The conversation has already begun. Im jane hill. This week we ask was anything achieved at the World Economic forum in davos . What do the british chancellors comments there tell us about brexit . And the situation on the syria turkey border what is the us going to do about its muddle in the middle east . My guests this week henry chu, Europe Bureau chief of variety. Eunice goes, the portuguese writer and journalist. The french algerian journalist, nabila ramdani. And the british political commentator and author, steve richards. Welcome to you all. We start in the swiss resort of davos, where donald trump was the first us president to attend the World Economic forum for 18 years. His presence attracted an enormous amount of attention, just as he likes it. Was there just a shade less protectionism in his speech than had been anticipated . Youd have thought the gathering was all about trump. Of course, the worlds political and Business Elite was there too. Emmanuel macron of france call
Spotlight. And this is a rare old talent, isnt it . Our colleague Steve Rosenberg not only knows all the winners at the eurovision song contest, he can play them as well. Im katty kay in washington, Christian Fraser is in london. The Us National Security agency was watching in real time last week as the russians hacked into the servers of the french President Elect emmanuel macron. Theyve also determined that the russian president Vladimir Putin personally directed the attack last year on the us election. Today in front of the Senate Armed Services committee the director of the nsa, admiral mike rogers, was questioned by senators and this was how he described his agencies warnings to french officials. He had become aware of russian activity, we had talked to french cou nterpa rts activity, we had talked to french counterparts prior to the public announcements of the events that we re announcements of the events that were attributed last weekend, the russians were seeing them, penetrati
The case. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for testifying today. Admiral, in your testimony you point out that we insist that all Maritime Claims be deraved from naturally formed land features in accordance with International Laws reflected in the law of the Sea Convention. Are we at any kind of a disadvantage because we havent been a signatory to the law of the Sea Convention . Senator, i believe we are at a disadvantage because we dont have the moral high ground that other countries who are cigna tors, including china and russia have. So when china makes these outrageous claims in the South China Sea, and the philippines challenges one of those claims and we support the philippines right to make that claim, at the same time were not a signatory, that looks strange. When russia makes claims in the Arctic Circle and they tell us, you have no standing on which to complain because youre not a signatory to the law of the sea, it puts us at a disadvantage. Thank
Operations. But even though were doing more than weve ever done before, its not enough relative to the need. Contributions are urgently needed. The second prong of our response is diplomacy on humanitarian issues. For several years, we have engaged government officials in the region to encourage them to keep borders open, allow refugees to enter their countries, authorize the work of leading humanitarian organizations, and allow refugees to pursue normal life, as normal as possible given what they have been through. We are part of a chorus of nations that call for the respect of humanitarian principles, even inside syria in wartime. Diplomacy on humanitarian issues means working constructively with other nations to find solutions. The issue of the refugee and migration crisis was taken up again and again in recent international forum, such as the u. N. General assembly in new york in september, the executive committee in geneva in early october, and the just concluded global forum on m
Placed on the cafes window. Hello, and welcome. Police in australia say theyre negotiating with an armed man hours after he took a number of people hostage at a cafe. The siege in central sydney is being described as an ongoing situation. The lindt cafe is located in the financial district close to the federal bank and the state of parliament. Hundreds of heavily armed police are in the area. Five people ran from the cafe to safety. Its not yet clear whether they escaped or had been freed. The bbcs Richard Galpin has more. Reporter hours from inside the siege, terrified staff run for their lives. Its not clear if these two had escaped or been released, but in total, five people have now got out. It seems those still being held inside the lindt cafe have been forced to stand next to the windows. Some having to hold up an islamic flag, similar to that used by militant Islamist Groups such as Islamic State and al qaeda. But so far, the authorities are refusing to speculate on what the mot