12/01/2017 Outside Source

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

The US National Intelligence chief called him to denounce

That's not quite how Director Clapper described it.

Meanwhile the confirmation hearings for the Trump

Today's featured the man nominated to be the new head of the CIA.

It is pretty clear, about what took place here, about Russian

involvement in efforts to hack information and to have an impact on

American democracy. Moscow has described the deployment

of thousands of troops in Poland as a threat to its national security.

We've been following the Cyprus reunification talks all week -

And EU wants new rules on how humans interact with robots.

Many will be on line there is the hashtag, our e-mail and social media

contacts are on the screen throughout the programme.

The fall-out from leaked dossier - with allegations that Russia has

compromising personal material about Donald Trump -

Mr Trump says he's spoken to the US National Intelligence chief.

First, the dossier was produced by a private company

Second, if that's how the call went, that's not how

He earlier released a statement saying US Intelligence "has not made

any judgment that the information in this document is reliable".

He also rebuffed the idea US intelligence leaked the dossier.

We're also learning more details about the man

He runs a private intelligence firm called Orbis.

He's also a former UK intelligence agent who worked in Moscow.

The BBC understands he's now in hiding.

The murky world of intelligence-gathering in Moscow.

A secret dossier of allegations about Trump and Russia.

All written by a former member of MI6.

This is Christopher Steele, now at the centre of controversy.

He's supposed to have told neighbours to look after his cats

and he is said to be lying low, fearing for his safety.

So what do we know about Christopher Steele?

In the 1990s he worked undercover for MI6 in Moscow.

After leaving, he founded a private intelligence company called Orbis.

Last year he was commissioned by Trump's opponents

to look into the tycoon's Russian connections.

He ended up with 35 pages of allegations about his

But so far there has been no confirmation that the extraordinary

allegations he dug up there are definitely true.

Thanks to his past as a spy, Steele is unlikely to have been able

to travel to Moscow himself so instead will have relied

Moscow's a difficult place to work in.

The Russians have a habit of secrecy and deception.

The other complicating factor is money.

If you're going to give someone money to tell you something,

there is a strong possibility that they will tell

Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent who fled to London,

investigated powerful figures in Moscow and was killed

by radioactive poison, it's alleged on the orders

I believe it is dangerous, particularly

after the death of my husband, because when you just approach

specific information, particularly when this information

very close to powerful people, you might be in this line

The Russian dossier was not written for public consumption.

But American spies have briefed its outlines

Its author never expected to be in the spotlight.

But in the atmosphere of American politics today,

secrets are no longer as safe as they were.

Senate confirmation hearings have continued in Washington.

Those answering the questions have been nominated by Donald Trump

Mike Pompeo is a Republican congressman nominated

Retired General James Mattis is nominated for Secretary of Defence.

Rex Tillerson is nominated for Secretary of State -

Here he is on allegations of Russian hacking.

It is pretty clear about what took place here, about Russian

involvement in efforts to hack information and to have an impact on

American democracy, I am very clear about what that intelligence report

says, and I have every expectation as we develop the facts I will relay

those to the President, to the team round him and to you all, so we can

have a robust discussion about how to take on an enormous threat from

cyber, you have lived it. This is very real, it is growing, it is not

new in that sense, but this was an aggressive action taken by the

senior leadership inside Russia and America has part of that obligation

to protect that information. P Anthony Zurcher is with us. How well

will Mr Trump know Mr Pom owe. He doesn't know him really, he is a

long time member of Congress and Donald Trump didn't move in those

circles. Pom owe is more establishment. He wasn't an early

supporter so when you see something like that you have to wonder, after

hearing Donald Trump talk about how an asset to have a close

relationship with Vladimir Putin, to see who the man who could be the

next director of the CIA come out and single Russia out and endorse

the intelligence community's findings that Russia was behind

hackings, they were aggressive in trying to meddle in US election, it

makes you think could will have be disagreement and conflict between

Donald Trump and his senior national security advisers and how would that

resolve itself. Let us talk about the relationship between Donald

Trump and the intelligence agencies. Can some of the damage done by the

comments be swept away when his choices of leaders come in? Well,

you saw a bit this morning with Clapper, the current director of

intelligence coming out with the statements saying that they weren't

responsible for the leak, you could interpret that as an attempt to mend

fences between Donald Trump and the intelligence community. Donald Trump

tweeted out a thank you and that he felt vindicated, that earlier today,

so, that might be a first step, but bringing in new leaders won't change

the way the rank and file view Donald Trump. There are people

within the one whoty who feel aggrieved and upset that Donald

Trump has questioned their effectiveness, their motivation,

questioned whether they were responsible for undermining his

Presidential authority, they are not going to go anywhere in all

likelihood, barring some major reform of the agencies, so they will

have to make peace with fact Donald Trump is President or we could see

more examples of this back-and-forth that will make it difficult for

Donald Trump at times, to present first of all to rely on intelligence

briefings from these people and also to site the intelligence agencies as

evidence for whatever foreign policy he wants to pursue in a moment of

crisis he will have to point to his intelligence agency, this is why I

am agenting, that is a big question. Don't go anywhere. This was the

hearing attended by retired general James Mattis.

Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Defence.

Here he is talking about Russia and Nato.

The most important thing is we recognise the reality of what we

dealt with, with Mr Putin, and we recognise he is trying to break the

north Atlantic alliance, in that we take the steps, the integrated

steps, diplomatic, economic, military and the alliance steps, the

working with our allies to defend ourselves, where we must. Let us go

back to Anthony Zurcher. Talk us through the practicalities, there

was some discussion about whether the gap between the genre tiring

from the military, and now taking up this post might be an issue, but

doesn't seem like it is going to be. It requires special permission gran

granted by Congress in order for a retired general who has been out of

the active service for less than seven years, to head the Defense

Department, the Senate had a vote on that and they overwhelmingly granted

that permission, the House also has to have a vote, as far as I know

they have not had that vote but it seems pretty clear he is going to

get that box checked and be able to be formally considered. Thank you

very much. We appreciate it. We will talk next week on Outside Source.

This is the biggest US military operation in eastern Europe

These are American troops, more than 80 US tanks and hundreds

of armoured vehicles arriving in Poland.

From there they'll move out to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,

Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary on a rotational basis.

This is part of a Nato deployment - it's designed to deter

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC "We see

It's an action that threatens our interests and our security.

Especially as it's a third country that is building up its military

Here's the US brigade commander in Poland.

Within the next few days, our soldiers will be showcasing their

lethal abilitys as they begin to train on nearby gun range, to arrive

at this point so swiftly, its proof when we work as a team, not only

within the ranks of our tireless US Army but as at lied nation, a team

of teams, no challenges is too large to overcome, no distance is too far

to cross, when the need arises. US Russia relations are dominating

the programme, it is not only the only stories we will cover. We will

turn to South Korea. The head of Samsung has been questioned over

allegations of corruption, in relation to this scandal that has

engulfed the South Korean President. Investigators have announced 23

people and organisations could face prosecution over

the Hillsborough disaster. 96 fans were found to have been

unlawfully killed at the FA More that 400 investigators have

been running two separate criminal squireries into Hillsborough.

Operation Resolve, that is the investigation which has looked at

the planning and preparation for that day in 1989. The investigators

running that inquiry have said today they have identified 15 people who

can they consider to be criminal suspects. There is a second

investigation, that has been run from the same building here in

Warrington by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. They have

been looking at the aftermath and specifically, the alleged cover up

which is said to have followed the disaster and the IPCC has said it

has identified eight suspects. This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom. Donald Trump has said that the US

Director of National Intelligence has told him that reports that

Russia held compromising information about the president-elect

were false. Israel's military says it has

uncovered a scam by Hamas militants to spy on its soldiers

by hacking their mobile phones. Members of the Palestinian group

found the soldiers online, then tried to strike up a friendship

using the fake identities. Dozens of soldiers were persuaded

to install an application that controlled their phone

cameras and microphones. US investigators say special forces

were hunting for Taliban leaders, when they came under fire

and called in air strikes. Samsung's vice-chairman has been

questioned by prosecutors as a suspect in South Korea's

political corruption scandal. The scandal has resulted

in the impeachment of the country's Lee Jae-yong apologised - sort of -

when he arrived this morning. Here's our Seoul

correspondent Stephen Evans. The central allegation is that lots

of businesses including Samsung gave millions of dollars to two funds

controlled by the best friend of the President. They did that for

favours. And in the case of Samsung, the allegation is Samsung gave $17

million to the funds, in return the country's pension fund voted through

a change which the ruling family in Samsung wanted. So you don't get any

closer to the elites of politics, the President, and the elites of

business, the acting head of Samsung. There is new evidence, we

are told, and that is a tablet computerdowned by the friend of the

President. -- owned. On that tablet computer the prosecutor believe

there's is evidence that the President of this country, and the

head of Samsung had a meeting, only the two of them together, and they

agreed on this deal. You give the money, and I'll get the votes for

the change. Now, it should be said very loudly that everybody involved.

