>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freemanun tion, and kovler foundation, pursuingo tions for america's neglected needs.a >> plannincation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than iu think. you can find it n aruba. families, couples, and friends oncan all find their escaphe island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available

from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> and now, "bbc world news." jane: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am jane o'brien. with the stroke of a pen,id prt trump moves to slap new tariffs on steel and aluminum, giving canada and mexico an exemption for now. president trump: the actions we are matter of choice, they are a matter of necessity for our security. jane: britain has vowed to act without hesitation as another state is found responsible for the nerve ent attack on a former russian double agent and his daughter in the u.k. and riding high into their later years -- this oup is proving that exercise can help fight off the effects of agi.

welo our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. it is official, president trumpn has sign tariffs on steel and aluminum. despite warnings of sparking a trade war, he moved forward today, arguing he is protecting industries which are the bedrock of america. for now, canada and mexico are exempt while negotiations continue over nafta, but president trump also left openings for other countries such as australia. the bbc's nick bryant starts our coverage. nick: history is often written with a presidential pen, and with steelworkers who helped put at histhe white hou shoulder, donald trump added his name to a signature campaign promise, putting america first by imposing tariffs on forei steel and aluminum.

president trump: the american steel and aluminum industry hasg been r by aggressive foreign trade practices. it is really an assault on our country. the workers who poured souls into building this great nation were betrayed. but that betrayal is now over. nick: defending america's indurial heartland has prompted his most protectionist move yet, one that struck a blow against globalization, the integrated system of worldwide commerce from which these rust belt communities feel excluded. president trump: american steel. american steel. american steel. nick: promise made, promise kept. president trump: wait until you see what i'm going to do for steel. >> now it's time for action. nick: it is the glut of steel produced in china that has angered the president, but that accounts for 2% of steel import bigger importers such as canada and mexico are initially

exempted. it is not clear whether brniain will be ed. european union countries could be hard-hit. >> president trump has recently said, and i quote, "trade wars are good and easy to win." but the truth is quite the opposite. trade wars are bad and easy to lose. nick: harley davidson, the quintessential middle america brand, and for that very a likely target for eu retaliation. trump supporters in key battleground states likesc sin could be caught in the crossfire. >> a trade war won't benefitod an >> i generally believe in freend trade, don't think he is serious about it regardless. i think he is trying to scarett people into g concessions, tich is how he rolls. nick: it is too lasave these old steel mills in pennsylvania, and many republicans fear this act of economic nationalism could be an

act of national self-harm. all this comes on a day when 11 pacific rim countries have signed a landmark trade agreement, the transpacific partnership, which was intended ion as abama administr counterweight to china, but which the trump administration pulled out of last year. llthis rdoes feel like a memilestone , and another example where america first has left america alone. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. jane: after the signing, members of the president's own party, including this speaker of the house, continued to voice their concern about the unintended consequences of the move, but one o supports it is republican congressman tom reed of new york. i spoke to him earlier on capitol hill. congressman, thank you for joining us. why do you support the prident's tariffs? rep. reed: what the president is doing is exactly what he promised to the american people. he is going to change the trade agenda going forward through disruption.

perspective, decades of status quo policy have left a ssny americans' busi interests americans' behind. what we see is the messas that enoughough, we will have a free, open trade with partners across the world so long as american interests are protecten we have an even playing field that is enforceable to keep everyone on their toes. jane: but the economy is doing well. you just past tax reform. unemployment is at an all-time low.e why doed to shake up the status quo on trade now? rep. reed: because now is an opportunity, and enough is enough, and the president was clear on the campaign with this. he is trying to change the dynamic of decades of policy that has shifted the folks back home fm the position of opportunity to one where they've lost opportunity and it has to end, and we have to put american interests on an even playing across thetakeholder world. jane: but the eu and other allies of america are warning that this could spark a massive

global trade war. is it worth it? rep. reed: you know, i don't believe we will have a trade war at the end of the day. what we will see is a conversation which recognizesf that play by the rules and our trading partners recognize that the rules need to be enforceable and it is an evenel playing we will embrace them.o we are goingbrace the opportunity to compete -- country against country, interest against interest, but at the end of the day, so long as the playing field is even, the imposition of tariffs is something we can avoid. jane: what is it that convinced you this is the way to go, especially in your state of new york? rep. rd: i represent an area of new york that is essentially the rust belt. i have seen firsthand talking to families theobs that are leaving from our manufacturing base. i've seen firsthand the people who are suffering esom these poli what we need to do is change the policies, change the agenda, disrupt the status quo, and at the end of the day, we can all win in this, we can all compet our trading partners and

