17/11/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today.

I'm Lukwesa Burak.

Our top stories:

Robert Mugabe is under

growing pressure to resign.

A rally in support of the military's

action has been called for Saturday.

We will be bringing you the very

latest from our correspondent in

Zimbabwe.

The president of the European

Council tells Brexit to speed up.

While a programmer citizens rights

is being made, we need to see much

more progress on Ireland and on the

settlement.

President Trump tweets

about the sexual abuse allegations

surrounding Al Fraken, a Democrat,

but Steve Silent on the allegations

towards Roy Moore.

And Tesla unveils the prototype of

its new truck.

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

The Zimbabwean leader

Robert Mugabe has been seen

in public for the first time

since the military

takeover on Wednesday.

He's reportedly been under house

arrest but today he attended

a university graduation ceremony

in the capital, Harare.

Earlier the military said talks

with Mr Mugabe were continuing

and there had been significant

progress in the operation

targeting what it called

the criminals surrounding him.

Shingai Nyoka reports from Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe shuffled down

the red carpet towards his first

public engagement in over a week.

The 93-year-old leader remained

defiant, despite facing the biggest

challenge to his decades long rule.

Many hadn't expected him

to show up to a relatively

insignificant engagement.

With the authority invested in me,

I declare this congregation

at the university duly constituted

as a graduation ceremony.

Nothing on the surface suggests

that this is a crisis, and there

is no heightened military presence.

This is President Mugabe's

first public appearance

and he's looking relaxed.

But, then again, this

is no ordinary takeover.

Following guns and explosions

on Tuesday night, many

thought it was the end

for the long-term leader.

But the violence has been replaced

by an almost surreal normal.

Zimbabweans are new to this

and don't know how to react.

In negotiations over

whether he should step down,

President Mugabe doesn't seem to be

losing any sleep.

There is no deal yet,

no exit package that

President Mugabe and the military

could agree on.

Sources suggest that he wants

to continue as a figurehead

until the party's Congress in

December.

The catalyst of this crisis

for President Mugabe has

not been seen for days,

Grace Mugabe.

Many suggest that she is

confined to their private

residence in the capital.

It was her ambition to take over

as vice president that set off these

events and led to the sacking

of the Vice President.

The army is there to

protect the Constitution,

the Republic and everything.

We veterans are there

to change things.

The elections in Zimbabwe's

liberation war, a mass rally

will be held on Saturday.

It will be to pressure

the leader to go.

The tables that President Mugabe

turned on so many of his wartime

comrades are now being

turned against him.

The party have already put in motion

a series of meetings

to consider his expulsion.

It has been suggested

that the military offered

to sweeten the deal.

Leave now, and face no retribution.

It is not clear how long

he will hold out until the curtain

closes on his career.

Let's get the very latest now

from my colleague Ben Brown,

who's in Zimbabwe.

The latest line we are getting here

is that a vote of no confidence has

been passed by his party, is any PF,

and this coming off the back of the

war veterans, they also want change.

How significant is this latest line?

I think that is really significant,

a that Zanu PF will gather across

the ten provinces of Zimbabwe and

have voted no confidence. There is a

huge rally in the capital on

Saturday, tomorrow, and that will

put more pressure on Mr Mugabe to

stand down. This is the war veterans

Association, the fighters who fought

the war of Independence, alongside

Robert Mugabe, saying, come out into

the streets, in your thousands, to

persuade him to step down. They had

simply had enough of him and the

leader of the association says we

have to finish the job that the Army

have started, the Army with the

military takeover on Wednesday,

putting Robert Mugabe under house

arrest, even though, as we saw

rather bizarrely, him actually going

to that graduation ceremony, even

though he was opposed to be under

house arrest, putting on academic

robes, hand and out degrees, as if

nothing has changed in Zimbabwe, but

everything has changed with that

military takeover.

Why have the war

veterans fallen out of love with

Robert Mugabe? They were a key voice

for him.

They work, and so have a

lot of his Zanu PF allies fallen out

of love with him. As you were

hearing in that report, Grace Mugabe

was a key factor in that. It is not

just the fact that he is 93 years

old. For 37 years, he has been in

power here. There has been critical

repression and economic disaster for

many of those years. 2008, we had

hyperinflation of billions of

percent. He has had serious problems

with his rule before but now, he is

not only 93, but he was preparing to

hand over power to Grace Mugabe, who

is 41 years his junior, but also who

has been hugely criticised by many

people in this country for her

flamboyant, extravagant lifestyle.

