At aruba. Com. And now, bbc world news. Jane this is bbc world news america. Reporting from washington, im jane obrien. Reaction is swift and furious following the release of a republican memo accusing the fbi and justicdepartment of political bias. Dramatic scenes at the sentencing hearing for former usa gymnastics doctor larry nassar. A father whose thr daughters were abused lunges at him in court. I see my royal shadow. Six more weeks of winter to go. E get ready for more cold weather. The worlds most famous groundhog has spoken. Punxsutawney phil saw his shadow. Jane welcome to our viewers on Public Television in america and around the globe. After weeks of fevered speculation, a republican memo has been released alleging political as in the Justice Department and fbi. It was cleared by President Trump in spite ostrong opposition from democrats and many in the Intelligence Community who says it misrepresents highly sensitive information. The bbcs nick bryant starts our verage. Ladies and gentlemen, Punxsutawney Phil. Ck niit is groundhog day in america, where thousands gathered to watch a rodent named Punxsutawney Phi pmake his annurediction on how long the winter will last. In washington, too, vu, with the day beginning as it often does with an attack from the white house on the Russian Investigation, but thid has intensife big chill between the president and his senior Law Enforcement officials. The top leadership and investigators at the fbi and the Justice Department have politicized ige sacred inveive process in favor of democrats and against republicans, something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago thats the main accusation of a secret memo which the president authorized the public release of today. It lleges antitrump bias amongst top lawenforcement officials. En prestrump i think it is a disgrace what is happening in our country, at that and see that and so many other things, whats going on, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that. Nick the memo, commed by a republican congressman, accuses the fbi of using a politically biased source while seing surveillance warrant against Trump Campaign adviser carter page. It alleges the request of the court relied on a much disputed dossier compiled by former british intelligen agent christopher still, who it says was an Christopher Steele who it says was antitrump and funded in part by the Hillary Clinton campaign. But is this a partisan republican stunt to discredit the fbi and by extension the investigation of Robert Mueller into pos with the Trump Campaign . There has been no public response from the fbi, but it fiercely resisted the release of this memo, hgring expressed e concerns about its accuracy. It has also been slammed by senior democrats. The fact that the president of the United States will blithely disregard the admonitions of his own fbi director and department of justice tells you all you need president s priorities are. It is not protecting classified information, it is not respting the hardworking me and women of the fbi. It is whatever the president deems to be in his shortterm political interest. Nick what we have seen today underscores how the Russian Investigation has increasingly become the subject of a toxic and vicious fight not just between the polical parties in washington, but between branches of the u. S. Government in washington. Vladimir putin must be rub his hands in delight. Is the memo a dud, sir . Ni ck donald trump looked pretty happy, too. S supporters believe he struck a blow for justice. His critics argue he hasgi ered a political stunt. Nick bryant, bbc news,on washin jane among the members on theom intelligencettee who voted , release the memo was republican will huo served as a cia officer before joining congress. He joined me a short time ago from san antonio thank you for joining me. What do you feel you have gained by releasing this memo rep. Hurd i will answer that i want to tweak one thing in the lead up to this. The memo does not allege political bias. Everyone who is talking about this is alging political bias, but to me, the core on this, what we have gained from this, is it is Congress Responsibility to shine a light on our government and the operations of our government, and i do not believe an erican citizen should be subject to a surveillance based on unverifieo ation, circular reporting, and rumors. It is unfortunate partisans are going to use this to push their own particular biases, but to me this is not a criticism of the Mueller Investigation jane but why did you make this memo public . Surely there were other ways you co oversight duty. D your rep. Hurd well, we made this public becse this is a pretty big deal, that the potential erosion of civiliberties is potentially happening. This is within our role as congress to shine a light on this. Having spent most of my adt life protecting sources and methods, there was nothing in this memo when it was revealed i thacted national security. To be frank it jane buas still classified. It was still classified. But once you make the case that the public needs to see classified information, and this did have to be declassified in order to learn the truth, where do you stop . Rep. Hurd