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tv   Newsday  BBC News  February 16, 2017 1:00am-1:31am GMT

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i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: north korea asks malaysia to hand over the body of a man thought to be kim jong—nam, the half—brother of north korea's leader. we have the latest on the investigation. millions have voted across indonesia but jakarta election‘s been overshadowed by the governor's blasphemy trial. i'm babita sharma in london. president trump re—ignites a public feud with his own intelligence agencies over the resignation of his national security adviser. i think it's very very unfair what's happened to general flynn, the way he was treated and the documents and papers that were illegally — i stress that — illegally leaked. and a helicopter pilot is killed and hundreds of homes in southern new zealand are evacuated as wildfires burn out of control. good morning.
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it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london and 9am in kuala lumpur, where north korea has asked the malaysian authorities to hand over the body of a man widely thought to be the half—brother of the north korean leader kim jong—un. north korea has objected to a postmortem examination that could determine how kimjong—nam died. our correspondent in kuala lumpur, karishma vaswani, has the latest on the investigation. it's business as usual in pyongyang, everything moving at clockwork precision. today, north korea's reclusive leader, kim jong—un, made an appearance at a rally celebrating the 75th anniversary of his father's birthday.
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but away from the pomp and the pageantry, a tale of murder and mystery. this man, kimjong—nam, is the north korean leader's exiled older half—brother. he's believed to have been murdered at an airport in malaysia on monday. between the hours of 9am to 10am in the morning on monday, the man believed to be kim jong—nam was attacked in this crowded, busy airport. police say that he was accosted by at least one woman who covered his face with a cloth filled with some sort of burning chemical. malaysian police say these pictures may hold the key to what happened. these cctv images have been broadcast on some malaysian media networks. police have arrested one woman carrying a vietnamese passport who they say is connected to this case. kim jong—nam, seen here as a child with his father, kim jong—il, was the favourite son and next in line to take over until he fell out of favour and spent several years
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overseas in exile. it's not clear why or even if kim jong—nam was murdered and while south korea says it was definitely pyongyang that ordered the hit, it could also have been a disgruntled business partner, chinese triads or a jilted lover. whoever killed him, that is one possible threat to kim jong—un removed, and even if it was not pyongyang that ordered the killing, i doubt if there'll be much mourning in pyongyang. the two half—brothers didn't really get on. you find some people who will tell you they never actually met. north korea has yet to comment on the murder, but embassy officials spent hours at the hospital, reportedly objecting to a postmortem examination that could determine how he died. they've also requested that the body is released to them right away, but malaysia has refused. let's update you on the regional elections in indonesia where tens of millions have voted.
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but all eyes are on the capital, jakarta, and the election of a new governor, overshadowed by the incumbent‘s blasphemy trial. basuki ta haja purnama, or "ahok," as he is known, is the first christian leader of the majority muslim city in over 50 yea rs. rebecca henschke is in jakarta for us now. well, and most credible quick count we have got, it looks like the election will go to a second round in april, that neither of the candidates, governor purnama or his opponents got enough to win a light. most of the polls show that governor purnama had the majority of the vote, but not enough, and we saw the other candidate accepting defeat last night alongside a tearful family, the some of the former
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leader, and he clearly didn't get enough to get into the second round. this will go forward for a number of months, i think in april, the second round, very much seen as an opportunity to see how indonesia, especially jakarta, is doing, especially jakarta, is doing, especially religious tolerance in the city. yes, that is right, the election so far, the campaign, has been extremely divided, and they have really gone after the conservative muslim vote, benefiting from governor purnama's blasphemy charges and accusations against him of insulting islam, so the next few months analysts so‘oialo click to see a brutal campaign where those issues of race and religion, very sensitive issues in in —— indonesia asked likely to still be part of what will be a very tight race.