Gucci Grace is what a lot of people

have called her, that was her

nickname. Zanu PF, the literary, and

many other people couldn't stand the

prospect of him handing power over

to her.

Zimbabweans are well-known

for wanting to the non-violent

route, wanting to go through

dialogue, go through the courts,

that is the Zimbabwean way, what is

the feeling about the rally on

Saturday? Will people be turning

out? Is there worry on the streets?

I don't think there is worry, ever

since I have been in Zimbabwe

covering this crisis, it struck me

as being a place that is remarkably

calm, relaxed in a sense. There is a

real tension here. And we have had

those talks between the military and

Mr Mugabe which seemed to be very

civilised, from the pig as we saw,

shaking hands, smiling, we don't

know exactly what is going on. --

the pictures we saw. Robert Mugabe

has been -- we don't know whether

resisting attempts or whether he's

thinking of going. There could be a

transition, that is the thought here

from many observers, transitional

government, including not only

members of Zanu PF but some members

of the opposition.

We were hearing

Rex Tillerson speaking of a new era,

many people saying any successor

will be Zanu PF once again. What

sort of shape is the opposition in?

The vice president who would be the

leader of the new government, who is

Zanu PF, and fought alongside Robert

Mugabe, he has always been thought

of as a strong man here, in many

ways, this whole thing is an

internal power struggle within Zanu

PF. But the idea is, or at least

this is one scenario, for example,

opposition leader Morgan Changi

Riker to be the Prime Minister. I

think they are keen to join the

transitional government becomes

about, and to be part of it. Even

though they might be junior

partners.

Thank you very much.

Our teams on the BBC News

website have been running

live pages on Zimbabwe.

They've now finished

for the day, but you can read

through all of the events

as they happened, and join them

again tomorrow, at bbc.com/news

It's possible that

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May

went to a mini EU summit in Sweden

on Friday hoping to come back

with some positive news

on the Brexit negotiations.

But if that was the case,

then she definitely didn't hear

what she was hoping for.

You'll remember how the UK

wants to start talking

about future trade relations,

but the EU has refused

to do that until other

financial issues are settled.

The earliest those trade talks

can start is December

but the EU President Donald

Tusk said won't happen

unless much much more

progress is made.

While good progress on citizens

rights is being made, we need to see

much more progress on Ireland and on

the financial settlement. In order

to avoid any ambiguity about the

calendar, I made it very clear to

the Prime Minister Theresa May, that

this progress needs to happen at the

beginning of December at the latest.

If there is not sufficient progress

by then, I will been not be in a

position to propose new guidelines

on transition and the future

relationship at the December

European Council.

So, some tough talking there.

Mrs May limited her comments

to a brief statement on the way out

of the gathering.

We agree that good progress has been

made but there is more to be done.

We should move forward together

towards that point where sufficient

progress can be declared,

and we can look ahead to what I have

already said I want to see as it

deep and

special and comprehensive

partnership between the UK and the

remaining 27 members

of the European Union.

Thank you.

So, just to recap, the UK wants

trade talks to start,

and the EU has flagged up

three sticking points.

They are the amount

of money the UK will pay

to meet its liabilities to the EU -

the divorce bill, so to speak.

The status of

European Union nationals

in the UK once Breixt

removes their existing rights.

And what will happen

to the only land border

between the UK and the EU -

the frontier between Northern

Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The Irish government is clear it

does NOT want a physical

border to be imposed,

but that could depend on the UK

agreeing to keep the existing

agreements with the EU on many

things and that's proving tricky.

The British and Irish foreign

ministers met in Dublin to discuss

the issue on Friday.

Here's a little of

what they had to say.

We have 38,000 businesses in Ireland

that trade with Britain every single

week and they need and want

certainty and may want to hear their

petitions talking about trading and

future relationships. We accept

that, but we also have very serious

issues, in phase one, particular

around the border and the Good

Friday Agreement and we need more

clarity.

Nobody wants to see a

return to a hard border, nobody

wants to see a hardboard, we must

work on it, and we've got to on it

together, and I think what I would

say to you is that in order to

resolve those issues and get it

right for our peoples, it is

necessary now to move on to the

second stage of the negotiations

which really entails so many of the

questions that of wound up with the

border issue.

So, once again, a common

goal, but two very

different ideas on how to get there.

Our Europe correspondent

Adam Fleming has been watching

developments from Brussels,

and he sent this update.

Just listen to Donald Tusk,

the president of the European

Council, the man who will be

chairing that crucial summit of EU

leaders in mid-December

where they will decide if the Brexit

process can move from

phase one of the talks,

about the force unrelated issues,

onto phase two to talk about trade,

the future relationship,

and any transition deal,

the stuff that the British

government really, really

want to get its teeth into.