american interests in a way that esadvances the causes ofents of those countries as well as the people we represent in new york. jane: congressman, you are going agains party members.fellow how big a rift is this within the republican party? rep. reed: obviously, we're sending a message that some of the folks on our side of the aisle are concerned about. i recognize -- i represent the people that are suffering, and we want to be a voice for them to say that we cannot continue the status quo policy of decades before, and we need to go down a new path. the new path comes with anxiety and fear, but the lom goal we are trying to achieve and the president is trying to achieve is good for all of our trading partners as well as us herin america, and that is fair, enforceable trade once and for all. jane: congressman tom reed, much for joining us. rep. reed: thank you for having me on. jane: the british government ha described the poisoning of a

assian double agent and his daughter as braz reckless. sergei skripal and his daughter yulia remain critically ill after collapsing on a bench in salisbury on sunday counterterrorism officers are searching for the source of the nervagent. who wascer hospitalized after helping the injured pair has been named. tom symonds reports. tom: detective sergeant nick bailey is 38 yrs old, a decorated officer with plenty ront lineence on the of policing. he is still in serious condition, but the good news today is he is awake and talking. >> he is a great character, he is a huge police, well-liked, well loved, massively dedicated officer. he is clearly receiving highst speciareatment. he sat up. know,not nick that i but he is receiving a high level ve treatment. he is very anxious

concerned. he did his very best that nht. all of the staff that attended the incident in salisbury, they performed the role that police officers and police staff do every day up and down the country. tom: the inquiry is not letting up. police began wt appeared to be a major search and possible decontamination of sergei skripal's house r day. while they taped off the graves of his wife and son. >> the use of a nerve agent on k. soil is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way.op are right to want to know who to hold to account. but if we are to be rigorous ins this igation, we must avoid speculation and allow the investigation.on their tom: the bbc has been told that the nerve agent used was not sarin or vx, which have been used as weapons in tt, but rarer. contamination teams were heavily protected on sunday, but

look athis picture from earlier that day. no respirators or suits. these officers could not have known they were about to deal with the useapf a chemical in their city. the risk they faced beme obvious today when a bench on which the skripals were sitting was exposed by gusts of wind. st look at the operation needed to peg it down again, four days on from the incident.s itot just police officers who risked being exposed that afternoon. i have spoken to a doctor who was there. she has asked us not t sname her, but says she came overss -- came aculia skripal slumped over the bench, unconscious, not breathing, vomiting, and having a fit. she stepped in, she got yulia onto the floor, she got her breathing, and she hane patient over to paramedics. sheis concerned about what has come into contact with, but she feels fine. sergei and yulia skripal are not -- attacked as she came to

britain from russia to visit him -- are not getting better. they remain in critical condition, as the race to find their assailant or assailants continues. tom symonds, bbc news, salisbury. jane: suggestions that the kremlin may ve been involved the poisoning have sparked anger in russia. state media have complained of an anti- brussian campai the west with little sympathy for sergei skripal, as steve rosenberg reports. a world away feels from the drop -- russia feels it will the way fro the drama of salisbury. they are determined not to allow a spy scandal to spoil their day. people here are short on said that the four sergei -- short on sympathy for sergei skripal. >> bloomberg for your motherland, then you will have no problem. >> whehe was in prison in russia can he was healthy. he goes toritain and gets

poisoned. he should have stayed here. steve: it is a similar message froman rusv. the kremlin having controlled media have been mucking boris johnson and making fun of britain. "if you are a professional trader, my adviceve -- don't to england. something is not rightth there - climate, perhaps. too many bad things go on there. people are hanged, poison, helicopter crashes, or they fall out of windows." , the vladimir putin kremlin has sent a clear message to the russian people, that their country is a besieged fortress, threatened by enemies abroad and traders at home. -- traitors at home. that is why there is little sympathy for sergei skripal. if moscow did target circuit skripa -- tget sergei skripal -- >> most russians take pride in k, because there was a bl and white worldview -- us

