28/01/2018 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today,

I'm Geeta Guru-Murthy.

Our top stories:

Thousands demonstrate

across Russia in support of calls

by the opposition leader

for a boycott of presidential

elections in March.

Alexei Navalny is himself

briefly detained.

Alexei Navalny is Russia's most

prominent opposition figure and

Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic.

He has been barred from running in

the presidential election, he is now

being arrested by police.

Ingvar Kamprad, the brains

behind the Ikea furniture empire,

dies at the age of 91.

And a dramatic rescue

for a French climber

from a deadly Himalayan mountain.

But the search for her Polish

climbing partner is called off.

Also coming up,

a tearful Roger Federer

wins a record-breaking 20th

Grand Slam

with a five-set victory

over Croatia's Marin Cilic

in the Australian Open.

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

In the last hour, the Russian

opposition leader, Alexei Navalny,

has been released without

charge after his dramatic arrest

earlier by police

at a rally in Moscow.

His supporters have been

demonstrating across the

vast country on Sunday, calling

for a boycott of what they claim

is a rigged Presidential

election in March.

This is the moment

Mr Navalny was seized by police

just after he arrived

in Pushkinskaya Square

in the centre of the

Russian capital.

He was trying to address

hundreds of protesters

who'd gatherered there.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg

was at the protests

and witnessed Mr Navalny's arrest.

CHANTING

It isn't easy taking on the Kremlin.

Alexei Navalny has been jailed

three times in the last year.

He has been barred from

the upcoming presidential election.

So today, Mr Navalny called

his supporters onto the streets.

Alexei Navalny is Russia's

most prominent opposition figure

and President Putin's

most vocal critic.

He has been barred from running

in the presidential election.

He's now being arrested by police.

This was no softly, softly.

We saw Mr Navalny

surrounded by police.

Seconds later,

he was thrown onto the ground.

Then the politician Vladimir Putin

cannot bring himself

to mention by name was dragged

into the police bus.

His supporters called on voters

to boycott the election.

All the candidates, they believe,

are hand-picked by the Kremlin.

They are candidates

that Putin approved.

And we do not have candidates

that we want to have.

There is little doubt that Vladimir

Putin will walk this election,

with the help of Russian TV,

which maintains his macho image,

portraying him as a cross

between action man

and father of the nation.

And Mr Putin enjoys far more airtime

than any of the other candidates.

But the Kremlin still needs

people to come out

and vote for Vladimir Putin.

That is why calls to boycott

the elections

are making the Russian

authorities nervous.

Steve Rosenberg, BBC News.

Earlier I spoke to Leonid Ragozin,

a Russian journalist

who's covered Alexei Navalny's

political movement in depth.

I began by asking him

why the authorities

want to arrest Mr Navalny.

Navalny has created the best network

of headquarters in different regions

of Russia, and he has made an

unprecedented breakthrough into the

Russian regions, he really expanded

the geography of the protests, and

he has discovered and brought these

younger people who are manning his

protests. It will take a long time

in Russia before it will end up with

a transition to another kind of

government. But Putin is entering

his lame-duck period of presidency.

The six years will be manifested by

a lot of infighting in the Kremlin

and the growing movement led by

Navalny will be a factor in the

equation.

Is there not a fear about

what could happen to Mr Navalny,

Putin's grasp on power is so

enormous.

Peas a hostage to Putin

and his life is at risk, but then

Putin is a hostage to Navalny, and

the consequences of doing something

to Navalny would be very grateful

the regime, and that is why Navalny

himself is not in jail, and that is

because of his significance, because

there is real power behind Navalny.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news.

Dozens of people have been killed

after heavy fighting

in the Yemeni port city of Aden.

It followed clashes

between separatists who want

independence for south Yemen

and forces loyal to

the Saudi-backed government.

The Yemeni government

has called for a ceasefire

and urged Arab allies to intervene.

