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tv   BBC News  BBC News  April 11, 2017 5:00am-5:31am BST

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hello, you're watching bbc world news. i'm ben bland. our top story this hour: rex goes to russia. america's secretary of state, rex tillerson, prepares for crucial talks over moscow's continuing support for syria's president assad. he's been finalising a joint message from the g7 nations, which may include a threat of new targeted sanctions. welcome to the programme. our other main stories this hour: smartphones capture the moment a passenger is forcibly dragged off an overbooked united airlines flight. one of the security officers involved has been placed on leave. we'll hear from someone who saw it all. and a report on the use of the death penalty around the world claims china is hiding the true number of executions it carries out.
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i'm aaron heslehurst. in business: they're finally here, after months of delays. japan's battered toshiba finally tells us its latest numbers and, i tell you what, they ain't for pretty reading. we're going to find out if this company will be booted from the tokyo stock exchange. and alexa start the car and turn the radio on. yep, she's coming to a ford near you. the american car giant teams up with amazon and, guess what? we're taking a test drive. but first, america's secretary of state, rex tillerson, is preparing to fly to moscow later today, for crucial talks over the russian government's continuing support for president assad, after last week's alleged toxic gas attack in syria. this morning, at meetings with allies in italy, he will finalise a joint message that could include a threat
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of new targeted sanctions against high—ranking russian and syrian military officers. greg dawson reports. they call it the family photo and it's a family that used to include russia before it was expelled in 2014, when the gs became the g7. the kremlin may not be represented at this summit but its continued support for the syrian regime dominates conversation. these foreign ministers have been working out the precise message us secretary of state rex tillerson should deliver when he heads the moscow late on tuesday. if i think about the position of vladimir putin now, you know, he is toxic buying the reputation of russia, by his continual association, with a guy who has flagrantly poisoned his own people. the visit will be the first high—level meeting between us and russia since donald trump's election. the new president may want to improve relations with the kremlin, but flatter meet putin's
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continued support of bashar al—assad is making a very difficult. in a common “— is making a very difficult. in a common —— conversation with theresa may the president now aims to be breaking the syria— american alliance. —— russia alliance. but russia has already threatened to retaliate with force, if president trump repeats last week's tom auch strikes on assyrian airbase. —— tomahawk strikes. the syrian regime continues to deny any involvement in the attack, which killed 18 people. the white house maintains it is open to taking further military action. -- 89 to taking further military action. —— 89 people. one of the options the g7 is disgusting is targeted actions if it refuses to buckle. at president putin is used to standing up president putin is used to standing up to international pressure and the chance of him about any his ally seema wrote. —— seem remote. one of the security officers
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involved in an incident when a man was violently dragged off a united airlines flight has been put on leave. the airline had overbooked the plane from chicago, and when no one volunteered to leave to let some of united's staff onboard they selected the man and his travelling companion, at random. when he refused to get off, he was dragged down the aisle by security guards. these are the disturbing moments that have now travelled around the world. several smartphones record as three police hover over a man who is being forced to exit the aircraft. the situation quickly escalates, after one officer manhandles him out of his chair. screaming oh, my god. all three officers then drag him bloodied and injured from the cabin. no, this is wrong! oh, my god! look at what you did to him! the incident began when united airlines asked for volunteers to give up their seats
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for additional crew members. when none were found, they chose passengers at random, but this man refused. one passenger said he claimed to be a doctor who had patients he needed to see. good work, way to go. ten minutes later, in unexplained circumstances, the man, clearly sha ken, ru ns back on the plane. united airlines in a statement, said: that's what makes the world's leading airline flyer friendly. the airline has been criticised for its handling of the situation that some say clearly contrasts with its claim to fly the friendly skies. earlier, an anonymous passenger who was sitting next to the man ejected from the plane spoke to the bbc‘s phil williams. a guy that came from, i don't know who he was,
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some airport authority of some sort, was very calm about it, wasn't rude, wasn't even forceful. i think he was just there to intimidate and say "look, you need to come off", but he didn't use force. there was another officer that came on and then another man who you see in the video, the one with the hat and thejeans, he had a badge, but it's probably helpful to say who you are as an authority figure before you start yanking people out of seats and he didn't do that. the guy who yanked him out of the seat, did he say anything to him before yanking him? "get off". very direct with his words. as soon as he got on, he wasn't cooperating with the two other authority figures, and as soon as he got on, he just said "get off" and was already reaching for him and motioning him to get out. it's a big day for toshiba?
