21/09/2016 BBC News at Ten


21/09/2016

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 21/09/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Tonight at Ten: The United Nations says it's preparing to restart

:00:00.:00:08.

aid deliveries in Syria, despite the recent attacks.

:00:09.:00:12.

They were suspended after an attack on an aid convoy near Aleppo

:00:13.:00:15.

At the United Nations today, America questioned the Russians'

:00:16.:00:21.

denial of responsibility and their attitude to

:00:22.:00:23.

It's a moment of truth for President Putin and Russia.

:00:24.:00:31.

It's a moment of truth, also, for the opposition.

:00:32.:00:35.

We'll have the latest from the United Nations

:00:36.:00:37.

as the security situation in Syria gets worse.

:00:38.:00:40.

The death of a teenage boy in a psychiatric hospital in south

:00:41.:00:45.

London is blamed on neglect and failures by staff.

:00:46.:00:49.

Jeremy Corbyn tells us he'll offer an olive branch to his critics

:00:50.:00:52.

if he retains the Labour leadership this weekend.

:00:53.:00:57.

In Iraq we meet some of the British fighters who've joined the campaign

:00:58.:01:00.

For people to say that this isn't the West's war,

:01:01.:01:07.

you've got your head stuck in the sand.

:01:08.:01:11.

And to save the African elephant, a call for much tougher rules

:01:12.:01:14.

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News: After three defeats in a row,

:01:15.:01:22.

could Manchester United turn their fortunes around

:01:23.:01:24.

against Northampton town in the EFL Cup?

:01:25.:01:49.

The United Nations says it's now preparing to restart aid

:01:50.:01:53.

They were suspended after an attack on a convoy near Aleppo on Monday

:01:54.:01:57.

The UN said supplies would be sent to the areas most in need

:01:58.:02:03.

Earlier the US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned

:02:04.:02:06.

that the world faced a moment of truth in Syria.

:02:07.:02:08.

He was addressing the UN in New York following yet another deadly attack

:02:09.:02:11.

on humanitarian workers in Syria, as our diplomatic correspondent

:02:12.:02:14.

Monday night's attack on the aid convoy was a shocking part of the

:02:15.:02:29.

violent end to the Syrian ceasefire. American led accusations that a

:02:30.:02:33.

Russian air strike was responsible for this, Russian denials of any

:02:34.:02:36.

involvement now threaten to derail the entire search for a Syrian

:02:37.:02:41.

peace. At the United Nations, its most

:02:42.:02:45.

powerful body, the security council, Metz to see if any peace can be

:02:46.:02:51.

saved. Passions were running extraordinarily high, but the

:02:52.:02:55.

Russian Foreign Minister said nobody should trim to conclusions.

:02:56.:02:59.

TRANSLATION: Many said that it could have been a rocket or an artillery

:03:00.:03:03.

shelling. That is what initial reports were. Then a helicopter or

:03:04.:03:09.

warplanes were mentioned. I think we need to refrain from emotional

:03:10.:03:12.

reactions and making public comments immediately and first investigate

:03:13.:03:16.

and be very professional. That appeal to avoid feelings was

:03:17.:03:20.

too much for the American Secretary of State. John Kerry let rip on a

:03:21.:03:25.

sustained assault on Russia's motives and credibility backing

:03:26.:03:28.

President aside. How can people sit at a table with a

:03:29.:03:34.

regime that bombs hospitals and drops chlorine gas again and again

:03:35.:03:38.

and again and again and again and again? And act with impunity? You

:03:39.:03:47.

are supposed to sit there and have happy talk in Geneva? Then he

:03:48.:03:51.

dismissed must go's accounts of the attack on the aid convoy, including

:03:52.:03:55.

one suggestion it could have been a simple fire on the ground. The

:03:56.:04:01.

trucks, food and medicine spontaneously composted? Anybody

:04:02.:04:06.

here believe that? I mean, this is not a joke.

:04:07.:04:09.

What do we know about the attack on the aid convoy? It took place on

:04:10.:04:13.

