23/02/2018 World News Today

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Our top stories.

The UN Security Council prepares to

vote on a new ceasefire in Syria -

as government forces continue

to target eastern Ghouta,

These are live pictures

from the United Nations in New York.

The vote has been postponed several

times. One of Donald Trump's former

campaign aides omits to conspiring

and lying to investigators.

A blunt assessment from

the European Council President

of the UK's plans for a post-Brexit

relationship with

the European Union.

If the reports are correct, I am

afraid that the UK's position today

is based on pure illusion.

Were you the mastermind that

cheated the Olympics?

Yes.

The man who revealed Russian doping,

now in fear for his life,

says Russia should not be allowed

at the closing of

the Winter Olympics.

This is the most important moment in

the history of the International

Olympic Committee and if the flag is

allowed to appear, it will be the

worst decision. The Olympics could

die.

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

Intensive diplomatic efforts are

under way at the UN Security

Council, which holds the fate of the

residents of Eastern Ghouta in its

hands.

The Security Council is

currently debating resolution and

these are live pictures, calling for

a 30 day humanitarian ceasefire in

Syria. The vote due earlier has been

postponed for hours and on Thursday

it was called off. Russia has

previously objected to the

resolution and still has

reservations.

Let's go to the UN in New York,

and our correspondent, Nada Tawfik.

Is clear if any deal is likely yet?

Negotiations are ongoing and I asked

one diplomat if we would see a vote

tonight and he said, who knows?

There is the old saying, nothing is

agreed until everything is agreed

and so diplomats have been waiting

to see if they can agree on a final

language, and I am told there is no

final draft yet, so as they say,

negotiations are still fresh and

getting under way but these

negotiations over the original draft

put forward by Sweden and Kuwait

have been going on for two weeks and

I have to say the mood music is that

we are much closer to agreement on a

ceasefire family have been at any

point.

Given Russia and Syria's

position that basically President

Assad is fighting terrorists on the

doorstep of Damascus, the capital,

what is it that Russia might have

agreed to to allow some deal?

There

were several amendments that Russia

put forward, that they wanted to be

considered. They said it was an

unrealistic draft, they did not

think they were getting enough

reassurances that the rebels would

abide by it and also they wanted

extremist groups like Isis and

Al-Qaeda and even their associates

to be excluded from the ceasefire so

that the Syrian military could

continue its campaign against those

groups. Again, there are

negotiations going on so I have not

seen the latest draft but as of last

night, at least the consideration

about keeping extremist groups

exempt was included in the draft and

so that very well could be enough to

get Russia to agree. Some of the

other Russian amendments were not

put into the new draft. Again, it is

unclear at the moment but the final

words or passages are that the

diplomats are negotiating.

Thank you

very much.

Gates was a deputy campaign manager

for Trump during the 2016 election.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller had

been investigating him as part of

his probe into alleged Russian

meddling in the election. Gates was

facing more serious charges before

entering his guilty plea earlier

today. Laura Trevelyan has more from

Washington.

What Rick Gates pleaded

guilty to is not actually relating

to the specific issue of collusion

between the Trump campaign and

Russia. Previous charges had been

brought against him by the Special

Counsel about money-laundering and

tax evasion. What is highly

significant here is that Gates seems

to have co-operated with Robert

Mueller in the hope he will then get

a reduced sentence for these other

crimes. Remember, Rick Gates was

deputy chair of the Trump campaign,

deputy chair of the Trump inaugural,

so a very significant figure and he

joins the third former Trump

campaign aide to be cooperating with

the Special Counsel. But also, in

corroborating he puts more pressure

on Paul Manafort, the former chair,

who maintains his innocence about

money-laundering. In order to get a

plea deal with an investigator, you

need to be giving up some

investigation and information in

return so the question is, what

information is Rick Gates giving up

on the question of collusion between

the Trump campaign and Russia that

the Special Counsel is interested

in? We don't know the answer yet but

that is the big question. He is an

important figure, deputy chair of

the Trump campaign and after Paul

Manafort left in 2016 under Clyde,

Gates stayed with the campaign and

was deputy chair of the Trump

inaugural as well so he is a perk --

person in a position to know a lot

about what did or did not happen in

terms of length between the Trump

campaign and Russia. The Special

Counsel, he was appointed to look at

whether there was collusion between

the Trump campaign and Russia and

that is all he is interested in. If

he has someone willing to give him

information in return for a reduced

sentence, you must assume that the

information pertains to that key

question of whether there was was

not collusion and admits tremendous

pressure on Paul Manafort, who not

so far cooperating and maintaining

his innocence but the fact that his

business partner, Rick Gates, has

flipped, but some in a very

difficult position.

