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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 31, 2017 3:00am-3:31am GMT

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welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: donald trump fires america's top legal adviser, acting attorney general sally yates, for questioning whether his immigration ban is legal. a white house statement accuses her of betrayal. there is a growing outcry against the travel restrictions, from the public, politicians, and now former president obama. police in quebec charge a french—canadian student with shooting dead six muslim worshippers at a mosque. and a special bbc investigation into the traffickers selling baby chimpanzees from west africa. the real tragedy of this trade is that, to get one infant chimpanzee out of the jungle, all of the adults in its family have to be killed. within the past half—hour donald trump has fired america's
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most senior legal official, his acting attorney general, sally yates. she had taken the rare step of defying the white house, and ordered justice department lawyers not to defend in court the president's travel restrictions targeting seven muslim—majority nations. she said in a statement she wasn't convinced they were legal. a white house statement accuses her of betraying thejustice department. mr trump has now named dana boente, us attorney for the eastern district of virginia, to replace sally yates as acting attorney general. live now to the bbc‘s david willis, in washington. well, david, what is the latest? well, david, what is the latest? well, a night of swiftly moving developments, mike. here, yet another night of that kind. trump
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white house, clearly affronted by the behaviour of sally yates, her writing to thejustice department lawyers to basically say that they shouldn't be defending challenges to the donald trump executive order in court, because she is not convinced that it court, because she is not convinced thatitis court, because she is not convinced that it is lawful, that met by swift sacking on the part of the trump administration. and they issued a statement in the last few minutes, saying the acting attorney general, sally yates, has betrayed the department ofjustice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the united states. and the statement goes on to say, this order was approved as to form and legality by the department ofjustice office form and legality by the department of justice office of legal form and legality by the department ofjustice office of legal counsel. imean, ofjustice office of legal counsel. i mean, what all this basically conjures up is the thought that, had they waited just a few days before introducing this executive order,
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then presumably jeff sessions, introducing this executive order, then presumablyjeff sessions, the alabama senator who is donald trump's big four attorney general, would have been in place, and they would have been in place, and they would have been in place, and they would have avoided some more damaging headlines. and it has been a day of damaging headlines, with barack obama breaking his silence after just ten days, barack obama breaking his silence afterjust ten days, to say that he doesn't approve of this travel ban, and various american diplomats around the world also expressing disquiet, mike. and two more thoughts, i guess, occurring too many of our viewers. first of all, will dana boente in force the executive order? but before all that, can president trump do this? well, yes. i mean, there are a lot of questions here. of course, ultimately, what is going to happen with this executive order? it does appear that there are going to be legal challenges. there were more advanced today, and that ultimately the fate of that very controversial move to basically prohibit the
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arrival into the united states of refugees, syrian refugees, indefinitely, and other refugees for several months, could end up going all the way to the united states supreme court. or write, david. we will see very soon, i think —— or write. and in the past few hours, senior democratic politicians have gathered at a rally outside the supreme court. house minority leader nancy pelosi and senate leader chuck schumer called mr trump's executive order un—american. all of us take an oath of office to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. what the president has done is not in the interest of security. it is reckless. it is reckless and rash.
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america, for its history, has been a shining beacon, and it has said we welcome you if you are oppressed because of your religion, because of your political beliefs, because of who you are. the lady in the harbour, in the city in which i live, holds a wonderful torch. that torch has stood for the greatness of america, to all americans, and to the citizens of the world. we will not let this evil order extinguish that great torch. we have had network news programmes anchoring their broadcasts from the statue of liberty, it has been that kind of time. mr trump's executive order has led to demonstrations outside the us, including here in london. an estimated 10,000 people gathered outside downing street, and there were similar, smaller protests across the uk. more than 1.5 million people have signed a petition calling for the uk
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to not extend an official state visit to donald trump. there has been plenty of outcry against mr trump's travel ban across the middle east. in iraq, for example, the parliament has called for a ban on americans, and in lebanon, there has been despair among refugees fleeing the war in neighbouring syria. last year, the us admitted some 12,000 syrians. 0ur middle east correspondent alex forsyth has spent the day with some of those affected. baby crying. a desperate sound, but all too familiar at the un's refugee reception in beirut. this is where hundreds of thousands of those who have fled syria come for aid and advice. this morning, along with the usual queues and quiet resignation, there was added frustration, now syrian refugees have been banned from the us. for two years, yasser mohamad has wanted to find a new country in which he can settle, but said today, even if given the chance, he would never go to america. translation: i don't want to go
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to a racist country, that discriminates against arabs and muslims. for others, it is another hope fading, like wahida ismail, desperate to leave lebanon and get medical help for her child, who has cancer. "as a syrian, ijust wanted to be treated like any other human being," she told me, "welcomed in a country that keeps my rights and protects my children." only a fraction of syrian refugees would have been eligible for resettlement in the united states, those deemed to be the most vulnerable. yet still, here, news of president trump's executive order has increased the sense of hopelessness. many feel another door is now closed to them. elsewhere there is anger, as cases emerge of legitimate residents being stopped from returning to america, like ali diwan. from iraq, he has lived near la for three years. but he is stuck injordan, after leaving the us for work. yesterday he missed his six—year—old daughter's birthday. translation: today i went to buy a new ticket,
