11/02/2018 World News Today

A warm welcome to BBC

World News Today.

I'm Celia Hatton.

Our top stories...

A Russian passenger plane carrying

71 people has crashed

shortly after taking off

from a Moscow airport.

Officials say there

are no survivors.

The leader of South Africa's

ruling ANC party Cyril

Ramaphosa says he'll ask

President Jacob Zuma to step

down on Monday.

Oxfam and other global charities

under threat in the wake

of a widening sex scandal.

Also in the programme...we'll update

you on the action on day two

of competition at the winter

Olympics...the Netherlands

celebrates its second gold medal.

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

A Russian airliner has

crashed near Moscow,

killing all 71 people on board.

The plane, operated

by Saratov Airlines,

was travelling to the city of Orsk

in the Ural mountains when it came

down near the village of Argunovo

shortly after first taking off.

Sarah Rainsford reports.

The remains of flight 703

are scattered in the snow in fields

just outside Moscow,

the fragments of a plane that

plunged to the ground

minutes after take-off.

Everyone on board has been killed.

The aircraft was an Antonov 148

operated by the regional

Saratov Airlines.

It says the plane itself,

shown here, was just eight years

old and the pilot was experienced.

The flight took off from Moscow,

heading for Orsk in southern

Russia.

It disappeared from

radars moments later.

There was no emergency

call from the crew.

In Orsk tonight, there is despair.

Relatives of the 71 passengers

and crew have been gathering

but they have been told there's no

hope of any survivors.

Medics have been sent to help

calm and comfort them.

At the crash site outside

Moscow, the debris is

spread over a wide area.

It was mid-afternoon and people

in nearby villages say they saw

the plane fall from the sky.

This man says it

came down in pieces.

Others have described seeing a flash

or an explosion first.

Police have now cordoned off

the area as teams are sent

in to search for bodies.

One flight recorder has been found,

but there are no clues yet

as to what caused this disaster.

The freezing conditions are just one

of many factors that

investigators are looking

at as they continue their work

here through the night.

Sarah Rainsford, BBC

News, in central Russia.

Sergei Goryashko from BBC Russian

is near the crash site -

he's sent this update.

There are a lot of lorries and a lot

of cars of rescue services

which are trying to reach the place

where the plane came down.

It's very difficult to do that now

for them, because there is a lot

of snow on the roads and the road

to the place where the plane

crashed down is blocked.

will try to find the bodies

of the people who died

in this really

awful airline crash.

It is a mess here right now,

but we are trying to figure out

what is actually happening.

As some people told us,

all rescue services from the Moscow

region are now here.

There are a lot of workers

and a special squad who will try

to find the bodies and try to figure

out what happened with the plane.

The leader of South Africa's ruling

ANC party, Cyril Ramaphosa,

says the future of the country's

president, Jacob Zuma,

will be finalised tomorrow.

Speaking in Cape Town at an event

marking the centenary

of the birth of Nelson Mandela,

Mr Ramaphosa made it clear that

if the president didn't resign,

he'd be asked to step

down on Monday.

Mr Zuma's eight years in office have

been marred by numerous

corruption allegations.

We are currently engaged, comrades,

in discussions around the transition

to a new administration

and specifically to resolve

the issues and the position

of the President of the Republic

of South Africa.

Pumza Fihlani is in Cape Town.

She gave us her analysis.

He addressed the crowd

for about an hour.

Towards the end of that speech

here at Grand Parade,

he addressed the Jacob Zuma

question, promising that there

will be a resolution

to this tomorrow.

This is when the national

executive committee

of the African National Congress

meets, tomorrow afternoon.

He has promised that there

will be an end to this.

He says South Africans

deserve closure, and there

certainly has been anxiety

here in South Africa

about what is happening

with President Jacob Zuma.

If that speech is any

indication to go by,

he's planning on playing tough

on corruption and making sure

that those who have been

linked or alleged to be

involved in corrupt dealings

will be brought to justice.

Let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news...

The sister of the North Korean

leader, Kim Jong-un,

has left South Korea after a three

day trip that some say was

a propaganda victory for Pyongyang.

Kim Yo-jong flew home on a private

jet after attending a concert

with the South Korean President,

Moon Jae-in.

On Saturday, she passed on a message

from her brother inviting Mr Moon

to Pyongyang for a summit.

Reports from Syria say at least

a dozen people have been killed

in renewed attacks on a besieged,

rebel-held enclave

on the outskirts of Damascus.

Activists in the Eastern Ghouta

region said there were air

strikes on two towns.

Syrian state media said government

forces had responded to rebel mortar

fire that had landed in the centre

of the capital.

