22/08/2017 World News Today

President Trump backtracks on his campaign pledge and decides

Moving into Tal Afar - Iraqi government forces say

they have pushed their way into an Islamic State stronghold.

The ringleader exposed and plans of a larger attack -

the four Barcelona attack suspects reveal all in court.

And a victory for Muslim women in India

as the controversial practice of instant divorce is

Hello and welcome to World News Today.

President Trump has announced he's to send more troops to Afghanistan

It represents a reversal for the President who,

whilst campaigning, had called for a quick withdrawal

from a conflict which he'd called a "total disaster".

Washington is expected to send an additional 4,000

They'll join around 8,000 who have already been deployed there.

But together that's still far fewer than in 2011 when there

Our North America Editor Jon Sopel reports.

Donald Trump loves being a crowd pleaser

and throughout the campaign he delighted audiences

with the promise to pull US forces out of Afghanistan -

a gigantic waste of money and American blood, he said.

So this speech was going to take a bit of navigating,

because above the sound of the band playing Hail To The Chief was

My original instinct was to pull out, and historically

But all my life, I've heard that decisions are much different

when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.

But what this flip-flop means in practical terms is hard to assess.

The president wouldn't say how many additional troops he would send,

nor commit to how long they would be there.

The mission would be judged by results, not timelines.

He called the policy strategic realism,

Some of his harshest words were aimed at the Pakistani

government, whom he accused of harbouring terrorists

while taking billions of dollars in US aid.

And although Kabul may be a long way from Charlottesville,

recent events in Virginia were clearly in his mind

Loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another.

Love for America requires love for all of its people.

When we open our hearts to patriotism, there

is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry

More than 2,000 US troops have already lost their lives

in Afghanistan, and the president would have liked nothing more

But the strategic importance of not letting Afghanistan fail as a state

again means that Donald Trump has had to sign his name to a policy

that means there is now an open-ended commitment

Though Donald Trump has tried to dress this speech up as marking

a significant shift in policy, the most striking thing

about it is the sense of continuity with the Obama White House.

And one other thing - now that this major policy

announcement has come, this is Donald Trump's

Not Barack Obama's, not the generals'.

He now has ownership of something he never wanted to buy.

Divers have located bodies in the flooded compartments of a US

warship that collided with an oil tanker near Singapore on Monday.

Ten sailors from the USS John McCain went missing during the accident.

A Malaysian vessel has recovered another body.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Singapore.

These are the latest pictures of the badly damaged USS

John S McCain as it limped into port in Singapore, a massive

Today, the news from here has only got worse.

Speaking to media tonight, the commander of the US

Pacific Fleet said the first bodies had been found.

One body that has been reported by the Malaysian Navy has been found.

We have discovered other bodies during the diving on McCain today

but it is premature to say how many and what the status of recovery

It is only two months since this happened off the coast of Japan.

An almost identical collision that took the lives of seven US sailors.

Now there are maybe ten more to add to that list.

Back in the US, naval families are suggesting it is no coincidence.

Is there an issue of negligence here or is it just that your men

and women are exhausted from being overworked?

I was on the McCain this morning, looking

Even after their heroic efforts yesterday, I didn't see exhaustion,

so that view is not a view that I see reflected to me in the 140,000

But these are quotes from some of the US Navy

And from one former sailor, "I went without sleep for so long,

I began to see things that were not there."

In Singapore, this maritime expert agrees the US Navy is overstretched.

If you look at all the demands put on the US Navy, in the Middle East,

the Persian Gulf, and increasingly out here in the Pacific,

basically we have a 300-ship navy and we are asking it to do the job

of a 400-ship or maybe even 450-ship Navy.

So you may just about be able to see the outline of the John S McCain

The search and rescue operation continues here tonight,

and then there is the question of how this all happened,

and that is a big and deeply disturbing question for the US Navy.

Rescue workers on the Italian island of Ischia say they've pulled

alive three children, including a seven-month-old baby,

from the rubble of their home after an earthquake

It hit the holiday island off the coast of Naples, killing two

Minutes after the earthquake, dazed survivors

Around them, in a blizzard of dust, buried cars and rubble-strewn

streets, several buildings in Casamicciola collapsed.

Rescuers worked frantically to get to those buried.

Here, the faint sounds of a baby crying and,

after some careful digging, a small miracle.

His brothers, though, were still missing.

The earthquake struck as people were sitting down

The homes of some 2,000 residents were damaged.

TRANSLATION: The house is destroyed, we can't even get in.

Falling masonry remained a threat as the emergency services

Both of little Pascale's brothers were found alive,

Others, though, are counting the cost of a terrifying night.

Let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news.