Turkish media say the military

have used improved

weather conditions to resume

air and artillery strikes

against a Kurdish militia

in northwestern Syria.

The Anatolia news agency said a hill

near the strategic border town

of Azaz in the Kurdish region

of Afrin was attacked.

Hollywood actress and UN goodwill

ambassador Angelina Jolie has urged

world leaders to find a way to solve

Syria's near eight-year war.

She was speaking

during her fifth visit

to the Zaatari refugee camp

in Jordan.

The actress said

it was "soul-destroying"

for the refugees

to be made so dependent.

Even if you've never been to Ikea,

you've probably heard of

the Swedish retail giant

that's now a global brand.

The man who founded it,

and revolutionised

the furniture industry,

Ingvar Kamprad,

has died at the age of 91

at his home in southern Sweden.

Here's our business

correspondent, Joe Lynam.

Ingvar Kamprad can safely be

described as a retailing genius.

Born in 1926 in southern Sweden, he

started selling matches aged five.

Then seeds and then pencils.

At 17, he formed Ikea -

named after his own initials

and the area where he was born.

Now it's probably the best known

furniture store in the world,

with over 400 giant shops

and annual sales of $42 billion.

He was inspired to create the idea

of flatpack furniture when watching

someone remove the legs from a table

to fit into a customer's car. He

disowned his previous board for far

right bodies in Sweden during the

war and lived a modest lifestyle.

His house and possessions did not

reflect his wealth.

TRANSLATION:

I don't think I'm

wearing anything that I haven't

bought at a flea market.

I want to give a good example.

If we are going to be

conscious about our economy,

one cannot just talk about it,

one has to show that.

The genius of Ingvar Kamprad

was to persuade people

to come to his store, pick up things

they like if not necessary need,

pick it up at his warehouse

and assemble it at home.

We are used to it now,

but at the time it was laughed at.

Ikea said Ingvar Kamprad,

who was involved with the business

until recently, would be much missed

by his family and warmly

remembered by the company's

employees worldwide.

For more on this,

I spoke to Birgitta Forsberg,

a columnist and reporter

for the Swedish newspaper

Svenska Dagbladet.

You had an exclusive feeling for

people and what they wanted, and he

always could see people, I mean,

regular people, he always saw them.

He saw them, and of course a lot of

it was self-assembly furniture,

which seemed very novel at the time.

Yeah. They were very novel at the

time as well, nobody had seen it

before, and he also managed to have

very modern designs at very low

prices, so it was affordable for

everybody.

And it spread throughout

the world, do you know where it was

most public

I don't know where it is

most popular!

You don't. And what

about his grip on the business, was

he always very centrally involved?

It was very centrally involved and

had a very big need to have big

control, so we controlled everything

all the time, and he called the

executives almost every day and kept

being involved with the company,

even though he was 91 years old, and

he knew which products sold the

most, which had the highest margins,

he was very much involved always in

his company.

There has been mention

of controversies in his past, his

links with fascist parties when he

was younger, for which he then

apologised, allegations of tax

evasion, links with the use of false

labour. You know, how do you think

that will affect the legacy?

I don't

know how he managed, but he had a

very good hand with the media, so

even though he had connections with

fascist when he was young, this

whole tax planning which are still

going on, Swedes seem to four give

him for everything.

And how is he

regarded in Sweden now?

He is an

icon, seen as Sweden's biggest

entrepreneur ever, seen as a man of

the people, a person who could speak

to the people, and he is very well

liked in Sweden.

Birgitta Forsberg on Ingvar Kamprad.

Here in the UK, the Prime Minister

Theresa May is coming under

new pressure about her leadership -

and her policy on Brexit.

Some Conservative lawmakers believe

she's not being tough enough

in negotiations to leave

the European Union.

Others are concerned that domestic

policies are becoming paralysed.

Our political correspondent

Chris Mason reports.

