25/11/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today.

Our top stories:

Violent clashes between police

and Islamist demonstrators

in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

The Government calls

on the army to step in.

As Egypt buries victims

of Friday's mosque attack,

investigators say the attackers

were carrying the flag

of so called Islamic State.

Well-wishers and relatives are

coming and going, trying to offer

support and across the country,

Egyptians are struggling to come to

terms with this attack.

The row between Time Magazine

and President Trump -

was it going to name him "Person

of the Year" ?

And Hollywood star Emma Thompson

leads a march in support

of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

the British-Iranian

woman jailed in Iran.

We can all as human beings imagine

what it is like to be separated

from every loved one for no reason.

For no reason!

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

We begin in Pakistan -

where the Government has called

on the army to restore order,

after large protests in Islamabad.

It's after scenes like this -

clashes between police and hardline

Islamist protesters.

The protestors want a Government

minister to be sacked,

they accuse him of blasphemy.

Well the violence has

led to 200 people

being injured at this key highway -

called the Faizabad Interchange.

Security forces tried

to break up a sit-in there -

which has been going

on for several weeks.

The demonstrations have also

spread to other cities

including Lahore and Karachi.

The violence

poses a direct challenge

to the governing party -

the Pakistan Muslim League.

I've been getting the thoughts

of the BBC's South Asia Regional

Editor, Anbarasan Ethirajan.

The Government allowed nearly three

weeks before they sent in hundreds

of police officers to clear these

hundreds of protesters who are

blocking a key highway going into

the capital. People have been going

through huge traffic jams. They are

suffering a lot, and there is a lot

of criticism of the Government in

the last three weeks. When they

finally decided to act, the court

was acting them to act immediately,

to remove these protesters, it was a

little bit too late. The police had

to retreat, and now they are asking

for the military to help. Also, this

is now spreading to other cities.

Hundreds of people are protesting in

Karachi and in Lahore.

Tell us about

these protesters? What do they want?

The party was formed a you mugs ago.

It was a hardline Islamists party.

They started blocking this highway a

three weeks ago, saying that they

wanted the minister to be removed,

because he was responsible for

changes to the electoral vote, which

gave prominence, which said that the

last Prophet was Prophet Muhammad in

Islam, because they thought they

were trying to appease to the

minority. So, they are asking for

the sacking of the law minister, and

the Government waited for nearly

three weeks. What is important here

is that Pakistan is going into

election mode next year, and the

Pakistani Muslim League is already

lost its leader. It was disqualified

in July for failing to... So, the

party is going through a crisis, and

now you have this hardline Islamist

spreading to other parts of Karachi,

and that is what they didn't want,

but that is happening now.

The authorities in Egypt say gunmen

who attacked a mosque during Friday

prayers killing more than 300

people, were carrying

the flag of the so-called

Islamic State group.

Up to 30 men surrounded

the building, opening fire

on worshippers including children.

It happened in the town

of Beer Al-Abud in Northern Sinai.

Bir Al Abud.In response,

Egyptian forces have been

carrying out air strikes

on some militant targets.

Our Middle East correspondent

Orla Guerin reports from Cairo.

Egyptian warplanes take to the skies

to target militants in

Northern Sinai.

The army says this is a mission

to avenge the martyrs.

There has been no claim

of responsibility,

but according to officials the

attackers brandished flags of the

so-called Islamic State.

And here one of their

many victims in the

General Hospital in Ismailia.

He is 13.

He was shot twice in

the hand and in the leg.

He is not the only

victim in his family.

In the same ward, his

17-year-old cousin, also

shot twice, once in the back.

His mother is looking

to God to punish

those who brought such torment.

I hope their hearts will be burned

just like ours, the women have all

become widowed.

There are no men left,

they are all gone.

They are all gone.

Then she leaned in to whispered

she has been bereaved four

times over.

Losing her husband, her oldest son,

an uncle, and a cousin.

She did not want her son

to know the death toll.

In another ward, we found doctors

consoling another man

who was praying with his extended

family when the attackers struck.

He lost two of his brothers

and two of their children.

There was shooting

and people just started

running, he told us,

some jumped out the window,

God saved some of us,

but others lost their lives.