Monday night. The convoy was intending to head to rebel held

:04:14.:04:19.

areas in Aleppo province. Russia has admitted tracking the convoy with a

:04:20.:04:23.

drone, they say their footage showed it was accompanied by an armed rebel

:04:24.:04:28.

vehicle. Later that evening the convoy was hit, those unseen insist

:04:29.:04:33.

it was struck from the air. TRANSLATION: Four barrel bombs were

:04:34.:04:38.

dropped, Russian jets then attacked us.

:04:39.:04:42.

The UN say there were Russian strike planes above the convoy at the

:04:43.:04:46.

precise moment it was hit, but Russia strongly denied involvement,

:04:47.:04:50.

saying there are no craters at the scene and suggests that somehow the

:04:51.:04:55.

cargo caught fire. But the Foreign Secretary, Boris

:04:56.:04:58.

Johnson, does not buy that, convinced the attack was from the

:04:59.:05:01.

air and that only the Russians had the capability.

:05:02.:05:07.

There are only two possible culprits, two forces capable of

:05:08.:05:10.

having carried out that striker flying in that area. There are the

:05:11.:05:15.

Syrians and the Russians. We have doubts about the Syrian capability

:05:16.:05:19.

to fly at night. So you are left with a pretty strong conclusion, as

:05:20.:05:26.

you will have been hearing. The UN is prepared to resume aid

:05:27.:05:30.

convoys in Syria, but not too Aleppo, under heavy bombardment

:05:31.:05:35.

again today. Four medical staff were killed by strikes so of the city,

:05:36.:05:39.

leaving the head of their organisation distraught. Hospitals

:05:40.:05:44.

in Syria are the riskiest places, I swear. Hospitals are more dangerous

:05:45.:05:48.

than the front line. This has been an extraordinary day

:05:49.:05:53.

of reckoning at the UN. The unprecedented level of public anger

:05:54.:05:56.

from John Kerry suggests he sees little future trying to broker a

:05:57.:06:04.

peace by working with Russia. The trouble is that, without Russia,

:06:05.:06:06.

there can be no peace, because it is by far the strongest military power

:06:07.:06:10.

in Syria. So the diplomatic effort must limp on.

:06:11.:06:12.

Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet

:06:13.:06:13.

Let's have your assessment of the likelihood of reimposing the

:06:14.:06:24.

ceasefire started last week? John Kerry put it right, he said it was a

:06:25.:06:29.

moment of truth. The truth is there is very little hoped that this

:06:30.:06:33.

tangled conflict that is Syria can move towards positive resolution,

:06:34.:06:37.

even a truce on the ground is proving so difficult. Listen to the

:06:38.:06:42.

anger in John Kerry's voice, the consummate diplomat who has been

:06:43.:06:46.

surrounded by doubters in his own State Department, the US military,

:06:47.:06:49.

who said you are on a fool's errand trying to make a deal with

:06:50.:07:03.

Russia. He has been humiliated by the Russians, he believes. He said

:07:04.:07:07.

it was no joke today in the UN Security Council. The mediators

:07:08.:07:09.

would say there were 500 days of failure and one day a success. The

:07:10.:07:12.

UN envoy said he believes that John Kerry and surrogate Lavrov will go

:07:13.:07:15.

back to the table, Syria was hanging by a thread, they control that, and

:07:16.:07:17.

if they don't go back to the table there is really nothing. But

:07:18.:07:23.

diplomats here have told me it is really stuck, and they don't know

:07:24.:07:27.

how it will move forward. The one bright light, they are going to

:07:28.:07:31.

start delivering aid. Syria needs aid. Most of all, Syria needs peace.

:07:32.:07:37.

At the UN Security Council today, there is a real sense that it is

:07:38.:07:44.

moving back, and a big?, will it ever now move forward? Thank you,

:07:45.:07:46.

