10/03/2018 World News Today

Hello and welcome

to World News Today.

Syrian government forces have

advanced further in the rebel-held

enclave of Eastern Ghouta.

The territory's city of Douma

is reportedly surrounded.

As bombardments continue,

the casualties keep rising -

at least 1,000 civilians have now

been killed since the regime

began its offensive there

nearly three weeks ago -

that death toll

includes 200 children.

Our Arab affairs editor,

Sebastian Usher has more.

Syrian tanks have continued to

spearhead the army's remorseless

advance into Eastern Goutah, which

has gathered further momentum. A

A military commander said

that rebel fighters,

all of whom the government sees

as terrorists, were on the run.

TRANSLATION: After Syrian army

forces took control of this village,

we are currently on our way

to another place and our advance

is going towards the town.

We have noticed the escape

of several members of

the terrorist groups

Faylaq al-Rahman

Several sources say the troops have

moved in even deeper and have

managed to cut off the two biggest

towns in the region,

including Douma.

The heavy bombardment of Douma

by land and air has continued.

Residents assay casualties

are mounting again in a town

where just 24 hours ago a convoy

of aid was finally being delivered.

Syrian state media has shown troops

inside the small town of Misraba

in the centre of Eastern Goutah.

The biggest rebel group denies

that it has fallen and says it has

beaten back army units,

but if Misraba is in government

hands, then the enclave in effect

will be divided in half,

following a tried and tested pattern

which pro-government forces have

used across Syria to force

the surrender of verbal holdouts.

Both of the main rebel forces have

vowed to continue fighting,

but the battle may have reached

a turning point.

The US Department of Justice has

taken the first step towards banning

bump stocks, which allow rivals to

fly with the speed of machine guns.

Bump stocks were used last year by a

gunman in Las Vegas to kill 58

people. The definition of machine

guns, which are already banned, will

be changed to include the device,

effectively banning them from sale,

too. Joining me now from Washington

DC is our correspondent Chris

Buckler. Chris, thank you for

chatting with us. Would banning bump

stocks really help to improve gun

safety in the US?

Well, I think it

is one step towards trying to

improve gun safety. Certainly new

restrictions which are a lot of

campaigners have been asking for and

indeed which President Trump himself

has talked about. These are devices

which essentially modify

semiautomatic weapons and turn them

into automatic machine guns.

Basically they increase the speed at

which bullets can be fired. And it

was that attack in Las Vegas in

October in which 58 people were

killed and hundreds were injured

that really brought it to the four,

because these devices were used on

semiautomatic rifles then to use

them effectively as machine guns.

Now, it is important to say that

this is just the first step in a

lengthy process. President Trump has

been talking about, it is now clear

that the Department of Justice wants

to do it. But the proposal has to go

through a number of hoops before it

is finally made law. And there is

the chance of a legal challenge. But

there is a sense that campaigners

are being heard at least with the

message that gun restrictions, new

laws to try to tighten legislation,

is something they want to. What is

interesting, though, is that this is

in itself not new legislation. This

is really about redefining existing

legislation and making bump stocks

one of the things that is defined as

a machine gun, and that is how it

will be tightened. But effectively

it makes them illegal for sale.

Do

you think this will be enough to

satisfy campaigners, to relieve the

pressure on the Trump administration

to do more?

Oh, absolutely not. This

is just one step and if you look at

all of what the campaigners want,

then really you have to go much,

much further to satisfy them. Here

in Washington, we are preparing

before the end of the month to have

a huge march here in which students,

particularly are organising people

to come and campaign, to ask the

politicians to listen. And we are

seeing this battle taking place

between campaigners and the gun

lobby, including the National Rifle

Association. As you saw this week in

Florida, we have new legislation

that has been signed into law by the

governor there, Rick Scott. And one

of those restrictions being put in

place is to raise the age at which

someone can buy a gun from 18 to 21.

The NRA is challenging that which

gives you a sense of how he did this

debate is. But campaigners will not

be satisfied and they say that they

don't just want sympathy, they want

to change.

It is a debate which is

going to continue. Sparkler, thank

you. -- Chris Buckler.

More than 200 witnesses have

been identified in a UK

investigation into the poisoning

of a Russian ex-spy.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd

said the "serious, substantial

investigation" was painstaking

but progressing quickly.

Our home affairs correspondent

Dominic Casciani has more.

