18/03/2017 Reporters

minutes to five. You are watching BBC News. We will have more stories

for you, including reaction to Nicola Sturgeon's speech, at the top

of the hour. Now it is time for Reporters.

Hello, welcome to Reporters. I am David Eads. We send our

correspondence to bring you the best stories from across the globe. In

this week's programme... On the front line in the battle for Mosul.

Orla Guerin joins Iraqi army forces as they make more games against

so-called Islamic State. We have heard three car bombs going off in

the distance. We have had a lot of incoming mortar fire. You can hear

the sounds of battle. As millions face famine in parts of Africa and

the Middle East, Clive Myrie reports from northern Nigeria, where tens of

thousands of children are at risk of starving to death. For those

children, the end is inevitable. Innocent victims of a man-made

tragedy. Sleeping on the job - Sally Conway meets the foreign truck

drivers who cannot afford to live where they work. He only ever works

in Western Europe, sometimes Germany or Norway. He is being paid as if he

were driving in Slovakia. After millions of views online, we catch

up with the reluctant global Internet star, the BBC interviewee

whose children stole the show. My wife deserves a medal for taking

care of our family. And seeing things through the eyes

of Jane Austen. Ben Moore investigates new claims that Jane

Austen was as blind as a bat. The Iraqi city of Mosul has become

the scene of the biggest battle on earth. Around 100,000 soldiers,

police and militia, backed by Western air power, have been bearing

down on this ancient city. The mission, to drive out so-called

Islamic State, who've occupied Mosul since 2014. After more than 100 days

of fighting, they recaptured the east of the city in January. Now

they say a third of the West has been completely be taken. Order

Ciaran -- Orla Guerin husband travelling with the Iraqi forces.

You may find part of this board -- you may find parts of the reports

distressing. A rare glimpse of Western Mosul.

Urban warfare on a momentous scale. Caught below, hundreds of thousands

of civilians. This is the place where IS proclaimed its caliphate.

Here it was born and here, Iraqi forces say, it will die. On the

ground, they are advancing, but struggling to hold what they

capture. They pound IS positions. Then frantic gunfire towards a

threat overhead. And IS drone may be carrying explosives. They managed to

shoot it down. This is as far as we can go for now. There is a lot of

gunfire in the area. There are snipers in position on this street.

We have covered here, so we won't be moving from this position. But

within the last half an hour, we have heard three car bombs going off

in the distance. We have also had a lot of incoming mortar fire. You can

hear the sounds of battle. The IS fighters in this area are putting up

Frias resistance. -- fierce resistance. Then the conflict came

closer. The man who didn't flinch is a major in the Iraqi army. Hours

later, he was wounded. He is now recovering in hospital. Troops using

every weapon, even home-made rockets. Then the rush to retrieve a

casualty. We can't say how many have paid with their lives. The Iraqi

forces don't reveal their losses. But they have the extremists

outgunned and encircled. They believe victory is guaranteed in

Mosul, in time. But ending the caliphate may not end IS. This

general is in the thick of the battle.

He told us the narrow streets and civilian presence are complicating

the advance. It is very hard because we need to

take care of the citizens and be aggressive against IS guys. We need

to put it very clear plan to clear all the area. That means we need to

put a plan to survive our citizens. And as the fighting rages, more

weary civilians leave scarred neighbourhoods. Where they have been

caught between the militants and the army. Few may have enjoyed more than

this man. IS pod and anti-aircraft gun near his house. An air strike

targeting the extremists brought the roof down on his family.

TRANSLATION: Three of my daughters are dead. They buried my heart. My

daughters were under the concrete of the house. They didn't let me see

them before they were buried. As well as losing his daughters and

his home, he lost his leg. He prays God will destroy IS as they have

destroyed Iraq. Orla Guerin, BBC News, Western

Mosul. Away from Iraq, the world is facing its largest humanitarian

crisis since the end of the Second World War. 20 million people in

parts of Africa and the Middle East are at risk of famine and

starvation. The United Nations has issued a plea for help to avoid a

catastrophe in the four affected countries. South Sudan, Somalia,

Yemen and Nigeria. Clive Myrie reports from northern Nigeria, where

the conflict against Boko Haram is deepened the humanitarian crisis.

His report contains flashing images. They begin queueing at Sunrise. You

can't afford not to get in. And through the daily stream of anxious

women and their children gets bigger and bigger. Is my child

malnourished? Could my child die due --? This treatment feeding centre

has been working flat out recently, and NVQ we found this woman and her

ten-month-old baby, born into a cruel world. -- and in the queue.

We have had to beg for food. Sometimes going to sleep without

eating. We had to leave our village. I pray things will get better.