If it felt a little bit chilly

for the Prime Minister

at the World Economic Forum

in Switzerland last week,

well, the political forecast

isn't looking much sunnier for her

now she's back home.

Some of her MPs are fed up

with what they see

as her merely muddling

along in office.

And on top of that, some of those

who campaigned for Brexit fear it

being diluted to such an extent

it never really properly happened.

It is very complicated,

and that is one of the reasons

why I have advocated

and supported compromise.

But there is only so far you can go

with compromise without ultimately

finding yourself in a position

where you are selling out

on the people who voted to leave.

The Government says it is committed

to delivering Brexit.

But you know when a party

is falling out with itself

when senior figures,

like this man, who is effectively

the Prime Minister's

deputy, have to say this.

The Conservative family,

left, right and centre,

because we are a broad church,

needs to come together

in a spirit of mutual respect,

because there are difficulties

in any broad church,

and look at what the bigger

picture is showing.

The next stage of Brexit

negotiations is about what happens

immediately after we formally leave

the European Union

at the end of March next year.

For around two years,

freedom of movement will continue.

The Government will

introduce a registration

scheme for new arrivals.

The rights of EU citizens

here and UK citizens in the EU

will remain the same.

And EU laws will continue to apply.

The Labour leader is facing

his own divisions in a party

that predominantly voted to remain

within the EU, many of whose

supporters, polls suggest,

would like a second referendum.

But Jeremy Corbyn says no to that.

What we asked for and demanded

in Parliament has been a meaningful

vote in Parliament at the end of it.

And what happened with this bill

was it was an undemocratic power

grab by the Government.

We're not asking for

a second referendum.

Tomorrow, the rest of the EU

will get together in Brussels

to sign of its approach

to the transition

or implementation period.

Brexit negotiations

are about to crank up again.

Chris Mason, BBC News.

This is BBC World News Today.

New York is gearing up for the 60th

Grammy awards, one of the biggest

nights of the year for the music

industry, we will cross live to the

big apple.

The shuttle Challenger

exploded soon after lift-off.

There were seven astronauts

on board,

one of them a woman school teacher.

All of them are believed

to have been killed.

By the evening, Tahrir Square,

the heart of official Cairo,

was in the hands

of the demonstrators.

They were using the

word "revolution".

The earthquake singled out buildings

and brought them down in seconds.

Tonight, the search for any

survivors has an increasing

desperation about it

as the hours pass.

The new government is firmly

in control of the entire

Republic of Uganda.

Moscow got its first taste

of Western fast food as McDonald's

opened their biggest restaurant

in Pushkin Square.

But the hundreds of Muscovites

who queued up today

will not find it cheap,

with a Big Mac costing

half a day's wages for

the average Russian.

This is BBC World News. Russian

opposition leader Alexei Navalny has

been released without charge after

being detained at a rally in Moscow

calling for a boycott of the

presidential elections. And Ingvar

Kamprad, the brains behind the Ikea

furniture empire, has died at the

age of 91.

A day of mourning has been taking

place in the Afghan capital, Kabul,

for more than 100 people killed

in Saturday's bomb attack.

The attack, using an ambulance

packed with explosives,

was the worst to hit

the city in months.

Our correspondent Secunder Kermani

reports from Kabul.

Hospitals across Kabul

have been at full stretch,

trying to treat the huge

number of wounded.

This taxi driver was just metres

away from the explosion.

TRANSLATION:

There was smoke, shrapnel

and burning smell everywhere.

Everyone looked terrified.

There were dead bodies and injured

people covering the street.

The Taliban packed this

ambulance with explosives.

The attacker detonated

them close to a police

compound on a busy street.

Over the last year,

Kabul has been repeatedly attacked.

It used to be one of

the safest places in the country.

Now it feels like one

of the most dangerous.

The Taliban and the Islamic State

group both at the moment

seem to be focusing their efforts

on targeting the capital, Kabul,

rather than trying to capture rural

territory from the security forces.

