16/02/2018 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today.

Our top stories.

US special counsel Robert

Mueller brings charges

against Russian nationals for trying

to help Donald Trump win

the 2016 American election.

The indictment charges 13 Russian

nationals and three Russian

companies for committing federal

crimes while seeking to interfere in

the United States political system.

The FBI says it mishandled

information warning about the danger

of the Florida school shooter.

Battling criminal gangs

in Rio de Janeiro -

Brazil's president orders the army

to take over security in the state.

The new South African

president, Cyril Ramaphosa,

has been setting out his plans

to end corruption - in his first

state of the nation address.

Everyone every time someone receives

a bribe, there is always someone

ready to pay, we will make sure we

deal with both of them.

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

The office of Robert Muller,

the special counsel investigating

Russian interference in the US

presidential election,

has filed charges against 13 Russian

individuals and three companies.

The charges include conspiracy

to commit wire fraud

and aggravated identity theft.

Earlier Rod Rosenstein,

the US Deputy Attorney General,

made this statement to reporters.

In the past hour,

President Trump has tweeted,

The conspiracy was part of a larger

organisation, which is part of using

domestic audiences and also

targeting foreign audiences in

multiple countries will stop

In the past hour,

President Trump has tweeted,

again, that his campaign did

nothing wrong and that

there was no collusion.

Meanwhile the Russian

Foreign Ministry dismissed

allegations of Russian

meddling as absurd.

Let's get more

from our correspondent

Anthony Zurcher in Washington.

when we talk about interference,

what does that mean in practice?

According to this indictment, it

outlines an array of things that

Russian individuals do, they

travelled to the United States

posing as Americans and spoke with

political experts to gauge how best

to target their interfering efforts,

the focus on the key electoral

states and they set up servers in

the United States to direct their

traffic so they could seem to be

Americans contacting social media

sites through Twitter and Facebook

and advertising campaigns, posing as

Americans on social media whether

fake aliases or actual people that

they assumed the identity of but

beyond the social media campaigns

they were also organising rallies

across the United States some in

favour of Donald Trump and some

opposing Hillary Clinton, paying

real Americans for material to

create these rallies, even paying a

Hillary Clinton impersonator to

dress as a prison guard and travel

to several Donald Trump rallies,

they were staging rallies to support

Donald Trump and to protest his

election so it was a con brands of

effort not just online but also on

the ground throughout the

presidential campaign --

comprehensive effort.

Rod Rosenstein

said there is no allegation that

American was knowingly involved in

the US election meddling. So in that

sense is resident macro right that

there was no collusion? -- President

Trump.

It doesn't mean that they are

continuing to investigate, and in

the text of the indictment it said

that the Russians posing as

Americans had contacts with members

of the Trump campaign but they

called them unwitting individuals

and they did not know they were

Russians. In a sense this document

does not prove collusion and

knowledge on the part of the Trump

campaign of Russia's efforts and

while this case is not closed in

this instance, it they can point to

this and said this is not proof of

collusion.

What are the Democrats

saying about this?

They have said

Donald Trump has got to take this

seriously, he has been shrugging off

the US intelligence agencies saying

that Russian tried to meddle with

the election, calling it a hoax by

his political enemies, but the

special counsel Robert Mueller has

laid out in exacting detail exactly

what Russia did and how much money

they spent on it, millions of

dollars each month in the run-up to

the election, so Democrats are

saying Donald Trump as to take this

seriously and acknowledge Russian

efforts in the past and maybe impose

sanctions that Congress has ordered

and also take active steps going

forward to make sure that this

doesn't happen again.

Anthony,

thanks for joining us.

The FBI has said it

was warned last month

about the Florida school shooter

Nikolas Cruz - but failed

to act on the information.

In a statement, it admitted

it was tipped by a person "close"

to Mr Cruz, who spoke about his gun

ownership, desire to kill people,

and potential of him

conducting a school shooting.

Meanwhile more funerals are taking

place for the victims.

President Trump is heading

to Florida later on Friday.

Our North America Correspondent

Aleem Maqbool reports.