jane, was there anything in this memo that you hadnread before . This was stuff that was out in the press, stuff that yall have been gatring and talking about. I think the only thing that was new was that this yahoo article isat was used in the investigation was based on information from what everody refers to as the steele dossier. It is unfortunate we are in this highly contentious political time, but it is always congresi responty to shine a light on when there are problems in making sure there is oversight beg done of Law Enforcement. Jane but congressman, is in the is in the president isnt the president artly responsible for the allegations of political bias, because he was tweeting this morning that that was indeed the case . That was his allegation against his own people. I mean, you as a former c. I. A. Officer, part of the intelligen that go down . Ow does how do you feel about that . Rep. Hurd look, all of this is playing into the hands of the the russians, when they got involved in our elections, in order to erode trust in our stitutions, and comments from the president , comments from both political parties, the ast that congress would provide its oversight function and try to make things transparent, the fact that republicans and democrats have trouble agreeing on things, all inis feeds into russians t to erode trust in our institutions, but that is not prevt us in congress to from protecting their civil liberties. This is why i thought it was important that the information gets out, why i think it is important when if the democrats want to have their memo f out which may be rebuts some of these things, that is important to get out as well. Jane congressman will hurd, thank you for joining me. Among those who had concerns thout the release of the memo is someone who is abrennan center for justice at New York University school of law. What is your main concern about the release of this memo . I main concern relates to what wasnt released. Th allegations that on their own dont prove anything. There are other facts that need to be in the Public Record to have any way to evaluate what is in this memo, d the democrats in the house had a counter memo that supposedly laid out the facts we dont know, we havent seen them. But supposedly it provided context. There was a partisan vote in the house intelligence committeen partisan lines to release the memo that had the fact that the republicans wanted to release and to suppress the facts that would have given context the memo. This is not transparency we are seeing here. Jane nevertheless, does the fbi have a case to answer . Liza does the memo t a case . Im afraid it doesnt, because it tells us what we already ow. I actually agree with congre that there is nothing in the memo we didnt already know. But it sets rth the allegation that the Justice Department used the socalled steele dossier when it applied for a warrant to conduct surveillance of trump aide carter page. E steele dossier was at some point funded by the Clinton Campaign and the democratical natiommittee. Thats it. Thats the scandal. De the justicrtment allegedly didnt tell the court about this. Itne but that is important, though, isn because if that is the case, and the fact that they are dubious methods to investigate their suspects or tir targets doesnt that then undermine the broader russia inquiry . Liza well, theres a pretty critical difference between saying theyre using dubious methods and using source funded in part by the Clinton Campaign. Does not not naturally lead from one to the other. One of the questions we dont know is what other indicators were there of reliability for this document . Re there other reasons to trust this document apart from who funded it . You have to understand that informants always coh their own agendas and biases. Informants are often paid. No this ian unusual thing. How significant it is, whether there was a duty to inform the court, depends very much on casebycase details that we dont know from tho. Jane are we ever going to find out . Liza we are not, my guess, at least for a long time, because its classified. Whether it is properly classified or completely harmless information classified, like the nunes memo, we dont know that, but the person who corols declassification controls what gets released, and can spin the story however they want to spin it. It is a flagrant abuse of the classification system, but im sorry to say it happens every day. Jane thank you very much for joining me. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial took a steep dive, plummeting more than 660 points. It ranks as the worst day on the market since donald trump took office, and comes dpite a strong jobs report which showed wage growth. That reinforced investors concerns about inflation in the bond market. Add to that all the political turmoil we have been discussing, and analysts say that contributed to the decline. For weeks we have seen dramatic testimony against larry nassar. Today, the father sa three victim he lost control of his emotions when he launched at nassar after two of hi daughters gave their statements. The second sentencing hearing faces 175 yea in jail. The bbcs nada tawfik reports. Rr girl who had nassar as required to r nada anotmily stands like so many before them to confront the disgraced doctor. All three of the children were sexu nassar. Ulted by larry at the final sentencing hearing, 2 of them speak of their grief and their parents guiilt. I see the look in their faces and i know they want to do something, but they cant come and the guilt they have will nevego away, and all of this is because of you. To my parents, thank you for all your love and support through all of this. You have done erything that a parent could ever do. I love you. Nada Randall Margraves then asked permission as a distraug father to speak. Go ahead, sir. You son of a [beep]. We dont want to swear. we t want to have profanity. Ur nada the oom at first chuckled as he requested time alone with nassar. I would ask you as part of the sentencing to grant me five minutes in a locked roh this demon. I that is not how our no, sir would you give me one minute . You know that i cant do that. Well oh nada there have been numerous powerful moments throughout nassars sentencing hearings, but this one fathers reaction shows how clearly raw emotions are. T whenhe court resumed, the judge showed compassion. There is no way this court will issue any type of punishment given the circumstances ofhis case, and my heart does go out to you and your family, because of what you have gone. Gone through. Nada the realy that larry nassar sexually abused up to 300 girls over years has been regarded as a failure of society. This case has inevitably led to investigations, but more importantly,t forced the nation to take a hard look at how women are treated and valued. Nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. E last couple of weeks, more than 120 people have been killed in three attacks in the afghan capital, kabul. 2 four carried out by the taliban, the other by socalled Islamic State, which has been growing in influence in afghanistan even as it losesra territory in the bbc was given exclusive access to a jail i. S. Member in kabul. Reporter inside afghan prison, a man ce willing to kill in the name of the Islamic State. I took part in fighting and executing people. They used to make people sit on top of bombs and blow p. Reporter like many inside like many i. S. Fighters inside afghanist we spoke to was previously part of the taliban. He asked us to not show his face, out of fear of reprisals. We interviewed him with members of the Security Services present. For the taliban, if someone from the government repents, you he should be forgiven, but i. S. B says he shoukilled. I. S. Preached that they are the real muslims, not the taliban. Reporter the Islamic State group might control small epockets of territory in y, but over the last yea they have carried out 14 major attacks in the capital, kabul. That is siificantly more than even the taliban. I. S. Ave repeatedly attacked kabu shia minority. The killed over 40 people at this shia Cultural Center in december. This man narrowly escaped with his life. In the past, she is living ih countryside and used to come to kabul because it was safer. Now my relatives tell me to leave kabul because it is soer das here. In reporterhe past two weeks, kabul has been repeatedly i attacked by bo. And the taliban. The groups have fought against each other at times. But officials here claim there is little difference between the two. And that in attacking kabul, share the same aims. The objective behind his approach is to provoke people against the government and make them rise against the then the government will pull apart. What happens in afghanistan, we will have chaos. Porter but this former i. S. Mb meer says the group is different from the taliban, and more extreme. They say they will do what taliban cant do, take over the whole country. Reporter outside of the icltural center attacked by i. S. , shoes of thems remained piled in a heap. Whs her it is further attack i. S. Or the taliban, this is a city bracing for more bloodshed. Bbc ne, kabul. Jane lets have a quick look at some of the days other news. The United States has proped extending Nuclear Capabilities and a policyocent published by the pentagon. The u. S. Military wants to nedevelolowyield atomic bombs largely in response to the threat posed by russia. Officials said russia saw the American Nuclear capability asto big to ever be used and no deterrent. Dequate the United States is trying to bring an end to south sudans civil war by banning the export of weapons there. It also prevents any u. S. Company or citizen from offering Defense Services to south sudanf about one thirhe population has been displaced by the conflict. Almost 1000 miners haven reued after being trapped unrground for more than 24 hours in south africa. It happened when a storm knocked out power lines supplying electricity to the goldmine. In a painstaking rescue, whe one worker at aim was hoisted to the surface after temporary power lines were installed. You are watching bbc world news americ still to come ons tonight program, cameras attached to polar bears give researchers a look at why the animals are struggling to find food in the arctic. 