05/01/2018 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today.

I'm Kasia Madera.

Our top stories...

Fire and fury...

The author of the incendiary

new book about Donald Trump's White

House speaks in his first broadcast

interview since publication.

I will tell you the one

description that everyone gave,

everyone has in common.

They all say he is like a child.

Brutally cold weather

in the United States kills

at least 18 people -

low-temperature records could be

broken in the coming days.

The lines of communication are open.

North Korea agrees

to talks with the South -

the first in more than two years.

The Winter Olympics will be

high on the agenda.

Also in the programme...

The film that Kevin Spacey

was in, and then wasn't.

We talk to director Ridley Scott

about the business of replacing

the actor after allegations

of sexual misconduct.

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

The author of a controversial book

on Donald Trump's White House has

spoken for the first time

since its publication.

Michael Wolff, who spent months

in Mr Trump's White House

while researching the book,

says the President

behaves "like a child".

President Trump tried to get

the book's publication halted,

and has dismissed it

as "full of lies".

Our North America editor

Jon Sopel reports.

Not quite Harry Potter

but at midnight last night,

they were queuing to get their hands

on Fire And Fury, and if Donald

Trump had the powers

of the young wizard,

he'd have made this book disappear

but he doesn't and this damning

portrait is now available

for everyone to read.

Well, what I'm most looking forward

to is seeing what we all know

is going on just below the surface.

I'm expecting the White House to be

as absolutely dysfunctional

as the leaks make it seem.

I don't think anyone really gets

tired of palace intrigue.

The picture it paints of life

in the West Wing is unsparing,

allegations of marital strain,

of tears and tantrums,

of dysfunction and improvisation.

And at the epicentre of every

storm, Donald J Trump.

I will tell you the one

description that everyone gave,

everyone has in common,

they all say he is like a child.

And what they mean by that is he has

a need for immediate gratification.

It's all about him.

And the gravest charge of all,

Michael Wolff alleges that a number

of his unnamed sources told him

that the President was mentally

unfit to remain in office,

a charge that brought this response

from the President's spokeswoman.

It's disgraceful and laughable.

If he was unfit he probably wouldn't

be sitting there and wouldn't have

defeated the most qualified group

of candidates that the Republican

Party has ever seen.

The President has been on Twitter

to rubbish the book saying:

But that's not how

Michael Wolff remembers it.

I absolutely spoke to the President,

whether he realised

it was an interview or not,

I don't know but it certainly

was not off the record.

The author says he

stands by every word.

Although with anonymous sources

it's hard to fact-check.

The most remarkable

thing about this is -

given Michael Wolff's track record -

why White House staff gave him

access to the inner sanctum

of the West Wing for months on end

as virtually a semi-resident.

The author was asked this

morning what he had to say

about the threatening legal letter

the President's lawyers had sent.

His reply?

Where do I send

the box of chocolates?

Jon Sopel, BBC News, Washington.

Supporters of Mr Trump

have dismissed the book

which depicts a chaotic

White House, as phoney.

Sebastian Gorka, who

was Deputy Assistant

and Strategist to the President,

dismissed the book as blatant lies

by a political assassin.

You need to have a look

at the disclaimer that the book has

on page ten of the Business Insider

just published today.

On page ten the author,

Michael Wolff, who has been caught

lying repeatedly in the past

in his previous books,

states that he cannot verify

the accuracy of anything

that is in the book.

If you did that as a journalist,

you would be fired.

This is just a tissue

of lies which is about

as realistic as Harry Potter.

Let me give you just

one factual example.

He states that on the day

he won the election,

the President did not know

who John Boehner, the Speaker

of the House, was in Congress.

Any child with access to Google can

google Donald J Trump

and John Boehner and find

photographs of those two men golfing

together from two years ago.

The idea that this person

is reporting anything of factual

import is just fallacious.

Again, he is a political hack,

this is a storm in a teacup

and the book will be forgotten

a week from now.

That was Sebastian Gorka,

who was President Trump's

Deputy Assistant for

eight months last year.

Let's talk to our correspondent,

Anthony Zurckher in Washington.

My goodness, where do we start? Let

us start with the disclaimer that

Sebastien gawker was talking about.

It is the

Sebastien gawker was talking about.

It is the note in which Michael

Wolff himself talks about the

looseness with truth, what are we to

make of this?