This was the scene at Salisbury

ambulance station this evening as

chemical warfare specialists began

the latest phase of this evolving

operation. More than 180 military

personnel are now involved in an

operation which already includes

more than 250 detectives.

This is the

second major military operation

in Salisbury in the last 24 hours.

in the last 24 hours.

Last night we saw them taking away

a police car from the hospital.

Today is now taking away ambulances

which were potentially

contaminated last Sunday.

Everybody is watching and waiting

to see when this emergency will end

and the nation is watching

and waiting to find out

who is behind this crime.

Today was the second meeting

in a week of the emergency committee

Cobra to see how far

the police have got.

This investigation is focused

on making sure that we keep

people safe as a priority,

that's what the meeting was about.

And also making sure

that we collect all the evidence,

so when it comes to attribution,

we will be absolutely clear

where it should lead.

The pizza restaurant where the two

dined is now behind screens.

200 witnesses have so

far been identified.

And 240 pieces of evidence.

Today the main cemetery in the city

was also closed to the public

as officers examined the graves

of Mr Skripal's wife and son.

Today there was no change in his

condition or that of his daughter -

still critical and still

in intensive care.

Wiltshire police released

a statement on behalf

of the third victim,

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.

He said he and his family are hugely

grateful for all the messages

of support from the public

and colleagues from

the police family.

He was part of a group of officers

and other emergency service

colleagues who dealt

with the incident and he does not

consider himself a hero.

He was merely doing his job, a job

he loves and is immensely proud of.

Salisbury is a proud city,

trying to get on with normal life.

Shoppers in the market and officials

drawing up a plan to help businesses

affected by the police operation.

More barriers were going up tonight

at the park bench where it all began

and it might be weeks yet before

this is all over. Steve Bannon has

told a conference of the far right

National Front movement in France

that it is part of a global movement

to. He took aim at what he called

the globalised elite and the

mainstream media. He spoke of a

growing wave of populism across

Europe.

You saw in Italy that the

5-star movement and the league don't

agree on everything, and in fact the

5-star movement is I would argue a

centreleft movement. But they came

together to vote against the

permanent political class in Rome

and in Brussels. Marine Le Pen laid

it out. It is not about left versus

right. That's too simplistic, and

it's the way the opposition party

media has always kept us out of

power. I did not come here as a

teacher, I came to Europe as an

observer and to learn. And what I've

learned is, you are part of a

worldwide movement that is bigger

than France, bigger than Italy,

bigger than Hungary, bigger than all

of it.

Steve Bannon.

Stay with us on BBC

World News, still to come...

It's known as a jewel

of gothic architecture -

but for how much longer?

We take a look around Notre-Dame

cathedral in Paris -

some of which is in danger

of falling apart.

This, the worst terrorist atrocity

on modern European soil in modern

times. In less than 24 hours the

Soviet Union lost an elderly Sikh

leader and replaced him with a

dynamic figure 20 years his junior.

We heard these gunshots and then he

came out and started firing and we

were all petrified.

James Hall Ray,

41, sentenced to 99 years, travelled

to Nashville State prison in a

convoy...

What does it feel like to

be married at last?

It feels fine

thank you.

Is it going to change

your life?

I don't know, really,

I've never been married

This is BBC World News Today.

The latest headlines.

reports from Syria suggest that

government forces have split the

rebel-held enclave of Eastern

Goutah.

The Sri Lankan government

says it will pay for all the damage

caused by days of violent and he was

in protests in the city of own. That

includes buildings gutted by fire

and businesses that were ransacked

in four days of riots. Several

people were also killed in a wave of

attacks on Muslims by Buddhist

hardliners. Jill McGillvary has the

latest. This was the moment the

Prime Minister saw the devastation

for himself if burnt out shops,

smashed windows and badly damaged

mosques. The violence here is a

reminder that tensions between

Buddhist and Muslim immunities run

deep. Many businesses are still

closed and with mosques damaged,

Friday prayers were in the open air

under army protection. The military

are out in force now, on the

surface, all is calm. But many

Muslims say they still feel unsafe

and flee to the jungle to hide at

night. The government now promises

to pay for the damage. Local

officials have been told to start

the clean-up at once. And in another

sign of life starting to return to

normal, the curfew was lifted on

Saturday. But a social media ban is

still in place. At the height of the

violence, a state of emergency was

declared and thousands of troops

were sent onto the streets. Buddhism

mobs mostly from, her community

attacked a Muslim owned properties,

reacting to reports that a Buddhist

man had been killed by a group of

Muslims. This monk risks to his life

to protect mosques in his area from

attack.