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but companies advised me not to travel. travellers are still trapped in airports, since yesterday. as the confusion is played out across the middle east, the scale of those affected is still unclear. world—renowned clarinet player kinan azmeh is in lebanon for a concert. born in syria, living in new york, one of many unsure if he will be able to return. i haven't been able to go back to damascus for a few years. and now this other home, and all my friends, you know, and family, also in the us, now that's also been blocked. the consequences of america's immigration changes are echoing around the region, in many places leaving behind questions and growing discord. alex forsyth, bbc news, beirut. canadian police have charged a french—canadian student over
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the shooting dead of six muslim worshippers at a mosque in quebec. a number of others people were injured in the attack, and five remain in a critical condition. alexandre bissonnette made a brief appearance in court, in handcuffs. he faces six counts of murder, and five of attempted murder. from quebec city, aleem maqbool reports. it is a quiet, suburban corner of quebec city that was the site of this bloodshed. a gunman burst into the islamic cultural centre during evening prayers, spraying the worshippers with bullets. police say the victims were all men aged between 35 and 60, including, according to locals, a university professor, and the owner of this butcher's shop, close to where the attack took place. translation: quebec is the most secure city. for me, it's beautiful. so, to have an attack like this here... police said one man was detained close to the scene, but he is now thought to have been just a witness.
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the suspected gunman fled in his car across a bridge in the centre of this city, but pulled over and called police to turn himself in. he waited, and appears to have been detained without a struggle. he has now been named as alexandre bissonnette, in his late 20s. well, the police haven't talked about a motive, as yet. but, even though this is known to be a peaceful place, with very little crime, that same mosque here in quebec city has been targeted with islamophobia before. injune, during during the muslim holy month of ramadan, a pig's head was left on the doorstep, but mosque leaders say there were no threats of late. prime ministerjustin trudeau called the killing a terrorist attack on muslims. to the more than one million canadians who profess the muslim faith, i want to say directly, we are with you. 36 million hearts are breaking with yours. and know that we value you.
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in recent days, the prime minister has stood up against some of the anti—islamic rhetoric coming from the us, saying canada would continue to welcome those fleeing persecution, no matter their faith. aleem maqbool, bbc news, quebec city. in other news: the leader of a group allegedly linked to the 2008 attack in mumbai has been placed under house arrest in pakistan. hafiz saeed is wanted by the us and india, who accuse him of being implicated in the raid in which more than 160 people died. he has denied any involvement. wildfires are still raging in chile, as the search continues to find those responsible behind the blazes, that have killed 11 people, burnt more than 1,000 homes, and wiped out an entire town. ten people have been arrested on suspicion of arson. a huge air and ground operation is under way to contain 61 forest fires. stay with us on bbc news.
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still to come: a bbc investigation exposes a global network of traffickers selling baby chimpanzees. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after liftoff. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word "revolution". the earthquake singled out buildings, and brought them down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours pass. the new government is firmly in control of the entire republic of uganda. moscow got its first taste of western fast food, as mcdonald's opened its biggest
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restaurant, in pushkin square. but the hundreds of muscovites who queued up today won't find it cheap, with a big mac costing half a day's wages for the average russian. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: donald trump has fired his acting attorney general, sally yates, after she questioned the legality of his immigration ban. a white house statement accused her of betrayal. let's stay with that story. david kaye is the un special rapporteur on freedom of opinion & expression. he's also clinical professor of law at the university of california. very good to talk to you and thank you for giving us your time. i want to talk to you as a law professor first, two thoughts, can donald trump do what he has just done? what
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do you make of this executive order on immigration, the chances of a legal challenge. 0ne us attorney general and hundreds of us diplomats think it's not lawful. thanks for having me. on the first question, my first reaction is really actually one of uncertainty as to the scope of the president's authority to do this. my guess is it is legalfor him to replace acting attorney general and the question is less about the law here and more about both the optics of his firing and the purpose behind it. but his ability to have an attorney general who works for him is probably something he's able to do. on the point of the immigration ban, the executive order as a whole, what chance of challenges there being successful? we have to look at it from two different perspectives. the first is the very narrow specific
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challenges we saw over the weekend and it's very clear that courts understand that the executive order is questionable at the very least and these temporary restraining order is essentially that block the operation of the executive orders with respect to those who are already in the united states, who are at us airports and other border crossings, i think suggests a very serious uncertainty about the legality of these executive orders. 0n the other hand, they don't say anything about the constitutionality of these orders, the order doesn't say anything about their consistency with domestic law. those challenges could take a couple of years actually. if we look back to the guantanamo bay litigation for example, it took a couple of years before any of those issues were actually resolved in the first instance. a lot of people could be left in limbo, could they? looking at the figures, i think the seven
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countries targeted were responsible of 82% of muslim refugees to america last year. broadly speaking a band that discriminates against people because of their fate would be unconstitutional? one would think. this is an area where the president tends to have significant amount of discretion, the area of immigration law. i think the president, the white house generally, believes that it has the authority and the discretion to implement these kinds of rules. 0n the other hand, domestic law and international law for that matter has long stated that discrimination on the basis of religion or national origin is prohibited. so i think that's where essentially the door contest will be, the discretion of the president versus the fundamental principles of nondiscrimination as a matter of domestic and international law. david, as i was saying, you're also special wrapper to for the un on freedom of opinion and expression.