Michael Gove said he

conducted over 200 interviews, many

of which she recorded and has notes

for, he has said that he stands by

all of the reporting and he is

comfortable with it. -- Michael

Wolff. As pointed out, some of his

past works have been pushing the

facts as far as they can go and

focusing more on flowery language

than on actual on the ground

reporting. But I think if you look

at the book overall, it matches up

with you what of what the mainstream

reporting has been on Donald Trump

as President over the past year. It

is no secret that there has been a

lot of chaos within the White House

and that there is a lot of staff

turnover. The president has assumed

occasionally disinterested in the

details of governing. There should

not come as a surprise but we should

look at individual anecdotes and

individual stories with a sceptical

eye, we cannot take it on face value

and while heaters and sceptics of

Donald Trump might embrace this

book, they must look at it as a

somewhat detached observer and not

this just because it agrees with the

worldview that it is necessarily

entirely accurate.

Thank you very

much, a fascinating insight into

what is turning out to be a

fascinating book. Thank you very

much. On Donald Trump has spoken a

few moments ago, he is on his way to

camp David in Maryland, the

presidential retreat. It spoke to

the media briefly that was gathered.

But he did not speak about the book.

This is what he said. Hi, everybody,

I am going over with the Senator is

to camp David. We have a lot of

things to work on and accomplished,

the stock market is very big today.

We have new records and I think we

will continue to set things. The tax

cuts are kicking and far beyond what

anybody thought. Numerous companies

have today come out and announced

they will make big payments to their

employees, something that nobody had

in mind. We are very honoured by it

but the market is good. The jobs

reports were very good and we think

they will get really good over the

next couple of months. So we are

going to Camp David wearing a lot of

the great Republican senators are

joining us and we are making America

great again. Thank you very much.

So, Donald Trump, he is on his way

to Camp David to talk with

Republicans when they will be

talking about the legislative

priorities and the future. But the

main thing that we wanted the year

was comments about Michael Wolff's

explosive book, he did not speak

about that, did he?

A winter storm has caused travel

chaos in the north-east

of the United States

and is being blamed for up to 18

deaths across the country.

Forecasters say the brutal cold

will reach from New England

across to the Midwest and down

to the Carolinas and that

low-temperature records could be

broken across the region

in the coming days.

Laura Trevelyan in New York explains

how people are coping there.

The impact of the bomb cyclone

in Portland in Maine where the storm

swallowed up the very foundations

of Ferry Beach as wind and waves

lashed the coastline.

of Ferry Beach as wind and waves

In Massachusetts, the storm

brought not just heavy

snowfall but flooding too,

due to the high winds.

In Boston, there was

a three foot storm surge.

The mayor is blaming

the changing climate.

We're keeping an eye on all of those

different floodings and if anyone

wants to question global warming,

just see where the flood zones are.

Those zones didn't

flood 30 years ago.

This is the scene in

coastal New England today.

In the wake of the blizzard,

the subzero conditions are making

life very difficult.

The winter hurricane conditions

closed New York's major airports,

though they're reopening today.

The clear up has begun in Manhattan.

New Yorkers are trying to take it

all in their frozen stride.

I'm so bundled up.

I have so many layers.

I feel OK right now.

As long as I go quickly

to work, I'm OK.

I just want it to be over with.

It's been way too long.

I just want it to be

nice and warm again.

The race is on to clear away

the snow in Manhattan before it

turns into dangerous ice.

The storm brought in all this cold

air from the Arctic and so,

in its aftermath, we're due to have

subzero temperatures

for the next few days.

It is so cold out here, -10 Celsius,

that already I can hardly

feel my fingers or my toes.

Can you believe this

is Tallahassee, Florida?

And we are getting snow?

That was the reaction

in Tallahassee, Florida,

where they haven't seen snow

in almost three decades.

And freezing temperatures

are prompting many

Americans to experiment.

This particular trick is proving

very popular in the deep freeze.

Laura joins us, it has dropped even

further down than -10, hasn't it?

Yes, -17 degrees. Some are enjoying

the icy conditions, taking advantage

with ice skating. The concern is

that with these temperatures due to

continue at least through Sunday,

believe it or not it will warm up on

Monday, enough for it to small, but

the concern is that the snow will

come to eyes and conditions become

slippery, very dangerous for the

elderly and vulnerable and the

homeless, the very young, but these

conditions are just terrible to be

out and about in and tonight the

Mayor of New York has forecasted

that the temperature on Saturday

night could drop to -30 Celsius. -40

degrees in parts of New England. We

have not seen a prolonged cold

period like this in many years and

it could be that by Monday this has

been a historic low in the period of

new work whether since records

began.

In terms of the people

enjoying themselves, yes, absolutely

fine, but there is a serious side,

the race is on the corrupt the

enormous amount of snow that has

followed.