He is prepared to do that.

In fact, there are teams of people

quietly getting ready for that

to happen here in Brussels but,

and this is a big but,

Donald Tusk said that can only

happen if the UK gives more clarity

on some big Brexit issues.

Namely, how you calculate how

much money did UK owes

as it leaves the EU?

They want specific commitments

from the UK on that written down.

How to avoid a hard border, in other

words, the physical infrastructure

between Northern Ireland

and the Republic of Ireland,

which will have a big

impact on people's lives,

the EU wants detailed commitments

from the UK written down.

And here is the crucial thing,

Donald Tusk says all that has

to happen by the first week

of December if there is to be enough

time for them to prepare

for the summit to get onto phase two

went it actually happens.

It sounds like quite

a tough deadline.

Let's take a look

at some of the other

stories making the news.

The former Catalan

leader, Carles Puigdemont has

appeared in court in Belgium

in a bid to avoid

extradition to Spain.

He left Catalonia at

the end of last month,

following the region's unilateral

declaration of independence.

One of the most feared bosses

of the Italian mafia,

Salvatore Riina, has died

in prison at the age of 87.

Born in Sicily, Riina is thought

to have ordered at least

150 murders, including

those of the anti-mafia

judges Giovanni Falcone

and Paolo Borsellino.

A number of people are feared

dead following a mid-air

collision between a light aircraft

and a helicopter

in south east England.

The crash took place around midday.

Both the small plane

and the helicopter had taken off

from the Wycombe air

base in Buckinghamshire.

An eighth woman has come forward

claiming she was groped

by the former US President,

George H Bush.

The woman, who says she wants

to keep her identity a secret,

claimed the incident happened

when she was working

as an interpreter in 2004.

There's been no response yet

from the former president.

And staying with allegations

of sexual harrassment -

Donald Trump has now spoken out.

But while he could have

offered his thoughts

on several individuals,

he chose to target a senator

from the opposition

Democratic Party -

Al Franken.

It comes after a journalist,

Leeann Tweeden put this

photo onto social media,

dating from 2006, which appears

to show Mr Franken groping her

while she was asleep.

He has issued a statement

apologising for his actions.

Cue Mr Trump on Twitter:

The Al Frankenstein

picture is really bad

and speaks a thousand

words, said Mr Trump.

And he then added

that just last week,

Mr Franken was lecturing people

about sexual harrassment

and respect for women.

Now, it's worth pointing out that

Al Franken is not the only

politician whose actions

are being scrutinised,

but he IS the only one

Mr Trump is tweeting about.

The President did not,

for example, comment

on Republican Roy Moore,

who's hoping to win a Senate seat

in Alabama next month,

and has been accused of making

sexual advances towards

several teenagers.

Mr Moore denies those

claims, which he says

are politically motivated.

Although Mr Trump has not directly

commented on Mr Moore,

the White House has said

that the allegations against him

are very troubling and should

be taken seriously.

Who better to help us make

sense of all of this

than our correspondent

in Washington, Anthony Zurcher.

First off, Mr Trump not speaking out

against Al Fraken, -- Roy Moore,

doesn't that speak a thousand words?

Obviously, Donald Trump has more

sympathies towards Roy Moore,

although he didn't endorse his rival

in the primary in Alabama.

After-the-fact, he said he ran a

good campaign, he seems like a good

man, so he is on the record

supporting Roy Moore's candidacy in

Alabama. People who support Roy

Moore are Donald Trump's base. They

are the antiestablishment populist

in the Republican party so I think

Donald Trump is concerned that if he

goes against Roy Moore, he will be

once against going against his race

because Donald Trump had endorsed

its primary opponent. It is very

easy to go after Democrat like Al

Fraken and that seems to be white

Donald Trump was very quick, less

than 24 hours after the accusations

came out, Donald Trump was on

Twitter tweeting about it.

I

understand the state Republican

Party have said they are behind Mr

Moore's candidacy. What is the

actual National party saying?

If you

listen to Republicans are here in

Washington from Michaella Connolly

on down, they have condemned Roy

Moore. They say the women who were

using him of making sexual advances

towards them and even sexual assault

when they were teenagers back in the

1970s, that there accusations are

credible, they are women that have

come forward separately, they don't

know each other, so the idea that

this could use some sort of

conspiracy, as Roy Moore has

alleged, seem very far-fetched. Even

some Republicans have said that if

Roy Moore happens to win in

December, on December 12, and gets

to the Senate, they will try to

expel him as quickly as possible so

he doesn't have much support in the

National Republican party. The irony

is he never do it. Mitch McConnell

and want him to win the nomination.

