21/09/2016 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins, this is Outside Source.

Let's look through some of the main stories here in the BBC Newsroom.

Two days after the deadly attack on an aid convoy in Syria,

the UN says it will restart aid deliveries to the war-torn country.

We've got a special report from Iraq.

Kurdish peshmerga forces are getting close to pushing so-called

Islamic State out of Iraq once and for all.

We will show you that in a couple of minutes.

Aleem Maqbool is continuing his journey across the US.

He's been finding out what part climate change in Montana

And in the sport, we are going to talk about some cities dropping out

of the race for the Olympics and we will also tell you about the latest

in the Colin Kaepernick protest. Mosul in Iraq is controlled

by the Islamic State group. I've a report now from the frontline

just 12 kilometres away. Iraq's Prime Minister has

told the BBC that he's confident his forces

will retake Mosul. Here he is with Lyse Doucet

discussing the possible I have a schedule for this. I'm

sticking to the schedule. I'm not going to give any information. I

want to surprise Daesh abyss. We will get many messages and one of

the messages we start the offensive today is to take up, to liberate all

the villages on the River Tigris so that Daesh will not be able to

threaten any supply route from Baghdad to Baiji to tempt even -- to

Mosul. I want to make sure the International coalition is ready to

provide help. Mosul is Iraq's most important city

after Baghdad. Iraqi troops are advancing

from the south along the Tigris. Kurdish peshmerga forces

are advancing from the East. Our Middle East Correspondent Orla

Guerin has visited their front line. On the front line, a tense moment

for Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They spot a car in the

territory controlled They think it could be

carrying explosives. The commander tells me that IS

are just a kilometre ahead. "They've tried to attack us 30 or 40

times", says the general. "We have defeated

them here", he says. "And we will defeat them

in Mosul, God willing". We drive over rough terrain,

along the front line, which stretches

for 1,000 kilometres. a fighter who has been

here on the mountain for 18 months. But his uniform

separates him from the rest. He's a former British soldier,

turned volunteer sniper. He says he has no hesitation

pulling the trigger on IS. It's like putting

your foot on an ant. For you, personally,

what was it that This isn't your country,

many would say. For people to say this

isn't the West's war, you've got your head stuck

in the sand. If Daesh got their caliphate

here, then the next step Nice, Paris would be nothing

compared to what we would see. The fact of the matter

is that the Peshmerga held the line, This mortar landed

soon after we arrived. IS were responding to our

presence, the Kurds said. Their horizon stretches

beyond defeating the insurgents. The Peshmerga have been

expanding their territory, They want independence

for their autonomous region. But, for now, the focus

is on freeing Mosul. This IS defector surrendered

to the Kurds, and claims that the extremists have

dug in for a long fight. We're not revealing his identity

as he has relatives They are trying to convert a cannon

to fire mustard gas so that, when the army comes,

people use it against them. so that, when the army comes,

they will use it against them. They have underground

tunnels around Mosul, They have bunkers equipped

with bathrooms, Back at the front line,

a distant glimpse of Mosul, the captive city, where

IS proclaimed its caliphate. The UN is warning

that if the militants they may want Mosul

to die with them. Orla Guerin, BBC News, northern

Iraq. In fact, the vast majority of the

reports we play you are available online whenever you want to watch

them, either through the BBC News app or website. Time for the sport.

It's only 74 days since the latest European Football

But it's time for me to tell you about Euro2020.

It was launched in London - and this is tournament

with a difference - it's going to be played

across across 13 cities in Europe - with the final and the semis

Richard Conway was at City Hall in London to see the new president

Portugal might have lifted the trophy in France for Euro 2016

only weeks ago but we have moved on and Uefa are already

"A Euro for Europe" is how they describe it.

It will be played across 13 different cities across Europe.

The new man in charge, Alexander Chefferin, was only elected

Uefa president last week taking over from

This was his brainchild about bringing the Euro

tournament to different parts of Europe.

Chefferin has adopted it wholesale and thinks it will be a good thing

to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Uefa

It is good for football to show diversity and

friendship in Europe, to show that East, West,

Yet this will be a one-off, not repeated in the future?

Uefa are enthusiastic about the idea but there's

the big question for fans about travel costs.

It may be something the European governing body may tackle

in the years ahead, given the diversity of the cities, the

countries involved and the cost of following your team, especially if

they make the later stages of the tournament.

Could be good news for those of us who support England, supposing they

get to the semifinals which I'm not assuming! Let's update you on a

story we have covered a lot in the last few weeks.

We've been following the protests of the NFL player Colin Kaepernick.

49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said he has received death

threats for protesting during the national anthem.

If you have not seen, he's not standing up to the national anthem

before NFL games, as the other players and fans are comedies going

down on one knee. He started it but as the season has gone on, others

have joined him and it has remained very contentious. Now he is saying

he is receiving death threats because of that. We will keep you

up-to-date on that story. Let's talk about the Olympics, just

as Rio has finished and the IOC is looking ahead to 2024.