against them. putin has brought it back in a big way. steve: today the president delivered a special ondress. no men of spies. he congratulated russian wen on international women's day. moscow knows it is under suspicion, but the kremlin is acting as if it is business as usual. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. of the look now at some day's other news. organizers of a one-day strike by women in spain say more than 5 million are taking part in the protest to mark international men's day. 10 trade unions are backing the action against unequal pay, exploitation, and t e violence agwomen. the international red cross has postponed an aid convoy due to travel to the syrian rebel-held enclave of eastern ghouta, saying it is too dangerous to go there. fighting is intensifying in the region near damascus as government forces advance. an estimated 400,000 people arep d in the area. c you are watching "rld news america

still to come on tonight's program, the tweeter in chief. what we can learn looking for every tweet donald trump has ever sent. counting has begun in sierra leone, where voters are choosing a new president and parliament. the current president is sending down aer serving 2 five-year terms, is beingrred successor challenged by 15 other candidates. many of them are promising to tackle endemic corruption and poverty in the west african country. reporter:heotes have been cast, ballot boxes sealed, and counting i underway in sierra leone's general election. there was some tension as polls closed, with reports of a scuffle between police and the

opposition candidate, over claims of a vote rigging. overall so far, election monitors have been positive in >> we have about 50 observers around the country. what they are seeing i encouraging. this is not to say we don't expect a bump or two along the way, but thus far, things are heporter: the country is still struggling afterevastating thea crisis, and rebuilding health system is one of the key election issues. the economy is another, after thcollapse in the price of a key export. voter expectations is high. >> education, social services, water.r, clean >> disappointments from our candidates --we expect much

more. reporter: results are expected ofhin a wk, and ifone the 16 candidates that 55% of the v will go to a runoff in march. whoever wins, there was a long road ahead to get this country back on its feet. jane: in just over a year as ent, donald trump has tweeted 190 times about what he calls fake news, and 115 times about making america greatag n, and on his all-time insult rankings, loser comes in top with 234 uses, while dumb r collectedman who these fures runs the trump twitter archive website. he joined me with professor from the annenberg school of

communication. thank you for joining me. i'm going to start with you why first. did you decide to set up this website cataloging trump's tweets? brendand: i tes primarily sted in the results -- i wanted to be able to look through the tweets. i had a thought that i think a lot of people have- why doesn't something like this exist? and then recalled i'm a vaguely competent programmer and teatteto go out and get all the tweets and put it in usable rmat where it is really easy and enjoyable to go and look through the arch jane: is there something more than enjoyment to this? is there a sense that this is a serimmunication tool that needs to be catalogued for posterity? brendan: yeah, it is easy to kind of write off because of the way he uses twitter ant how juvenilen seem at times, is a reallyit important insight into the way that he thinks, especially over he has kind of put out his blunt , honest assessment on lots of

issues, so it is a really interesting catalogue in his political beliefs. jane: kathleen hall jamieson, does brendan have a point therte twitter is quvenile. do we take the president's tweets too serious sometimes? kathleen: for practica purposes, this is the equivalent of the collective papers of the president of the united states, archive important presidential statements,on becaused trump is using it to create policy, using it to communicate withrn inional leaders. the consequential segments of this body of discourse is pretty high in number. jane: was there a turning point ioere suddenly it became o that this was a serious issue? kathleen: i think we have known from the beginning, because of his reliance on it during the campaign, that he woe it as a means to communicate past the mass media, to communicate directly to his followers. i think we also know that he healized very quickly that media would pick up the things that were controversial and

entertaining and put them errectly into cable news, and as a result realized was a capacity to control the agenda here. the point at which i noted that ese as serioust policy documents occurred when it was apparent he was not toing to rely ditional forms of discourse -- that speech to the nation, that prepared text, the formal announcement by other policy leaders -- but instead was going to make policy in this venue and going to issue attacks there were politically consequential. the highlight point was when he accused esident obama of retapping him. jane: that's an interesting point. brendan, is there a word that the president uses more often than not? brendan: yeah, i was looking through the archive, and almost 10of his tweets, 2600 tota feature the word "obama." it is interesting to go back and look through the history of his pretty intense ctiques of the past administration and then flip the lens and applit to the trump administration.