The British government

says it will hold talks

with the charity Oxfam on Monday -

after more allegations emerged

about its staff working overseas.

Several Oxfam employees either

left their jobs or were sacked

after claims they hired prostitutes

in Haiti - and other claims

regarding a programme in Chad

are being investigated.

Angus Crawford reports.

First Haiti, now Chad, one

of the poorest countries on earth.

New allegations that a number

of Oxfam workers paid

local women for sex.

The head of the mission at the time,

Roland van Hauwermeiren,

was the same man who five years

later resigned after

admitting using prostitutes.

Four others were sacked.

Oxfam will not confirm the details,

but says it is shocked

and dismayed by the report,

which highlights unacceptable

behaviour by a small

number of people.

As the scandal grows,

the International Development

Secretary, Penny Mordaunt,

has sent a strong warning

to all British charities

receiving public money -

they will lose the cash

if they cannot show a robust

approach to safeguarding.

I am very clear, it does not matter

whether you have a whistle-blowing

hotline, it does not matter

if you have got good

safeguarding practices in place,

if the moral leadership at the top

of the organisation is not there,

we cannot have you as a partner.

She said Oxfam did not

give her department to full facts

about what happened in Haiti.

At a meeting tomorrow,

the charity will be given one last

chance, or be stripped

of its public funding.

Today, more revelations

about other aid agencies -

reports that Christian Aid,

Save the Children and the British

Red Cross have all investigated

staff over sexual misconduct

allegations.

Some who know the sector

well are not surprised.

People need to realise that the vast

majority of aid work in crisis

situations is extraordinary.

It saves lives, it helps

people who are vulnerable,

but aid agencies need to do more

so that the best people

are going into these areas,

they are monitored,

and that these people

who are very vulnerable,

they have

a voice in how this unfolds.

The Government is now demanding that

every charity receiving taxpayers'

money disclose all past and current

cases of sexual misconduct.

A scandal affecting one

charity is now threatening

to engulf the entire sector.

Angus Crawford, BBC News.

With me is Katie Harrison,

a former aid worker and charity

communications director who has

spent time in parts of Africa.

You haven't worked for Oxfam, but in

your experience, where do you think

things might have gone so badly

wrong for Oxfam in this case?

Is

difficult to assess that because I

haven't been there and I don't know.

But any organisation needs

leadership at every level. We see

sexual expedition across every

sector. We see it in church, in

Hollywood and in corporate

companies, and it always comes the

leadership at the top and on the

front line. Every person in a

position of responsibility needs to

know what is expected of them and

what they are leading their teams to

deliver and especially in the way

they treat people with dignity and

they respect women and children.

Cross-cultural management is

important, because there will be

people in teams who are from

different parts of the world were

different things are acceptable, and

then they are all planted in a

separate part of the world again, so

you have lots of cultures working

together in a volatile situation

where lots of things could go wrong.

You have worked on the front line a

number of times and I understand you

have seen sex workers interact with

NGO workers?

It's not unusual to see

hotel lobbies, particularly in

places where aid workers and aid

officials are staying, to see women

approach men, particularly as they

go to the lift as they go to bed for

the night, which is desperately sad

because it tells us that those women

know that they can get business in

places like that. There is a

precedent for it. Those women are

desperate and they know that some

men will buy sex. I have never seen

one of my colleagues do that, but

perhaps they wouldn't do it in front

of me, who knows? The point is that

it is very rare for it to happen

because people are trained and they

know they shouldn't do that, but

some people must do it otherwise

women would not be touting for

business there.

The point is that

there is a imbalance of power. There

is a wealthy aid worker coming in

for a short period of time.

Desperate women have had their whole

lives uprooted in a tragedy, and

yes, they are looking for a way out

and away to meet the needs of their

children and the people they are

looking after. They do know that

these men are trained not to do

that. So this is very common in

every NGO's training and orientation

briefing. You are specifically told

not to have sex with people who have

experienced the tragedy, not to

marry children. You are told that

specifically. These people will have

been trained and they will

know that this is not what they are

supposed to be doing. So it is

massive misconduct.

What effect do

you think this will have on UK

charity donations and beyond?

It's

sad because millions of people in

the UK give so generously. They make

personal sacrifices because they

feel as though they are part of

something bigger than themselves.

Even with a £20 a month, they are

contributing to making the world a

better place. They will feel slapped

in the phase. This is a travesty,

because most aid workers do not do

this and it is such a desperate

shame that some people behaving

badly will tar us all with the same

brush.

Thank you for joining us.

Stay with us on BBC World News.

Still to come...

It's bed rest, but all

in the name of science -

how researchers are testing

the effects of zero-gravity.

This is BBC World News Today.