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also making news this hour: at least seven people have been killed and several more injured in two separate suicide attacks in north—western pakistan. a government compound and a van carrying judges were hit in the two attacks. thousands of police and soldiers have surrounded a buddhist temple on the outskirts of bangkok in apparent preparation for a raid to arrest an influential monk wanted on suspicion of money laundering. the thai government has put the sprawling site of the dhammakaya temple under military control after the authorities there failed to hand over phra dhammachayo. the final hearing will take place later on wednesday in hong kong for the territory's former chief executive donald tsang, who's is facing charges of corruption. mr tsang, who ran hong kong between 2005 to 2012, pleaded not guilty to three charges of bribery and misconduct, relating to a luxury flat in china. and a short time ago he came into
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the court hearing. we will bring you the court hearing. we will bring you the latest on that as soon as we get it. thousands of tons of aid from malaysia is being distributed in bangladesh to rohingya refugees from myanmar. it's estimated that as many as 70,000 rohingya muslims have fled myanmar since the start of an army operation last october. scientists in the united states say they can detect autism in children's brains long before any behavioural symptoms emerge. currently the earliest children tend to be diagnosed is at the age of two, but a new study has found that it might be possible to detect signs of autism in the first year of life. a fierce heatwave is affecting parts of australia. this is near the town of birdsville, in queensland, where this police officer is actually cooking an egg in a frying pan on his car bonnet. the area, which is on the edge of the simpson desert,
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has experienced temperatures as high as 47.1celsius, that's just under 117 degrees fahrenheit, in the last fortnight. the egg took less than a0 seconds to cook. let's return to our main story now, the death of the north korean leader's half—brother kim jong—nam. earlier i spoke to dr go myong—hyun from the asan institute for policy studies. i began by asking him why north korea has asked malaysian authorities to hand over the body. if i had to speculate, i would say that north korea doesn't want the malaysia and authorities to analyse the body for chemicals, which would allow the authorities to possibly trace back the path to north korea. are you saying that north korea had a hand in the death of kimjong—nam? it's highly likely. especially if you look into the different elements involved in the incident. the fact that the attack has been carried out in broad daylight at a very high profile location,
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such as an airport, especially with the weapon used to kill kim jong—nam, which is either poison spray or poison needles. this is a typical m0, modus operandi, of north korean agents and there's a history of north korean agency using these weapons to eliminate their targets. what do you think, doctor go, was the motive to have the half brother of kim jong—un killed? kim jong—un seems to have some sort of a complex when it comes to his legitimacy for his power in north korea. kim jong—un happens to be the youngest of three sons that his father, formerly the leader of north korea, kimjong il, kimjong—nam happens to be the eldest son. the eldest son has the most legitimacy
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so i think there's a bit of an inferiority comlex going on here. president trump has lost another cabinet nominee just days after his security adviser michael flynn resigned. his choice for the post of labour secretary, andrew puzder, says he no longer wishes to be considered for the role. there's been opposition to mr puzder from within mr trump's own party since he acknowledged that he'd employed a housekeeper who wasn't permitted to work in the us. mr trump has reignited his feud with the us intelligence community and the media, by accusing the agencies of illegally leaking classified information. in a series of strongly—worded tweets, mr trump denounced the leaks as "very un—american," and described as "nonsense" a report in the new york times, which claimed there'd been repeated contacts between his team and senior russian officials during the us election campaign. here's our north america editorjon sopel. these are not the best of times. not yet four weeks in, his travel ban‘s been blocked, his national security adviser‘s been fired and the questions about his links with
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russia are piling up. and when the president is angry, the place he vents is on twitter and, boy, did he let rip this morning. and, on the reporting of this: the president of the united states and the prime minister of israel. at his news conference with the israeli prime minister, no mention of concerns about links with russia and you'd never have guessed that it was the president who'd forced general flynn's resignation. michael flynn, general flynn, is a wonderful man. i thinks he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media.
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as i call it, the fake media in many cases. and i think it's really a sad thing that he was treated so badly. i think, in addition to that, from intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. it's criminal action, criminal act. but on capitol hill there's one central concern among senior republicans and democrats, it's the administration's links to the russian government. the base issue is getting to the bottom of what the russian interference was and what the relationship was with associates of the trump effort and so that is the big elephant in the room that has got to be dealt with in the most appropriate way. the american people need to understand, we need to understand and it needs to be dealt with quickly. so this is what we know. 0njanuary 15th, the vice president went on television to deny that russian sanctions had been discussed in those phone calls. on january 26th, the acting
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attorney general tells the white house actually they were. that's when the president was informed. but it wasn't until february ninth, when the story was about to break in the press, that vice president mike pence was told. that means he was deliberately kept in the dark for over two weeks. listen to the president last friday. i don't know about it. i haven't seen it. what report is that? and this was his spokesman yesterday seeking to explain that discrepancy. what he was asked specifically is, was he aware of a washington post story? he hadn't seen that at the time. of course he was involved, ijust said that he was aware of the situation right after the white house council informed him back injanuary. it's hard to avoid the conclusion that this is an administration that is reeling. just take donald trump's controversial travel ban. he announced at the end of last week there'd be a new executive order on monday or tuesday to replace it. it's now wednesday, there's been nothing. work is not getting done because of the turmoil. you're watching newsday on the bbc.