Her story is so typical. All these people were driven from their homes

by the Islamist group Boko Haram, whose fighters burned villages for

seven years, killed thousands and left 2.5 million people homeless,

all in the name of strict Sharia Law. Farmers couldn't attend their

fields because of the fighting. Now people starve. A nurse... She is

painfully thin and her weight is confirmation. Does that mean the

child is malnourished? Yes, it's malnourished. But her chances of

survival are better than Muhammad's. For years old, he is severely

malnourished and weakened by TB. Or This Boy, aged five, whose mother

sits helpless nearby. TRANSLATION: Seeing my daughter

lying sick like this has been unbearable. There was little food

around when we escaped Boko Haram. I can't count the number of days we

have had to go hungry. It's been so difficult. I just want my child to

leave. -- live. Seconds later, there is a new

arrival at the centre. Doctors struggle to help Mustafi, 20 months

old, to breathe. Cradled in his mother's arms, his life is ebbing

away. We met him yesterday. Last night he died. But what about those

children who don't make it to a treatment centre like this, from

areas inaccessible to eight? Where there are no doctors or clinics,

where food and water polluted by Boko Haram fighters. For those

children, the end is inevitable. Innocent victims of a man-made

tragedy. And with the aid stocks running low, the call for more

international help is loud and clear. Without more Humanitarian aid

in terms of food, we don't expect the situation to get better. In fact

it could get worse? If we don't get more help. This ten-month-old girl

should make it. She has an appetite and can begin to recover. But while

the Islamists of Boko Haram have been driven from most areas of the

country, their legacy of pain and starvation injuries.

Clive Myrie, BBC News, Nigeria. Truck drivers moving goods for IKEA

and other retailers in western Europe are camping out in their

trucks for Monsanto time because they simply can't afford to live in

the countries they are working in. -- for months at a time. They are

being paid as they would in their own countries. A judge has described

as inhumane practice companies can exploit loopholes in European law.

Zoe Conway reports from Denmark. IKEA says it doesn't just care about

furniture, it cares about values. But just how valued to the people

transporting IKEA goods feel? In a trailer on the edge of Copenhagen in

Denmark, these to men have created their own pop up kitchen, 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.

He is moving goods for IKEA but they don't employ him. His actual

employer is a Slovakian firm. He is paid Slovakian wages. European Union

employment rules state: a driver temporarily posted away from home

should be granted the home nation's pay and conditions.

Companies are exploiting loopholes in the law. A Danish driver can

expect to take on 2200 euros a month in salary. But he has been taking

home an average monthly salary of 477 euros, or ?418 per month. This

is my home. This is how I live. This is my bed. Danish drivers go home

every couple of weeks. But he spends up to for months on the road. The

company says he is responsible for taking his rest breaks and that he

can go home when every likes. He has just driven some IKEA stock from

Denmark and Sweden. He only ever works in Western Europe. Sometimes

it might be Germany or Norway. Yet he is being paid as if he was

driving in Slovakia. Yet he never works there. He is not alone. This

truck park turned campsite is right outside the biggest IKEA warehouse

in the world. Drivers are making stew and drying their clothes. Many

of the East European drivers we spoke to said they are on a similar

deal. This Bulgarian driver is fed up, and not just because he is

making his mash on top of a fuel tank. His salary is 250 euros a

month, plus some expenses. Catastrophic. Why it is is

catastrophic? Look at the conditions. In many cases there are

no -- in many places there is no parking. We live like primitive

people. But this is work at least. There is no workable Guerioua. This

is not a good life. It is a catastrophe. -- work in Bulgaria.

This way of treating drivers is widespread, not just within the IKEA

chambered among other companies. In a statement, IKEA said:

it's not just IKEA and the big retailers that are in the firing

line. Euro's politicians are also under

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

conditions of Europe's drivers. Sally Conway, BBC News. After

Obamacare, America's health system is facing trumped care. More details

of the new health plan were released this week. If it goes ahead, around

14 million people will become uninsured by next year, rising to 24

million people over the coming decade. Republicans say the proposal

would save $337 billion over the next ten years. We have been looking

at what health care under Donald Trump could mean.

Carroll has made it on her own in the world of work. Her and her

husband on a small jewellery business. But being self-employed

means they don't have a boss to cover their health care insurance.

For years they have struggled to pay medical bills. Until President Obama

introduced his health care law. When the Affordable Care Act was passed,

we could get reasonable insurance that covered a lot more. The

deductible went from 10,000 to 3000. Now they are concerned their bills

will rise as President Trump repeals Obamacare. The Republican

replacement with a cut from subsidies and instead offer a year's

rent tax credit. We couldn't afford the monthly costs that we can cover

now. And we have had good coverage now. We just have to stay healthy.