Laura Trevelyan

in Washington. We can go live to

Washington because just outside the

White House, this is the scene. Our

vehicle has rammed into a security

barrier near the White House,

according to the US secret service.

This is the live scene. -- a

vehicle. The White House was placed

on lockdown, armed agents were seen

running into positions and President

Trump was inside the building at the

time, he just hosted the Australian

Prime Minister. It is reported that

there was a female driver of the

car, she was apprehended, although

it is reported that no law

enforcement personnel were injured

and no shots were fired. But the

Secret Service officers did take in

the female driver of that vehicle.

It has been reported that it struck

a security barrier near the White

House at 17th and East but did not

breach the security barrier of the

White House complex. You can see a

number of emergency personnel. As

you can imagine, with that sort of

incident. We will keep you updated

as more information comes into us.

Saying in the United States...

After last week's school shooting

in Florida in which 17 people

were killed, President Trump has

called for some teachers to carry

concealed weapons in schools.

He was speaking to the Conservative

Political Action Conference.

This might be tempered scent or 20%

of the population of teachers. It is

not all of them. But you would have

a lot. And you would tell people,

they are inside. The beauty is it is

concealed, nobody would ever see it,

unless they needed it. It is

concealed, so this crazy man who

walked in would not even know who it

is that hazard, that is good. And a

teacher would have shot the hell out

of him before he knew what

happened...

APPLAUSE.

They loved their students, they

loved the students, a member that.

BBC's Gary O'Donoghue

is at that conference.

I spoke to him earlier

about President Trump's comments,

and what the reaction has been

so far.

In terms of the shooting, you had

the meat of it, that went down

pretty well that this audience and I

would not say they were overwhelmed

with the idea of arming teachers but

they certainly like his robust

support for the second Amendment in

general, the amendment that

Americans use to protect their right

to own guns and weapons more

generally. Interestingly, his idea

about arming teachers has not

exactly gone down well with some

teaching unions but also the

governor of Florida, Rick Scott, a

Republican. He is not too keen on

that either. He is proposing raising

the age at which you can buy an

assault weapon in Florida after the

age of 21. Which of course would

have prevented Nicholas Cruz from

getting that weapon he used last

week. But the debate is on this

teacher arming business. And I think

that will define people

significantly. On the one hand,

Donald Trump says it will make

schools safer and on the other,

people will say the last thing

America needs to combat gun problem

is guns.

If I can just turn to

another piece of news we're getting

here... United States apparently

will open a new embassy in Jerusalem

in May to coincide with the 70th

anniversary of Israel? We knew this

was coming but confirmation of the

timing.

Yes, that is interesting and

Donald Trump referred to Jerusalem

this morning in his speech and the

moving of the embassy and that got

an enormous cheer. It is surprising

that they are doing it quite so

quickly because obviously there are

going to have to be some pretty

heavy security arrangements for that

building in Jerusalem and I think

they have a consulate there already

from memory so that might be partly

it. Yes, he will say, fulfilling a

campaign promise. There will be many

in the Republican movement and

particularly on the Christian Right

who will welcome this enormously but

there will be, I can tell you, in

European capitals and other parts of

the world, where they have been

trying for years to help age some

sort of peace process, there will be

anxiety about this move and a lot of

America's allies do not support the

idea and the Palestinians are

utterly opposed to it in its current

form. It is going to cause a row,

there is no doubt.

Gary O'Donoghue.

And indeed, senior Palestinian

officials have called this a blatant

provocation, criticising the timing

of it and the announcement was

brought forward by at least a year,

we think. We will keep you posted

with the latest details. To stay

with us. Much more ahead... EU

leaders deliver an unusually blunt

message to London a week before the

British Prime Minister is due to set

out her Brexit ambitions.

Prince Charles has chosen his bride,

he proposed three weeks ago and she

accepted without hesitation.

As

revolutions go this had its fair

share. A climax outside the gates of

his sanctuary. The name itself

symbolises one of the cruellest

regimes of modern Asia.