Lyse Doucet at the United Nations. A coroner has ruled that neglect

:07:47.:07:48.

by one of England's biggest mental health trusts contributed

:07:49.:07:51.

to the death of a 15-year-old Christopher Brennan died

:07:52.:07:54.

in the Bethlem Royal The inquest was told that

:07:55.:07:57.

staff carried out no risk assessment even though he had

:07:58.:08:00.

a history of self-harm. Campaigners say the case

:08:01.:08:02.

illustrates wider failings in the care of children

:08:03.:08:04.

in psychiatric hospitals. Our social affairs correspondent

:08:05.:08:06.

Michael Buchanan has been speaking What are your strongest memories

:08:07.:08:08.

of him? I don't know, come into my room

:08:09.:08:14.

and try to get me to sniff his feet. Christopher Brennan

:08:15.:08:25.

was a happy-go-lucky little boy He started hearing voices in his

:08:26.:08:27.

head that drove him to self-harm. The first we knew was a knock

:08:28.:08:35.

on the door by the police. Christopher was experiencing

:08:36.:08:39.

voices and he didn't feel So he phoned up Childline,

:08:40.:08:41.

who sent the police around. In July 2014, Christopher became

:08:42.:08:53.

seriously ill and was admitted once Six weeks later, he was dead, having

:08:54.:08:56.

choked on an item he'd swallowed. Today, a coroner concluded gross

:08:57.:09:05.

failings by South London and Maudsley NHS Trust contributed

:09:06.:09:07.

to the 15-year-old's death. The adolescent unit was struggling

:09:08.:09:12.

to cope due to staff shortages. Staff were desensitised to incidents

:09:13.:09:16.

of self-harm, due to the sheer number of them, and no risk

:09:17.:09:20.

assessment was carried out of Christopher's behaviour and there

:09:21.:09:23.

was no up-to-date care plan. The coroner said today

:09:24.:09:28.

that she did not believe that Chris He had all his plans

:09:29.:09:31.

written out for the future. He wanted to be a paramedic,

:09:32.:09:42.

have at least 30 Ministers say they're investigating

:09:43.:09:45.

how many other teenagers have died in psychiatric units in England

:09:46.:09:54.

and will publish the One charity says it's aware of 11

:09:55.:09:56.

such deaths over a four-year period and is calling

:09:57.:10:02.

for a wide-ranging inquiry. There's growing disquiet

:10:03.:10:06.

about the lack of resourcing of mental health services

:10:07.:10:08.

for children and young people, so we want an independent review

:10:09.:10:12.

into the deaths of children and young people so that we can

:10:13.:10:15.

properly act on the vital learning The Trust have apologised

:10:16.:10:18.

to Christopher's family, they say lessons have been learned

:10:19.:10:25.

and that the services were recently independently inspected and found

:10:26.:10:31.

to be of a good standard. The Brennan family certainly home

:10:32.:10:34.

so so others are spared The house is too

:10:35.:10:36.

quiet without him, He used to sit looking for him out

:10:37.:10:39.

of the window for months after. Michael Buchanan, BBC

:10:40.:10:50.

News, south London. Voting has ended in the Labour

:10:51.:10:56.

leadership contest and the result will be announced at the party

:10:57.:10:59.

conference in Liverpoool Jeremy Corbyn, who's

:11:00.:11:01.

being challenged by Owen Smith, told the BBC today that the party

:11:02.:11:04.

should make every effort to unite after the contest -

:11:05.:11:07.

and he offered to wipe the slate clean with those dozens of Labour

:11:08.:11:10.

MPs who've expressed a lack of confidence

:11:11.:11:13.

in Mr Corbyn's leadership. Mr Corbyn's been speaking to our

:11:14.:11:16.

political editor, Laura Kuenssberg. He's on the edge of winning

:11:17.:11:22.

the Labour leadership I've got a bigger

:11:23.:11:24.

olive tree at home. Jeremy Corbyn has an olive tree

:11:25.:11:28.

on his balcony, a few branches might come in handy after months

:11:29.:11:31.

of division and distress. It's almost like Labour has a split

:11:32.:11:36.

personality between its MPs I invite all my colleagues

:11:37.:11:39.

in parliament to recognise, I tell you, I've had an awful lot

:11:40.:11:44.

of calls from Labour MPs in the last few days who are very interested

:11:45.:11:50.

in how we come together Throughout most of the last year,

:11:51.:11:53.

the issues haven't necessarily been about disagreement over policy,

:11:54.:11:57.

they've often been about your So what will be different

:11:58.:12:01.

about Jeremy Corbyn mark II? Sadly for everyone, it's the same

:12:02.:12:10.