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a huge day. at the top of the headline i said "they're here". i wasn't misleading. we have been delaying these numbers because they are in so much trouble at the moment. an old household name. a huge conglomerate indeed. we will start with those troubles at the company toshiba. we are waiting to see its latest numbers. this is for the last three months of last year. they've been postponing them. they've been postponing them. they've already postponed them twice. the numbers are expected to be disastrous, with a capital d. recently toshiba announced its losses would triple as a result of the difficulties faced by the us westinghouse division, the company's us division has suffered huge cost ove i’i’u ns us division has suffered huge cost overruns at two projects in georgia
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and south carolina. since toshiba told us these numbers would be awful, the company's share price has more than halved. there are fears that toshiba could be delisted from the main tokyo stock exchange if it reports another set of disappointing financial results. the issues faced by toshiba highlights japan's problem with so—called ‘zombie companies'. some experts argue that the central bank is making it too easy forjapanese firms to access funding and this is providing an artificial lifeline to unprofitable businesses. we are going to go live to tokyo to speak to rupert wingfield—hayes who is keeping across this and finding out what's going on in corporate japan. be prepared — she's coming to a ford car near you. alexa, behave yourself! ford has partnered with amazon to integrate its alexa voice assistant into its latest line of cars.
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it includes the ability to remotely start the car, just by asking. all of that coming up in world business report, coming up in 20 minutes. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcaaron. thanks. a new report claims china is carrying out far more executions than it officially records. that's one finding of amnesty international‘s annual report on the death penalty around the world. it found there were more than 1,032 executions globally in 2016. a drop on the previous year, when 1,634 were recorded. more than 90% of the world's executions were in five countries — china, iran, saudi arabia, iraq and pakistan. it's thought china executed more than all the others. i asked dali yang, from the university of chicago, for his take on the numbers. we are not going to play you that.
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we can go live to stephen mcdonell, who's in beijing. amnesty‘s report, it is hard to get accurate numbers from china, i am assuming they don't publish them, so how do we know how many executions there are in china? amnesty draws on several sources, including some public information, for example the courts. some court material is published. reports in government owns newspapers. so they are pulling all of this together to try to get the best number they can. even by those measures amnesty international says it can't be pinned down a fraction of how many people get killed here because, for example, in the court material is here it is an incomplete list. for example, by one measure amnesty says it was able to
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track my 100 and 30 deaths i think between 2014 and 2016 in publications. —— 930. the court publications. —— 930. the court publications had only a small fraction of those. so it is very difficult and it's a combination of testimony at what's available on the public record and speaking to the experts. this criticism from amnesty international, do you think it will trouble beijing at all, or do you think they are unfazed by it? trouble beijing at all, or do you think they are unfazed by mm trouble beijing at all, or do you think they are unfazed by it? it is quite remarkable. every time you hear that statistic, that china executes the same number of people every year as the rest of the world combined, and yet it is kind of like water off a duck‘s back. it's not like china has done anything. there is things have been put in place over the last few years. example,
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every death—penalty case must now go toa every death—penalty case must now go to a supreme court before a person is executed, so the chinese system has dubbed something to try to bring in the numbers. but this accusation of killing the same number of people as the rest of the world combined has been about for about a decade and this is just the latest report, which seems to confirm yet again that china is at the top of the list. an interesting aside is that the us for the first time has fallen off that list of the top five countries, which now include, according to amnesty, china, iran, iraq and pakistan, and saudi arabia. thank you very much indeed. there have been more violent anti—government protests in venezuela. they began last week after the opposition leader was banned from holding office for 15 years. the organisation of american states says fresh elections are the only way to resolve the deepening crisis in the country. tim allman reports. clouds of tear gas, protesters throwing stones. a situation that appears to be
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spiralling out of control. the president has described these demonstrators as right—wing extremists, trying to set the country alight. they insist they are fighting for their freedom. "we are young and we need change," says this woman. "we are all committed. "i need to be out here fighting," says this protester, "because really it is on us. "we can't let it end like this." the latest round of political unrest was sparked by a decision to ban this man, the opposition leader, from political office. he has accused the president of setting out on the path to dictatorship. nicolas maduro says his opponents are trying to foment violence, laying the ground forforeign invasion. it's a crisis that has hardly gone unnoticed in the region. neighbouring countries calling for elections, and soon. translation: for regional
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stability, venezuelan needs a legitimate government. the government that allows the country to get new financial resources, new international support. in the capital, caracas, police have arrested dozens of people, yet the clashes continue. demonstrators say in the coming days they are planning what they call the mother of all protest marches. the temperatures in venezuela continues to rise. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we've a special report on somalia's illegalfishing industry. raising concerns a fresh wave of piracy could return to the horn of africa. pol pot, one of the century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible
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for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock and as for a sporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors will be chasing her new world best time for years to come. quite quietly but quicker and quicker, she seemed just to slide away under the surface and disappear. this is bbc world news.