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still to come on the programme: the new app to help combat child abduction and trafficking that's being launched by the police in china. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. it has a terrible effect on the moral of the people, i'm terrified of the repercussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift got under way, there was no letup in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flowed down to the sea on the east
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of the island, away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they've called it mir, russian for peace. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: north korea asks malaysia to hand over the body of a man thought to be the half—brother of the north korean leader, kim jong—un. he's believed to have been poisoned. president trump re—ignites a public feud with his own intelligence agencies over the resignation of his national security adviser. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post has
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more on the killing of a man thought to be the half—brother of north korean leader, kimjong—un. citing an anonymous source, the paper says that kim jong—nam felt he was living on borrowed time. the financial times reports on a visit to 0man by the iranian president hassan rouhani. it says it's the first visit to a gulf country since the president took office in 2013 and is a sign that tehran is seeking to ease tensions with saudi arabia by calling for a ceasefire in yemen. and in singapore's straits times they look at the 75th anniversary of the island's occupation by japan, with the prime minister saying the lessons of history must not be forgotten. those are the lead stories in major publications around the world.
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now, babita, a former leader in the mobile phone market is sparking discussion online? yes, rico. do you remember the nokia 3310 phone? well, rumours are rife that nokia is planning to bring back the iconic design. mobile users of a certain age are getting rather excited on social media about the possible return of this sturdy, reliable handset. but alas, nokia has refused to confirm if the rumours are true. a busy day in the white house. donald trump signalling a shift away from the long—standing us position that ace 2—state solution is the a nyway to that ace 2—state solution is the anyway to achieve piece in the middle east. speaking in a joint news c0 nfe re nce middle east. speaking in a joint news conference with benjamin netanyahu, mrtrump news conference with benjamin netanyahu, mr trump promised to deliver what he called a great peace deal before arguing he could live live with two states or one state. as far as settlements i'd
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like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit, we'll work something out, i'd like to see a deal being made. two state, one state, and i like the one that both parties like, i'm very happy with the one that both parties like, i could live with either one. and i believe that the great opportunity for peace comes from a regional approach from involving our new found arab partners. and we have been discussing that and it is something that is very different, hasn't been discussed before and it's actually a much bigger deal, much more important deal in a sense, would take in many many different countries and would cover a very large territory so... i didn't know that you were going to mention that but now that you did, i think that it's a terrific thing. thousands of people have taken to the streets of paris to show their support for a black youth who claims
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he was raped by police. there's been growing tension in some of the city's suburbs since the 22—year—old was arrested and allegedly assaulted. 0ne police officer has been charged with rape, and three others with assault. and as lucy williamson reports from paris, the president's appeal for calm is not being heeded. anger is spreading along france's urban veins. tonight, chants of "police, rapists, murderers" rung outjust south of the sacre coeur. this is a protest about power. the power of individuals, their community, the state. france has been living with it for years, but in the last fortnight the story of theo's assault in a rundown paris suburb has reignited it. there are long—standing divisions rising to the surface here. the deepest anger in these protests has come from different people who say they feel ignored and left behind.
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who feel that the french establishment is remote and those in power abusive, corrupt and self—serving. amateur footage of theo's arrest shows him being taken to the car, the names of other young men who died while being chased or arrested in the suburbs north of paris are repeated like a mantra of mistrust in the police. they want us to just shut up, 0k? they don't want us to express in any shape or form of protest, 0k? and that's how i feel about it. it's not like they're here to protect us. they're just here to shut us down. over the past two weeks, the protests have grown, spreading to lyon, marseille. this is no longer a case of one man, in one paris suburb. it's a reminder of france's deep divisions, and a test of the trust between people and power.