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what would you say to these american diplomats who have expressed dissent about the government policy through about the government policy through a recognised channel and are now told by sean spicer, the spokesman for the president, if you don't like it you can leave. how are their employment rights balanced with their constitutional right to free speech? my message to them is more power to them. these are individuals who have devoted their lives to serving the united states government and the united states. the state department created this dissent channel. it is a whistleblower like mechanism that allows individuals who don't have another mechanism to raise their concern about a policy matter directly with senior officials to do so. and more than that, it provides them with the ability not only to challenge and raised dissent over particular policy, it protects them against any kind of retaliation. the press secretary statement today is deeply
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u nfortu nate secretary statement today is deeply unfortunate and i think it seemed like it was designed to intimidate individual civil servants against raising their voices. these are critical voices, critical to have open debate and for a president more than anyone else to understand the dissenting views within his government. david kaye, professor and special un two, thank you for coming on. thank you for having me. a global network of traffickers selling baby chimpanzees has been exposed in a bbc news investigation. the tiny animals are seized from the wild in west africa and sold as pets in places as far away as the gulf states and china. according to the united nations, at least 400 animals have been traded since 2005. the bbc worked undercover in ivory coast to produce this special report from our science editor david shukman. a baby chimpanzee. captured from a jungle in west africa. 0rphaned after poachers killed its family and now
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looking for reassurance. during a year—long investigation, we were sent these videos by dealers offering to sell the tiny animals. our research led us to ivory coast and a secret animal—trafficking network. a dealer called ibrahima traore sent us a video of a crate specially made for wildlife smuggling. animals that you can trade hiding a chimpanzee down below. he then met a colleague of ours who was pretending to be a buyer and using a hidden camera. ibrahima spelled out his prices in dollars. 0ur undercover colleague went to see the animal for himself.
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0ur colleague took pictures. his cover story was that he needed proof for a client in indonesia. at this point, the police moved in. ibrahima traore was arrested. he's facing charges related to wildlife trafficking along with his uncle, mohammed. the police then ordered everyone onto the ground. and they found the chimpanzee, a young male. so the police have just made all of these arrests. it's pretty edgy here, the atmosphere, and it's all about this, a baby chimpanzee taken from the jungle. the real tragedy of this trade is that to get one infant chimpanzee out of the jungle, all of the adults in its family have to be killed. that's as many as ten adults
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slaughtered just to get one chimp here ready for trade. we'd been advised not to touch the chimpanzee until a vet had checked him. so, for a few agonising moments, he was all alone. before being handed over to wildlife officials. the detective in charge said trafficking threatened the survival of chimpanzees. the baby chimp is now in safe hands. he's been given a name, nemli junior. and the traffickers trying to sell him are awaiting trial.
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david shukman, bbc news, in ivory coast. the us says iran has test—launched a medium—range ballistic missile. according to the white house, the launch took place on sunday. the missile is said to have exploded after around 1,000 kilometres. iran hasn't commented on the claim. the un security council is set to hold urgent talks in response to any possible breach of the international deal to restrict iran's nuclear programme. last year's us election campaign was marked by persistent claims that millions of american voters were influenced by so—called fake news, a mass of false or misleading reports posted online and widely circulated mainly on social media. household names, such as facebook and google, are now being asked to take more responsibility for verifying stories. 0ur media editor amol rajan reports. fake news rose to prominence during the american presidential
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election, when outrageous stories about endorsements of donald trump went viral on social media. some of these stories were read by millions. but none were true. now mps will investigate how to disrupt the economics of fake news, and what tools users of social media need to separate reality from lies. it's a big and growing problem, and when in america, during the presidential election, we saw a scenario where the spreading of fake news stories was reaching bigger audiences than legitimate news stories, that's got to be a big threat to our media and our democracy. the fake news inquiry will examine the impact of fake news on traditionaljournalism and the implications for public life, advertising and whether the drive for clicks is fuelling the spread of fake news, and social—media platforms and how young people who use them are influenced by unreliable information. as fake news rises up the political agenda, the question now is what to do about it.