Among the visitors

today, a local leader

of the Coptic Church,

Christians are regular targets

in their places of worship.

Now Muslims have joined them.

More than 40 survivors of the attack

were brought to this hospital.

The death toll is

continuing to climb.

Five of those who came

here have already lost

their lives.

Well-wishers and relatives

are coming and going to try and

offer support, and across the

country Egyptians are struggling to

come to terms with this attack.

There is a grief across the country

as the dead are laid to rest.

The village of Bir

al-Abed, the scene of

the attack, has lost

a quarter of its men.

Tonight, hundreds of

families are in mourning.

Earlier political analyst, Magdi

Abdelhadi joined me in the studio.

He told me the Egyptian

security forces have a lot

of work to do to improve.

It unprecedented, as was just said

in that report, judges have been

attacked before, and there are

police guards outside most churches

in the urban centres in Egypt, but

masks have never been the target of

attack. Whether this is the

beginning of a trend, that would be

extremely worrying, because the

countries through a stomach full of

mosques. No state can itself against

this type of terrorism. Some would

say that this is a failure of

intelligence, why couldn't they

register that this was somehow going

to happen? However, because it is

such a break from the pattern of

militancy in Egypt before, one could

argue that it was very difficult for

them to predict that this would

happen. Some suggest, that locals in

this particular village have felt

that there was something coming, and

they aborted it to police --

reported it to believe, but they

were ignored. It is the question is

whether the authorities have the

right approach, because it is

happening at regular intervals.

Immediately after, they launched air

raids, and their use heavy weaponry,

as many are asking, is this the

right approach? Is this the way to

fight this kind of militancy. You

really need insert. That debate is

happening in Egypt and outside. What

is missing in this debate, not so

much in Egypt, but on the

international scene, is the role of

the narrative, the ideology that

justify this kind of behaviour,

which is the right across the Muslim

world and in western capitals. What

tells young Muslims that it is

morally justifiable to kill innocent

people in Egypt, in London, in Iraq,

in the United States, it is that

narrative, a narrative of religious

supremacy, that if you do so, you

will somehow be rewarded by going to

heaven, to paradise. That's

narrative is challenged...

You've

talked about that narrative, what do

you make of Egypt's response to the

militancy in the country. Do you

think it needs the help of the

International committee?

Egypt of

course need any help it could get,

but Egypt's has a strong central

state relatively speaking, if you

compare it to Syria, or Iraq or

Libya. The leader has experience, he

has dealt with Islamic militancy,

before. But, because it is an

ongoing issue in Egypt, and across

the Muslim world, unless you act

league challenge and debunk and

deconstruct the religious narrative

that draws upon the text of Islam to

justify violence by killing innocent

people, Muslims or unbelievers, and

think you will be rewarding for

that, unless you challenge that's

narrative, I think we are going to

live with that problem. Time.

-- for

some time.

The actress, Emma Thompson,

has led a march in north London,

to support the British-Iranian woman

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,

who's been jailed in Iran, accused

of trying to overthrow the state.

Those taking part have

signed a letter urging

Iran's Supreme Leader

to release her.

Alice Hutton reports.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's

favourite song, imprisoned in Iran

and unable to sing it

with her own young

daughter, 200 members

of her

community in London came out

today to form a protest.

They were joined by local mum

and Oscar-winning actress

Emma Thompson, who braved pneumonia

to lend her voice to the protests.

This is our community and one

of her community has been imprisoned

without trial, has been separated

from her child more or less for

19 months.

The situation is desperate.

I'm not supposed to be out at all,

but I said to my doctor, "Well,

I can't not come to speak,

because I am free."

Together, they marched to the nearby

Islamic Centre of England to

deliver a letter addressed

to the Supreme Leader of Iran,

calling for Nazanin's release.

Really pleased with that,

thank you to our Muslim

friends in the Islamic Centre.

One person who did

hear the voices was

Nazanin herself.

She rang from prison

in Iran to thank them for

their support, especially

her husband, Richard.

Thank you so much.

I am so grateful.

I don't think I deserve

it, to be honest.

It is amazing.

Thank you for all your support.