Yes, and not just here in

New York, but further afield in

Boston. Because what happened is

this enormous winter blizzard moved

up the eastern seaboard, was that it

whipped up the tides, the storm went

through at high tide, so there was

flooding. They have already got icy

conditions as you can imagine, one

subway station in Boston was flooded

and they saw coastal flooding in

parts that have never flooded

before. So it is hard to

underestimate the impact this

weather has had. It is not Moscow,

we are not used to having prolonged

weather like this. In New York City

there are 1500 snowploughs, 800

machines scattering salt, but they

are having to work overtime just to

keep up with the fact that we're

going to have this ice now.

Not

funny at all. Laura Trevelyan, thank

you for that update.

North Korea has agreed

to hold direct talks

with the South next Tuesday -

for the first time in two years.

They're likely to focus primarily

on next month's Winter Olympics,

which are taking place in South

Korea.

It comes a day after the US

announced that it had agreed

to Seoul's request to delay

joint military exercises.

Those drills usually increase

tensions with Pyongyang.

From Seoul, Sophie Long

sent this report.

The first talks between the North

and South Korean governments

for more than two years will take

place here, the village

of Panmunjom, which straddles

the border between the two countries

in the demilitarised zone.

The South's offer of high-level

talks was accepted via fax.

TRANSLATION:

Regarding the agenda,

both will discuss the Pyeongchang

Winter Olympics and ways to improve

ties between South and North Korea.

It came just hours

after the United States

and South Korea agreed to suspend

joint military drills.

They say exercises like

this one are defensive

but the North Korean leader sees

them as rehearsals for invasion.

Both South Korean and US Marines

are taking part in this exercise

in the mountains of Pyeongchang.

They are training together to deal

with winter war conditions

and temperatures of below minus 20.

But these drills will stop

for the duration of the Winter

Olympics and Paralympics.

The South Korean President Moon

Jae-in has said the Games

could be a ground-breaking chance

to de-escalate tensions

on the Korean peninsula.

Xin Gu-sop hasn't seen his

sister for 70 years.

He and 61,000 others whose families

remain divided by the border hope

these talks could be

a prelude to change.

TRANSLATION:

I am old now

and I don't know how many

more years I will live.

It is my only wish that

I meet my sister once and for all.

This is the wish not only for me

but for all divided families.

But others are sceptical

about Kim Jong-un's motives.

The commander of US forces

in South Korea said

they are keeping their expectations

at an appropriate level.

My mission remains the same,

to quietly and under control operate

a military force in greater

and greater readiness in the event

that it's the negative outcome,

not the positive one.

But scepticism didn't stop

President Trump claiming

credit for the potential

thawing of relations.

Does anybody really believe that

talks and dialogue would be

going on between North

and South Korea right now,

he tweeted, if I wasn't firm, strong

and willing to commit our total

might against the North?

Sophie Long, BBC News, Seoul.

Let's take a look

at some of the other

stories making the news...

Rail authorities

in South Africa say 19 people

were killed in a train crash

on Thursday 200 kilometres

south-west of Johannesburg.

Hospital workers say four

children are among the dead.

The train was travelling

from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth

when it hit a truck

and burst into flames.

Nearly 200 people were injured.

Police have launched

a manslaughter investigation.

Protests in Pakistan,

after the US Government announced

it was cutting almost all security

aid to the country.

Washington said Islamabad had failed

to deal with terrorist networks

operating on its soil and the freeze

will remain until action

was taken against the Haqqani

network and the Taliban.

A hot-air balloon has crashed

near Luxor in Egypt,

killing one tourist

from South Africa.

Strong winds over the ancient city

had forced the balloon off course

into a mountainous area.

Another 15 people were

injured, two seriously.

In 2013, 19 tourists were killed

when a hot-air balloon

caught fire in Luxor.

Apple has confirmed that

all its iPhones, iPads and Mac

computers are affected by two major

flaws in computer chips.

It emerged this week that tech

companies have been working on a fix

for the Meltdown and Spectre bugs,

which could allow

hackers to steal data.

Apple said there was no

evidence that the weakness

had been exploited.

The war in Syria is heading

towards its eighth year with no

definite end in sight,

though some believe the government's

new assault on the last entirely

rebel-held province in the country

could prove the

beginning of the end.

Idlib, in north-west Syria,

has been in the hands of rebel

groups since near the beginning

of the conflict.

Tens of thousands of civilians

and fighters from former rebel

strongholds including Aleppo,

Homs and Daraya

were evacuated there.

But an attack in the far

south of the province

by government forces,

backed by Russian planes,

could suggest the regime has fresh

aspirations to reclaim control.

Here's Mike Thomson -

and I should warn you that his film

contains distressing scenes.

This has been life for the past two

weeks for the people

of southern Idlib.

And the bombing by Syrian government

forces is carrying on.