16 syrians including several children froze to death recently trying to cross th mountains from syria io lebanon. The bbcs martin patience has met someone who survived the journey. Martin meet little sarah, just three years old. The black marks on her face are caused by frostbite. Smugglers andoned sarah during a blizzard as she was crossing the mountains from the war in syria to join her dad. She only survived because the man who dumped her was forced npoint to go back and get her. But sarahs mom, big sister, and granny all froze to death. Now in a lebanese hospital, sarahs dad watches over her day and night. I do my best to be a mother n d father to sarah. I do everything i help her get over this. She is all i have now. Mart 16 syrians died trying to reach a safety that day. For the rescuersit was the worst thing they had ever seen. But there is some good news. A couple of days after he first meeting with sarah and her dad, we went to see them again. Sarah has had an operation on her face. E s got her appetite back. Ct her door says the surgery was a success. So you are hopeful there wont be too much scarring . Yes, yes. Martin her face will be yes, will be normal, like a normal face. Martin fantastic, it will look normal. Sarahs dad captured her first moment aer the operation. She has got a long way to go. She is still smiling. Martin patience, bbc news, lebanon. Jane hightech tracking collars with cameras have given us an incredible bears eye view of i lithe arctic. The cameras were fitted to female polar bears in an effort to discow they are finding enough food on the diminishing arctic ice. Victoria gill has more. Victoria a polar bears view of the arctic. These remarkable imare captured by cameras in tracking collars that scientists fitted to female polar bears. The researchers had to work for three arctic spring seasons from 2014 to 2016 to caure nine bear each animal wore a collar for 10 days before the cameras inside uniqueetrieved, revealin insights into their behavior. The aim was to understand whether the animals were getting enough to eat during thecr itical spring thaw. Satellites have shown Arctic Sea Ice decreasing at a rate of 14 every decade, and bears use the ice to hunt their main and most calorierich prey, sls. After hitting them with tracking h their colors, researchers injected the bearsthe metabolic tracer. It showed that while they have a higher Metabolic Rate previously thought, most of them were able to catch enough food to meet their needs. Really quite fascinating to learn the basic behaviors these animals and how they are using this environment. This is in the spring, where temperatures can get down to2 0, 30 celsius. It is pretty inhospitable, almost impossible for a researcher to be on the ice in in those conditions for an extended time. Tiere is very little infor that exists on the basic behaviors of these animals. The video camera collars provide us with actual insigo what the bears are doing. Victoria Scientists Say that this new Technology Following their every move and every meal reveals ju how the predators will be affected in their ic icy environment transforms around them. Victoria gill, bbc news. Jane a view of the arctic you dont ofte wget to see. Ldnt be groundhog day without ending the program where we started. Yes, it is that time of year where everyones favoris marmot deciether we can pack the sweaters or keep the hat and mittens close by. Here is how the annual tradition unfolded. Is it an early spring or just more snow . I reporter thisPunxsutawney Phil, pennsylvanias famous groundhog. The annual event dates back to 1886. If the groundhog sees it wiadow, six more weeks of er are in store. Ok,uys, are we ready . We got winter or spring . Huh . Shivering. Yes. Shivering. Ok, we got it. W. See my royal sha six more weeks of winter to go. Jane yeah, i just refuse to believe him. Wherever i am, it is summer. You are able to find much more of all the dayswe news on our ite, and to see what we are working on at any time, do check out our facebook page. Im jane o thank you very much for watching world news america, and do have a very sunny weekend. Wh the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work aro you can swipe your way through the news of e day and stay up to date with the latest headlines you can ust. Download now from selected app stores. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. You can find it here in aruba. Families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the. Crystal blue caribbean s nonstop flights are available from most major airports more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. S bbc world news presented by kcet, los angeles. Uraptioning sponsored by newsroductions, llc woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight s waeet woes. Eee stock market plunges to one of the worst the u. S. Has seen in years. Then, republicans release their controversial memo. A look at the highlydisputed document alleging missteps by the f. B. I. , and what imeans for the russia investigation. Ngus, i sit down with outg chair the federal reserve, janet yellen, to talk the state of the nations economy and what she sees for the financial future. Weve enjoyed solid growth. Its helped heal the labor market and thats great, but the pace isnt what we would ideally like to see