They are coming to mourn a girl shot

dead inside her school.

One of the 17 victims of America's

latest mass shooting.

Alyssa had been passionate

about playing football and had been

a popular and talented people.

Earlier, thousands had gathered

to remember all of those who died,

in many cases friends that only

a few days ago they had

shared classrooms with.

They included 14-year-old

Jaime Guttenberg, who family members

say stood up for those

who were bullied.

Her father spoke at the vigil.

I sent her to school yesterday.

She was supposed to be safe.

Among the others who died,

Meadow Pollock, who was going

to university next year.

Joachim Oliver a basketball player

who loved writing poetry.

Nicholas, a promising

swimmer and academic,

and 14-year-old Cara,

who her family says

was a great student who loved

being at the beach.

All lives cut short by a former

student at their own school who had

returned there with a gun.

This is where Nikolas Cruz

bought his weapon.

All he had to do was produce

his driving licence,

give the most basic of personal

details and then answer a question

to say that he was not mentally ill.

He was 18 at the time,

too young to buy alcohol

here but old enough to walk out

of this shop with an AR-15 rifle.

Young survivors are insisting

on better gun control but feel many

adults are letting them down.

The fact that I have to say this

is horrifying but I feel the need

to because this is the blood

of children that is on the floor

of the school now.

These are 17 children that are dead.

Those children are the future,

the future of this country.

And what are we telling our children

and showing the future

of our country when they have

to come to school and

worry about being shot?

Politicians again promised change.

You call this a talking point,

why would this be any different

to all the atrocities that have gone

before, what makes you feel

this is different?

I have never seen students speak out

as boldly as they have.

Maybe this is the turning point.

Close to the school,

students demonstrated to demand

a solution to stop this type

of tragedy happening again.

In truth America remains a long

way off finding a way

to end its problems with guns.

The BBC's Neda Tawfik

is in Parkland, Florida.

I asked her how the news

that the FBI had a tip off

about the alleged shooter,

is being received.

We have heard from authorities, if

you see something, say something.

Well, somebody did, but the FBI

never responded to the information.

The FBI director said he called up

the families of the victims

to apologise and he said he can't

imagine the added pain

that this is causing them,

and throughout the last day we have

heard from officials saying

it is important for anyone who sees

something to say something,

but in this case someone did say

something, but 17 people have died.

One of the victim's father said the

agency had got to be blunt and said

they had failed these families.

We

have seen discussion of gun control,

is this announcement by the FBI

going to crowd out those items? --

arguments.

That is the fear, the

talking point from Storch

conservative Republicans who have

defended deep second Amendment --

Storch. -- Storch. They have two

weight for the facts, they say, but

for politicising the issue, and

President Trump said this was

someone who was known to be mentally

I -- unstable but he did not mention

gun-control, and this is added

ammunition to say, we could have

prevented this is the FBI had

stepped in on warnings that people

had put forward. On the other side,

I've never seen students come

together so boldly to demand that

the country changes its stance and

pushes for safer gun laws. We saw

students showing these videos and

when I asked one of them why he did

that he said it was specifically so

he could record what was happening

and change people's minds about this

very issue.

Our correspondent in

Florida.

The Brazilian army is to take

full control of security

in Rio de Janeiro state.

President Michel Temer

ordered the intervention,

saying organised crime has virtually

seized control there.

In the city of Rio -

street crime is on the rise

and criminal gangs have regained

control of the shantytowns.

The BBC's Julia Carneiro joined

from there a little earlier.

This has never happened in recent

past, it is the first time, it is

something that was established by

the 1980 Constitution, the

prerogative of calling a

constitution if there is a case

where law and order needs to be

restored but it has never happened.

The president Michael Temer has said

an extreme measure like this was

necessary because criminal

organisations were spreading like a

cancer as he said in Rio and it was

necessary to take strong measures to

show the state would be able to take

control of the situation. This is a

decree that is virtually

transferring the power of how

policing is organised in Rio from

the state of the federal government

and the president has named a

general who is to lead the police

operation in Rio from now on and

will respond to him to the

president. So we will see lots of

changes in the coming months and we

will have to see how this runs. The

situation is deteriorating in Rio

and people are hoping for strong

measures and for a response but

there is also disbelief and

politicians and also mistrust that

they can really bring something off

that will have an impact.