They know that attacks

here will spread fear,

will generate headlines,

and will undermine the government.

I asked the head of the Afghan

intelligence service about rising

public anger with his forces'

failure to prevent so many attacks.

We are using all our assets,

all our...whatever possibility

and resources in our hand

to prevent it.

But you cannot prevent

100% of the attacks.

Meanwhile, the families

of victims line up

outside hospitals

desperate for news.

This man has been going

from morgue to morgue,

trying to identify

his cousin's corpse.

TRANSLATION:

I've seen so many dead bodies,

all the morgues are full of them,

they are all burned so badly,

you can't even recognise them.

Last year, more than

2000 civilians were killed

in just nine months

across Afghanistan.

This year looks set to be

just as deadly.

Secunder Kermani, BBC News, Kabul.

A French climber stranded on

one of Pakistan's highest peaks

has been flown to hospital

after a rescue operation.

But the search for her Polish

climbing partner has been abandoned.

Elisabeth Revol was in northern

Pakistan on Friday.

They were attempting

to scale Nanga Parbat,

also known as the "Killer Mountain",

when they became stuck.

Tim Pattinson reports.

A dramatic rescue operation

on one of the world's highest

and most deadly mountains.

An elite climbing team

was rushed to the rescue

after two climbers became stranded.

As part of this daring

high-altitude mission,

the team was dropped more

than 1000 metres

below the lost climbers'

last-known position.

They scaled the mountain overnight,

eventually finding the French

climber Elisabeth Revol alive.

A friend and fellow mountaineer

described the rescue attempt.

They started their incredibly

heroic and extraordinarily fast

seven-hour climb towards her.

She was able to start moving,

and that is what, perhaps,

saved her, because had she stayed

where she was, it's not certain

at all whether they would have been

able to reach in time.

Elisabeth Revol has now arrived

in the capital, Islamabad,

and is being treated for frostbite.

But the whereabouts

of climbing partner remain.

Tomasz Mackiewicz had

become separated.

He was reportedly suffering

from frostbite and snow blindness.

Now the search has been called

off due to bad weather

and treacherous conditions.

Tim Pattinson, BBC News.

We will keep you updated on that.

Bat get you updated on this board.

-- let's get you updated on the

sport.

There were tears from

Roger Federer as he won

the Australian Open.

It's a 20th Grand Slam title for him

and a record equalling sixth

at the event in Melbourne.

He's now won 10% of all

the Grand Slams in the open era

after he beat Marin

Cilic over five sets.

Ominously he said, even at the age

of 36, he will never

get tired of winning.

It's so much fun, really,

you know, we all work

hard, we'll sacrifice

a lot, being away from home

and all that stuff, but this

is what you live for,

you know, hopefully one day

when you experience these

moments, and I have

had so many of them,

but I can't get tired of them.

Also thanks to you guys

that keep me going,

so just a big thank you to always

supporting me, wherever you are in

the world, wherever I am,

I do feel the love,

and I want to thank

you very much,

thanks for being out here tonight.

Manchester City manager

Pep Guardiola

says his side haven't

got the resources to challenge

for a domestic and European

quadruple this season.

The League Cup finalists

beat Cardiff City 2-0 in Wales

to reach the fifth

round of the FA Cup

with goals from Kevin de Bruyne

and Raheem Sterling.

People ask me, you are invincibles

in the Premier League, I say no, we

will have a lighter squad, a lot of

players injured in this six months,

playing all season without a left

back. But that is not my concern.

Chelsea also made it

through with a comfortable

3-0 win over Newcastle.

Michi Batshuayi scored a brace

in a rare start at Stamford Bridge.

Marcos Alonso curled in a fine free

kick in the second half,

with the draw for the last 16

taking place on Monday.

In Spain, Luis Suarez has equalised

for leaders Barcelona in the past

two minutes against Alavez. Earlier,

John Guidetti put the relegation

threatened Alavez in front in the

23rd minute.