Rome has pulled out of the race to host the 2024 Games.

This was a process that started with a lot of European interest.

Hamburg in Germany seemed like it was going to go for it and held a

referendum and the majority of people said no, they did not want to

do it. Rome has also announced it is withdrawing.

It leaves Budapest and Paris still in the running,

Of course, they have hosted the games a couple of times.

The International Olympic Committee will choose the host

Let's talk to John Watson about this. I'm curious as to why Rome has

dropped out? Probably two reasons. Firstly, I should mention that Rome

has a new chain-macro and it was clear in her manifesto -- a new and

she made it clear -- a new mayor Angie medication was not going to

support the bid to host the Olympics. But possibly two reasons,

why is financial, she feels that Rome is still paying off the debt of

hosting the Olympics the last time they did it in 1960. She feels after

years of financial mismanagement that hosting the big is the last

thing that the city needs when at the moment it is struggling to clear

the rubbish from the streets, to be honest, and repair the potholes on

the roads. She feels that perhaps the financial reasons, added to that

the public appetite that she feels is not there, her reason quoted a

survey that said that 70% of the Roman population were not in favour

of hosting the Olympics. It is probably those two fighters,

financially first and foremost, we saw that whenever it comes to

hosting the Olympics, you very rarely get money back from the thick

end of ?10 billion. We saw the overspend at 30 and I think she

feels that Rome, with all the financial problems it has had in the

past, is not ready to host the Olympics. Of course, the detractors

will say that Rome needs to be restored to its glory years and

hosting a huge event like the Olympics would do that but she is in

the hot seat and she feels it is not the right time to do that and she is

laying a marker down early in her time in office. Rome and hamburger

up and I know Boston opted out of the idea of hosting the Olympics. Is

anyone talking about a fixed site in somewhere like Appian is where you

don't have to go through the whole cost of setting up a new set of

Games every four years? Potentially although I'm not sure if that is

specifically being talked about. One of the examples which proved to be a

success was elated when it last posted it in 1984. -- was Los

Angeles. It used existing venues which is a key way of ensuring that

you don't overspend. A lot of Olympics, as you know, we see a lot

of white elephants and buildings which are no longer used. Certainly,

the mayor of Rome is quoted as saying she does not want to see any

more cathedrals in the desert and you can understand what she means. I

think those felt that Rome had existing venues which could have

been redeveloped which would not have seen such a huge overspend but

as for staging the games in a fixed place like Athens, I think we are

some way from that because as we know, despite the overspend at Rio,

it was still a fantastic party and that is what the IOC want to do,

take the Olympic values around the world and that is something they

want to do. You wonder if we will see an Olympics in Africa, of course

is to mark but at the moment, I don't think the IOC will be moving

towards fixing the Olympics in a particular city. Thank you for

joining us. Interesting, John mentioning Africa, Cape Town threw

its hat in the ring once but so far the Olympics have not got there so

we will have to see if they follow in the footsteps of football in

time. Three pro-democracy activists

in Hong Kong have resisted Joshua Wong, Nathan Law

and Alex Chow were found guilty The trio were behind these massive

anti-government protests in 2014. They were initially given

community service orders and suspended sentences, but

prosecutors wanted them in prison. Here's one of

the three - Joshua Wong. TRANSLATION: We will continue to

uphold the rule of civil disobedience and not be absent from

future street protests. Four stories on Hong Kong, we often

turn to Helier Cheung. This case has brought around a lot

of strong emotions in Hong Kong because a lot of people feel the

students should be jailed for breaking the law, whether or not

they have political support but to their supporters, they are a symbol

of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. They feel the prosecution

has been politically motivated. So what happened? The three students

were found guilty of unlawful assembly earlier this year but the

judge did not send them to jail and the government was not happy.

Prosecutors were back in court today, arguing they should be jailed

immediately because they have not showed remorse for a serious crime

and people were hurt in the clashes. Is it politically motivated? Is

there a direct connection between the judiciary, the prosecutors and

authorities in Beijing? It is impossible to say but what the court

decision today has shown is clearly the courts are not afraid of making

decisions the government does not like Andy would never see this kind

of ruling in Beijing. Turning to Yemen, you may have seen

in the last 24 hours, the BBC has run a report by our Arabic reporter

on the millions of people suffering malnutrition because of the conflict

there. We are going to speak to the journalist who made this report.

The Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, has denied a claim

in a BBC Northern Ireland investigative programme

that he sanctioned the murder of a former party official

who admitted working for the intelligence service MI5.

Denis Donaldson was shot dead months after it emerged that he had

Denis Donaldson was shot dead at this Donegal cottage in 2006

months after admitting he'd been working for British

intelligence within the IRA for more than 20 years.

At the time, Denis Donaldson was a Sinn Fein administrator at Stormont.

In last night's BBC Spotlight, another informer who wished

to remain anonymous claimed that Gerry Adams

I know from my experience in the IRA that murders had to be

The political leadership of the IRA and the military

Who are you specifically referring to?

