09/03/2017 Outside Source

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

America is expanding its presence in Syria, offering support to local

militia trying to drive the Islamic State group out of Raqqa.

The new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency claims carbon

dioxide emissions are not a major factor in climate change.

Washington and New York states join Hawaii in trying to block Donald

Theresa May speaks at her final EU summit before triggering the Brexit

process and EU leaders have re-elected Donald Tusk as president

of the European Council, despite strong objections from his home

And we will go to South Korea as the Samsung scandal unfolds. It's de

facto leader is on trial and very soon politicians in South Korea will

vote on whether to uphold the impeachment of the president.

These pictures have been released by the US today.

Also today, America's confirmed it's made a separate deployment

They're supporting a local Kurdish-led militia as it

Raqqa is the Islamic State group's stronghold in Syria and as such has

The US marines will be firing at IS positions

While that's happening, the SDF militia will attempt to advance.

In addition to the marines, those tanks I just showed

you are part of a separate group of US army Rangers.

They're deployed near a town called Manbij, that's north-west of Raqqa.

And the reason for that deployment encapsulates

Liz Sly, a Washington Post Beirut bureau chief, calls it a mess.

"US troops flying US flags in empty Syrian villages to try to stop

What Liz Sly is talking about is that the Americans

are trying to stop the Kurdish backed militia being

attacked by fighters who are backed by Turkey.

Bear in mind everyone I've mentioned so far wants to defeat IS.

One more consequence of this situation.

A US military magazine says US and Russia have found themselves

teaming up for the first time in the war in Syria against Turkey.

You might ask why all sides cannot unite to defeat IS.

Here's Edgard Jallad from BBC Arabic.

It looks like in general terms, but if you look at where each party is

coming from, it reflects the complexity of the war. As you

mentioned, this town is the theatre of operations reflecting this

complexity. There is an interest from the Turkish to take this town.

You have also the Kurdish forces, known as the Euphrates shield, they

are trying to get this town. The United States is trying to buffer

between them and refocus the operation towards Raqqa were the

main so-called enemy is. This is why they are trying to send this strong

message now by deploying additional fog is in recalibrating the targets.

How do we understand the situation in Iraq at the moment? The situation

in Raqqa, it is believed so many fighters are still there. They are

very well prepared for this battle. But we do not know exactly if the

so-called Islamic State will fight the final battle in Raqqa or in any

other place. There are saying today, it could be sending

several messages that we missing a strong role for the

American so far in the past weeks. I put all these questions to the

spokesman of the US led coalition and this interview is running as we

speak now on the Arabic channel and he says there is no change in the

guidance. The number of units fighting or on the ground would not

exceed 500. But these 500 are Rangers and why the United States

decided to release these pictures when they hid them in previous

weeks, they are flying their flag and there is the message. A couple

of days ago there was a meeting in Turkey between the chiefs of staff

's from the United States, Turkey and Russia. This is a normal

procedure before a battle like this one to revisit the rules of

engagement. There is a lot to come but this is significant today what

This is from the US election campaign.

Which begs the question, is this latest deployment a Trump plan?

Our colleagues on the 100 days programme asked

Andrew Exum, who used to be one of President Obama's top advisors

Yes and no. On the one hand this does not diverged significantly from

the plan that was already in place. However, this address is perhaps one

the United States and its coalition the United States and its coalition

partners have in Syria versus Iraq. In Iraq you have got the Iraqi army

with heavy equipment. In Syria you have got the Kurds and they do not

have that heavy equipment. You can give them that equipment and train

them on that to breach those defences around Raqqa. That will

anger the Turks. Or you can deploy US forces to help reach those outer

defences. That is what they are beginning to do. Before Donald Trump

took office the Central command were looking at options of ways to

helping the Kurds and I think that is what this is.

There's also this from Phil Stewart, Reuters Military Intelligence

Correspondent: US weighs deploying up to 1,000 soldiers to Kuwait

to serve as a reserve force in the fight against Islamic State,

Let's bring in the BBC State Department correspondent Barbara

pleb Usher. I want to ask you about these pictures that have been

released by the Americans showing their vehicles on the ground in

Syria. They do not normally do that. They like to keep a low profile, but

this is a different situation and has been a deliberate decision. You

have this town that was liberated from the IS in August. But now there

is Arab forces backed by Turkey forces backed by the Syrian Kurds

and it is a headache for the Americans. They want to focus on

fighting Islamic State and they do not want another conflict area

flaring up and they want to get across the message that everyone

should focus on the battle against Raqqa and they made a decision to

visibly insert themselves into this, standing between rival factions.

This is the first time they have done this, put themselves between

rival factions on the ground in Syria. They have this laser focus on

Islamic State right now, but you cannot sweep under the carpet these

broader conflict which require a political solution. Thank you, that

is very useful. We will speak to you again I am sure.

