:00:00. > :00:14.President Trump backtracks on his campaign pledge and decides
:00:15. > :00:21.Moving into Tal Afar - Iraqi government forces say
:00:22. > :00:38.they have pushed their way into an Islamic State stronghold.
:00:39. > :00:41.The ringleader exposed and plans of a larger attack -
:00:42. > :00:44.the four Barcelona attack suspects reveal all in court.
:00:45. > :00:46.And a victory for Muslim women in India
:00:47. > :00:48.as the controversial practice of instant divorce is
:00:49. > :01:02.Hello and welcome to World News Today.
:01:03. > :01:05.President Trump has announced he's to send more troops to Afghanistan
:01:06. > :01:12.It represents a reversal for the President who,
:01:13. > :01:14.whilst campaigning, had called for a quick withdrawal
:01:15. > :01:19.from a conflict which he'd called a "total disaster".
:01:20. > :01:21.Washington is expected to send an additional 4,000
:01:22. > :01:27.They'll join around 8,000 who have already been deployed there.
:01:28. > :01:31.But together that's still far fewer than in 2011 when there
:01:32. > :01:41.Our North America Editor Jon Sopel reports.
:01:42. > :01:46.Donald Trump loves being a crowd pleaser
:01:47. > :01:48.and throughout the campaign he delighted audiences
:01:49. > :01:51.with the promise to pull US forces out of Afghanistan -
:01:52. > :01:56.a gigantic waste of money and American blood, he said.
:01:57. > :02:00.So this speech was going to take a bit of navigating,
:02:01. > :02:03.because above the sound of the band playing Hail To The Chief was
:02:04. > :02:08.My original instinct was to pull out, and historically
:02:09. > :02:23.But all my life, I've heard that decisions are much different
:02:24. > :02:27.when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.
:02:28. > :02:30.But what this flip-flop means in practical terms is hard to assess.
:02:31. > :02:32.The president wouldn't say how many additional troops he would send,
:02:33. > :02:35.nor commit to how long they would be there.
:02:36. > :02:37.The mission would be judged by results, not timelines.
:02:38. > :02:38.He called the policy strategic realism,
:02:39. > :02:55.Some of his harshest words were aimed at the Pakistani
:02:56. > :02:57.government, whom he accused of harbouring terrorists
:02:58. > :02:59.while taking billions of dollars in US aid.
:03:00. > :03:02.And although Kabul may be a long way from Charlottesville,
:03:03. > :03:04.recent events in Virginia were clearly in his mind
:03:05. > :03:10.Loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another.
:03:11. > :03:15.Love for America requires love for all of its people.
:03:16. > :03:18.When we open our hearts to patriotism, there
:03:19. > :03:20.is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry
:03:21. > :03:29.More than 2,000 US troops have already lost their lives
:03:30. > :03:35.in Afghanistan, and the president would have liked nothing more
:03:36. > :03:41.But the strategic importance of not letting Afghanistan fail as a state
:03:42. > :03:45.again means that Donald Trump has had to sign his name to a policy
:03:46. > :03:49.that means there is now an open-ended commitment
:03:50. > :03:54.Though Donald Trump has tried to dress this speech up as marking
:03:55. > :03:57.a significant shift in policy, the most striking thing
:03:58. > :04:02.about it is the sense of continuity with the Obama White House.
:04:03. > :04:04.And one other thing - now that this major policy
:04:05. > :04:06.announcement has come, this is Donald Trump's
:04:07. > :04:12.Not Barack Obama's, not the generals'.
:04:13. > :04:18.He now has ownership of something he never wanted to buy.
:04:19. > :04:24.Divers have located bodies in the flooded compartments of a US
:04:25. > :04:29.warship that collided with an oil tanker near Singapore on Monday.
:04:30. > :04:34.Ten sailors from the USS John McCain went missing during the accident.
:04:35. > :04:36.A Malaysian vessel has recovered another body.
:04:37. > :04:41.Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Singapore.
:04:42. > :04:44.These are the latest pictures of the badly damaged USS
:04:45. > :04:48.John S McCain as it limped into port in Singapore, a massive
:04:49. > :04:56.Today, the news from here has only got worse.
:04:57. > :04:58.Speaking to media tonight, the commander of the US
:04:59. > :05:03.Pacific Fleet said the first bodies had been found.
:05:04. > :05:07.One body that has been reported by the Malaysian Navy has been found.