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i'm ben bland. the latest headlines: the us secretary of state will travel to moscow later, as russia comes under increasing pressure from g7 countries over its support of the syrian government. after a passenger is forcibly dragged off an overbooked united airlines flight, one of the security officers involved is placed on leave. there is concern that piracy will return to the horn of africa, after three ships were hijacked in less than a month. the bbc‘s abdinoor aden went to the town of bandar beyla, for many years referred to as a piracy hub in somalia, to find out if people think there will be a resurgence of piracy in the region. sunrise in the fishing town of bandar beyla in somalia. fishermen return, ready to offload their catch. but unlike before, the boats
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these days only a empty. fishing played a key role in the progress of this town in the past, but not any more, due to illegalfishing and the drought that has worsened the situation. there are fears that the ships along the coast and the farmland inland is once again driving somalis into piracy. last month eight sri lankans and their, ross vessel were hijacked off the somali coast. —— comoros vessel. less tha n somali coast. —— comoros vessel. less than two weeks later and indian ship and its crew was seized. this local fishermen points the finger at the influx of illegal fishing vessels. translation: this is the reason people are forced into piracy. these boats are illegally fishing and people are forced to ta ke fishing and people are forced to take their guns to defend themselves. they are thieves, and they are everywhere in the landscape of somalia. locals also accused
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illegal fishing vessels of violent attacks on fishermen. translation: they were my neighbours. they were killed in their boats, and some of them were run over by vessels. experts fear the situation along africa's second largest coastline could worsen without proper policing. i think there is every possibility that piracy could return if the international community doesn't wake up and start taking precautions, and if we don't do something about somalia's livelihoods and coastal communities. piracy is going to come back. the pirates haven't gone away, they've just been doing other things. for now, coastal towns like bandar beyla remain relatively peaceful. locals eager to continue fishing without incident along their coastline. but without effective solutions to illegal fishing without effective solutions to illegalfishing and without effective solutions to illegal fishing and assistance in developing the maritime economy, the
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risk of a return to the old times remains real. in other news north korea has responded to the us move to deploy an aircraft carrier off the korean peninsula by saying it would defend itself with a powerful force of arms. the foreign ministry said the country was right to arm itself in every way, including with nuclear weapons. a big fire has destroyed a camp housing about fifteen—hundred migrants in northern france. at least ten people were hurt when flames tore through the closely—packed huts. according to an official, the fire started during a dispute between afghans and kurds. migrants in northern france are usually trying to reach britain. a teacher and a child have been killed in a shooting inside a primary school classroom in california. the gunman, believed to be the teacher's husband, is also dead. another child was wounded. local police are treating the shooting, in san bernardino, as a murder—suicide. in mexico, at least five people have been killed and 20 injured by the collapse of a car park which was still under construction. authorities say there
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are still people trapped at the building site, in mexico city. the hungarian president has ratified a new law on foreign institutions in higher education, despite days of protests. opponents say the law is designed to destroy the central european university, funded by the american—based billionaire george soros. he has been strongly critical of the nationalist prime minister viktor orban. the new law means the university will not be allowed to award diplomas because it's registered in new york. rounding up some sports news now. arsenal's hopes of getting into the champions league places in the english premier league have suffered anoother humilating blow. they lost 3—0 to crystal palace on monday evening. and it means they are in sixth place, seven points adrift of manchester cityt in 4th. their opponents, though, will be delighted with the win — palace are now six points clear of the relegation zone while the arsenal manager had some explaining to do after his team lost four successive away
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games for the first time under his direction. i face that in every press conference at the moment and tonight i'm not in the mood to speak about that. reporter: when do you think you will be letting the fans and everybody know? i think at the moment i need to pay more respect to the fact that we had a disappointing result and focus on that and not find as well excuses that are not excuses. finally we see the light at the end of the tunnel. and then we have seen more than that with the performances and the results, particularly in this week. five victories out of six. the last two results in terms of the two wins at chelsea and again at arsenal, just show what kind of team we are at the moment.“ at arsenal, just show what kind of team we are at the moment. if the lads keep this up they should fear nobody. the usa, canada and mexico will make a joint bid to host the 2026 world cup.