And educated about the programme. Others are glad to see the back of

Obamacare. I need health insurance but I didn't want to be forced to

buy it or be fined. Frank have to pay hundreds of dollars for not

having health insurance. When he retired a few years ago, his company

policy stopped. He voted for Donald Trump and bikes is health care plan,

even though millions may lose cover. What they dropped 20 million people

of the insurance plan? They still actually have health care, because

if they go into an emergency room, they will get cover. The debate over

health care in America is complex. It fundamentally comes down to one

key thing. Cost. How much should people pay for themselves and how

much should they bear the cost for others? The new plan could cut the

federal deficit by hundreds of billions, is some doctors are -- but

some doctors are unsure how it will affect patients. I think the new

proposal, much like Obamacare, may change the winners and may change

the losers, but it will not eliminate the losers. It is gone to

change the problems people are encountering. Not address the

problems. That has been a dilemma in American health care for decades.

The system divides patient as patient as much as it does

politicians. You are doing well. We will see you

in six months. Your best protection against this health care system is

not to get sick. Thanks, Doc. If you haven't seen

this BBC interview, you are one of very few, I suspect. Professor

Robert Cowell came World News to talk about South Korean politics

last week to my colleague, James Menendez. He had no idea his

children would steal the show and his family would become global

stars. He hasn't talking to James again about the video that's gone

viral. Let's discuss this further with

Robert Kelly... It began as Sony BBC interviews do,

and international news story, a presenter and an expert to explain

what was going on. What happened next, nobody could have predicted

that. This is Professor Robert Kelly. Last

Thursday was an expert on South Korean politics. By Friday, an

Internet superstar. During his live interview on the impeachment of the

South Korean president, his wife and two young children moved into steal

the show. But what was an innocent TV blooper quickly turned into a

social media sensation. People raced to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to

share the moment. Speaking to me for the first time since the incident, I

asked Professor Kelly and his family what life had been like since they

went viral. It has been pretty unreal. We didn't expect attention

like this at all. We never had anything like this in our life

before. We have had to turn off the phones and Facebook and Twitter. His

wife said she was busy recording Bob Wylie was live on the TV, and that

is why the children could make a break for his study and why she flew

in with such speed. But the mistaken assumption was made that she was the

children's nanny. We were pretty uncomfortable with that. We didn't

argue about any of those. I hope people just enjoy it and not argue

over this thing. A normal family living a normal life, now turned

online legends. I asked Bob if things had calmed down since our

last encounter. Yes, I went to work today. That was nice. I don't turn

off my phone as much as I used to. There was a suggestion sent to me

that you should buy your wife a spa day for everything she did in the

video. That is certainly true. My wife deserves a medal for taking

care of us and our family. That's absolutely true. Goes to show that

anything can happen on live TV. Or perhaps as the saying goes, never

work with animals or children. James Menendez, BBC News. New

research suggests one of the world's British novelists had such bad

vision she would have trouble reading writing. Experts have

revealed Jane Austen was virtually blind towards the end of her life,

possibly because of poisoning, which may have contributed to her early

death. Ben Moore as this. She may have been

one of history's greatest writers, but for Jane Austen, just reading

her novels would have been very difficult without fees. Her

spectacles have been at the British library in a writing desk for 20

years, but only now can they bring a particular focus to her life. Back

in the early 19th century there were prescriptions similar to today. What

we did was have somebody bringing a portable Lens meter so we could

carefully have them examined. Jane Austen was long-sighted. The first

pair of her glasses are no prescription. With the second we can

see her eyes deteriorate. Her final pair revealed she lived in a Blur

eWorld. And this could be linked to one of the author's greatest

mysteries. Why she died so young. The possibility of her being

poisoned accidentally with their heavy metals such as arsenic. We

know that arsenic poisoning can cause cataracts. It was often put

into medication for other types of illness, potentially for rheumatism,

which Jane Austen suffered from. These spectacles are in remarkably

good condition. They are more than 200 years old and made from natural

materials like real tortoiseshell and glass. We don't know if there

were specifically prescribed for Jane Austen or if she bought them

from a travelling salesman. Pretty much the same way we do when we

abiding -- buying reading glasses. Using modern optometry, we can see

what Jane Austen's eyesight would have been like. That is about a plus

one? Quite blurred. But you can cope. That is a plus three? Yes.

That is getting difficult. I can't see your face. I can only see my

hand when it is about there. One of the world's greatest novelists would

have had trouble reading and writing. She would have noticed the

difference when the lights were poor. As she aged, it would've been

more important having the stronger prescription, because your eyes tend

to need some help from reading as you age. The British library wants

to invite optometrist to get in touch to offer their opinions, a

rare chance to see things through the eyes of one of Britain's best

loved authors. Ben Moore, BBC News. That is your

lot from Reporters for this week. From me, goodbye forever.

-- for now.