Jeremy Corbyn who's been through the last year,

:12:11.:12:13.

indeed been through the last 30 When you have 172 out of 230

:12:14.:12:15.

of your MPs who're representing 9 million Labour voters,

:12:16.:12:22.

saying they have questions about your competence,

:12:23.:12:27.

don't you think you do have to change some things

:12:28.:12:29.

about how you operate? Despite a lot of very unpleasant

:12:30.:12:32.

remarks that have been made about me by a very large number of Labour

:12:33.:12:36.

MPs, I've not replied Wipe the slate clean

:12:37.:12:39.

and move forward. He won't yet agree to MPs' demands

:12:40.:12:45.

to chose the Shadow Cabinet nor Well, under the old system,

:12:46.:12:48.

an MP would be worth several I don't think that's a very good

:12:49.:12:53.

way of doing things. He is on their side

:12:54.:13:00.

and they're on his. Jeremy Corbyn's incredible

:13:01.:13:02.

network of supporters, convinced he's the future,

:13:03.:13:07.

convinced he will and should win. If you can think of one or maybe two

:13:08.:13:11.

words that you believe should be the priority

:13:12.:13:16.

for the next Labour leader? My question to other people is -

:13:17.:13:19.

why should he not be given a chance, just like all the other politicians

:13:20.:13:33.

have been given? We feel differently about him

:13:34.:13:36.

and we feel he can do something. Well, I believe that he's just

:13:37.:13:41.

a principled and authentic person. His unequivocal political stance,

:13:42.:13:44.

it kind of encourages... I find it encouraging

:13:45.:13:49.

because you don't really find that There's a serious divide

:13:50.:13:51.

within our party and we can't get back to business

:13:52.:13:57.

without reconciliation. What's more important

:13:58.:14:00.

to you as the party leader - keeping the membership happy,

:14:01.:14:03.

growing the membership The membership needs to be

:14:04.:14:06.

content with the general direction the party's going,

:14:07.:14:13.

it needs to be active and on board and included and feel included

:14:14.:14:16.

and have their voice included That, in turn, translates into this

:14:17.:14:18.

campaigning activity. Some people might say,

:14:19.:14:26.

you shouldn't mistake that enthusiasm for something

:14:27.:14:28.

that would translate 20,000 people used to turn up

:14:29.:14:30.

to hear Michael Foot speak and he never got

:14:31.:14:35.

anywhere near power. Michael Foot did a great

:14:36.:14:38.

job and did his best. Which is more of a priority to you -

:14:39.:14:41.

keeping the members happy or winning power, because leaders often have

:14:42.:14:51.

to make that choice? You take the members

:14:52.:14:53.

with you in order to win The members, the party,

:14:54.:14:55.

the leader and the electorate have Jeremy Corbyn will almost

:14:56.:14:59.

certainly keep this But waving at crowds

:15:00.:15:04.

is only part of the job. Laura Kuenssberg, BBC News,

:15:05.:15:10.

Westminster. Britain is boosting

:15:11.:15:20.

the amount of humanitarian The International Development

:15:21.:15:21.

Secretary, Priti Patel, has told the BBC the Government

:15:22.:15:25.

will spend an extra ?37 million this year to help the millions of people

:15:26.:15:28.

suffering as a result of civil war. A Saudi-led coalition, which is

:15:29.:15:37.

backed by Britain and the US, has carried out a bombing campaign

:15:38.:15:39.

against the rebels who overthrew A naval and aerial blockade

:15:40.:15:42.

by the Saudi coalition, which controls all the goods and aid

:15:43.:15:46.

coming into the country, has led to further shortages

:15:47.:15:49.

of food, fuel and medicine. In the second of her special reports

:15:50.:15:51.

