Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20180201

For its harrowing and powerful testimony from survivors of sexual abuse. Now the entire board of usa gymnastics has resigned over its failure to protect Young Athletes from the convicted doctor, larry nassar. More than 250 victims have now accused nasser, who preyed on young girls, under the pretence of giving them medical treatment, for two decades. Andrew plant reports. Another day in court for larry nassar, the former gymnastics coach exposed as a prolific paedophile. Now time for some of his victims to end their years of silence. I lost all motivation when i was overwhelmed with the truth of your abuse. But that ends today. You are the most vile, disgusting creature i have ever met. Scum of the earth is too high of a title for you. I hope you realise that you will never have any power over anybody for the rest of your life. Nassar gave medical treatment to hundreds of girls. There are now more than 265 victims. He has already been sentenced to 175 years injail. He has to listen to the agony he caused his victims. We do not view this as an isolated incident. The gymnastics world allowed him. Because women are still not perceived to be credible. Many are now suing nassarfor damages and usa gymnastics and other institutions that they accused of ignoring their earlier warnings that allowed larry nassar to continue to abuse young girls for more than 20 years. Andrew plant, bbc news. Mark aleesha is an Investigative Reporter for the indy star which first broke the story of Larry Nassars abuse. He gave me his reaction to the latest resignations from usa gymnastics. The entire board resigned at the directive of the United States olympic committee. The impact, it is hard to tell. I talked to a very prominent womens sports advocate, a former olympic swimmer, who said she does not care who is on the board or she does not care if usa gymnastics is certified or decertified, she cares about the policies that will be put in place to protect the athletes when this shakes out. The problem seems to be, many problems, there were too few people with power to do anything about it. The structure of rules has to change. No doubt about it. Usa gymnastics is kind of in tatters right now. They have lost all of their sponsors, not all of them, but they have lost major sponsors. Now they have lost their board and they have a new president and now they have to somehow rebuild. I have talked to people who have said even if they put the most perfect policies in place right away, sponsors are going to want to sit back and see how it all goes. They are not going to get major sponsors back any time soon. That is quite apart from trying, somehow, to repair some of the damage that has been done. When you reported on the trial and you spoke to the very first victim to come forward and you have spoken to more since. The damage is huge, the damage is enormous. All you have to do is watch the victim impact statements. 156 at the previous sentencing hearing. And now a total of more than 250 are expected. These are women, really, bearing their souls in public so bravely. That has kind of shaken the american consciousness, since they are paying attention. Our report has been out there for quite some time. But the spectacle of these women and all of the pain and visceral reactions you are singing, they have everybodys attention now. It is worth saying, when you first broke the story, your colleagues took a lot of flak. We did. We worked primarily with two other reporters. Nassar was such a beloved man that we got all sorts of nasty e mails and voice mails asking how could you possibly ruin the reputation of such a great and gentle man . I am 150 sure he could not possibly have done that. But really what we went through is obviously nothing compared to what the victims, survivors went through, and the courage they showed by many of them walking up to the walking up to be let turn and confronting larry nassar. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. A train chartered to carry dozens of Us Congress Members to a Republican Party retreat has collided with a rubbish truck in the state of virginia. The driver of the truck was killed and four people were injured. Among those on board was the speaker of the house of representatives, paul ryan. Concern is growing over president trumps intentions facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says it was a hard year for the social media giant, despite announcing a 47 increase in quarterly revenue. The firm says newsfeed changes have led to a significant drop in usage 50 million hours less per day on the network. Fewer viral videos and more checks on advertising were recently brought in to tackle misinformation. The british Prime Minister, whos on a visit to china has forecast a golden era in trade relations. Theresa may says she has won assurance that beijing will further open up its markets to the uk, but has also been forced to insist that shes not a quitter following days of criticism of her leadership from her own supporters. Even the most carefully planned entrance can go a touch awry. A bit of pushing and shoving not the political kind, this time. Asias red carpets, though, hardly provide a rest. Theresa may is here to do business, but the tories are trading in her future at home. Although i may be visiting in winter, i have had the warmest of welcomes, for which i am very grateful. She isnt a naturalfan of chinese opera, perhaps, or the diplomatic schmooze. There were some tricky moments today. Conversations turned to human rights, north korea, and the brute force of chinas steel industry. But these very excited