:05:08. > :05:11.We have discovered other bodies during the diving on McCain today
:05:12. > :05:15.but it is premature to say how many and what the status of recovery
:05:16. > :05:27.It is only two months since this happened off the coast of Japan.
:05:28. > :05:30.An almost identical collision that took the lives of seven US sailors.
:05:31. > :05:33.Now there are maybe ten more to add to that list.
:05:34. > :05:37.Back in the US, naval families are suggesting it is no coincidence.
:05:38. > :05:41.Is there an issue of negligence here or is it just that your men
:05:42. > :05:43.and women are exhausted from being overworked?
:05:44. > :05:45.I was on the McCain this morning, looking
:05:46. > :05:53.Even after their heroic efforts yesterday, I didn't see exhaustion,
:05:54. > :05:59.so that view is not a view that I see reflected to me in the 140,000
:06:00. > :06:04.But these are quotes from some of the US Navy
:06:05. > :06:14.And from one former sailor, "I went without sleep for so long,
:06:15. > :06:18.I began to see things that were not there."
:06:19. > :06:23.In Singapore, this maritime expert agrees the US Navy is overstretched.
:06:24. > :06:27.If you look at all the demands put on the US Navy, in the Middle East,
:06:28. > :06:33.the Persian Gulf, and increasingly out here in the Pacific,
:06:34. > :06:37.basically we have a 300-ship navy and we are asking it to do the job
:06:38. > :06:43.of a 400-ship or maybe even 450-ship Navy.
:06:44. > :06:46.So you may just about be able to see the outline of the John S McCain
:06:47. > :06:51.The search and rescue operation continues here tonight,
:06:52. > :06:54.and then there is the question of how this all happened,
:06:55. > :06:59.and that is a big and deeply disturbing question for the US Navy.
:07:00. > :07:02.Rescue workers on the Italian island of Ischia say they've pulled
:07:03. > :07:06.alive three children, including a seven-month-old baby,
:07:07. > :07:08.from the rubble of their home after an earthquake
:07:09. > :07:13.It hit the holiday island off the coast of Naples, killing two
:07:14. > :07:23.Minutes after the earthquake, dazed survivors
:07:24. > :07:29.Around them, in a blizzard of dust, buried cars and rubble-strewn
:07:30. > :07:35.streets, several buildings in Casamicciola collapsed.
:07:36. > :07:38.Rescuers worked frantically to get to those buried.
:07:39. > :07:41.Here, the faint sounds of a baby crying and,
:07:42. > :07:46.after some careful digging, a small miracle.
:07:47. > :07:53.His brothers, though, were still missing.
:07:54. > :07:56.The earthquake struck as people were sitting down
:07:57. > :08:00.The homes of some 2,000 residents were damaged.
:08:01. > :08:08.TRANSLATION: The house is destroyed, we can't even get in.
:08:09. > :08:15.Falling masonry remained a threat as the emergency services
:08:16. > :08:24.Both of little Pascale's brothers were found alive,
:08:25. > :08:31.Others, though, are counting the cost of a terrifying night.
:08:32. > :08:38.Let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news.
:08:39. > :08:43.Copenhagen police say a headless and limbless corpse found in waters
:08:44. > :08:47.off Denmark was deliberately mutilated, but they say
:08:48. > :08:51.it is still too early to say whether it is the remains of Swedish
:08:52. > :08:56.She was last seen alive on the 10th of August as she departed on a trip
:08:57. > :08:59.with submarine inventor Peter Madsen.
:09:00. > :09:02.Johnson Johnson has been ordered to pay $417 million to a woman
:09:03. > :09:04.who says she developed ovarian cancer after using products
:09:05. > :09:12.The California jury's decision marks the largest award yet in a string
:09:13. > :09:16.of lawsuits that claim the firm did not adequately warn about cancer
:09:17. > :09:26.The Spanish football club Barcelona says it will demand at least
:09:27. > :09:29.$10 million from its former player, the Brazilian striker Neymar,
:09:30. > :09:33.It follows Neymar's world record $260 million move to the French club
:09:34. > :09:40.Advancing Iraqi government forces say they've pushed
:09:41. > :09:44.into the outskirts of the city of Tal Afar, one of the Islamic
:09:45. > :09:47.State group's few remaining strongholds in the country.
:09:48. > :09:50.The army and its militia allies began their major
:09:51. > :10:01.Tal Afar lies on a key route into Iraq from Syria,
:10:02. > :10:03.and it's been regarded as an important centre
:10:04. > :10:06.But the US says that despite recent successes against IS,
:10:07. > :10:17.With me is Haider al Safi from BBC Arabic.