And today, Mr Adams had his say on the allegation.

And I totally repudiate it and categorically and

And what will you be doing about these allegations?

Well, it's in the hands of my solicitor at this time.

But more importantly, we have to look at what

The person who made this allegation, anonymous, unnamed, self-professed

This is an attempt to rewrite history.

It is not the first time Gerry Adams has had to issue

One of his opponents says he should now leave the political stage.

I think it is time for Sinn Fein to move on.

Sinn Fein are never going to be able to get away

from all these accusations until Gerry Adams retires.

And I think it is just about time after 33 years that he does that.

Others say a simple denial from Mr Adams is not enough.

He should take legal action against the BBC if he feels

And if he does that then we would know that there is no

If he does not, then it is clear that he has got something to hide.

So I would call on him, and the ball really is in his court,

for him to decide whether or not he will hold the BBC

The BBC said the Spotlight programme dealt with matters of great

public interest and it stood by its journalism.

This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is the UN says it will resume aid convoys to Syria -

just two days after an attack on a group trying to reach Aleppo.

If you're outside of the UK, it's World News America next.

Much more on the accusations over Syria to come.

Barbara Plett Usher has been speaking to Deputy Secretary

Here in the UK, the News at Ten is next.

They're looking at the thriving tech economy here in the UK

Next on Outside Source, we're looking at how

the war in Yemen is taking the country to the brink of famine.

Around 2 million people are acutely malnourished.

The conflict started early last year when Yemen's government

Soon after, a Saudi-led coalition backed by Britain and the US

began carrying out air strikes against the rebels.

BBC Arabic's Nawal al-Maghafi has visited Hodeida,

a place where major aid agencies can no longer operate.

In a moment I'll speak to Nawal, but first, this is one distressing

Seven-month-old Fatima is weak and severely malnourished. She is one of

hundreds in this area alone. Her mother tells me she won't stop

crying. "It Breaks my heart", she says. The only piece she can offer

her child is water. She is so malnourished herself that she is

unable to breast-feed. The report will be available in full

this weekend. I've been talking to her about it.

The situation has become extremely dangerous.

There are air strikes, shelling, shooting indiscriminately

The other reason is because of lack of funding.

The situation has worsened so quickly but the funding has not

kept up with how bad the situation has got.

For example, the UN appeal is only 30% funded.

That just means they just don't have the capacity to

be facilitating the remote areas in Yemen right now.

In your report, we see a number of children who are

Presumably they are beginning to lose their lives

Of course, most of them are dying from starvation.

Yemen was already poor before the war but because of

the war, the situation has got a lot worse.

A lot of these children were already malnourished but now

they are suffering from something called severe acute

malnutrition which means it stunt their growth and yes,

The people you spent time with, do they

have a view on the conflict beyond the fact they wanted finished?

They don't know much about the conflict.

They just want security, food and peace.

They don't have very much political views.

In terms of the help they require, clearly they need food as

soon as possible and I'm guessing medical supplies as well.

Yes, one of the stories we are following in

the report is a child who is suffering from a bacterial infection

The antibiotic he needed, which is very simple,

The full report is online at the moment.

All this week we've been following Aleem Maqbool's journey

He's covering the election - and has already been

It is one of the most spectacular settings in the entire country

but this landscape's under the most serious threat it has ever faced.

We start this leg of our journey, though, around 500 miles to the

east, in what has been at the heart of a massive oil boom that hit its

It totally changed the little town of Williston.

There were a lot of companies and a number of my friends

themselves that were shutting their businesses down.

They were on the border of bankruptcy, really, for

They have been able to make more money than they have

made in the last 30 years running their businesses.

People who have made fortunes and made the money

have been able to help put that money back into the community.

We have a new rec centre which my kids play at three times a week.

In a town where oil brought such riches, there is frustration

when the government gets in the way of business on the grounds

Then we get an outside influence on the federal aspect that comes

in and at the stroke of a pen, a pipeline shuts down

or at the stroke of a pen, suddenly you have to worry

It is tough to see that happen because you are left

We travelled by rail, seven hours left and we left behind Wells and

the oil trains and the landscape dramatically.

The beauty of the national park is breathtaking.

But it is far harder to find a glacier than it once was.

This is what the edge of a glacier looks like.

The position of this, and the position it used to be in is

exactly what the climate change debate boils down to.

Say if we came here in 1911, what would this look

Right here? Yeah.

Some glaciers have basically ceased to become glaciers.

They are now permanent snowfields that are stagnant.

Do you see that there could be a time when, in the

near future decades, Glacier National Park may

I believe mankind is contributing to the warming.

Climate has always warmed and cooled and warmed and

It is the rate of warming is so much faster.

Disappearing glaciers are already having an impact on the water supply

is here and the forests and on the wildlife.

But as with many issues in America, climate change has been politicised

and facts can often give way to emotion.

And I will see you at the same time tomorrow. Thank you for watching.

Low-pressure systems, whether France, isobars, some sunshine and

some early