students could be joined by many others. Deals for universities, exchange programmes, and others were announced. Have a nice day in china. Thank you, well done to you. Nice to see you and this group used their high tech skills to make a model of number ten, helpfully pointing out it had an emergency button, if ever there was a need for a swift escape. And there is an emergency button. If you have an emergency, put there, it will call the police. The Prime Minister made very deliberate stops here, though, one to the banks of the yangtze river, to share her partys newfound focus on all things green. And she hopes by the end of the week to have guaranteed british beef is on its way back to chinas table, after 20 years, and there will have been handshakes on at least £9 billion of deals. China and britain not best friends, perhaps, but serious colleagues. This place reeks of power a commodity theresa may has been grappling to hold onto in recent days. It is clear the Prime Minister is in no mood to quit. But she does seem to acknowledge she has to up her game, at home and abroad, to be sure of staying on. The fbi says it has grave concerns over the accuracy of whats expected to be a critical memo that could soon be released by the white house. It centres on a report written by the republican congressman devin nunes, which is thought to condemn the fbi for spying on the trump Election Campaign. Lets speak to the bbcs david willis, who is in washington. An attempt to muddy the waters with that enquiry by special Council Robert mueller nearing its conclusion. The fbi today, in a very public statement, saying it doubts the veracity of this document or the will to release it. It is saying there are certain omissions, which give the fbi grave concerns about this particular documents. The democrats, as we mentioned, believe it is highly selective and is an attempt to basically discredit the work of the special council. The white house, because of the sensitive nature of this document, has to sign off on its release and the indications are that it intends to do so and do so and this could be out on thursday. Just after the election, i am sure the consensus among many people would have been that the fbi, investigating Hillary Clintons e mails, reopening that investigation just before polling day, did donald trump an enormous favour. Absolutely. Nonetheless, donald trump has continued to rally against the fbi, accusing it of bias at the top levels at least. He says he supports and applaud the efforts of the rank and file of the fbi. Those familiar with the four page memo, say it accuses the fbi and the Usjustice Department of misleading a foreign Intelligence Surveillance courtjudge in seeking the extension of a warrant with a secret in stopping operation against a man called carter page. He was working as trumps Foreign Policy advisor until september 2016. He is known to have visited moscow and met with russian government officials. He has said, for his part, that the visit was benign and it was undertaken in his own time. But the very fact that all of that was based on a dossier that was financed by Hillary Clintons Election Campaign gives you some idea of how political all this is. The row over equal pay at the bbc has intensified with the corporations former china editor appearing before a british parliamentary hearing. Carrie gracie, who resigned from her post in protest over the issue, has accused the bbc of having an illegal pay culture. The director general, lord hall, who also appeared, said it was wrong that she had been underpaid. 0ur media editor amol rajan reports. A united front several of the most high profile female presenters on bbc news were in westminster today to support their colleague Carrie Gracie. Reporter do the bbc need to do more on equal pay for women . Thats why were here to support carrie. Thank you. She resigned her post as china editor in protest at unequal pay. In blistering testimony to a select committee of mps, she accused the bbc of institutionalised discrimination, when it had paid her less than other international editors. We knew there was inequality. We didnt know the details, because the bbc is extremely secretive on pay, but we knew we were underpaid. And i was determined, at this point, where i knew id give the china job every last ounce of my skill and stamina, i knew i would do that job at least as well as any man. The corporations dealing with her grievance was, she said, insultingly shambolic, and she added that she would be declining nearly £100,000 in back pay. I have said i dont want that money. Thats not what its about for me. I feel my salarys a good salary, its public money, i. Thats not what it was about. Theyre still not giving me equality. And, in a concerted attack against bbc management, she said that for years it had created a fortress to keep out ordinary staff. I was so distraught by what had happened. Anyway. Then i thought, no, i have to fight. Gracies grilling went on for 2. 5 hours. When said management emerged in the afternoon, the director general apologised for the situation. Im sorry it went to a grievance, and i said upfront at the beginning, id very much like to resolve the case of Carrie Gracie with her. And im sorry this has taken so long, and im sorry were in this position, yes. He went on to explain for the first time in public why the bbc believe there is a hierarchy of roles among correspondents. The idea that every single editor, home and abroad, i would imagine, should be paid exactly the same, i dont agree with. It should not be a matter of gender, completely agree. 