Thank you everyone from the bottom

and top of my heart, I really

feel the love.

Nazanin can feel loved,

that is the most important

thing, that's what keeps us going.

With fresh charges and the new court

date next month, this is a time of

great anxiety for

the Ratcliffe family.

Today was all about local support

and showing that Nazanin

might have dual British-Iranian

citizenship, but it is this

that she calls home.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news:

The Libyan coast guard says more

than 30 migrants died

when their boat sank near Garabulli,

east of the capital, Tripoli.

They say they rescued about 60

people who were clinging

to the remains of the vessel.

Bangladesh says Rohingya Muslim

refugees who go back to Myanmar

will initially have to live

in temporary camps,

because most of their villages

have been burnt down.

The arrangement will cause concern

in the UN, which has already warned

of the dangers of returning

the Rohingya to

"confinement and ghettos".

Bangladesh's Foreign Minister says

aid agencies will be involved

in the repatriation process.

Stay with us on BBC

World News, still to come:

All the sport news -

including, Lionel Messi ends

months of speculation -

he extends his contract

with Barcelona.

He caught the imagination of the

world. The first of a new generation

of leaders. The prime there is

resigning before leaving number ten.

He told her cabinets, if they find

the old world.

Violent clashes in the Pakistan

capital. As Egypt buries victims of

Friday's mosque attack,

investigators say that the attackers

were carrying the flag of the

so-called Islamic State.

Time Magazine is disputing US

President Donald Trump's account

of how he rejected a request

for an interview and photo

shoot ahead of its Person

of the Year issue.

On Friday, Mr Trump tweeted that

Time had called to say

he was "probably" going to be named

Person of the Year.

He said 'probably was no good'

and that he 'took a pass.'

But Time later said the president

was incorrect about how

it makes its choice.

The magazine tweeted:

'TIME does not comment

on our choice until publication,

which is December 6.'

Jeff Mason is the White House

Correspondent for Reuters

and joins me now from Washington.

Thanks for being with us. What do

you make of this row, who do you

think is telling the truth? Well,

it's hard to weigh in on who is

telling the truth, particularly

because TIME has not given any of

the details. Adding we can look at

the way that Trump has treated, and

in this particular case, it seemed

that he was upset. They had not said

that he was definitely Person Of The

Year. This is a president who very

publicly does not like dealing with

light, and whether that be a slight

from a magazine, or a slight from a

world leader, if he feels it is

negative, he fights back. That is

what he has done here. Timer will

name their personal year on the 6th

of December, what does it mean...

There have been previous presidents

who have won it, what does it mean

to win its?

I think it is a high

honour, and is an important

designation, and there have been

world leaders, and important public

figures, who have got that over the

years. That said, it is just a

magazine. We not talking about the

Nobel peace prize. It's important,

but perhaps, the president is giving

a little bit more weight to it than

some others would. That said, he

does give a lot of weight to it. He

does like having the attention that

comes with something like a

designation of Person Of The Year.

If you feel that there is a question

about that, you will make those

feelings known.

Indeed, he did win

it last year. He was on the cover

last year. What did you make of it

then?

I think he was very pleased.

He made a big deal of it then, I do

think he probably would have made a

big deal of it again, this year, if

it had happened again. I think it is

important to note that getting the

Person Of The Year it's not

necessarily a high honour. There are

people in that list to have become

part of that Liz -- not necessarily

for good reasons. That said, perhaps

being the most influence a person,

and there is no doubt that he has

been influential, both in the United

States and globally.

President Trump

does like to paint himself as an

antiestablishment figure. Does this

have anything to do with a rejection

of that?

I don't know. That's a good

question. I think it is a piece of

two years and how he acts. I think

he uses Twitter to go after

organisations, to go after people,

to go after leaders. He had become,

because of his Twitter use, really

be most transparent resident of the

United States in modern history. We

always know what you're thinking, so

whether that is strategic, or

whether it is a venting process for

him. Sometimes I think it is a bit

of both, it is integral to his ears.

As a person and that a leader.

Jeff

Mason, White House corresponded for

writers. Thank you.

Katherine Downes has all the sport.