Copenhagen police say a headless and limbless corpse found in waters

off Denmark was deliberately mutilated, but they say

it is still too early to say whether it is the remains of Swedish

She was last seen alive on the 10th of August as she departed on a trip

with submarine inventor Peter Madsen.

Johnson Johnson has been ordered to pay $417 million to a woman

who says she developed ovarian cancer after using products

The California jury's decision marks the largest award yet in a string

of lawsuits that claim the firm did not adequately warn about cancer

The Spanish football club Barcelona says it will demand at least

$10 million from its former player, the Brazilian striker Neymar,

It follows Neymar's world record $260 million move to the French club

Advancing Iraqi government forces say they've pushed

into the outskirts of the city of Tal Afar, one of the Islamic

State group's few remaining strongholds in the country.

The army and its militia allies began their major

Tal Afar lies on a key route into Iraq from Syria,

and it's been regarded as an important centre

But the US says that despite recent successes against IS,

With me is Haider al Safi from BBC Arabic.

We spoke this time yesterday. What has changed? The Iraqi forces have

advanced insight Tal Afar and there are many photographs on social media

from inside Tal Afar where the Iraqi forces captured the main town

centre, a quarter in the town. It has not yet been confirmed but the

Iraqi forces reached that part of the city. I have a meeting

resistance? The Iraqi forces talked about the defeat of Isis, being on

the retreat. There were some videos exchanged of dead bodies of Isis

fighters. And celebrating an easy victory. But they didn't so far.

Neither the Iraqi or supporting forces faced fierce fighting as yet.

But we know that sometimes Isis fighters tried to drag the Iraqi

forces into street fighting were their heavy machinery would be kind

of neutralised and it would be soldier to soldier fighting, snipers

and IEDs. The fact that the Islamic State group is losing territory in

Iraq doesn't necessarily mean that it reduces as a threat. It means

they go back to the old techniques, suicide bombing in busy

neighbourhoods, and they have started this already, a few suicide

bombs in Baghdad, and other cities under Iraqi government control,

recently taken back from Isis. They are what the Iraqi government calls

sleeper cells and they are becoming more active. For people watching who

do not know Tal Afar, how big is it and how many civilians might be in

the city? According to recent reports, they are talking about

100,000 civilians and there is an expectation of over 20,000 refugees.

The Iraqi government announced they have created safe routes for

refugees to go through and also other is a kind of high

collaboration between Iraqi forces, the Peshmerga, backing the Iraqi

forces, and also responsible for checking the people who flee

fighting from the city to make sure Isis fighters will not penetrate

with those people and leave the city. That is supported by a lot of

intelligence being provided by the Americans and Iraqi authorities.

Thank you. Four Moroccans have appeared

in court in Spain suspected of being part of the Islamist cell

which planned and carried out the attacks in and around

Barcelona last week. 15 people were killed

and more than 100 injured. The four men are the only surviving

members of a group of 12. In court one of them admitted that

a bigger attack was being planned. From Spain, our correspondent

Tom Burridge reports. One by one, they were led

into a high-security They are suspects in a plot,

linked to attacks which killed 15 This morning, they were driven

in for questioning in a closed Taken there in his hospital pyjamas,

Mohamed Houli Chemlal. The 22-year-old was badly injured

when an alleged bomb factory blew up Here, police found 120 gas canisters

as well as explosives. Investigators believe the terror

cell was planning a more Also in court this morning,

Mohammed Aalla, said to be the owner of the Audi A3 used in the attack

in the coastal resort of Cambrils. A speed camera clocked four

of the attackers as they drove to Paris in that very car,

the week before the attacks. And this man's passport

was found in the van, The driver of the van,

Younis Abuyaaqoob, was shot dead by police yesterday

in countryside outside Barcelona. This new video shows police raids

in Ripoll on the night The town is where the Imam,

Abdelbaki es Satty, is thought to have driven young men to carry

out violent jihad. One of the suspects apparently told

the court that he and his accomplices were plotting a much

bigger attack than the one here on Las Ramblas

and they planned to use bombs. The buzz of everyday life

in Barcelona goes on, past the mountain of tributes

for lives lost, young and old. Tom Burridge, BBC

News, in Barcelona. is speaking at the daily

State Department briefing. It is relatively unusual

for Mr Tillerson to speak at this briefing -

let's go there now. The fighting will still be done by

the Afghan forces, military and security forces, but we believe we

can turn the tide of what has been a losing battle over the last year and

a half or so, and at least stabilise the situation and hope we start

seeing battlefield victories on the part of the Afghan forces who have

fought very bravely at they have been fighting with less than full

capabilities that we can give them. On third diplomatic front, we are

going to adopt a conditions -based diplomacy. We will condition our

efforts along with the progress we see being made by the Afghan

government who must continue their reform efforts. In particular, much

more rigorous efforts around and I corruption. -- anti-corruption. Part

of the challenges have been about the methods we have used ordering

our aid and we have not been as accountable as we could have been in

making sure results are delivered as intended. It is difficult for many

aid workers to operate in Afghanistan so as the security

environment improves we expect to adopt a different approach as to how

we deliver development and assistance to the Afghan government.