The world's

first clone has been produced of an

adult mammal, it was a sheep called

Dolly, using a cell from another

ship.

Citizens are trying to come to

grips with their new freedom. There

is joy and relief today.

But the

scars are everywhere. But for 20

years have locusts been seen in such

numbers in this part of Africa. Some

of the swarms have been ten miles

long.

This is the last time the

public will see this Pope, very

soon, for the sake of the authority

of the next Pope, Benedict the 16th

will in his own words be hidden from

the world for the rest of his life.

The latest headlines... Syrian

government forces continue to target

Eastern Ghouta and intensive

diplomatic efforts are under way at

the UN to approve a ceasefire. And

one of Donald Trump's former

campaign aides admits to conspiring

against the United States and lying

to investigators. John Watson has

the sport.

The man who exposed the Russian

doping scandal has given his first

international broadcast interview

to the BBC.

Evidence from whistle-blower

Dr Grigory Rodchenkov

on state-sponsored doping saw Russia

banned from the Winter Olympics

and the fallout from the testimony

forced him into hiding and in fear

of his life.

This exclusive report

is by our sports editor, Dan Roan.

He said the integrity of the Olympic

movement is at stake if Russian

athletes competing under a neutral

banner impaled China can parade

under the Russian flag at the

closing ceremony.

Does British sport have a problem

with cheating? Do you think?

Honestly? Yes. I hear some several

cases in British sport and this is

the most important moment in the

history of the Olympic Committee and

it should show how they are

consistent with the fight against

doping. You know that Russia rejects

any charges. They say that I am a

liar and if the flag will be allowed

to appear, it will be the worst

decision. The Olympics could die.

You can see more of that interview

across BBC News and over the

website. If athletes competing as a

big athletes from Russia or allowed

to march under their own flag, speed

skating sensation Sigurd Toner says

she will carry it, the 15-year-old

won her first gold-medal for the

away with a stunning routine to

become the second youngest Olympic

gold medallist in figure skating

since 1998 after she can so that lay

Hereford training partner. The woman

who inspired her to take up the

sport in the first place. Caitlin

Osmond from Canada to bronze.

Elsewhere at the Winter Olympics,

Germany's men shocked the reigning

champions Canada to reach the ice

hockey final, they will play the OAR

team in the gold-medal match after

they beat the Czech Republic. Casey

Sarah Ware pulled away from his

compatriot to claim Ski Cross goal

as Canada scored the one, two,

finish ahead of Switzerland. World

champion Kelton as power to gold in

the men's 1000 metres ahead of no

where. It is a second gold, who also

won the 1500 Metre title. Away from

the Winter Olympics, the third round

of the Six Nations Championship is

already under way. France taking

deadly MRSA at the Stade Velodrome,

the first time they have played at

Six Nations match away from Paris.

The latest score is 14-10. On

Saturday Wales will look to topple

Ireland from the top of the table in

Dublin before Scotland and England

battle it out for the Calcutta cup

at Murrayfield. Man City manager Pep

Guardiola has been charged by the FA

are wearing a yellow ribbon which

shows his support for those

imprisoned in the fight for

Catalunya and independence. He

revealed in November he were

surrendered in support of the

politicians imprisoned in his native

Catalonia, where he was born, played

and previously managed. Football 's

governing body said he was in breach

of its kit and advertising

regulations. In cycling, Phil Babb

pipped his German compatriot Marcel

Kittel and Paschal Ackerman to take

victory on stage three. Lian Viviani

finished fourth but retains the

overall race lead. USA hold the two

shot lead heading into the third

round of the LPGA tour event in

Thailand, two biggest eight birdies

and a closing eagle to post a

personal best and course record of

ten under par. Fantastic conditions

as well, that course. Playing very

well and stands a good chance of

winning. And that is all the sport.

Back to you.

The President of the European

Council, Donald Tusk,

has told reporters in Brussels that

London's position on Brexit

is based on 'pure illusion'.

He made the comment at the end

of a meeting of leaders from 27 EU

countries, excluding Britain.

One of the topics discussed at that

meeting was the bloc's joint stance

on ties with Britain after Brexit.

If the media reports are correct,

I am afraid that the UK position

today is based on pure illusion.

It looks like the cake

philosophy is still alive.

From the very start it has been

a key principle of the EU 27

that there can be no cherry picking

and no single market a la carte.

This will continue to be a key

principle, have no doubt.