TRANSLATION:

Today marks the 15th

day of the continuous onslaught

by Syrian warplanes,

mainly against the southern

and eastern Idlib countryside.

We've had more than

250 aerial raids.

So far 57 people have died and 200

civilians have been injured.

And it seems it is the very young

who are suffering the most.

TRANSLATION:

The majority of those

casualties are innocent civilians.

Just yesterday, a massacre committed

saw more than 12 civilians killed,

the majority of which were children.

Hunger and cold compete with bombs

and bullets as causes

of misery here in this

hugely overcrowded province.

TRANSLATION:

We fled the heavy

bombardment in Aleppo,

leaving our homes behind,

only to face the same terrible

scene here in Idlib,

of bombardment and destruction.

Where else can we go?

We are living a nightmare each day,

alone, and scared for our children.

Idlib's population has been swelled

by the arrival of thousands

of civilians and fighters from other

areas of Syria, as more and more

rebel territory has fallen

to government forces.

Now Idlib is in the firing line.

Idlib is in a strategic location,

on the border with Turkey.

It is the main area that supplies

coming through Turkey pass

through in order to be deployed

in the rest of the rebel

held areas in Syria.

Infighting between rebel groups,

some of whom are extremists,

has weakened them further.

After a long struggle,

an alliance led by the formerly

Al-Qaeda-linked Hay'at Tahrir

al-Sham, or HTS, now dominates.

It is accused of carrying out

numerous war crimes.

These war crimes include the summary

killings of civilians,

especially the activist human rights

defenders, beheading,

and stoning of women.

Idlib civilians haven't

taken this lying down.

Over the last year there have

been street protests

against HTS's diktats.

Local radio station Fresh FM has

joined the rebellion against HTS's

rule, defying their ban on playing

music and using women presenters.

But the station's founder fears that

if President Assad's forces succeed

in overrunning the province,

his rule might be even worse

than that of the extremists.

HTS is dangerous.

If Assad's forces take over

all of Idlib, will your radio

station keep broadcasting?

No.

They will burn it.

They will break everything.

With the nearby Turkish border

currently closed to refugees,

the burning question facing

civilians desperate to escape

Idlib is where to go.

If there are attacks

against civilians,

they have nowhere to flee.

They can't go to

government-controlled areas out

of fear of reprisals and attacks

against them, and at the same time

they can't cross into Turkey.

It is yet unclear whether President

Assad has the strength to retake

the whole of this last rebel held

bastion, though even if he does,

many years of insurgency involving

various rebel groups looks likely

to follow before rebuilding this

shattered country can truly begin.

Sir Ridley Scott's

true-life kidnap drama,

All The Money In The World,

is destined to go down in cinema

history as the film that

Kevin Spacey was in,

and then wasn't.

Spacey, who played the rich oil

tycoon, John Paul Getty,

was dropped from the film

and replaced with Christopher

Plummer just six weeks

before its release date

following accusations

of sexual misconduct.

Will Gompertz spoke to Sir Ridley.

Initially, it was a commercial

decision which would be maybe

a little hand in hand

with a moral decision.

You know, you can't take the artist,

and actually whatever a person

decides to do in their private life

which doesn't harm others,

you have to separate that

from what they do as an artist

or as a person, as a clever person.

Mr Getty, your grandson,

he's been kidnapped.

I have seen the movie

and it is completely seamless.

What was running through my head -

is it a much different movie

with Plummer and not Spacey?

Kevin Spacey did

a fantastically good job.

It was cooler and chillier.

Christopher comes with

this inordinate charm.

His smile and his twinkle.

So when in fact he's

doing the same words,

the same text as Kevin,

the twinkle and smile

somehow make him that

much more effective,

I think.

Are we looking at a moment

in the Hollywood where things

will change, where sexism

will subside and women will get

a fair crack at the whip?

Or do you think it's windowdressing?

I think a bit of each.

I think there will be

an immediate change,

because there should be.

It is long overdue.

You know, I have never experienced

any of those things that

you describe in my life,

in my companies.

I frankly have women

running my companies.

I have always been a supporter

of strong women without ever

actually thinking about it,

which I think is the best way.

I have great respect

for women generally.

Maybe it comes from my mum.

I had a very strong mother

who brought up three pretty stalwart

sons who were always very

independent and tough.

You talk about it being long

overdue, it is something you have

witnessed in Hollywood,

women being mistreated?

Never.

Never, never.

And if it ever came in front of me,

I would immediately step on it.

But not really, I've always treated

every actor or actress

with the greatest respect.

The remainder of our top story...

The author of a damning book

on Donald Trump is standing

by everything he's written,

and he dismissed the president's

assertion that he'd

never talked to him.

Michael Wolff -

the author of the instant