The president was clear that this entire effort is intended to put

pressure on the Taliban, to have them understand they will not win a

battlefield victory, we may not win one but neither will they. We have

to put some point bring them to the negotiation table saw this ends.

Part of why this effort took as long as it did is we chose not to just

focus on Afghanistan but we undertook a fairly comprehensive

review of our relationships with Pakistan and India and we see this

approach requires integration of all three strategies and using Pakistan

and India to also bring pressure to bear on the situation in

Afghanistan. Pakistan and in particular can play an important

role, particularly bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Pakistan has suffered acts of terrorism as dramatic as any we have

seen anywhere. We stand ready to help artist and address terrorist

organisations inside their country but they must adopt a different

approach themselves. Pakistan and the US historically had very good

relationships but over the last few years there has been a real erosion

of confidence between both governments, and erosion of trust.

We have witnessed terrorist organisations being given safe haven

inside Pakistan, to plan and carry out attacks against US servicemen,

officials, disrupting peace efforts inside Afghanistan. Pakistan must

adopt a different approach and we are ready to work with them to help

them protect themselves against these terrorist organisations but

also to start to end attacks disrupting efforts for peace. We

will be conditioning our support and relationship with Pakistan on their

response. We want to work in a positive way but they must change

their approach. India is emerging as a very important regional strategic

partner with the United States and it has played an important role is

porting the Afghan government and their economy. Providing

developmental assistance and economic assistance, and hosting an

important economic conference in India this week, and that is

all-important for stabilising Afghanistan as a nation, getting

their economy functioning and stabilise the country and they can

provide more opportunities for their citizens. This will all lead to

stability and peace agreement. But regionally it is to put pressure on

the parties to understand that fighting will take things nowhere.

It will be a lengthy process of reconciliation and a peace accord

and Afghanistan can choose its former government that best suits

the needs of its people as long as it rejects terrorism, never provides

territory in Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorists, and

accommodates all ethnic groups inside Afghanistan. How they want to

organise themselves is up to them but we have to recognise their

culture is tribal and their history accommodates the nature of those

relationships, and there is no reason the government cannot

accommodate that as well. We want to facilitate reconciliation and peace

process and then coming to the conclusion of how they want to

govern themselves. For taking questions I want to make one comment

on North Korea. I think it is worth noting that we have and no missile

launchers or adoptive acts on the part of North Korea since the

unanimous adoption of the UN security council resolution and I

want to take note of that and acknowledge it and I am pleased to

see that the regime in John Yang -- John Yang... Has exercised

restraint. We hope it is the beginning of a signal that they are

ready to restrain their provocative acts and perhaps we are seeing our

pathway to sometime in the near future having some dialogue. We have

to see more on their part but I won't acknowledge the steps they

have taken this far. Please keep your questions... I will be brief.

It seems to me that with the no nation-building concept the

president laid out last night, the main difference other than the

timetable part of the military staff, the main difference between

the new and old approaches is that your eliminating two thirds of what

used to be known as the clear hold and build strategy. If that is

correct what happens to them and to corruption -- anti-corruption,

counter narcotics, education programmes, and what is that going

to mean for Afghan women and girls who have been assured for the last

16 years by two administrations that things would go back? As you point

out, there are many enormous strides achieved in Afghanistan in terms of

the numbers of children now in schools, the role of women in the

Afghan economy has been dramatically changed, I don't expect any of that

to be rolled back, I think it has been part of the Afghan... Rex

Tillerson speaking on Afghanistan and also mentioning North Korea.

Lets go to our correspondent Gary O'Donoghue in Washington.

I think it was crucial that the aim was to push the Taliban back. He

said we may not win this war but we will push it back to a point where

political solution is the only outcome. What you're seeing is a

realisation which has been around for a long time that actually you

can only get a settlement in Afghanistan, you cannot beat the

Taliban, they are Afghans and they will have to live in some sort of

togetherness with the Afghan army. At the same time, the pressure on

the Afghan government to clear up the corruption problem. He said the

US had to take some of the blame itself for the way it was delivering

aid, getting lost in the mix, and he also said that as things got easier

in security terms on the ground, that should be able to be cleared up

as well. But you also have the counterterrorism effort in the East

with the Islamic State affiliate groups, they are to be eliminated,

no question of a final political solution, unlike with the Taliban.

Reinforcing the message of the president, saying that is what

they're going to do militarily diplomatically.

I will have much more analysis on outside source in 30 minutes.