On a busy day of football

in the English Premier League,

Chelsea came from a goal down

to take a point in the late

kick-off at Anfield.

It was a former Chelsea player who

opened the scoring for Liverpool -

Mohamed Salah with his 15th goal

for the Reds in just 20 games.

But the champions didn't let up -

Willian came off the bench

after scoring twice in midweek,

and equalised with just

over five minutes to go.

Incredible scenes.

Unbelievable attitudes of both

sides, it was so intense.

After a week like this,

which we both had,

after the trips we had to do,

and the journey, so,

it was one of the better

draws I saw in my life.

We must be pleased, because we went

to the next round, in the Champions

League, and then, this was the third

game to play away, and we won

against West Brom, in the midweek,

and a good draw against Liverpool.

We have to continue in this way.

Manchester United are within five

points of neighbours City -

who didn't play on Saturday

but still lead the table.

Jose Mourinho's side have won every

home game this season.

It was a routine 1-0 victory today -

an unfortunate deflection off

Lewis Dunk that gave his goalkeeper

- Matthew Ryan - no chance...

Ashley Young happy to take

credit after drilling

the shot at the defender.

City have a Sunday

fixture at Huddersfield.

Elsewhere Tottenham were held

to a one all draw by managerless

West Bromwich Albion at Wembley.

Newcastle were beaten 3-0

at home by Watford..

There was a stoppage-time winner

for Crystal Palace against Stoke.

No goals between Swansea

and Bournemouth.

Go to BBC.com/football for details.

And out the Ashes. England will

resume in just over two and a half

hours from now, with a lead of just

seven runs. Here is our sports

correspondent.

The first two days of

these Test match were pretty much

level pegging, you have to say that

Australia now have the edge at the

end of Day three. England are 33-2,

at the close, a lead of just seven

runs. They lost two wickets in a

torrid vinyl session. Alistair Cooke

and James Vince both out. Captain

Joe Root were stuck on the helmets,

frankly he is OK, but it was a

difficult closing hour. They had

started early on in the day well,

they took three early wickets. They

looked to be heading for a lead, but

then a brilliant innings from Steve

Smith, 141, not out, he guided

Australia with a little help from

Pat Cummins, who's scored an

important 42. Australia edging

ahead, thanks to a stunning

performance from Steve Smith. They

will now feel that they have the

advantage going into day for. If

they can get Joe Root's wicket

early, they have got a strong chance

of winning this Test match.

Finally Lewis Hamilton's hopes -

of ending the Formula One season

with a win have taken a blow.

He's been beaten -

by his Mercedes team-mate -

in qualifying for the

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas smashed the track

record at the Yas Marina circuit -

to claim the top spot on the grid

by more than one tenth of a second.

It's just felt really good in the

car, and the lap was really good, so

that was enough, so I'm really

happy.

I was up a tent and a half, and I'll

lost that in turn five or six. By

the way it as been an incredible

year. 'S great to see so many

British flag. I appreciate it.

And that's all the sport for now.

Australia has criticised a proposal

for trade after Brexit -

warning that it could limit

their access to the UK markets.

It's been suggested that Britain

and the EU should split existing

quotas on the amount of goods

from around the world

that can be imported

without incurring full tariffs.

How things are at the moment is

there are tariffs on imports coming

in from countries like

the US, India, Canada,

China, which are outside the EU.

The charge in effect is to stop

countries importing goods too

cheaply and harming manufacturing

and other industries for countries

within the EU.

Some goods, such as lamb

from New Zealand, gets a

slightly reduced rate, tariff rate

quotas which allows a certain amount

of particular goods to be

imported at a reduced rate.

The plan is for when we leave

the EU for that to

continue, but the quotas

will be divided.

With the example of lamb,

60% will go to other EU countries,

40% will come to the UK as it does

just now, we will carry on as

normal and everyone will be happy,

except they're not.

The countries importing

those goods say this is a

chance for us to import

more to the UK.

Should the market in the rest

of Europe fall away, it will be

affected for any reason, we are not

getting the flexibility and the room

to do that, we shouldn't

have to have this.

And plenty more Brexit.

Don't forget you can get

in touch with me and some

of the team on Twitter -

I'm @alpapatel.