0utrageous if it was. But, you know, you have balances between different editors, and we need to be very upfront about what that, as it were, pecking order is. There are two parallel conversations happening today. Carrie gracie spoke powerfully about the wider implications of her own case, and also the accumulated failures of the past. But the bbc management wanted to focus on the future. They want to shift this story from the injustices faced by Carrie Gracie to their new framework for greater transparency. The trouble is, many staff here have other ideas. The bbc has a clear plan, and is largely ahead of the industry on gender inequality. But Carrie Gracies case remains far from resolved, or unique. Amol rajan, bbc news. British politicians have provisionally approved plans to refurbish the houses of parliament, which means they will have to relocate elsewhere in london. The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century and Parliamentary Business has been conducted there for almost 800 years. The relocation is due to begin in 2025 at the earliest, but some members of parliament have raised concerns about the cost and disruption. Stay with us on bbc news. This is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. After his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of Ayatollah Khomeini on iranian soil. South africas white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. The ban on the African National congress is lifted immediately, and the anc leader, nelson mandela, after 27 years injail, is to be set free unconditionally. The aircraft was returning from belgrade, where Manchester United had entered the semi final of the european cup. Two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. One of them called it a piece of cake. Thousands of people have given the yachstwoman Ellen Macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non stop. This is bbc news. The main headline the entire board of usa gymnastics resigns over its failure to protect Young Athletes from the convicted doctor larry nassar. Next week, a 16 year old palestinian girl will go on trial in an Israeli Military court for a range of security offences, she was filmed slapping an israeli soldier. The video of ahed tamimi, filmed by her mother went viral and they were both arrested. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen reports from their home village nebi saleh, on the Israeli Occupied west bank. Any peace in nebi saleh on a cold winter day is an illusion. Its a small palestinian village on the west bank, a sharp thorn in the side of its occupier, israel. The people here refuse to give in to israels overwhelming power. For some israelis, that makes them terrorists. An israeli soldier shot mohammed tamimi, 15 years old, in the face with a rubber coated metal bullet. Surgeons took the bullet out of mohammeds brain, along with part of his skull. The tamimifamily lead the protests in the village, many of them have been imprisoned by israel for security offences. Mohammed was jailed for three months last year. He was rushed to hospital after he was shot during a demonstration in nebi saleh, on the 15th december. The village was protesting against president trumps decision to recognise jerusalem as israels capital. Ahed tamimi, his cousin, a seasoned activist at 16 years old, told two Israeli Soldiers to get off her familys property, shed just heard, wrongly, that mohammed had died. After one soldier swatted her away, she slapped him. Once the video had gone viral, ahed with arrested with her mother nariman, who did the filming. Theyre charged with security offences and face jail. Aheds father, bassem tamimi, an activist whos also served time in prison, has been taking to her to demonstrations since she was small. Lots of people would say that if you slap a soldier, in any country, youll get into trouble. So its no surprise that the israelis have put her on trial. She cant accept a hard man to come to her field. This is the occupier law, we are resisting. Thats our daughters responsibility. We cant give our enemy a rose when he come to kill us. So this is where it happened, in the driveway of the tamimis house. The incident says a lot about the conflict. The imbalance of force, the way its invaded the lives of yet another generation and the bleakness of a future with no prospect of peace. Very close to nebi saleh is a jewish settlement, illegal under international law. Last summer, a palestinian from another village killed three members of a family there. This area is always tense and the armys mainjob is to guard the settlers. Like all west bank palestinians, ahed tamimi is being tried in a military court, which usually convicts. More than 300 palestinians, under 18, are serving time as security prisoners. Some israelis are horrified by the imprisonment of children, but most feel that she should be punished and perhaps herfamily too. If i was there, she would finish in the hospital, for sure. Nobody could stop me. I would kick, kick herface. Believe me. Shes a 16 year old girl. No, i dont look at it like this because today, as a 16 year old girl, she punched a soldier, tomorrow she will stick a knife in his throat. They say theyre taking part in peaceful protest. You see me smiling. If this is peaceful protest, i dont want to imagine what is not a peaceful protest. A slap isnt terrorism. No, a slap is terrorism. Believe me. A slap is terrorism. No Peace Process exists any more and reviving one looks less and less likely. The future of the next generation is going to be difficult. Incidents like this show the level of tension and anger thats just below the surface. Palestinian lives are dominated by the occupation, but keeping a people under military rule for 50 years