TRANSLATION: There were four

attempted attacks, we were able to

successfully stop them and we

quickly got the police to come and

another instance we ran towards the

attackers and sent them away. There

are 14 mosques in this area and we

did not allow anything to happen to

them. We found several petrol bombs,

by well-briefed failed attacks with

petrol bombs.

Mohamed's home was one

sacked.

TRANSLATION: They've looted

our house, my sister only got

married recently. They have taken

all her jewellery. My small brother

could take the money to buy a watch

and they have even taken that. See

how they have torn our two-month-old

child's toy. I think more than

racism their intention was to

looked.

Police say they have

arrested nearly 150 people. Sri

Lanka's president has launched an

independent investigation into what

happened, a signal from the

government that it will restore

justice here. You're watching BBC

World News today. Jessica has the

sports. Starting with football,

Marcus Rashford scored twice as

Manchester United held on to beat

Liverpool and strengthened their

grip on second place in the Premier

League. It means Jose Mourinho's

side narrowed the gap on Manchester

City to 13 points. And they are now

five points clear of Liverpool.

I

don't remember a dangerous situation

to our goal. It was controlled by

them having the ball, controlled by

us not having the Boulter so, I

think we deserve the victory but of

course, a big match, I don't know

because I don't have binoculars, but

my feeling is that the referee was

also very good. And I think a big

game, where nobody goes home

disappointed with the emotion, the

quality, the level and the

intensity.

At the London Stadium

West Ham lost to Birmingham by 3-0.

The game was marred

by ugly scenes during the

second-half, when a number of West

Ham fans took to the pitch to

protest against the owners. The FA

and the Premier League have

condemned the disturbances and say

they will be seeking observations

from West Ham and the club has

launched an inquiry. West Ham are

three points above the relegation

West Ham are three points

above the relegation zone.

We want the supporters behind

us and since I've been

here they've been really good.

But you can't cross the line

had come on the pitch.

The players had gone one down

and we want them to keep their focus

and overall a lot of them did

a really good job.

Not football-wise at times

in the second half but certainly

in the way they behaved.

Confirmation of those results,

Newcastle United have gone five

points clear of the relegation zone

after beating Southampton. West Brom

look to be heading towards the

Championship. They were thrashed at

home to Leicester City. In the late

game, Chelsea beat Crystal Palace.

In Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo scored

twice for Real Madrid and they are

now four points behind Atletico

Madrid in third after winning their

game. Barcelona are currently

leading 2-0. Ireland have won the

Six Nations with one round remaining

after a bonus point victory over

Scotland in Dublin. Two tries from

Jacob Stockdale and further scores

by Conor Murray and Sean Cronin gave

the Irish deserved victory. England

were beaten by France in the other

game. It handed Ireland the trophy.

There was a lot of pressure, a lot

of people talking about it and we

knew how good a Team Scotland were,

so there are a lot of good things in

there. To score a bonus point win in

the Six Nations is a big defeat. Is

always there are things we can do

better, but ultimately, we're really

happy to get a big win.

In cricket,

a 58 ball century from Jonny

Bairstow helped England to a seven

wicket victory in the deciding

one-day international against New

Zealand in Christ Church. England

bowled New Zealand out for 223.

Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid got

three wickets each. A partnership of

84 between Colin de Grandhomme and

Mitchell Santner helped the Kiwis

get a respectable target. But

Bairstow helped tourists win the

series 3-2, winning this one with

more than 17 overs remaining.

It was

outstanding. It really was. We

played extremely well in the

previous game. Today, different

circumstances, different pitch, some

results. Just probably about 50

balls less. It is funny the

conversations we have in the

changing room is about who has got

the quickest hundred A.D. Just is

the first and now Jonny Bairstow has

the fourth quickest. To have four

guys who can go and do that is a

huge compliments to our batting

line-up.

That is to sport for now.

Let's go back to our top stories

Deeney advance of the Syrian regime

forces on the rebel enclave of

Eastern Goutah. To talk more about

it I am now joined by somebody from

Brussels, the Middle East programme

director at Crisis Group. Thank you

rejoining us. Let's get back to

basics - can you explain why Eastern

Ghouta is such a key battle ground?

