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 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.

He says he stands by everything he

wrote. He dismisses the President's

assertion that he never spoke to

him, saying that he spoke to him for

three hours before and after his

election.

President Trump tried to get

the book's publication halted,

and has dismissed it

as "full of lies".

He has flown to camp David and

talked to the assembled press on the

lawn.

We are going to camp David, we

have a lot to accomplish. The stock

market is setting new records and

the tax cuts are kicking in, far

beyond what anyone thought. Numerous

companies have come out and said

that they are going to come out and

said that they are going to make big

payments to the employees. Nobody

had that in mind. Where very

honoured by it. Things are looking

good over the next couple of months.

We are going to camp David with a

lot of great Republican senators and

we are making America great again.

Thank you very much.

No mention of

the book as President Trump left for

camp David.

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:

I authorised zero access

to White House, actually

turned him down many times,

for author of phoney book!

I never spoke to him for any book.

Full of lies, misrepresentations,

and sources that don't exist.

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.

I put it to him whether it was a

point about the disclaimer?

Michael Wolff 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.

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 seemed

occasionally disinterested in the

details of governing.

These 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 haters 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.

Let's stay in the US but move on to

the weather that has been blamed for

18 deaths in the country. The brutal

cold will move across the midwest

and down to the Carolinas.

Record-breaking temperatures could

be experienced across the nation.

The storm swallowed up the very

foundations of very beach. Wind and

waves lashed the coastline. In

Massachusetts, the storm brought not

just heavy snowfall but flooding to

due to the high winds. In Boston,

there was a three foot storm surge.

If anyone wants to question global

warnings, look at the flood zones.

Those zones didn't flood 30 years

ago.

In the wake of the blizzard,

subzero conditions are making life

very difficult. The winter Hurricane

Irma conditions closed major

airports in New York though they are

reopening today. The clear up has

begun in Manhattan and the New

Yorkers are trying to take it in

their stride.

I have many layers. I

keep feeling OK right now. As long

as I am at work quickly.

It has been

way too long. I just want to be nice

and warm again.

They need to clear

the snow before it turns into

dangerous eyes. The storm brought in

cold air from the Arctic and its

aftermath means we are due to have

subzero temperatures for the next

few days. It is so cold, -10

degrees, already I can barely feel

my fingers or toes.

This is

Tallahassee Florida and we are

getting snow.

They haven't seen snow

here in three decades. The freezing

temperatures are prompting many

Americans to experiment. This

particular trick is proving very

popular in the deep freeze.

Some more of the stories making the

news today. 19 people were killed in

a train crash north west of

Johannesburg. The train was

travelling to Port Elizabeth when it

hit a truck burst into flames.

Nearly 200 people were injured and

police have launched manslaughter

investigation. Protest in Pakistan

after the US government announced it

was cutting nearly all security aide

to the country. Washington said that

Islamabad had failed to deal with

terrorist networks operating on its

soil and that the freeze would last

until action was taken against

groups such as the Taliban.

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

the 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.

Stay with ours here on BBC News.

Lots more to come including

artificial intelligence, virtual

reality and digital currencies. All

big in 2017. We look at what to

expect from tech trends in the

coming year.

Japanese people are in mourning

after the death of Emperor Hirohito.

Thousands of people came to pay

their respects after it was

announced it was dead. After half a

century of delighting friends around

the world, Charlie Brown and the

rest of the gang are calling it

quits. Paul Simon starts his tour of

South Africa tomorrow in spite of

protests and some violence from

activist groups. He said that

artists should boycott South Africa

until majority rule is established.

Three weeks ago, the authorities

assured these areas that oil from

the broken tanker Erika would head

out to sea. It didn't. The world's

tallest skyscraper opens today in

Dubai.

Welcome. You are watching BBC World

News today. The author of a new book

about Donald Trump says everybody he

talked to at the White House says he

is like a child. Now let's get all

the support. Let's bring you

up-to-date with the two FA Cup

third-round ties being played. Still

going in the Merseyside derby,

Liverpool leading Everton by a goal

to milk banks to James Milner's

first half penalty. Virgil Van Dijk

making his debut in that game. Still

goalless between Manchester United

and County at Old Trafford. Not

involved in the Merseyside derby is

Ross Barkley who has joined Chelsea

from Everton in a fee thought to be

£50 million. He is yet to play this

season after hamstring surgery but

is approaching match fitness and has

signed a 5.5 year contract at

Stamford Bridge. He joined Everton

as an 11-year-old.

An English

player, a young player, a good

prospect for Chelsea. I think that

the club decided also for his

contract. I think these are good

opportunities for the club to buy

this player.