he has a lot of apt criticisms that might not have been apt of the obministration but are interesting to look at as critiques of his administration. jane: kathleen, there is nothing new in a president talking directly to the public, so what makes this so different? kathleen: what is different is that ordinarily a president spoke to the public after carefully considering th language that would be used and the implications of the policies beinarticulated. there is an expert community behind thaprocess -- the cabinet secretaries, the experts inside the cabinet offices that will be potentiay administering the policy change. that layer of thought and care that went into presidential statements meant that when president made the statement, first they were not made frequently, and when they we de, everyone would take them extraordinarily seriously and assume they would not be changed, for example, within the next 20 minutes or 24 hours. you also could assume that thern would beltation within the

relevant cabinet offices, and that we had as a country talkedu to our allies the world aten there was going to be in international impln. all of that has gone by the wayside as president trump almost by whim at times appears to make policy without having consulted anybody. jane: the president says "many are sayi i'm the best 140-character writer in the world." that is one of his tweets. very briefly, should he leave twitter? kathleen: he shouluse twitter more carefully when speaking about consequential matters. jane: and brendan, should ? you would be out of a job presumably. brendan: it is hard to say, because it is a very resource for the public and international communities to get an insight into what he is thinking. whether that causes more harm than good is hard to say. jane: brand browner, thank son, and kathleen hall jamie

thank you. now, how often do you hear people say that runnin marathon or long-distance cycling are sports for young people? n it seems that the case. researchers have been following a big group of older cyclists in and they have found surprising results, as our medical correspondent fergusalsh reports. >> i've arranged a 60-mile ride through the surrey hills. fergus: this is what h aging looks like -- these cyclists aged 64 to 82, think nothing of spending five hou or more in the saddle. ready for one more? >> yes. >> i do it for all reasons -- for health, because i enjoy it, because itciable. it is just wonderful. fergus: they have been examined as part of a trial which is challenging perceptions of aging. >> one of the first rei got from the medical study was i was told my body fat was compable to that of a 19-year-old. fergus: leading them is a

professorat 82, a prime example of healthy aging. >> if exercise was a pill, everybody would be takinthe exercise pill. fergus: he not only took part in the study, but leads the research. ntthis shows his excelung function. an mri scan gives another indication of how well norman is aging. these are his thighs. now compare norman's muscly leg on the right with tha sentary 50-year-old on the left, whh is mostly fat. if more of us could do the recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each we, it would pay huge dividends. >> across the whole gamut of different levels, what exercise ngis dn older individuals is giving them higher levels of function and better quality of

life. fergus: the most remarkable findings came when scientists ih birminam examined blood samples from a cyclist. they found the immune system, which normally declines with age, was still as strong as a young person's. >> the immune system is key in the body. it has several roles to protect from infections but ight things like cancer. the fact that these cyclists have the immune system of a 20-year-old at 70 or 80 years old means they're protected from infections and cancer potentially. fergus: the advaages, then, of exercise in later fe are profound. so, if cycling is not your thing, try another sport, or what about dancing, gardenwag, even just ing? most of the health benefits of these super agers are easily hievable if we just did a bitre mohysical activity. fergus walsh, bbc news, surrey.

jane: use it or lose it. i am jane o'brien. than for watching "world new america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to wo around your lifestyle, you can swipe your way through the news of the day and stay up to date with the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation ade possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's 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.up families, cos, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the

crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available fr most major airports. more infmation for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kce los angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour productionsllc >> sreenivasan: good evening, i'm hari sreenivasan. judy woodrf is away. on the newshour tonight... >> today i'm defending america's national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum. >> sreenivasan: ...president trump raises the stakes in a tential trade war amid warnings from his own party and threats of global retaliation. then, the politics of trade-- a key trade advisor to the trump white house underscores the threat of china and explains the president's push for tariffs. >> trade is good. ffs and the threat of tariffs are a negotiating tool tore countries like china to stop their unfair trade practices. that's theission. >> sreenivasan: and, revelations about the war in afghanistan and pakistan. a new book reports on missedix opportunities, priorities, and failed operations in w