He has always been an outsider

riding against the establishment so

nothing much has changed there.

I

understand the matter with Al Fraken

has been reported to the ethics

committee, is the same thing

happening with Roy Moore?

He would

have to win his election first and

if he made it to the Senate and that

would something the said committee

could review. Someone who represents

one of the uses of Roy Moore said

the Senate would look into it in a

separate investigation but the idea

that the Senate would start holding

hearings on Roy Moore before he wins

an election, that is a bit unlikely.

As far as Al Fraken goes, we are

hearing that people on the left and

right within Congress say this is

something that should be handled by

an ethical investigation. We aren't

hearing nearly as many politicians

for Al Fraken to resign.

We'll leave

it there. Just to remind you, that

vote will be taking place on

December 12 and BBC World News will

be watching that closely and

bringing it to you.

Now a story to make your

stomach turn - quite literally.

The doctors who've been treating

the North Korean soldier who fled

across the demilitarized zone

with South Korea say their efforts

are being hampered by an extremely

high level of parasites

in his intestines.

The discovery is being put down

to the way North Korea

produces its food.

Philippa Thomas reports.

That soldiers in North Korea

have a pretty grim life

has long been obvious.

Tough military duty on a diet that

doesn't provide enough nutrition.

Now, the case of a defecting soldier

shot by his own side while escaping,

has given a remarkable

insight into just how bad

conditions are in the North.

His doctors in South Korea have

displayed photos showing dozens

of flesh coloured parasites,

one was 27 centimetres long,

removed during a series

of operations to save his life.

TRANSLATION: In my over 20 year

career as a surgeon,

I have only seen something like this

in a textbook.

So, how could the parasites

have taken hold?

Experts believe diminishing supplies

of chemical fertiliser have led

North Korean farmers to find

a solution little closer to home.

TRANSLATION: They need fertiliser

to continue farming.

However, due to the lack

of fertiliser, North Koreans

fertilise their fields

with human excrement.

And this becomes an immediate cause

of a parasitic infection.

The World Food Programme says

a quarter of North Korean young

children who receive its help suffer

from chronic malnutrition.

The fact a carefully vetted border

guard is in such poor condition

shows the sheer scale of deprivation

the country is now facing.

The head of the electric vehicle

vehicle maker Tesla,

Elon Musk, has unveiled his

two latest models, including

the company's first large truck.

It's still a prototype but it it's

claimed it could travel

up to 500 miles on a single charge,

though it's not clear how much cargo

it could carry for that distance.

Tesla also have a new

sports car on show,

as our business correspondent

Theo Leggett reports.

It certainly looked the part -

emerging gleaming out

of the darkness, appearing every

inch the king of the road.

This is the new Tesla Semi,

a big rig trailer that

Silicon Valley entrepreneur

Elon Musk thinks can revolutionise

the haulage industry.

The thing that looks like it is not

moving izzard easel truck. -- diesel

truck.

Tesla has made its name producing

high-end electric cars,

and this is an all electric truck.

So will it leave conventional

lorries struggling in its wake?

Tesla has high hopes

for its new zero emissions lorry.

For a start, it will be equipped

with self-driving technology so that

one day, convoys of trucks will be

able to travel close together.

In theory, that should reduce

running costs and improve safety.

Tesla says it will also be

cheaper to run per mile

than conventional models.

But it will only have

a range of 500 miles.

Existing lorries can do double that

on a single tank of diesel.

And the technology as yet

is still relatively unproven.

Tesla will be able to

make its electric Semi.

Whether they'll be able to make it

at scale and to the production

timetables that they set out is very

much in question.

They haven't been able to do it

on any of their models so far.

Assuming the new lorry can be

produced in numbers,

will hauliers actually

want to buy it?

Tesla is promising low running costs

and a high degree of driver comfort,

but that may not be enough.

The problem with electric

lorries is the price point.

A new lorry, a diesel lorry,

costs us £85,000 each at the moment.

These new Teslas are probably going

to be around the £200,000 mark.

That's way beyond the budget

of most hauliers in the UK.

Tesla is already struggling to turn

itself from a niche luxury car-maker

into a mass-market producer

with its new Model 3.

And hidden in the back

of the electric lorry was yet

another new project,

a hi-tech roadster which Tesla says

will be the quickest

production car on the planet.

Now analysts are worried

the company may be trying

to go too for too fast.

Theo Leggett, BBC News.

Plenty more on