Arsene Wenger has been

handed a touchline ban and fined

£40,000 by the FA over comments he

made about the refereeing of

Sunday's game against West Ron. He

has also been asked to provide

observations about what was said

about penalty decisions in each of

their last two matches over the

festive period. Natalie Perks has

more. The FA says the ban follows an

independent regulatory commission

hearing today in which Arsene Wenger

admitted his behaviour and language

was abusive and improper and

questioned the integrity of the

match referee. That ban means he

will miss the game this weekend. He

will miss the first leg against

Arsenal's semifinal in the League

Cup against Chelsea and he will miss

a Premier League match away at

Bournemouth. In a separate cases

been asked for observations about

what EZ around festive period

relating to penalty decisions. He

seems to be suggesting there is a

conspiracy against Arsenal. He

doesn't seem to be a happy bunny at

the moment. He has got form for

this, last year he served a

four-game touchline ban after

swearing at Anthony Taylor during a

home game against Birmingham and

calling him dishonest. Australia

once again in control, after day two

of the final Ashes Test. The hosts

193-2 in reply to England's 346. It

is the most often repeated sentence

of the Ashes, Steve Smith is still

there, alongside Osman choir jerk

who is not far short of his century

and they are batting Australia into

a very strong position. England lost

Davit Milan thanks to a spectacular

catch from Smith but the rest of

their catching was not in the same

class, Pat Cummins and Josh

Hazlewood made terrible mistakes in

the field. Are the rest of the lower

order made useful contribution as

England put on 113 before being

bowled out. They made the perfect

start in the field with Stuart Broad

clean bowling Cameron Brannagan of.

David Warner -- Cameron Bancroft.

David Warner made 50 but Jimmy

Anderson got him. That brought in

Steve Smith and although him and,

just rode their luck at times, Mason

Crane bowled well but they were

increasingly comfortable as the day

wore on. They will look too bad

beyond England's total and England

must work out somehow how to get to

spit out. Play gets underway in just

under two hours.

Protests continue in Iran into a

second week, they were triggered by

rising food prices. Pro-government

rallies have been organised to

counter them. Russia says that the

US is trying to meddle in Iran's

internal affairs. The United States

says it will not stay silent.

I call

on the government of Iran to stop

censoring the voice of the people

and to restore the access to the

Internet because in the end the

Iranian people will determine their

own destiny and let there be no

doubt whatsoever that the United

States stands unapologetically with

those in Iran who see freedom for

themselves, prosperity for their

families and dignity for the nation.

The former Iranians ambassador to

the UN joined is and I asked if the

US intervention would have any

effect?

Both China and Russia will

veto any intervention and even Great

Britain and France are not

interested in being in the same camp

with respect to Western relations to

Iran. If it is actively helping some

radical elements in Iran to claim

that actually it was an American

conspiracy to start the

demonstrations, the impact of the

effort at the United Nations and the

rhetoric in general is to create the

kind of insecurity in Iran that

would be very negative on the part

of the uranium efforts to attract

foreign capital. In that sense,

United States is damaging the

Iranian economy and not helping the

demonstrators.

Let's look at what

the protesters are doing. The

protests seem to be dying away and

we are now seeing pro-regime

protests. What is your assessment of

what is happening? Is it losing

momentum?

In the short-term it is

possibly losing momentum if you mean

the presence of bodies on the

streets, how may people can risk

their lives? Hundreds of people have

been arrested and over 20 people by

official records have been killed.

There is no question that the

demonstrators are showing that the

social base of the regime is

significantly declining. The vast

majority of the demonstrators based

on information I have gathered come

from the kind of social classes that

is the working class, raw areas not

the University but the periphery.

The kind of people who used to be

attracted to the rhetoric of the

Islamic Republic. They have turned

against it because of the economic

suffering, incredible corruption and

deep feeling of inequality in Iran.

The integration of technology into

our everyday lives seems to increase

every year. Here are the top tech

trends for 2018. I'm Dave Lee in

Silicon Valley. Here is what to look

for in the tech world in 2018. The

biggest tech show in the calendar

begins on the 9th of January and you

can expect huge amounts of

announcements from companies like

Samsung and Google and intriguing

announcements from those you might

not have heard of. This is an AI

controlled car. Another thing to

look out for is whether Apple might

become $1 trillion company. Right

now it is hovering around 900

Williams but with sales of the

iPhone ten looking strong, it might

send the share price soaring. We're

expecting it to launch a smart home

Part. Uber had a rotten year. The

CEO was given his marching orders.

The new boss has plenty on his place

including a court battle with the

self driving car company spun out of

Google. They accuse Uber of stealing

their technology to make self

driving cars of their own. The trial

begins in February. At the start of

last year, the value of one bit coin

was $700. Now its value is almost

20,000 dollars. Supporters say it

will keep going up but many

financial experts warned that the

bubble could burst any moment and

your bit coin could be worth very

little. Also, keep your eye open for

other digital currencies that may

enjoy some second-hand success from

bit coin's well. Facebook has been

urged to clamp down on fake news

websites and Russian propaganda. It

is says it will hire 10,000 extra

people to moderate its network.

YouTube and Twitter are also rolling

out changes to minimise hate speech.

All companies are being told they

must be quicker to remove terrorism

related content. Can they do it? Is

using social networks harming

others? All questions that the most

powerful companies must try and

answer in 2018. If you're still