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one answer is fact—checking organisations like this one. it looks likely that their role in the fight against fake news is about to get bigger. full fact is a charity in which a team of analysts verify claims and counterclaims online. this month, they received funding from google to support their work. in years gone by, traditional media could devote greater resources to sifting truth from falsehood. but with their business models under pressure, new organisations are emerging to fulfil a smaller role. i think we're at a pivotal moment. we've just had a year in which everybody‘s realised, "hang on, this is a really big problem." and for the first time, all of the people who could play a role in solving it are really thinking about what is their role. this year will tell us whether they stand up to that challenge or not. the tech giants who control so much of the information in our lives today are waking up to their responsibilities. for all that mps may investigate the problem of fake news, they know that ultimately
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it is the likes of facebook and google who will develop any long—term solution. amol rajan, bbc news. some important news for sci—fi fans. the current owner of the tardis has decided to move on. actor peter capaldi, who has played doctor who since 2013, has announced he is quitting. the 58—year—old actor is the 12th person to have played the timelord since the series debuted in the 1960s. capaldi will reprise the role for this year's doctor who christmas special. just briefly the main news again. donald trump has replaced america's top legal officer, his acting attorney general, sally yates, for defying him by telling justice department lawyers not to defend his ban on travellers from seven mainly muslim countries entering the us. sally yates said in a letter she didn't think that would be consistent with their duty to seek justice and stand for what is right. thanks for watching. hello.
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in a week when our weather's turning wetter and windier, let's celebrate a bit of sunshine and the best of that again on monday was in scotland. contrast scenes like this with the view on the south coast of england and for tuesday we're going to narrow these differences. it's this sort of weather that's going to win out as this weather system works very slowly from west to east across the uk. not a huge amount of sunshine on offer but plenty of cloud and most of us will see rain at some stage. quite a wet start to the day in northern ireland although here something a bit drier and brighter for the afternoon. down the eastern side of england where you start dry eventually we'll get to see some outbreaks of rain moving in here. a lot of the rain will be light but some heavy bursts in scotland, especially in the southern iplands and grampians. maybe some highest routes could be a little bit slippy as we see some sleet and snow and rain falling onto frozen ground but conditions will gradually improve. a lot of the cloud is low cloud
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so there's hill fog around too. eastern england starting dry, many of us here, but cloudy and feeling quite cool in that breeze. where we've got milder air already into south—west england, starting to move through more of wales as well, eventually into northern ireland. but it is a messy picture for tuesday as we take outbreaks of rain gradually further east. again the heavy bursts into scotland and drier and brighter weather for northern ireland into the afternoon. again all the while taking something a little bit milder into the uk from the south—west. 11 in belfast. but it is going to feel qute cool in eastern scotland and eastern england with the cloud, outbreaks of rain and the breeze. more rain to come in parts of england and wales especially on tuesday night and into wednesday morning. clearer spells into scotland and northern ireland. so some spots getting cold enough for a touch of frost and a few fog patches. england and wales, though, with all this cloud around, temperatures holding up. on wednesday the weather system still dragging its heels, especially into england and eventually the rain pulling away from the east quite late in the day. a bit of a brighter interlude between the two weather systems
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before another one comes into northern ireland to parts of wales and the south—west of england later on wednesday. and again, some of us getting into double figure temperatures. on thursday, it looks like a windy affair, some bright and sunny spells around but bands of showers, some may be heavy with the risk of hail and thunder spreading north—east across the country. and the winds look like picking up further towards the end of the week and into the weekend. still a lot of uncertainty about the detail but look at this, there's the growing sense some of us will be facing some quite stormy weather by the end of the week and into the weekend. we will, of course, keep you updated. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm mike embley donald trump has fired the country's top legal adviser, acting attorney—general, sally yates. she had ordered justice department lawyers not to defend the president's travel restrictions in court, saying she wasn't convinced they were legal. a white house statement accused her of betrayal. the restrictions, banning travellers from seven mainly—muslim countries from entering the us, have prompted mass protests. canadian police have a charged
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french—canadian student over the shooting dead of six muslim worshippers at a mosque in quebec. alexandre bissonnette faces six counts of first—degree murder and five of attempted murder. british mps are to conduct an inquiry into "fake news" on social media. they'll consider what it defines as stories of "uncertain provenance and accuracy", examining where they come from, how they spread and their impact on democracy. now on bbc news, reporters.
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