from Yemen my colleague at BBC Arabic, Nawaal al-Maghafi, assesses

:15:52.:15:54.

the impact of the conflict. Yemen has always been struggling,

:15:55.:16:06.

but an 18-month war has crippled this country. Months of fighting

:16:07.:16:11.

have destroyed lives. Leaving millions injured, homeless and

:16:12.:16:17.

starving. A four month ceasefire gave people hope, but the moment we

:16:18.:16:19.

arrived it collapses. This factory made potato crisps. 10

:16:20.:16:34.

people were killed and 300 left jobless. The Saudis claim it was an

:16:35.:16:41.

arms depot, but the owner tells me there was absolutely no weapons or

:16:42.:16:48.

militants. This isn't the first factory to be targeted in Yemen.

:16:49.:16:52.

It's one of many. Four factories in this compound alone have been hit

:16:53.:16:56.

and many others that this family owns across the country have also

:16:57.:17:03.

been completely demolished. Once Yemen's busiest port, now left at a

:17:04.:17:08.

standstill. A blockade immowsed by the Saudi coalition to stop arms

:17:09.:17:13.

reaching the rebels has caused severe delays in food and aid coming

:17:14.:17:17.

in. All the cranes have decommission stroid by air strikes making it

:17:18.:17:20.

impossible to off-load what does come through. In a country that

:17:21.:17:24.

relies on imports for 90% of its stable foods, the bombings and the

:17:25.:17:31.

blockade imposed by the Saudis has had a catastrophic effect on the

:17:32.:17:33.

humanitarian situation. Millions have been forced from their homes.

:17:34.:17:38.

They are living in make-shift camps, like this one. We are suffering, he

:17:39.:17:44.

yells, tell the world we're suffering. Half of Yemen's

:17:45.:17:52.

population is food insecure, which simply means they don't know where

:17:53.:17:58.

their next meal will come from the people here tell me they have feel

:17:59.:18:06.

forgotten. They attack innocent civilians, they attack schools,

:18:07.:18:09.

markets homes. Even people asleep at night, safe in their own homes, they

:18:10.:18:15.

come and bomb them. The Saudible government denied deliberately

:18:16.:18:17.

targeting civilians and humanitarian supplies. Both sides in this

:18:18.:18:24.

conflict are accused of atrocities. As with most wars, it's the people

:18:25.:18:29.

who may the HIVest price. Nawaal al-Maghafi, BBC News, Yemen.

:18:30.:18:35.

You can see more on the plight of Yemen's children on Our World

:18:36.:18:38.

at 9.30pm this Saturday and Sunday on the BBC News Channel

:18:39.:18:41.

More than 40 people have died and hundreds are believed to be

:18:42.:18:53.

missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized off

:18:54.:18:55.

More than 160 people have been rescued and search teams

:18:56.:18:59.

It's feared around 600 people may have been on board when the vessel

:19:00.:19:05.

overturned in the Mediterranean, near Rosetta, which lies west

:19:06.:19:07.

Britain's vote to leave the European Union has had little

:19:08.:19:16.

immediate impact on the UK economy, according to the Office

:19:17.:19:19.

But it's warned that the long term effects remained to be seen.

:19:20.:19:23.

Its latest report came as another body - the Organisation

:19:24.:19:25.

for Economic Cooperation and Development -

:19:26.:19:30.

raised its short-term forecast for economic growth in the UK.

:19:31.:19:32.

Our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed, is here.

:19:33.:19:34.

A list of good news? Certainly, Huw, all those who were predicting a real

:19:35.:19:43.

and significant downturn in the UK economy following the referendum, if

:19:44.:19:47.

we voted to leave the European Union, have had to revise their

:19:48.:19:53.

forecasts, as you say, the chief economist at the Office for National

:19:54.:19:55.

Statisticses has said the UK economy has not, as he described it, "fallen

:19:56.:20:01.

at the first hurdle." Prows prices have not collapsed. Employment is

:20:02.:20:05.

still strong. Consumer confidence has bounced back. As you say, the

:20:06.:20:10.