Earlier on Sunday second placed

Atletico Madrid scored three

second-half goals to win at home

against Las Palmas, while a late

Getafe goal saw Sevilla held,

with Leganes winning 3-2

against Espanyol, thanks largely

to two Mario Hermoso own goals.

In Italy's Serie A, Dries Mertens

scored twice for leaders Napoli,

as they won at home against Bologna,

Milan moved up three places

to seventh with a 2-1 victory

at the San Siro

over third placed Lazio,

while fifth placed Roma

are currently hosting

sixth placed Sampdoria.

That is currently goalless.

China's Li Haotong became

the first Asian player to win

the Dubai Desert Classic when he won

by a shot from four-time

major winner Rory McIlroy.

Li who finished third at last year's

Open Championship also carded

a tournament record

score of 23-under.

The 22-year-old will also become

the first man from China

to break into the world's top 50

when the latest rankings

are released, while for McIlroy

it was a case of so near yet so far.

That is all we have got time for,

back to you.

Tonight is one of the biggest

nights of the year

for the music industry -

the Grammy Awards.

This year's ceremony takes place

in New York,

and a number of superstars are

expected to perform,

including Sir Elton John,

who will duet with Miley Cyrus.

In previous editions, the award

has been criticised of racist bias

against black artists,

but this year it is sexual

harassment on centre stage.

harassment on centre stage.

Singers plan to wear a white rose

in solidarity to the

Time's Up movement.

Our reporter Nada Tawfik

is there on the red carpet.

Nada

Nada, looking very glamorous, how

much is the sexual harassment

problem and question on the agenda

there, do you think?

Well, I can

tell you that here on the red

carpet, we have seen numerous men

and women wearing a white rose. And

that was really an initiative, an

idea that came about just a few days

ago by a newly formed group called

Voices In Entertainment, they wanted

a white rose to stand in solidarity

with victims of abuse, so many have

been following through with that

idea and doing just that. One

celebrity I spoke with was wearing

one and said that the industry has a

powerful voice, so it is important

that they use it and share their

stories and stories of their

colleagues, and we know that Kelly

Clarkson, Dua Lipa, they are also

expected to wear the white rose, and

it is the Grammys, of course, we

expect there to be a performance,

you know, honouring the Me Too

movement, and that will come from

Kesha, who has had a long legal

battle with her producer who she has

accused of sexual assault. He has

denied that, but it is opposed to be

a very powerful performance of a

ballot, hair and to him.

And of

course the question of race has

always been controversial for the

Grammys, are they over that? -- of a

ballad, her anthem to him.

For the

first time in history, a white male

is nominated for the top prize of

album of the year, and when you look

at the top awards, it is from a

diverse list of nominees. In fact,

for album of the year, it is thought

of as Jay Z up against Kendrick

Lemar, the two favourites, and they

are artist to have in the past

called out the Grammys for not being

in touch with hip-hop's influence on

the music industry and culture, so I

think it will be interesting to see

how many of those categories do go

to those diverse nominees. Now, it

is too early to tell if this is just

a blip, or if the Grammys has really

changed the way it considers music,

and away the academy votes and

music. There are 22,000 submissions

this year, 13,000 voting members,

and they say that they have changed

a lot to try and get people to look

at records that are not necessarily

kind of the past Grammy style, but I

doing really well on streaming and

are really popular amongst voters.

Just quickly, what are the other big

names that we should look out for

tonight?

Well, there is going to be

performances tonight from Elton

John, Sam Smith is actually

honouring him, performances from

Lady Gaga, who doesn't have as many

nominations as in past years, and

there will be a tribute, I should

point out, from the country artists

who performed at the Vegas concert

where there was a mass shooting, the

deadliest mass shooting in US

history, they are paying tribute to

the victims.

Nada Tawfik, thank you

very much indeed.

Don't forget you can get

in touch with me and some

of the team on Twitter,

I'm @geetagurumurthy.