The latest EU summit is under way in Brussels.

It is interesting for several reasons.

The first day has been dominated by a row over this man -

the European Council President, Donald Tusk.

But it's also the last summit before British Prime Minister Theresa May

She spoke about an hour ago, and says she's optimistic.

It is not just about what is in the UK's interest, it is also about what

is in the interests of the European Union. What we see in the

discussions and comments I hear, that increasingly, obviously we have

not started the negotiations and will start them when we trigger

Article 50 by the end of this month, but when we come to look at those

negotiations, I think what people will see is that the relationship

between the UK and the EU of the future matters not just to the UK,

this is not just what is good for the UK, it is about what is good for

the European Union as well, and I believe that good, free trade

arrangement is in the interest of both sides in that negotiation.

But the biggest news out of the EU summit so far is summed up in this

Donald Tusk remains one of the most powerful people in Europe.

He's has just been re-elected President of the European Council.

The Council represents the leaders of the EU and there's a twist here.

Only one country opposed his re-election - his own, Poland.

An angry reaction from the leader of Poland's ruling party,

who smelled conspiracy: The EU is an organisation

We cannot hide this, this country is Germany.

If the EU does not abandon this road, it will be

The thing you need to know about this man is that he holds

Mr Tusk politically responsible for the death of the Polish

President in this plane crash in 2010, the Polish President

who also happened to be his twin brother.

Here's Damian Grammaticas at the summit.

It is interesting because Donald Tusk has chaired the council with

its meetings which brings together all of the EU leaders for their

summits here. He has been the chair for the last two and a bit years. He

has been reconfirmed for another two and a half, but as you say the vote

against him was from Poland, the country he is from, the Polish

government, implacable political opponents of Donald Tusk, a domestic

political dispute, they do not like him, it is now spilling over into

the European arena. But what Poland found today when the vote was called

to reconfirm him, Poland objectives and they found themselves totally

isolated. No one else sided with them. 27 other countries said they

were happy with Donald Tusk and with the job he was doing and he was

confirmed. That vote has gone through. He should be in place for

the next two and a half years, but the polls are still very unhappy

about this. They found themselves out on a political limb and it is a

bit of a humiliation for them to be voting against their own countryman

and not have support from other countries. We can access all of the

information coming through the BBC newsroom, including copy filed by

our correspondence. This is from our Warsaw correspondent who says the

Polish Prime Minister has said, I will not accept the conclusion of

this summit. It is clearly written that summit and with conclusions. If

a country does not accept the conclusion, it means the summit is

not valid. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see how this story

develops further. We always like to finish these summits with some clear

statements of intent from the European Union, so this will roll

over into tomorrow I am sure. Let's talk about the Dutch elections, we

will be covering them from The Hague next week.

This man - Jesse Klaver - has been called the "Dutch Trudeau".

He's from the Green Left alliance and has been enjoying a rise

in support in the polls ahead of next week's election

He's just held a huge rally in Amsterdam.

5500 people have packed this music hall and they are here to see one

man. Jesse Klaver! His supporters say he is young, fresh and

optimistic and he is receiving a rock star reception in Amsterdam

tonight. I think the interesting thing is that while the foreign

media has been focusing on the wave of populism across Europe, lots of

people in the Netherlands are watching this man because he is on

course to quadruple the number of seeds the Green left have in

Parliament. Donald Trump is not very popular here in the Netherlands

because he represents instability for many Dutch people. Donald Tusk

has borrowed a lot of Barack Obama's campaign slogans. Many people refer

to him as the Dutch Justin Trudeau. We should put this in context.

Geert Wilders is leading in the polls. The Progressive party is

doing well as well. There are so many undecided voters and that is

why so many people are predicting that next week could decide who is

We will be live on Tuesday, and Wednesday, which is election

A man in Australia who posed online as

Justin Bieber has been charged with more than 900

The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told NHS hospitals in England that

they must get back to meeting the targets swiftly in A now that

extra money has been put into social care is announced in the budget. He

said it is essential for patient safety that A waiting times are

reduced. A departments and their performance is a fundamental matter

of patient safety. If we are leaving people to log in A departments, if

we are not getting the flow right through hospitals, it is bad for

patient safety and that is why it is absolutely essential that we get

back to the 95% target. I am personally not a great fan of

targets and I am not a fan of having too many targets, but this one is

This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is the US is expanding its presence in Syria.

400 extra marines will offer support to local militia trying to drive

the Islamic State group out of Raqqa.

And we can pick up from the stories from BBC World Service.

Guatemala has declared three days of national mourning after a fire

killed at least 20 teenage girls at a children's care home.