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lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. emergency services are battling a wildfire in new zealand which is burning out of control on the outskirts of the city of christchurch. hundreds of people have been evacuated and several homes destroyed. sarah corker has more. changing winds have made the fire is unpredictable and fanned the flames. the wildfires are now disturbingly close to communities in christchurch. tens of thousands of homes are without electricity and more than a50 properties have been evacuated. it's running. iwouldn't say it's out of control because we have resources working on it but it is heavy material and once it gets burning it hard to stop. on the ground fire breaks have been dug. new zealand's military deployed to help. from the air, 15 helicopters worked in difficult conditions,
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filling up on water from a nearby river. 0ne pilot died when his helicopter crashed on tuesday. it started in the port hills district earlier this week, but spread rapidly overnight. those evacuated face and though anxious white. we've been up pretty much all night since we got evacuated and keeping an eye on it. my neighbours up the hill are absolutely terrified because they're surrounded by forest and gauze and long, dry grass so they're very very nervous. across the region unusually dry conditions have been persisted for three years. 0fficials dry conditions have been persisted for three years. officials say in some areas blames are up to 20 metres high and several properties have been destroyed. sarah corker, bbc news. police in china are calling for help from the general public to tackle child abduction and trafficking. the problem has been highlighted after police in beijing launched a new app designed to make it easier for citizens to report what they see as suspicious or criminal activity. stephen mcdonell reports from beijing. police in beijing havejust launched
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an app to make every mobile phone user potentially an informant. if someone sees something suspicious, theyjust dial it in. and they want to make it easier. there are five main categories, lost property, traffic incidents, helping older people when they get lost, the reporting of anyone who looks suspicious. but, remarkably, the first category, the thing that really sticks out
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when you open up the app is asking for information on the abduction and trafficking of babies. a very useful application in china. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. more troubles for the ride hailing service uber. this time in india where striking drivers have caused traffic chaos. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. it's steak, served rare for the winner of best in show at westminster. rumour, a german shepherd, was hand fed steak from a silver platter at a new york stea k restau ra nt. a reward for being named best in show at the westminster kennel club dog show, competing against 2,800 other dogs on tuesday. looks like tree in joy that, doesn't
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it? -- looks like tree in joy that, doesn't it? —— enjoyed that. that's all for now, stay with bbc world news. hello. wednesday was a real mixed bag of a day right across the british isles. for some, after a dull start, it turned out to be a really glorious day, dare i say, almost springlike. for others, my word, you had to wait. eventually in the east some saw some brightness after a thoroughly miserable day. it depended on where you were in relation to the weather front which started life in the south—west and moved ever further to the north—east. into the channel islands, eventually brighter skies into the south—east. it won't be a cold start to the day. given all the cloud around, the front has not quite disappeared. we still have a vigourous area of low pressure close by scotland.
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by to the north of scotland to start that day. notice the isobars squeezing together. that could well signify some gusts of wind around 30, if not a0 miles per hour to start off the day. and you will have some rain and blustery showers, especially so in northern and western parts of scotland, and maybe the odd bit close by in northern ireland. the odd rogue shower getting across the border into the north of england. further south, some brightness in the heart of wales, the midlands, towards east anglia into lincolnshire. further south, again, lots of cloud around and quite a bit of hill fog. that will give you a grey and murky start. that will take some time before it lifts away. but things improving widely in the greater part of england and wales. rain returning to northern ireland eventually push into the north—west of wales. maybe the odd shower may getting into the south—western parts of england and scotland. all the while, the breeze will be noticeable in northern areas. the top temperatures, 10—11 degrees or so on the day. and that's a trend
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we'll see continuing on into the weekend. that puts us above the average for the time of year, closer to eight or nine depending on where you are. through the course of the evening and overnight, a ribbon of cloud going across the irish sea into the north of england. then, come friday, it will leave behind a tail of cloud south—west to it diagonally, the best of the brightness on either side. 0n into the weekend, staying mild. there will be some sunny intervals around. quite a bit of cloud as well. rain at times, especially in the north. this is how we start the weekend. quite a few isobars. so, breezy. this weather front will weaken as we go further south. it's this area of cloud and rain that gives that wet prospect for northern areas. i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: north korea has asked malaysia to hand over the body of a man who's thought to be the half—brother of its leader kim jong—un. kim jong—nam is thought to have been
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poisoned as he waited to board a flight on monday. local authorities are carrying out an autopsy to establish the exact cause of death, but pyongyang has reportedly objected. residents of the indonesian capital, jakarta, have voted for a new governor in an election overshadowed by the incumbent‘s blasphemy trial. private polling suggests ahok holds a narrow lead. and this story is trending on bbc.com: excessive weddings in india may soon be curbed if a new bill is approved after the wedding of a businessman‘s daughter costed around $7a million sparking outrage. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: the ruling body of the church of england, the synod, has narrowly voted to reject
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