15/03/2017 BBC World News America

Reporting from Washington, I'm Laura Trevelyan.

The Dutch voters have had their say, exit polls showed the current Prime

Minister has held off the challenge of far right leader Geert Wilders.

US officials point the finger at Russia for a hack which led

to hundreds of names, email addresses and passwords

And: Michelangelo was undoubtedly one of the Renaissance masters.

We explore the rivalry and partnership which shaped his work.

Welcome to our viewers on public television in America -

Polls have closed in the Netherlands and today's election is being seen

by many a big test of the way the winds of populism

Attention was focused on the country's far-right leader,

Geert Wilders, who has mounted a challenge to the centre-right

Mr Wilders is running on an anti-immigration platform.

He's pledged to take the Netherlands out of the EU,

And earlier, he had this message to Muslims who don't like that idea.

Well, Prime Minister Mark Rutte is hoping to stop Geert

He warned today that this ballot will set the tone for other

elections across Europe, like the French Presidential

I know the International journalists are very interested in this. This is

Brexit, after the American elections, we have the upcoming

French and German elections for a big democracy like the Netherlands

to make a point, to stop this toppling over the wrong sort of

populism. And there is still a risk that we up Thursday morning and see

that occur to is reading the biggest party.

The latest exit poll, Mark Rutte's centre-right party is projected to

win 31 seats out of a total of 150. For ahead of the next three

contenders including Geert Wilders, his anti-immigration Freedom Party,

the Christian Democrats and the Liberals which each got 90 seats.

Our reporter is in The Hague. I spoke to him about these exit poll

results a short time ago. Doesn't look as though this wave of populism

which began in Brexit and swept of the Atlantic to Donald Trump has

stalled in the Netherlands? Certainly, we can describe Geert

Wilders as a populist and if this is not a disastrous result for him, it

is not the significant shift in the voting that he would have been

hoping for. There were times when he was polling well ahead of Mark

Rutte's party and that has not materialised on voting day.

Interesting talk on the politicians here, some quite resistant to the

idea that what is happening in the Netherlands is connected to the US

and the UK. But Mark Rutte push that point heavily, he said, there could

be a domino effect from Brexit, Trump, the Netherlands and

potentially to France and Germany. For some people, that was a

persuasive message and he will be delighted with the night's results,

exit polls, it is not a result yet. He looks like he will form the next

coalition although we will have to wait for the results. Departments to

Mark Rutte how to tax far to the right to defeat Geert Wilders? He

certainly did attack further to the right than some of his supporters

would have wanted, he made it clear in a number of high-profile

statements that if anybody comes to live in this country, they need to

be prepared to adopt certain Dutch values. How you define Dutch values

is a difficult thing to do, but he had a stronger message in the last

six months than we have seen from him previously. I should also

mention what people call the Turkey bounce. This highly passionate

vitriolic argument between Turkey and the Netherlands over a cancelled

rally on Sunday has allowed Mr Rutte to seems strong in the face of

fierce criticism and most commentators agree that favoured him

in the last couple of days. Marine Le Pen in France will be watching

this result very closely, what is the message to her, do you think?

Well, I think Marine Le Penn would say, please don't compare me with

Geert Wilders and the Freedom Party here, I am my own national and my

own quite different. Geert Wilders and other politicians in the

Netherlands have tapped into a frustration at Western consensus

around issues of immigration and the trade. She liked and it is true,

there are a huge number of parties in the Netherlands and makes it hard

for any party, Wilders or others, the poll highly, so we cannot draw

huge conclusions about how well she might do in a completely different

electoral system when the French presidential election comes around.

From the Netherlands, thank you. Two Russian intelligence agents

and two hackers have been charged in a breach at Yahoo that affected

at least half a billion The incident occurred in 2014 and,

today, the FBI came forward It comes at the same time

the House Intelligence Committee is looking into Russian involvement

in the US election. And when it comes to those charges

by President Trump that his phones were tapped before the election

by the previous administration, here's what the Republican chair

of the committee had to say today. As I told you last week -

about the issue with the President talking about tapping Trump Tower -

that evidence still remains the same, that we don't have any

evidence that that took place. In fact, I don't believe,

just in the last week of time, the people we've talked to,

I don't think there was an actual For more on the wiretap

allegation and charges announced for the Yahoo hack,

I spoke a brief time ago with Washington Post

columnist David Ignatius. David heard the top of the

intelligence and evidence of the alleged wiretap that this method is

that if damage? I think support for man of the allegations that

President Obama ordered his lawyers have a brother. We sold exclusive.

The White House staff and affect the way from validation.

Those in my Trump campaign'. Authorise the machine ages. So this

story to life. You will survive his father, though.