Other children are not accounted for and we know hundreds

Hospitals in Kenya have begun sacking doctors who have been

The government says they will be replaced by Cuban

An Egyptian woman who is believed to be the world's heaviest woman has

undergone weight reduction surgery in Mumbai.

In Australia, a law professor who posed online as Justin Bieber

online has been charged with more than 900 child sex-related offences.

He's based in Brisbane, but his alleged offences

Authorities say 50 come from the United States.

An idol to millions, Justin Bieber, the pop star with an adoring young

fan base across the globe. But now a 42-year-old law professor in

Brisbane is accused of sexually abusing children by pretending to be

the Canadian star. Gordon Douglas charmers allegedly used social media

to win the trust of fans, including up to 20 in the UK, and got them to

send him explicit images. He was already facing charges of grooming

children and after police went through his computer, more than 900

new charges have been added. They include three of rape, five of

indecent treatment of children and hundreds of making child

exploitation material. Justin Bieber is touring Australia and some of his

teenage fans say they can understand why young people may be tempted to

speak to their fake celebrity online. Sometimes maybe the

excitement might get them like, oh, wow, this is so amazing. I am going

to go with him. Queensland police say the arrest was made after two

pups from the US and German authorities and they are warning

parents to protect their children online. It is my rules, it is my

house, and there is a lot out there and I want to be on top of it.

Charmers is due in court next month. Let's go to South Korea.

Lee Jae-Yong is the de facto boss of the entire Samsung Group

and he's on trial in South Korea charged with bribery

At the centre of the story is this woman.

The allegation is that Samsung donated $36 million to foundations

It also donated a horse, not this one, to help her

The prosecution will also be detailing how

she is very good friends with South Korea's

Next we need to note that Samsung's Lee Jae-Yong met the President.

The allegation is that they discussed donations being made

in exchange for government support for a restructuring of Samsung.

Both deny anything improper occurred.

But remember the President has already been impeached

It's at this point, I'm going to enlist the help

His lawyers were be and in denial of the accusations. We had legal

hearings today, a bit of a wrangle between the two sides about whether

they could use PowerPoint and that kind of thing. This trial will go on

until May. Vanstone argued that firstly it was not corruption. We

give money to good causes all the time. There was no deal done. They

are not disputing there was a meeting, but what they are saying is

that was no quid pro quo for the money. That would be crucial. Very

difficult to prove corruption when there is no evidence in terms of

documents or anything like that, and only two people involved. It is a

complex case, but there is a bigger trial if you like, and that is the

trial of the way in which the biggest companies in this country

and government relate to each other. A lot of people literally on the

streets say it is far too cosy, far too close, and it needs to change.

You have looked at this from a political angle and a legal angle.

Let's look at this from a business angle? Is this having an impact on

Samsung's business? From a business perspective. If you recall the

Galaxy known seven, the smartphones with reports of them catching on

fire, that caused more damage to them financially than this case has

so far. I am basing this on Samsung's day-to-day operations.

They are still showing of new gadgets, tablets, virtual reality. I

have received an invite to an event here in New York for the unveiling

of a new smartphone, perhaps a chance for them to put the fire

prone smartphones behind it. But the question longer term is something to

go back to what Steve was talking about, how South Korean companies,

these family run enterprises, how they do business. Is that under

threat? That potentially could be the worry for Samsung investors. We

will talk to you next week I am sure. I want to talk about Lego. It

has just reported the highest full-year sales in its history, all

85 years of it. In 2016 Lego sold more than 26 billion parts. It also

launched over 300 new sets. Strong sales were partly thanks to

deals with businesses like Star Wars.

In case you're wondering, the Millennium Falcon

But, and there is a but, overall growth has slowed

Bali Padda is the first non-Dane and non-family

Here's his analysis of how the company's doing.

If you look at the growth in the last five or ten years, it has been

what we call supernatural and it has sometimes surprised us. When we look

at the future, we are seeing sustainable levels in 2016 and we

expect to grow in the low to mid single digits in the future. But for

us at the heart of Lego is how do we ensure that we continue to innovate

around these and augment it with digital? If you look at new products

coming out in August and September, the heart of it is the building

system, so you build with the Lego bricks and you can also code with it

and this is for children seven upwards. The core building

experience is what we continue to focus on and we were augmented with

digital. We will watch out for that. We will be live from the Netherlands

next week covering the Dutch elections. They are always

interesting, but they are relevant because of the way Geert Wilders has

been performing. Some of the polls are putting him ahead of everyone

else. That does not mean he will form the next government because

they have coalitions. We will be there to describe the election and

analyse it for you. Coming up, what the head of the US Environmental

Protection Agency has said. He says he does not feel that man produced

carbon dioxide is responsible for climate change. We will go into what

he has said and how people have been responding.