:10:18. > :10:30.We spoke this time yesterday. What has changed? The Iraqi forces have
:10:31. > :10:36.advanced insight Tal Afar and there are many photographs on social media
:10:37. > :10:45.from inside Tal Afar where the Iraqi forces captured the main town
:10:46. > :10:50.centre, a quarter in the town. It has not yet been confirmed but the
:10:51. > :10:56.Iraqi forces reached that part of the city. I have a meeting
:10:57. > :11:06.resistance? The Iraqi forces talked about the defeat of Isis, being on
:11:07. > :11:14.the retreat. There were some videos exchanged of dead bodies of Isis
:11:15. > :11:22.fighters. And celebrating an easy victory. But they didn't so far.
:11:23. > :11:29.Neither the Iraqi or supporting forces faced fierce fighting as yet.
:11:30. > :11:38.But we know that sometimes Isis fighters tried to drag the Iraqi
:11:39. > :11:44.forces into street fighting were their heavy machinery would be kind
:11:45. > :11:53.of neutralised and it would be soldier to soldier fighting, snipers
:11:54. > :11:57.and IEDs. The fact that the Islamic State group is losing territory in
:11:58. > :12:03.Iraq doesn't necessarily mean that it reduces as a threat. It means
:12:04. > :12:08.they go back to the old techniques, suicide bombing in busy
:12:09. > :12:15.neighbourhoods, and they have started this already, a few suicide
:12:16. > :12:24.bombs in Baghdad, and other cities under Iraqi government control,
:12:25. > :12:29.recently taken back from Isis. They are what the Iraqi government calls
:12:30. > :12:39.sleeper cells and they are becoming more active. For people watching who
:12:40. > :12:46.do not know Tal Afar, how big is it and how many civilians might be in
:12:47. > :12:56.the city? According to recent reports, they are talking about
:12:57. > :13:03.100,000 civilians and there is an expectation of over 20,000 refugees.
:13:04. > :13:08.The Iraqi government announced they have created safe routes for
:13:09. > :13:13.refugees to go through and also other is a kind of high
:13:14. > :13:23.collaboration between Iraqi forces, the Peshmerga, backing the Iraqi
:13:24. > :13:28.forces, and also responsible for checking the people who flee
:13:29. > :13:34.fighting from the city to make sure Isis fighters will not penetrate
:13:35. > :13:45.with those people and leave the city. That is supported by a lot of
:13:46. > :13:47.intelligence being provided by the Americans and Iraqi authorities.
:13:48. > :13:49.Thank you. Four Moroccans have appeared
:13:50. > :13:52.in court in Spain suspected of being part of the Islamist cell
:13:53. > :13:55.which planned and carried out the attacks in and around
:13:56. > :13:58.Barcelona last week. 15 people were killed
:13:59. > :14:02.and more than 100 injured. The four men are the only surviving
:14:03. > :14:05.members of a group of 12. In court one of them admitted that
:14:06. > :14:08.a bigger attack was being planned. From Spain, our correspondent
:14:09. > :14:15.Tom Burridge reports. One by one, they were led
:14:16. > :14:17.into a high-security They are suspects in a plot,
:14:18. > :14:24.linked to attacks which killed 15 This morning, they were driven
:14:25. > :14:33.in for questioning in a closed Taken there in his hospital pyjamas,
:14:34. > :14:45.Mohamed Houli Chemlal. The 22-year-old was badly injured
:14:46. > :14:47.when an alleged bomb factory blew up Here, police found 120 gas canisters
:14:48. > :14:51.as well as explosives. Investigators believe the terror
:14:52. > :14:53.cell was planning a more Also in court this morning,
:14:54. > :15:00.Mohammed Aalla, said to be the owner of the Audi A3 used in the attack
:15:01. > :15:05.in the coastal resort of Cambrils. A speed camera clocked four
:15:06. > :15:08.of the attackers as they drove to Paris in that very car,
:15:09. > :15:12.the week before the attacks. And this man's passport
:15:13. > :15:14.was found in the van, The driver of the van,
:15:15. > :15:24.Younis Abuyaaqoob, was shot dead by police yesterday
:15:25. > :15:28.in countryside outside Barcelona. This new video shows police raids
:15:29. > :15:32.in Ripoll on the night The town is where the Imam,
:15:33. > :15:37.Abdelbaki es Satty, is thought to have driven young men to carry
:15:38. > :15:42.out violent jihad. One of the suspects apparently told
:15:43. > :15:45.the court that he and his accomplices were plotting a much
:15:46. > :15:47.bigger attack than the one here on Las Ramblas
:15:48. > :15:50.and they planned to use bombs. The buzz of everyday life
:15:51. > :15:53.in Barcelona goes on, past the mountain of tributes