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the usa hopes to host 60 matches, with canada and mexico preparing to welcome 10 games each. it will be the first staging of the tournament under the new 48 team format and if successful, would be the first time a world cup has been shared by three hosts. the usa and mexico have both previously staged the event. we do not have to build any hotels, airports, highways, train tracks. most importantly, any stadiums. that is an extraordinary advantage. it is not only an advantage brass, frankly it is an advantage looking forward for fever and the ioc, as these events become very expensive, and the criticism that often happens afterwards when stadia in particular are not used anything, as has been the case in south africa and brazil. their governments have taken lots of criticism for that. we do need to do any of that. we do need to develop new stadiums. they may be new ones
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that are part of this bid by the time 2026 coetzee, that we're not going to build them. the los angeles rams are building one, that will be a phenomenal stadium. to me, it is not only a good thing for our bid but a good signal to the rest of the world that this can be done without necessarily building infrastructure venue necessarily building infrastructure venue specifically for one event. argentina's football association has sacked edgardo bauza as coach of the national side. he leaves with his side fifth in the qualifying group for next year's world cup — only the top four are guaranteed a place at the finals. the bbc‘s south american football correspondent tim vickery explained what happened. it is no surprise that he found it very hard. he is a thoroughly competent club coach in domestic south american football, not he had never worked at this level of quality before. —— but he had. he had no time to prepare. he was parachuted into had no time to prepare. he was pa rachuted into eight had no time to prepare. he was parachuted into eight rounds of world cup qualifiers without a single friendly to prepare his side. his record there, three wins, two
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draws and three defeats, nine goals scored, ten conceded, his record is not very good. but i don't think he has had the greatest working conditions. another side struggling in the relegation zone in spain is grenada, second from bottom and seven points from safety. they have appointed former arsenal captain tony adams until the end of the season. the 50—year—old was named as the club's sporting director last week and now ta kes sporting director last week and now takes over after they sacked lu casarts takes over after they sacked lucasarts rows. —— lucas althraz. they are still children, but britain's prince george and princess charlotte will have important roles next month, at the wedding of their aunt, pippa middleton. kensington palace has confirmed the duke and duchess of cambridge's children will be page boy and bridesmaid at the ceremony in berkshire, england. miss middleton was bridesmaid for her sister kate in 2011. she will now marry her fiance james matthews on the 20th may. prince william and kate, and prince harry, will also be there. and finally a weird, wet view that could disorient even the strongest swimmer.
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the pool at market square tower in houston, texas is 150 metres — more than 490 feet — above the street. but it also has a glass bottom. so even though you're swimming a long way up you can see all the way down to the ground. there is 8 inch thick glass at the bottom of the pool — reassuring, maybe, to some. but paddlers of a nervous disposition might be best advised to sit this one out on the poolside. gosh, that looks a dizzying. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @benmbland. coming up injust a couple of minutes, aaron has all the latest business news in world business report. first, a look at the weather where you are. good morning.
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monday had a lot to live up to after that glorious day on sunday, the warmest day of the year so far for many of us. but it wasn't too bad. as you can see along that sussex coastline we kept some sunshine and was reasonably pleasant, 16 degrees the hive. a different story further north and west across the highlands of scotland. here it was a rather grey, bleak scenario into the afternoon. through today we will keep more of a breeze and some showery weeks of rain to the north—west of the great glen, and that will stay before drifting off into the northern isles through today. elsewhere, some sunny spells coming through and some fare with a cloud developing in the afternoon. all in all reasonably pleasant day for many, a good deal dry weather in the story. top temperatures again of around 16. a bit fresher in the north and west. the wind direction changes subtly as we move towards
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wednesday, swinging around to north—westerly. that will drift those were the funds further south. by those were the funds further south. by then, a week affair, a band of showery outbreaks of rain sinking down through wales into the midlands. it should stay dry during daylight hours into the south—east corner. behind it, somewhat breezy conditions, feeling colder on the exposed coasts, ten or 11 and maybe some gales later in the day. as we move through wednesday night and into thursday morning it will be a chilly start. low single figure is not out of the question. a touch of light frost first thing, and a touch of dry weather in the story. further north and west we maintain the risk of some showery rain here. it is almost a repeat performance for good friday, the start of the long easter weekend, with the weather fronts sinking southwards. not much in the way of rain, but cooler, fresher, showery conditions further north and west. this will be the setup, and worth bearing in mind for the easter weekend. we keep that north—westerly flow which will make it feel
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noticeably fresher for the time of year, 8— 14 the hive. but if your glass is always half full, the good news is there will be a good deal of dry weather for the easter weekend, albeit on the cloudy side. it could bea albeit on the cloudy side. it could be a classic case of mostly sunny days with some april showers from time to time. that's it. enjoy. this is bbc world news. the headlines: the g7 group of industrialised nations are due to finalise a common position to present to russia. it follows moscow's continued support for syria's assad regime. the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, will then take their message to moscow. united airlines is underfire for having one of its passengers dragged off a flight in chicago. the plane was overbooked, and when no one volunteered to leave, they selected the man at random. a security guard has now been sent on leave. the human rights group amnesty international says there has been a sharp drop in the number of people executed around the world.
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the death penalty total last year fell by more than a third, tojust over 1,000. there've been more violent anti—government protests in
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