'S says more interesting items will come to the forefront, what you make

of that? We will discover the incidental collection as the FBI and

intelligence agencies were surveying Russian targets did include people

in Trump Tower. That is not in the President's interests and it

continues this story of Russian hacking and contact with Trump

associates. We are still very early in this process and I do not want to

get two for ahead of the facts. We do have a key moment coming on

Monday when FBI Director James Comey will be in an open hearing on

Capitol Hill. How significant do you expect that to be? I think he will

be very careful and guarded in what he says. It is widely believed, I

have reported that the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation

on this question of Russian hacking and involvement in the campaign,

involvement with Trump associates. That is ongoing and the FBI Director

will not want to disclose sources and methods of investigation and I

think will not want to talk much about the details of what the

finding. Given the criminal investigation is ongoing, how long

will it take for these claims about Russia allowed in the early months

of the Trump administration to clear? It could be months before the

facts get established. I think Congress has an ingress and

Republicans more than anyone in clearing as much this as they can

and if there are criminal prosecutions and we have no idea of

the evidence, but if there criminal prosecutions, we could be in the

next year before that is resolved. The matter of Russia is swirling

around and in a separate development, two Russian

intelligence agents have been charged by the Justice Department

with hacking Yahoo e-mail accounts we cannot get away from it! This

fascinating, it demonstrates the evidence compiled in this indictment

which alleges that the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, works

closely with the Russian hacker underground, something people have

often speculated about. I included that in a novel several years ago.

It has been the subject of fiction and speculation. But this is real

evidence that people doing criminal activity ended up providing

information to the Russians which had other uses. Vladimir Putin is

watching from Moscow no doubt, what must he be making of his influence

on American politics and Yahoo hacking? This is a covert action

with enormous results and it has tied America in knots for the last

months. And I think Vladimir Putin was hoping that Trump would open the

way for a different kind of relationship between Russia and the

US, that is less likely now than it was before the election on November

the 8th, so in that sense, Putin and Russia have lost out on what they

hoped would be an opening. David, thank you for joining us. In other

news, at least 30 people had been killed in a suicide bombing at the

main courthouse in the Syrian capital Damascus. Later, a second

attack targeted a restaurant, causing multiple casualties, mainly

women and children. The latest in a series of bombings to hit

government-controlled areas in Syria. Scientists claim to have

calculated how much food the global population of spiders eats every

year. The university appraisal estimated they consume up to 800

million tonnes of insects, approximately the same amount as the

meat and fish eaten by humans each year.

After the economic crash of 2008, US interest rates were slashed

But today, the US Federal Reserve has made a move -

for the second time in three months, it is upping the rate and forecasts

For more on this action, Katty Kay and Christian Fraser spoke

to economist Diane Swonk in Chicago for their program, 100 Days.

Diane Swonk, that's the real story here, isn't it,

that this interest rate hike is a reflection of the fact

In fact, Chair Yellen went out of her way to say this

is a reflection of underlying economic fundamentals,

no pre-emptive strike, no even scenarios about what fiscal

And that finally, the Fed is getting what it expected in the economy,

and it is reacting to it as they expected to react to it.

So this is sort of a validation of it finally being credible.

Another key point is the statement itself was slightly less

Highlighting the symmetry of the inflation target.

There was also a dissent, but I think highlighting of the symmetry,

what that means is that the FED is willing to overshoot a bit

on inflation to allow unemployment to undershoot and re-engage workers

that have sort of been marginalised in recent years.

That is one of the key issues and where the debate

So I guess this is one of the questions people continue

There we have Janet Yellen sounding optimistic,

you yourself saying this is a good sign about the US economy,

and yet we keep hearing from American voters

that they are underemployed and underpaid, and that there

is a large section of the US workforce that is not happy,

that is not at all feeling optimistic, which is why they voted

Exactly, and I think that is one of the reasons why not only

is there symmetry in the inflation target, which is something

the FED has discussed and will be debated at length.

How high will they let it go and how low will they let unemployment go?

Chair Yellen is a veteran of the 1990s and one

of her goals has always been, even though she felt she didn't have

all the tools necessary to reduce the economy immediately

after the expansion and even later in the expansion

without fiscal policy, which is what happened

later in the expansion, now they do have the ability

to allow the economy to run a little hot and re-engage those workers.

And it's beginning to happen now, and it's necessary, we do need

policy, fiscal policy, that is better attuned to this.

But it is necessary to re-engage those workers around the sidelines.

You're finally seeing firms investing in training.

That is not something we saw earlier in the expansion.

It's really something that was cut aggressively during the crisis.

They're investing in workers that don't have the skills

necessary to employ them to upgrade their skills.

And she's hoping that will also trigger some innovation as well.

Diane, it's Christian here in London.

Indulge me a bit as a Brit, as a nervous Brit amid all

the Brexit stuff that's going on here.

If we have a world economy where the US is pushing up rates

while the UK is keeping its rates at rock bottom, I mean,

I'm no expert, but does that mean that the pound remains low

Well, unfortunately, I think you're stuck with that.

I was already there, in London, in the fall,

So I do think it is important to understand that we are starting

We have been competing, Central Bank policies.

The ECB is sort of not quite ending with its dovish tinge,

but there are some hawks in the mix now of their flock, and I think

and I think that's going to be less accommodation, less pushing

of the accommodation, with the European Central Bank,

which will help to slow the appreciation of the dollar.

On the flip side of it, it is a different equation

All of that sort of complicating the mix, along with the triggering

of Article 50, this is just going to be a very hard period,

in terms of inflation picking up in the UK,

even as the economy has held up fairly well.