Involved. Those three people vociferously deny any wrongdoing,

and certainly any criminality. They have all apologised but it is not

for breaking the laws, it is for, in the case of the President, for

example, for trusting people too much. In the case of the head of

Samsung, he said basically, he has it should be said very loudly that

everybody involved. Those three people vociferously deny any

wrongdoing, and certainly any criminality. They have all

apologised but it is not for breaking the laws, it is for, in the

case of the President, for example, for trusting people too much. In the

case of the head of Samsung, he said basically, he has given a bad

impression, "I am very sorry about that." So apologies but not guilty

pleas. We will talk to Steve about that again.

This is how Fiat Chrysler's stock closed on the Milan

stock exchange today - that's down 16%.

That's because the company has been accused of not telling authorities

about software regulating emissions in thousands of its vehicles.

But before anyone jumps to conclusions - here's

@NathanBomey quoting the company's CEO:

What spot is Fiat Chrysler in? What is going on? So, I mean it is very

challenging for Fiat Chrysler because of the optics of all of it.

With regards to what they are being accused of, the environmental

protection agency says that guy yacht Chrysler used software that

may have allowed excess diesel emissions in more than 100,000

trucks and sports utility vehicles sold since 2014. So briefly, it

seems like they could have been engaged in similar activities as VW,

but what the head of Fiat Chrysler said, this is just a case of

misunderstanding, really, and that guy yacht Chrysler had been in touch

with the EPA for a long time, and had gone through many discussions

with regards to how their emissions tests work. And how their cars are

regulated, so Fiat Chrysler was very quick to defend themselves against

these accusations by the EPAN further, to say any sort of

comparison between them, and VW was just outrageous. But just so I

understand this, this is an American story only at the moment? For the

moment, right now, this is happening, they are in violation of

environmental protection rules here in the United States, we have

already heard that the New York Attorney General is going to be

looking into this. You know, the big thing about this, you know, is the

optics of it all. Coming on the heels of this massive fine we saw VW

succumbing to. It is a tough time for Fiat Chrysler.

Thank you for that. These pictures show Iran receiving

its first Western-built passenger It's happened because of the lifting

of Western sanctions last year that The IranAir fleet is among

the oldest in the world - its planes have been kept

going by parts being Iran's making up for lost time -

it's buying 100 planes from Airbus Let us finish by going to Hong Kong,

the Hong Kong toy fair to be precise.

Welcome to Asia's largest toy show. It's a gaggle of sights, sounds, and

of course, toys. Some not yet available to the general public.

Thousands of buyers, most wholesalers are here on the hunt for

the next blockbuster. Globally the industry was worth

almost $190 billion last year and likely expand by 7%. All eyes are on

smart toy, still a niche market with $4 billion of sales in 2016, but

expected to nearly triple in four years.

So this is a great example of what a small toy is. It looks like a

traditional play mat for kids, but it has got just a little bit of

something extra. Yes, exactly. So with the device,

you can scan any animals on the mat, and you can teach children how to

spell. And it also has the animal sound on it so the children knows

how the animal sounds. We have been making regular play

mats for 13 years but it is tougher to make money so now we take

technology, we find that we can offer a hiring end product where

children can learn from. So smart toys are normally embedded with a

technology that responds to a device. And increasing Iingly not

just traditional toy mange errs entering the market. We started out

making electronic parts, mainly for overseas manufacturers but this

business is not growing. Six years ago we found the educational toy

industry has good prospects. So that is why we decided to make innovative

toys. It is still a relatively small

market, but high tech toys are growing in popularity. And soon it

may be commonplace to sync your phone or tablet with a digital toy.

Lots of people were mentioning Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Barack

Obama has aWay warded Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The

highest civilian award in the US. It took him by surprise it seems.

Here is the moment. As one of his long-term colleagues in the Senate.

If you can't admire Joe Biden as a person you have a problem. Problem.

He is as good a man as God created. So, Joe, for your faith in your

fellow Americans, for your love of country, and for your lifetime of

service that will endure through the generations, I would like to ask the

military aide to join us on stage. For the final time as President, I

am pleased to award our nation's highest civilian honour, the

Presidential Medal of Freedom. It did seem to take him by surprise,

he has gathered himself, and he is talking now. I knew how honourable

you were, I knew how descent you were from the couple of years you

worked in the Senate, I knew what you were capable of. But I never

fully expected that you occupy the heart, from all of us. We will

continue to watch that speech from Joe Biden maybe play you another

clip later on. I will be back in a few minutes time on Outside Source.

We will look at interesting weather events round the worldment first off

to eastern Asia where we have areas of heavy rain