We hear

words like violence and lawlessness,

but can you tell me what is actually

like living day-to-day in Rio in

practice? What is it like?

Everyone

here is trying to lead their normal

lives, it is not like it is chaos on

the streets and carnival just

happened and it was a big

celebration but there is a daily

life more and more interrupted by

violent events. It seems like things

are drawing near to you or that the

possibility of something dangerous

happening is drawing near to you or

to someone you love and so people

start taking precautions and they

are more afraid and you hear more

and more of cases of things

happening. You could be the next one

in line, of course, so there is a

sense of fear in the city, and this

becomes even more evident when

events become more extreme like we

have seen over the past few weeks.

Let's see what will happen and if

this will help improve the

situation.

Our correspondent in Rio.

Stay with us on BBC

World News, still to come.

We look at the reasons why

the number of orangutans in Borneo

has halved in just 16 years.

This is BBC World News Today.

The latest headlines.

The US special counsel investigating

possible interference

in the presidential elections,

Robert Mueller, has brought charges

against 13 Russian suspects.

The FBI has acknowledged that it

mishandled a warning

that it received last month

about Nikolas Cruz, the man

who killed 17 people

at a school in Florida.

The new South African

president, Cyril Ramaphosa,

has delivered his first state

of the nation address

to Parliament in Cape Town,

a day after being sworn into office.

He set out his plans

for the economy and for ending

the corruption scandals that

forced his predecessor,

Jacob Zuma, to resign.

Mr Ramaphosa told the MPs that this

is the year that the tide will be

turned on corruption

in South Africa's institutions.

We must fight corruption,

we must fight fraud and collusion,

as well as in the private sector,

with the same purpose and intensity

that we want to fight it

in the public sector.

We must remember that every time

someone receives a bribe,

there is someone who is prepared

to pay it.

We will make sure that we deal

with both of them.

I spoke to Richard Dowden,

a journalist in Africa for 20

years and now Director

of the Royal African Society

in London, about his opinion

on Mr Ramaphosa's speech.

There will be a huge change, Cyril

Ramaphosa has a very very strong

vision and he has a terrific track

record. He started as a trade union

leader and completely outfoxed in

1986 the mining companies. He then

became the main negotiator for the

new South Africa and again the

ruling apartheid took him and told

him things like fly fishing witchy

became very good at -- taught him

things like fly fishing which he

became very good at but when it came

to the negotiations he outfoxed

them, he's a very good communicator

and a very good negotiator.

You have

met him, how does his temperament

differ to his predecessor?

He's a

very calm person, when you meet him,

when he talks to you he is totally

focused on you, he doesn't just talk

the sacred. Very precise -- just

doesn't talk for the sake of it. He

comes a very small ethnic group in

South Africa in terms and he is not

part of the big ethnic competition

that is going on, he is outside

that. When he went around after

Mandela was released from prison,

there were three people that went

with him carrying his bag and one of

those was the head of the military

wing, he was murdered, the man who

became husband and the third was

Cyril Ramaphosa, -- who became

president. Mandela wanted Cyril

Ramaphosa to become his predecessor,

we know.

And now the sport.

It was more than just a quarterfinal

at the Rotterdam Open

for Roger Federer tonight.

He's beaten Robin Haase by two sets

to one, but more importantly

by doing so, he's regained

the World Number One spot.

And become the oldest man

to hold that accolade.

It was actually a double fault

from Haase that handed match point

to the 36-year-old Federer.

But a very popular victory,

the the crowd in Rotterdam loved it

- and he was presented

with a special award

to mark the occasion.

Four senior West Bromwich Albion

players have apologised

after breaking a curfew

and allegedly stealing a taxi

from outside a fast-food

restaurant in Barcelona.