We need that US trade deal, Diane, we will send you our chief exports!

You're watching BBC World News America.

Still to come on tonight's programme:

We hear from truck drivers in Europe who can't afford to live

If you're a small business owner, you'll know that social media can

But for millions of people across Africa, getting online can

still be a challenge, particularly for women.

Today, our first web literacy class is graduating.

I am really happy to see the ladies are graduating after the course.

Around here, it's been so difficult for women to get access

At this minute, I'm just sending an e-mail to a client abroad.

I think digital skills is important because I can make

business on digital, online, selling my stuff,

and meet new friends from all around the world.

The jobs are too scarce, no jobs in these areas.

But when you know how to use a computer, then you can get a job.

I feel so great to see people's lives changing.

Truck drivers moving goods for Ikea and other retailers

in Western Europe are camping out in their cabs for months at a time

because they can't afford to live in the countries they're working in.

The East European drivers are being paid at the levels they would

A judge has described as 'inhumane' the practice where companies

are able to exploit loopholes in European law.

In a trailer on the edge of Copenhagen in Denmark,

Christian and Emilion have created their very

Cooking from scratch saves them money.

Is this how you want to have your breakfast?

No, I don't want to live like this, but this is the condition.

Emilion is moving goods for IKEA, but they don't employ him.

His actual employer is the Slovakian firm Bring Trucking.

European Union employment rules state that a driver temporarily

posted away from home should be guaranteed the host nation's minimum

But companies are exploiting loopholes in the law.

A Danish driver can expect to take home 2,200 euros,

But Emilion has been taking home an average monthly

salary of 477 euros, or ?418 a month.

Danish drivers go home every couple of weeks,

but Emilion spends up to four months on the road.

Bring says Emilion is responsible for taking his rest breaks

and the company says he can go home whenever he likes.

Emilion has just driven some IKEA stock from Denmark into Sweden.

He only ever works in Western Europe, sometimes it might

Yet he is being paid as if he was driving in Slovakia,

Ikea of turning a blind eye as to how haulage companies treat their

drivers. Ikea would say this is many different layers of companies

operating these contracts, they cannot be expected to know. Yes, but

the Moldovan, Ukrainian, Polish guys, remove the furniture from

Ikea. The Dutch furniture, how can you deny? How can you not know what

they are being paid? In a statement, Ikea said at the BBC reports very

seriously and recognise that there is a discrepancy between these

reports on what we find now auditing process. It is not just Ikea and the

big retailers in the firing line. Your's politicians are also under

pressure to act, to prevent any further deterioration in the working

conditions of Europe's drivers. The exploitation of Emilion and

other drivers. Michelangelo was one of the greatest

figures of the Renaissance - and we live with his legacy

as a sculptor, painter, Now London's National Gallery

is shedding new light on his creative partnership

with a less famous artist, Sebastiano, while revealing the deep

rivalry between Michelangelo Our arts editor, Will Gompertz,

tells this intriguing story. As sculptors go,

Michelangelo was pretty good. Michelangelo is the peak of, er,

skill and virtuosity. As you can see from

this marble carving. It shows the Virgin

and Child, with Saint John And if you look at the foot

of Christ, down here, that's about to emerge

from the stone. And Michelangelo wrote so poetically

about the figure having to be The only snag was,

while Michelangelo was busy decorating the Sistine Chapel

ceiling, an ambitious young artist called Raphael had arrived in Rome

and started to compete with him for commissions from

the powerful Pope Julius II. Raphael prospered,

while Michelangelo toiled, until he met an artist -

ten years his junior - And he comes to Rome at that

moment when Michelangelo Sebastiano becomes friends

with Michelangelo and they begin this very fruitful collaboration,

of which this is the first example. Michelangelo would make

preparatory drawings - such as this male torso -

which Sebastiano then rendered in paint without, it would appear,

doing much to turn man into Madonna. The colour, the interest

in the landscape - which, Michelangelo was never interested

in landscape - was because Sebastiano has a real poetic feeling

for this nocturnal landscape. With some ruins on the left

and the waterfall there. The stakes are raised

by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, He commissioned two enormous

biblical altar pieces - The 'Transfiguration',

from Raphael, and from Sebastiano, This picture was at the centre

of the extraordinary rivalry between Raphael and Michelangelo,

with Sebastiano actually painting on behalf -

one could say - of Michelangelo. So in a way, it's a sort

of proxy battle between Could Sebastiano have done this

without Michelangelo? Erm, Michelangelo is fundamental

for Sebastiano's development. This sort of heroic, titanic

character of the representations, these over-life-sized figures

who are full of dynamic energy, these come absolutely out

of the mind of Michelangelo. Their remarkable creative

collaboration continued even after Raphael's death in 1520,

but eventually ended in acrimony, with Michelangelo accusing the now

well-to-do Sebastiano of laziness. Well, that brings today's show

to a close, but you can find much more on all the day's news

at our website. And to reach me, and most of the BBC

team, simply go to Twitter. From all of us here

at World News America, thank you for watching,

and please tune in tomorrow.