The latest headlines: A Russian

passenger plane has crashed

just outside Moscow.

Officials say all 71

on board were killed.

The new leader of the African

National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa,

says the party will ask President

Jacob Zuma to step down.

British Foreign Secretary Boris

Johnson, has held talks

with Myanmar's leader

Aung San Suu Kyi, focusing

on the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of people have

been forced to leave Myanmar,

seeking shelter in neighbouring

Bangladesh, following a military

crackdown, and violence

from pro-government militias.

Our correspondent Reeta

Chakrabarti is travelling

with the Foreign Secretary.

Among the burnt out remains

of a Rohingya home, Boris Johnson

took in the chilling sight,

the charred remains

of a former life.

He found the site himself,

although his visit to this region

was heavily controlled

by the Myanmar authorities.

Can you work out

where the house was?

He travelled from village

to village by helicopter.

From the air, you could see whole

areas razed to the ground.

It's where the Myanmar military

and Buddhist mobs are accused

of pogroms against

the Muslim Rohingya.

These pictures of burning villages

in the area were filmed

by the BBC last year.

You genuinely have

no idea who did it?

Some Rohingya are still here

and were brought out by the Myanmar

authorities to speak

to Boris Johnson.

All denied any knowledge of who had

destroyed their village.

This habitation has clearly been

burnt out and deserted.

One of the Rohingya villagers that

I spoke to a little earlier

told me in English,

"I hope you understand,

we are in a very bad

situation and unhappy".

He didn't dare tell me

who had burnt his village.

One government minister accompanying

us told me it was what he called

Rohingya terrorists who turned

on their own people and set

fire to their homes.

What do you think happened here?

A terrorist attack against them.

Definitely that.

Earlier in the capital,

a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi,

who has attracted international

condemnation for not speaking

up for the Rohingya.

What came of their talks?

I don't think it has come

through to her, the full extent,

the horror of what has happened.

It's absolutely devastating

and I think what is needed

now is some leadership,

some calm, but some leadership,

working with the UN agencies to get

these people back home.

But this is what awaits any

Rohingya who do come back,

a settlement with high

fences and barbed wire.

The Myanmar government calls

this a reception centre.

To date, no one has

returned to live here.

Reeta Chakrabarti,

BBC News, Myanmar.

Pakistani human rights

activist and lawyer

Asma Jahangir has died

at the age of 66.

She braved death threats

and beatings to become one

of Asia's most respected

human rights advocates.

Ms Jahangir served on the UN team

that conducted an enquiry into human

rights violations in Sri Lanka.

Earlier, I spoke to Pakistan's

Ambassador to the US,

Mr Hussain Haqqani, who had

known Asma for 25 years.

I began by asking how

she felt speaking up

about the Pakistani military?

Well, she had an illustrious father

who had opposed the first martial

law in Pakistan in 1958,

one of the few who did.

And she basically said

that when the military

takes over a country,

all civilian norms

fall by the wayside.

She also did not like the idea

of a highly militarised Pakistan,

because she thought that that

essentially compromised the human

rights of everybody by giving

the military the ability to ride

roughshod over the people.

And she did not like the idea

of permanent animosity with any

of Pakistan's neighbours.

So she stood firmly

against the dictatorship

of General Yahya Khan,

whom she challenged as a very young

woman in a civilian court and then

against General Zia ul-Haq.

And when Zia ul-Haq started

discriminating against women

in the name of religion,

she gathered Pakistan's

women to resist it.

Again, the idea was,

let us at least make it clear

that there is resistance

to dictatorship, whether it's

in the name of religion

or in the name of nationalism.

And now, when Pakistan has

a civilian government,

she wanted civilian supremacy,

not rules by colonels and brigadiers

who operate in the shadows

as part of the deep state.

Remarkable.

You knew Ms Jahangir for 25 years.

Is there one snapshot you can give

to us, one example that

summarises her passion for her work?

Well, I, after resigning

as Pakistan's ambassador to the US,

was wrongly implicated in an affair

in which I was falsely accused

by the Pakistani intelligence

service of having communicated

with the Americans and trying

to forestall a coup.

Lawyers were afraid that the deep

state would not abide

by their taking up my case.

And Ms Jahangir volunteered to take

up that case and fought for me.

Time for a look at the sport.

To South Korea, where Red Gerard

was the star on day two of

the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The teenage snowboarder won gold

in the slopestyle on a day

when seven gold medals were at stake

- Nick Marshall McCormack

rounds up the action.

It's a mark of Red Gerard's styled

at the age of 17 he was regarded as

one of the favourites going into

this event at Pyeongchang. On the

slopes, it's hard to believe the

youth that lies under the clothes,

but when the moment of glory had

passed and he was at the centre of

the world's media, the youth was

what struck.