Well, it is because the area is a

suburb of Damascus, is century. And

it has been rebel-held from pretty

much the beginning of the Syrian

uprising against the regime. And

since the regime has been able to

recover quite a bit of territory

elsewhere in the country, and since

the rebels have been shelling

downtown Damascus from their vantage

point in the suburb, the regime

clearly has decided now to retake

that area now that it has freed up

its troops in other parts of the

country.

So, we have 1000 civilians

dead in the past few weeks,

including 200 children - what will

happen now to the civilians who are

still left in the router and also

the rebels who are still there?

It

is a good question. We don't know.

The pressure is clearly tremendous.

There is a United Nations Security

Council resolution calling for a

nationwide ceasefire, including

Eastern Goutah. And yet we see that

the conflict continues there. At

tremendous cost to the local

population. It's not clear what

their way out is. Technically

Eastern Goutah, apart from the fact

that supposedly there is a

nationwide ceasefire, it is also a

de-escalation zone, which means that

no fighting should be taking place

between the regime and the rebels

Raqqa groups such as Al-Qaeda and

Islamic State are excluded from that

but the presence of an Al-Qaeda

affiliated group there is very

minor. And it is clearly being used

as an excuse to continue attacking

civilian areas. So, now, the

question is, what can other states

do? Exert pressure on Russia, on

Syria, on Iran. We don't see it. And

so, we can hope for any other

measure that would help protect the

lives of civilians in particular.

What more can you tell me about the

how many humanities situation, are

the aid convoys getting through?

The

Red Cross has been able to go in.

But the convoys have been few and

far between. And clearly, even when

they get through, there are

insufficient quantities to provide

the entire population of the area,

which is about 400,000, with aid and

food. So, many people are hunkered

down in underground shelters and

don't dare to come out in most

cases. And even when they do, there

is no food to be had, so the

situation is clearly dire.

Thank you

very much.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris

attracts around 13 million

visitors every year -

and is one of Paris's

leading landmarks.

But for how much longer?

Parts of the 850-year-old Gothic

masterpiece are starting to crumble,

because of pollution eating away

at the stone.

Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.

Because actually the parts

of the pinnacle have fallen down...

Outside on the roof above the back

of the cathedral, this is the part

of Notre-Dame that visitors don't

get to see - fallen chunks

of stoneware, gatgoyles

replaced by PVC pipes,

of stoneware, gargoyles

replaced by PVC pipes,

a flying buttress held together

with metal staples.

This jewel of Gothic architecture

is becoming unstable.

So, I think if there is no repairs,

the risk is that the stone

begins to fall down,

and the risk is also

that the structure itself

of the walls, of the nave

of the cathedral, for instance,

will be in danger.

Parts of the cathedral could fall,

and this is a big risk, yes.

You get a real sense

of the dilapidation of Notre-Dame

cathedral when you come here,

it's a little private garden just

behind the cathedral, off-limits to

the public,

and this section is what

they call the cemetery.

These pieces are all bits of Gothic

masonry which are in such bad repair

they simply fell off.

Some examples of stones that have

been recently damaged...

The problem is pollution,

combined with the cold and rain,

which together are eating

into the limestone -

eventually, it crumbles away.

The only solution is to replace

the masonry block by block,

but that is a massive job,

and the French state

can't afford it.

That's why the cathedral has

launched an international plea

for private funds aimed principally

at the US.

On this very roof,

after all, once cavorted

the hunchback of Disney fame -

oh, yes, and the book.

It's a unique jewel at the worldwide

level, so I think not begging,

but asking for help is the best

thing to do, because it's

not a French monument,

it's not a Paris monument,

it's a worldwide monument.

Time, the elements and the petrol

engine have exacted a heavy toll

on Notre-Dame cathedral.

Today, the imaginative genius

of its medieval craftsmen

is being eroded into annihilation.

Without urgent help,

much more will be lost.

Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris.

Bolivia has unfurled what it says is

the world's biggest flag as part of

its campaign to regain territory it

lost to Chile 100 years ago. The

flag is decorated with national

symbols. Look at all the work that

has been done on it. It was

stretched for about 200 kilometres

between two Bolivian Western cities.

Feel free to get in touch with me

and some of the rest of the team on

Twitter.