:15:54. > :15:59.for lives lost, young and old. Tom Burridge, BBC
:16:00. > :16:06.News, in Barcelona. is speaking at the daily
:16:07. > :16:09.State Department briefing. It is relatively unusual
:16:10. > :16:12.for Mr Tillerson to speak at this briefing -
:16:13. > :16:24.let's go there now. The fighting will still be done by
:16:25. > :16:28.the Afghan forces, military and security forces, but we believe we
:16:29. > :16:33.can turn the tide of what has been a losing battle over the last year and
:16:34. > :16:37.a half or so, and at least stabilise the situation and hope we start
:16:38. > :16:40.seeing battlefield victories on the part of the Afghan forces who have
:16:41. > :16:46.fought very bravely at they have been fighting with less than full
:16:47. > :16:50.capabilities that we can give them. On third diplomatic front, we are
:16:51. > :16:54.going to adopt a conditions -based diplomacy. We will condition our
:16:55. > :16:58.efforts along with the progress we see being made by the Afghan
:16:59. > :17:05.government who must continue their reform efforts. In particular, much
:17:06. > :17:13.more rigorous efforts around and I corruption. -- anti-corruption. Part
:17:14. > :17:20.of the challenges have been about the methods we have used ordering
:17:21. > :17:27.our aid and we have not been as accountable as we could have been in
:17:28. > :17:34.making sure results are delivered as intended. It is difficult for many
:17:35. > :17:38.aid workers to operate in Afghanistan so as the security
:17:39. > :17:42.environment improves we expect to adopt a different approach as to how
:17:43. > :17:48.we deliver development and assistance to the Afghan government.
:17:49. > :17:55.The president was clear that this entire effort is intended to put
:17:56. > :18:00.pressure on the Taliban, to have them understand they will not win a
:18:01. > :18:06.battlefield victory, we may not win one but neither will they. We have
:18:07. > :18:11.to put some point bring them to the negotiation table saw this ends.
:18:12. > :18:14.Part of why this effort took as long as it did is we chose not to just
:18:15. > :18:21.focus on Afghanistan but we undertook a fairly comprehensive
:18:22. > :18:26.review of our relationships with Pakistan and India and we see this
:18:27. > :18:32.approach requires integration of all three strategies and using Pakistan
:18:33. > :18:38.and India to also bring pressure to bear on the situation in
:18:39. > :18:42.Afghanistan. Pakistan and in particular can play an important
:18:43. > :18:48.role, particularly bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table.
:18:49. > :18:52.Pakistan has suffered acts of terrorism as dramatic as any we have
:18:53. > :18:57.seen anywhere. We stand ready to help artist and address terrorist
:18:58. > :19:02.organisations inside their country but they must adopt a different
:19:03. > :19:05.approach themselves. Pakistan and the US historically had very good
:19:06. > :19:11.relationships but over the last few years there has been a real erosion
:19:12. > :19:14.of confidence between both governments, and erosion of trust.
:19:15. > :19:21.We have witnessed terrorist organisations being given safe haven
:19:22. > :19:24.inside Pakistan, to plan and carry out attacks against US servicemen,
:19:25. > :19:29.officials, disrupting peace efforts inside Afghanistan. Pakistan must
:19:30. > :19:33.adopt a different approach and we are ready to work with them to help
:19:34. > :19:39.them protect themselves against these terrorist organisations but
:19:40. > :19:46.also to start to end attacks disrupting efforts for peace. We
:19:47. > :19:53.will be conditioning our support and relationship with Pakistan on their
:19:54. > :19:56.response. We want to work in a positive way but they must change
:19:57. > :20:01.their approach. India is emerging as a very important regional strategic
:20:02. > :20:04.partner with the United States and it has played an important role is
:20:05. > :20:10.porting the Afghan government and their economy. Providing
:20:11. > :20:14.developmental assistance and economic assistance, and hosting an
:20:15. > :20:19.important economic conference in India this week, and that is
:20:20. > :20:23.all-important for stabilising Afghanistan as a nation, getting
:20:24. > :20:27.their economy functioning and stabilise the country and they can
:20:28. > :20:35.provide more opportunities for their citizens. This will all lead to
:20:36. > :20:40.stability and peace agreement. But regionally it is to put pressure on
:20:41. > :20:47.the parties to understand that fighting will take things nowhere.