Our correspondent, Adam Fleming,

has been following developments

in Brussels, and I spoke to him

earlier about the significance

of Donald Tusk's comments.

The first thing to say is Donald

Tusk was responding to reports of

what the British government agreed

Adam ate our long meeting of the

Cabinet at the Prime Minister's

country residence yesterday and he

does not to the British position in

detail and will not until he meets

Theresa May in London next Thursday

and the rest of us won't know until

the Prime Minister gives a speech

detailing it the day after on

Friday. Having said that, that was a

pretty brutal put-down of what

Donald Tusk, the sort of thing he

has been hearing from London. When

he talks about this philosophy, he

is talking about the idea that the

EU has all along had the idea that

Britain cannot pick parts of the

single market it was to stay in and

enjoy the benefits of while leaving

others to decide. It cannot pick

which rules it wants to follow and

riders are the rules, which is the

Brexit policy of the EU and has been

since last year when the talks

started. The way he delivered the

words as well, he seemed pretty glum

and I would say he was angry but he

was verging on anger as well. While

this will be doubly annoying for the

British government, they think that

big meeting they had yesterday with

the big beasts of the Cabinet, some

have different views of Brexit, they

think that went really well and they

managed to coalesce around a

position that was workable for the

British so those comments from

Donald Tusk will have gone down very

badly in London tonight. This

informal leader of the -- formal

meeting of the 27 leaders was not

there to be a Brexit, Donald Tusk

was just assured that all the

headlines tomorrow will be exactly

about Brexit.

Let's look at some other stories.

There have been two large explosions

in the Somali capital Mogadishu,

killing 18 people and injuring 20.

The police say a suicide

bomber blew up a car

near the Presidential Palace

and a second blast was close

to the national intelligence agency.

Both were followed

by heavy gunfire.

A painting by the French artist

Edgar Degas, which was stolen

from a museum in Marseille in 2009,

has been found on a bus near Paris.

The artwork was discovered

in the luggage compartment

of the vehicle at a motorway service

station.

Experts confirmed that it's

"The Chorus Singers" -

a pastel painting said to be worth

nearly a million dollars.

The man who exposed the Russian

doping scandal has given his first

international broadcast interview

to the BBC.

Evidence from whistle-blower

Dr Grigory Rodchenkov

on state-sponsored doping saw Russia

banned from the Winter Olympics

and the fallout from the testimony

forced him into hiding and in fear

of his life.

Now living in the United States,

we interviewed Dr Rodchenkov

from a secret location,

where he said if he hadn't fled

Russia he'd now be dead.

Two Russian athletes

at the Winter Olympics have tested

positive for doping.

This exclusive report

is by our sports editor, Dan Roan.

It's one

of sport's greatest scandals.

Russian cheating reached its height

at the last Winter Games in Sochi.

The mastermind, Doctor

Grigory Rodchenkov.

In 2015, the former head

of Moscow's anti-doping lab

turned whistle-blower,

fleeing to the West.

Ever since, he's been

in FBI witness protection.

And we are on the way to meet him.

For more than two years now,

the man at the very heart

of Russia's doping scandal has been

living in hiding, here somewhere

in the United States.

Finally, he's agreed to speak to us,

but such are the security

concerns surrounding him,

we've not even been told

where we have to go.

After hours on the road,

we are taken to a location

that we are told has to remain

a secret, along

with his new identity.

If you had not left Russia,

where would you be now?

You'd be dead?

Rodchenkov's role in Russia's

remarkable doping programme

became the subject of

an Oscar-nominated film.

Were you the mastermind that

cheated the Olympics?

He said the conspiracy

went right to the top,

and that London 2012

was also targeted.

So what does he say to British

athletes whose Games were tainted?

The Russian government

says you are lying.

You were cheating.

It wasn't them, it was you.

Does British sport have a problem

with cheating, do you think?

Despite Russian claims he is part

of a Western conspiracy,

his information led to a ban

from the Winter Olympics.

168 of the country's athletes

competed as neutrals,

but they may now be allowed to march

under their national flag

at the closing ceremony.

The Olympic athletes

of the Russian team...

Only clean Russians were meant

to be in Pyeongchang,

but today a second of its athletes

at these games, Nadezhda Sergeeva,

failed a drugs test.

Moving forward from sport's biggest

crisis is proving no easy task.

Dan Roan, BBC News.