in Melbourne. There was no special treatment

for one of the most powerful men in the Vatican when he arrived

to these historical allegations of sexual assault

at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court. Just like everyone else,

Cardinal George Pell had Escorted by the police

and accompanied by his legal team, he was surrounded

by a large media contingent. Interest in this case goes

far beyond Australia. The cardinal made no comment,

but his lawyer told the magistrate that he would be pleading not guilty

to all of the acquisitions. The hearing lasted

about five minutes. The press pack was

waiting when he emerged. The cardinal is arguably

the third most influential figure in the Vatican,

and has been responsible He has consistently and steadfastly

denied any wrongdoing. He has previously said

he was the victim of a relentless character assassination,

and has insisted he was innocent. Specific details of the allegations

facing Cardinal George Pell have He has been granted leave

by the Pope to defend himself The brief hearing today

could be the start of very The most prominent member

of Australia's Roman Catholic Church is due back in court in

early October. A very senior figure in the Vatican

facing historic charges of sexual assault. Worldwide interest in that

case. It was one of the biggest serial

murder cases in American history In the early 1920s, dozens

of members of the Osage Indian tribe became wealthy overnight when oil

was discovered on their land. But soon after members of the tribe

were shot and poisoned The murderers were local whites

and the killings led the FBI to take Recently, a new book has

put a spotlight on this The United States was still

a remarkably lawless country back in the 1920s,

and particularly in this last You had outlaws, wandering

the streets with their six shooters in their pockets,

you had sheriffs, you had oil men My name is David Grann,

and I am the author of... The Osage Indians, who once

controlled much of the Central part of the United States,

were eventually forced to cede more than 100 million

acres of their territory. It was at that time that an Osage

chief stood up and he said we should move to this territory that

would later become part of the state of Oklahoma,

because the land there is infertile, and the white man considers it

worthless so they will This seemingly forsaken land turned

out to be sitting upon some of the largest deposits of oil then

in the United States, and at the beginning

of the 20th century, the 2000 or so Osage became

the wealthiest people They have servants,

many of whom were white. It was said at the time where as one

American might own a car, The Osage wealth provoked all sorts

of reactions among white Americans. They then began to be mysteriously

murdered in one of the most sinister In 1923, after there were more

than two dozen Osage murders, the case was taken up by a rather

abstruse branch of the Justice Department,

a pretty ragtag operation, who was then known as the bureau

of investigation and would later The Osage murder cases became one

of the FBI's first major homicide investigations,

and one of the first major homicide investigations of its new,

very young, very secretive, very ambitious director,

J Edgar Hoover. As you begin to dig deeper,

you begin to realise that there were really scores

of murders, and that many of these You cannot understand the formation

of the United States without understanding this case,

this original sin from The author of Killers Of The Flower

Moon, The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The Fbi.

Don't forget, you can get in touch with me and some

of the team on Twitter - I'm @LauraTrevelyan.

Go to the BBC website for more on our top story, President Trump's

announcement that transgendered people will be banned from the US

military. Well, things are looking pretty

changeable and quite unsettled over the next few days and pretty much

everywhere saw some rain today. And while there will be some spells

of sunshine around through tomorrow, there will also be quite a lot

of cloud in the skies at times and that's going to deliver

some outbreaks of rain, There goes today's rain,

those weather fronts, but we've still got low pressure

in charge of our weather