has also had a profound effect on israel. Without change for the better, the risk is that the west bank will slide into more serious violence. Jeremy bowen, bbc news, nebi saleh. When you become president of the United States, you get certain perks with the job. A big house to live in, a plane to fly you around. And youll also get an official portrait, honouring your time in office. But a pair of ukrainian artists have created their own painting of the current occupant of the white house and its a little unusual, as the bbcs tim allman reports. The big reveal of a big porter at of someone the big reveal of a big porter at of someone who is currently the biggest celebrity in the world. Porter at. Despite not releasing his tax returns, we know that donald trump is rich. So what better way to represent christmas opulent president with a picture made up of hundreds of american coins. On the money you can see lots of faces, you can see president s, you can see people who had honour and dignity and due to that honour and dignity, they got the place on that money, this is a symbol of the nation. The ukrainian artist behind the face of money used to make took three months to make the work, they used poker chips, but normally the smallest of denominations and this was done for a reason. You can be rich and be cheap in the same moment. He has billions and billions of dollars and you have not any style, it cannot make you a great person. The pairs previous work was called the face of war, a portrait of Vladimir Putin made up of 5000 bullet shells from the frontline of the ukraine. It seems the latestjust might be too rich for some. Gallery posting its current exhibit has declined to show it, it seems that money really cant buy you everything. You will have heard of supermoons and eclipses, but people around the world have been looking to the skies, enjoying an even more rare event. The sight has dazzled skywatchers around the world. Its when theres a second full moon in the same month and when its closest to the earth in orbit, making it look much brighter and bigger. And its coincided with a lunar eclipse, which has given it a reddish glow in some parts of the world. And you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter im bbcmikeembley. Thank you for watching. Hello. It will be a cold and frosty start this thursday morning. We have had bands of rain, sleet and snow working eastwards. There is a met office be prepared ice warning in the uk. The added complication with snow continuing in the north. There could be a smattering of snow initially. The showers are running in behind. In scotland they will fall as snow and the hills of Northern Ireland as well. Coupled with the wintry showers, gale force winds, severe gales in the north east of scotland. It will be bitterly cold. The snow showers will blow around. There will be further showers for the north west of england, parts of wales, the south west, into the home counties, potentially as well. There could be rain and sleet here and snow over the hills. The risk of it being slippery. The showers could come in and wash off the salt on the roads and pavements. It does look as though it will be a slippery affair in places. Away from the showers, a sparkling day. Plenty of sunshine around. Showers interspersed with some brighter, sunnier spells. Look at the strength of the wind. Into single figures, but the wind will add a significant chill factor if you are out and about with those gales in the north and east. Continuing through the coming night, easing a little in Western Areas and continuing to push in those showers. Another cold start on friday. Severe frost because of the strength of the wind. A subtle change in wind direction will bring showers to eastern parts of england during friday. Further west, fewer showers. A dry day, more sunshine around. Slightly less cold. Still feeling cold. Into the weekend, we have complications. This weather system coming into cold air. This is across the balkans. In italy, we have the rugby taking place here on sunday. Saturday looks like a bleak day. Cold rain or cold sleet and snow, particularly in the north, possibly further south. There is some uncertainty. We will keep you posted on that. It looks as though there will be cold rain for wales and the match against scotland, perhaps bit drier in paris. Wintry weather not to be ruled out. It might be dry for englands match against italy in rome. We have to clear the low pressure out of the way. 0ur rain, sleet, and snow mix well is on the way through the course of sunday. We pick up the bitterly cold wind across south eastern areas. More sunshine and drier weather across the west. Frosty nights. Ice to watch out for through the morning. Goodbye. This is bbc news the headlines the entire board of the sporting body usa gymnastics has resigned over its failure to protect young gymnasts from the convicted doctor larry nassar. At a hearing in michigan on wednesday a judge said the number of known sexual Abuse Victims of nassar had risen to two hundred and sixty five. The fbi has publicly challenged a push by republican lawmakers to release a memo which purports to show bias at the agency against president trump. The agency says it has grave concerns about omissions of fact. Us media suggest the memo is likely to be released by the white house on thursday. The bbcs former china editor, Carrie Gracie, has told british members of parliament shes very angry about the way the corporation has treated some female staff. She was giving evidence to a parliamentary committee. The director general tony hall admitted to the hearing the bbc had got some things wrong. Now on bbc news, click