:20:48. > :20:51.It will be a lengthy process of reconciliation and a peace accord
:20:52. > :20:55.and Afghanistan can choose its former government that best suits
:20:56. > :21:02.the needs of its people as long as it rejects terrorism, never provides
:21:03. > :21:08.territory in Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorists, and
:21:09. > :21:13.accommodates all ethnic groups inside Afghanistan. How they want to
:21:14. > :21:17.organise themselves is up to them but we have to recognise their
:21:18. > :21:22.culture is tribal and their history accommodates the nature of those
:21:23. > :21:26.relationships, and there is no reason the government cannot
:21:27. > :21:32.accommodate that as well. We want to facilitate reconciliation and peace
:21:33. > :21:35.process and then coming to the conclusion of how they want to
:21:36. > :21:42.govern themselves. For taking questions I want to make one comment
:21:43. > :21:49.on North Korea. I think it is worth noting that we have and no missile
:21:50. > :21:52.launchers or adoptive acts on the part of North Korea since the
:21:53. > :21:58.unanimous adoption of the UN security council resolution and I
:21:59. > :22:04.want to take note of that and acknowledge it and I am pleased to
:22:05. > :22:14.see that the regime in John Yang -- John Yang... Has exercised
:22:15. > :22:20.restraint. We hope it is the beginning of a signal that they are
:22:21. > :22:24.ready to restrain their provocative acts and perhaps we are seeing our
:22:25. > :22:29.pathway to sometime in the near future having some dialogue. We have
:22:30. > :22:37.to see more on their part but I won't acknowledge the steps they
:22:38. > :22:46.have taken this far. Please keep your questions... I will be brief.
:22:47. > :22:50.It seems to me that with the no nation-building concept the
:22:51. > :22:55.president laid out last night, the main difference other than the
:22:56. > :22:58.timetable part of the military staff, the main difference between
:22:59. > :23:03.the new and old approaches is that your eliminating two thirds of what
:23:04. > :23:14.used to be known as the clear hold and build strategy. If that is
:23:15. > :23:22.correct what happens to them and to corruption -- anti-corruption,
:23:23. > :23:28.counter narcotics, education programmes, and what is that going
:23:29. > :23:36.to mean for Afghan women and girls who have been assured for the last
:23:37. > :23:44.16 years by two administrations that things would go back? As you point
:23:45. > :23:51.out, there are many enormous strides achieved in Afghanistan in terms of
:23:52. > :23:57.the numbers of children now in schools, the role of women in the
:23:58. > :24:01.Afghan economy has been dramatically changed, I don't expect any of that
:24:02. > :24:10.to be rolled back, I think it has been part of the Afghan... Rex
:24:11. > :24:13.Tillerson speaking on Afghanistan and also mentioning North Korea.
:24:14. > :24:17.Lets go to our correspondent Gary O'Donoghue in Washington.
:24:18. > :24:30.I think it was crucial that the aim was to push the Taliban back. He
:24:31. > :24:33.said we may not win this war but we will push it back to a point where
:24:34. > :24:38.political solution is the only outcome. What you're seeing is a
:24:39. > :24:43.realisation which has been around for a long time that actually you
:24:44. > :24:47.can only get a settlement in Afghanistan, you cannot beat the
:24:48. > :24:52.Taliban, they are Afghans and they will have to live in some sort of
:24:53. > :24:55.togetherness with the Afghan army. At the same time, the pressure on
:24:56. > :24:59.the Afghan government to clear up the corruption problem. He said the
:25:00. > :25:06.US had to take some of the blame itself for the way it was delivering
:25:07. > :25:10.aid, getting lost in the mix, and he also said that as things got easier
:25:11. > :25:14.in security terms on the ground, that should be able to be cleared up
:25:15. > :25:19.as well. But you also have the counterterrorism effort in the East
:25:20. > :25:27.with the Islamic State affiliate groups, they are to be eliminated,
:25:28. > :25:33.no question of a final political solution, unlike with the Taliban.
:25:34. > :25:35.Reinforcing the message of the president, saying that is what
:25:36. > :25:42.they're going to do militarily diplomatically.
:25:43. > :25:56.I will have much more analysis on outside source in 30 minutes.