It was crazy. It was

really wild to me that I got first

place. It was jaw-dropping.

Hard to

believe?

Yeah, I am still having a

hard time believing it.

Maybe Gerard

will age when he has to overcome

obstacles like the one Sim and

Kruger did in the 30 kilometres

skiathlon. Crashing early and

looking down and out. But the

Norwegian is made of sterner stuff

and he regrouped one of the Winter

Games' great comebacks and to lead

home a Norwegian 123. Sven Kramer

secured a one to three of a

different kind. His victory in the

5000 metre speed skating completes

his domination of this Olympic event

since 2010. Plus this time was an

Olympic record.

In the English Premier League,

Manchester United

are now 16 points behind leaders

and rivals Manchester City after

a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday.

Matt Richie's first goal

of the season in the second half

gave Rafael Benitez's team the win,

and lifted them out of the bottom

three and up to 13th in the table.

United boss Jose Mourinho has

still never won at St James's Park.

My verdict is that we could be here

than ours and we wouldn't score a

goal. But I also want to say it is

fair to say that Newcastle played

and defended with their lives a

clean sheet. They were trying to get

a point and a point for us would

result in their relegation fight.

They got us in a defensive mistake

and they scored, and at that moment

they just thought, we are going to

give our lives and defend with

everything.

Better luck for Liverpool,

who moved back into third position

thanks to two first half

goals at Southampton.

Mo Salah has now scored 22 league

goals this season and he got

the second after setting up

Roberto Firmino for

Liverpool's first.

Jurgen Klopp's team missed a number

of chances in the second half

to extend their lead,

while Southampton rarely threatened,

and drop into the Premier

League relegation zone.

Huddersield Town hadn't won in 2018,

going into the game

against 10th placed Bournemouth,

but two goals in each half helped

them to a 4-1 home win.

David Wagner's team had

lost their previous five matches,

and are now out of the bottom three.

To Rugby Union's Six Nations,

where Scotland put defeat by Wales

last week behind them to overcome

France 32-26 at Murrayfield

and revive their campaign.

France were 10-0 and then 20-14 up

before Scotland took the lead late

into the second half.

Greig Laidlaw kicked six penalties,

and Scotland will face reigning

champions England at Murrayfield

on Saturday 24th February.

And that's all the sport for now.

Here's a science experiment

you might want to sign up for:

A group of volunteers have been

spending three days in bed.

It's hoped their experience

will will shed light on how

weightlessness affects

the human body.

This is the nearest I'll ever

be to being in space.

It's life, but not as we know it.

These are two of ten volunteers

spending three days in a bed

that is tipped by minus six degrees,

the head lower than

the body to simulate

the effects of zero gravity.

Pillownauts is the term used

for healthy participants that

undertake bed rest studies

and they immitate being

astronauts, but lying in bed.

On earth, our bodies

are continually working

against gravity but in space,

weightlessness creates problems.

They have muscle wasting

and develop osteoporosis.

They also come back

to earth prediabetic

and that is because they are being

so inactive in space,

they are not contracting

their muscles.

The trial is running

alongside a project

by the European Space Agency.

Blood tests and muscle biopsies

monitor how the body is coping,

but how are the pillownauts

themselves getting on?

You're slightly upside down, so it's

not like literally hanging upside

down, but there's

a weird distribution of

sensation in your body.

After a while I just got used to it

and then you didn't really

have any discomfort.

It just feels like

you're lying in bed.

I watched an entire

Netflix series yesterday.

That got me through the day.

Today, I've got more freedom

with my arms, so I'll

be writing my thesis.

Mars and Earth are neighbours,

but it is estimated it

could still take nine months for us

to get there.

With scientists wanting humans

on Mars by the 2030s,

they are working to make

sure our bodies can

withstand the journey.

All the money's being funnelled

into these long-term bed rest

projects at the moment because we're

rapidly trying to develop the best

interventions we can to make sure

if we get an astronaut to Mars,

that they can

undertake their duties.

After three days in bed,

there will be three

days of rehab to observe

the return-to-earth effect.

A small step in the world of space

exploration, but all part

of the giant leap towards

manned missions to Mars.

Hannah Meredith, BBC

News, Nottingham.

Before we go, if you have ever

wondered why combat sports have

weight categories, take a look at

this footage from Japan. It's a

charity fundraising event featuring

some of the biggest stars of sumo

wrestling and their young fans. Keep

in mind that the average sumo

wrestler weighs about 150 kilograms,

over 300 lbs. The little boy is

trying to get him out of the ring

and finally succeeds!

You can get in touch with me and

some of the team on Twitter. Bye-bye

for now.