The team are bottom

of the Premier League

and were on a mid season training

break in Spain.

Jonny Evans, Gareth Barry,

Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill have

released a statement

apologising for the incident.

Catalonia police interviewed

but didn't arrest the players in

the early hours of Thursday morning.

The club say the players will be

"subject to the full rigours of

internal disciplinary procedures."

It wasn't what we wanted. We've gone

there to try and get ourselves up

and ready for this run in and this

is not ideal. They break the curfew

and that is not acceptable and I

feel let down by that. But we still

got our training in and my focus is

now on the game.

India had completed

a comprehensive one-day series

victory over South Africa after

easily chasing down 205 for victory.

Virat Kohli with his 35th one-day

century.

We are under three hours away from

the action at the Winter Olympics,

nine gold medals are up for grabs

and that means more appearances for

this little fella. The athletes are

not being given flowers any more

when they win medals. The White

Tiger is considered a godlike animal

in Korea. Training for the Olympics

can be tough, years of practice

being ready to peak at the vital

moment. Everything has to be just

right for the volunteer as he

welcomes athletes and fans from all

over the world to Pyeongchang.

Inside is truly hot and very humid

and you cannot breathe easily. More

over you cannot see clearly. Almost

totally blocked inside, so very

difficult to move because I cannot

go straight or go anywhere.

With

South Korea having won their second

gold medal on Friday the mood is

buoyant in Pyeongchang and the White

Tiger is in the mind for selfies

just as much as the athletes. -- in

demand.

So many people are very

happy because of me, it feels like

it makes me dance. Very thankful for

having this chance to be part of it.

He is so cute and details are great,

so funny.

At the end of an

exhausting day there is no

gold-medal for the White Tiger, just

satisfaction that he is adding to

the carnival atmosphere at the

games. That is all the sport for

now.

There's been a massive fall

in the number of Orangutans

on the island of Borneo.

A study has found

that within 16 years,

the population there has halved.

The researchers said

that while deforestation

was partly to blame,

a large number of the animals

were being killed by hunters

or as punishment for raiding crops.

Victoria Gill reports.

Hanging onto survival.

Zoo programmes like this

preserve small populations

of Bornean orangutans.

But in the wild, they are being

pushed rapidly towards extinction.

Their rainforest home

continues to be cleared

for agriculture and mining,

but a 16-year-long study has now

revealed that Borneo's orangutans

are disappearing from areas

where the forest is untouched.

They are being targeted by hunters.

Even in the areas where we think

they're safe, we are losing them.

And in some of the large populations

where we have measured this loss,

it's 50% over 16 years.

It is an astonishing decline

at the population level.

Even without animals

being deliberately killed,

scientists estimate that

deforestation alone could wipe out

another 45,000 orangutans

here in the next three decades.

But this bridge-building project

is a much-needed sign of hope.

Where the forest is fragmented

by agricultural drainage ditches,

a team from Chester Zoo

and the Malaysian charity Hutan

is physically reconnecting it

with tough polyester straps.

This remarkable footage captured

by a tourist is the project's

first sign of success.

When these animals use their arms,

they move around, they move that

height, they swing in the forest

canopy and that's what they

rely on in the wild.

The zoo has learned from that

to build bridges that

will reconnect that habitat,

just like the ones

in the zoo enclosure.

To actually see them using them

and moving more freely

across this habitat,

that is so fragmented,

is a really positive sign.

This is very much

a short-term solution.

The long-term solution

is to reforest the area.

Palm oil grown here makes its way

into a huge variety of our food

and other products,

so conservationists are urging us

consumers to check it's

sourced sustainably.

Our choices, scientists say,

could decide whether there

is a future for these

critically endangered apes.

Victoria Gill, BBC News.

A reminder of our top story.

The US special counsel investigating

possible interference

in the presidential elections,

Robert Mueller, has brought charges

against 13 Russian suspects.

President Trump has tweeted again

that his campaign did nothing wrong

and that there was no collusion.

That is the way it's looking. Thanks

for joining us. Goodbye for now.