OECD, the big economic foreCaster for the global economy, has uprated

:20:11.:20:14.

its growth forecast for this year for Britain. It does warn about next

:20:15.:20:19.

year, when maybe some of the ramifications of the referendum

:20:20.:20:25.

start to crystallise. We start the process the leaving the European

:20:26.:20:28.

Union. Such is their worry about next year they actually suggest that

:20:29.:20:32.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, should increase spending to boost

:20:33.:20:36.

the economy. We won't know about that until the Autumn Statement in

:20:37.:20:40.

November. Tonight, the Federal Reserve, the American central bank,

:20:41.:20:42.

has said it's likely it will increase interest rates this year as

:20:43.:20:46.

the American economy strengthens. That is good for exports. That is

:20:47.:20:50.

good for Britain, good for the global economy. What we are CCTVing

:20:51.:20:55.

here, Huw, is two big forces in conflict. Consumer confidence on the

:20:56.:20:59.

one side, strong, the Bank of England cut interest rates after the

:21:00.:21:03.

referendum. Money is cheap, the public is feeling good about the

:21:04.:21:07.

economy. On the other side business caution. That is where the issues

:21:08.:21:11.

are for the economy. It's how these two trends battle out over the next

:21:12.:21:15.

month and years that will really show which way the UK economy is

:21:16.:21:21.

going. It's going well or is there real problems because of Britain

:21:22.:21:24.

leaving the European Union. OK, Kamal, once again, thanks very much,

:21:25.:21:26.

Kamal Ahmed there for us. The Government wants to introduce

:21:27.:21:32.

much tougher rules on the sale of ivory to combat the slaughter

:21:33.:21:34.

of elephants in Africa. There's already a ban on trading

:21:35.:21:37.

in ivory that's less than 70 years old, but at the moment dealers can

:21:38.:21:40.

still get permits to sell it Campaigners say there should be

:21:41.:21:43.

a total ban on all ivory sales Our science editor,

:21:44.:21:47.

David Shukman, has more details. A massive bonfire in

:21:48.:21:51.

Kenya earlier this year. The tusks from 6,000 elephants

:21:52.:21:54.

slaughtered by poachers. The killings are triggered

:21:55.:21:59.

by a demand for ivory that So, across the great plains

:22:00.:22:01.

of Africa, entire herds Some populations face a real

:22:02.:22:08.

threat of extinction. So there's huge pressure to clamp

:22:09.:22:13.

down on sales of ivory, and today Britain announced

:22:14.:22:16.

that it would do just that. We are taking a very

:22:17.:22:19.

significant step forward, banning all modern ivory trading

:22:20.:22:22.

in the United Kingdom. There is more to do to meet our

:22:23.:22:27.

manifesto commitment, but it does require global concerted

:22:28.:22:34.

action, and so this is a really The new measures will still allow

:22:35.:22:37.

antique ivory to be traded, Only more modern

:22:38.:22:42.

ivory will be banned. Other countries, like America,

:22:43.:22:48.

have imposed even tougher controls. So antique dealers

:22:49.:22:51.

here are relieved. It's extremely important that

:22:52.:22:54.

all of us in this country and around the world are able to learn

:22:55.:22:57.

and appreciate and enjoy works of art that are part of our shared

:22:58.:23:00.

cultural inheritance. And somehow if you demonize ivory,

:23:01.:23:04.

that particular aspect of our past gets pushed into a cupboard,

:23:05.:23:09.

so to speak. The key with ivory is its age

:23:10.:23:16.

and whether it dates So this piece is at least 200 years

:23:17.:23:18.

old and, as a work of art, This one, much paler by comparison,

:23:19.:23:24.

dates from the 1970s, so it can't be legally bought

:23:25.:23:33.

or sold and what matters The most reliable system

:23:34.:23:35.

is carbon dating. This lab at Oxford University looks

:23:36.:23:40.

for traces of radioactivity. If there aren't any,

:23:41.:23:43.

the ivory is from before But the technique is expensive

:23:44.:23:45.

and conservationists worry the clampdown on trading

:23:46.:23:51.

doesn't go far enough. We welcome the fact

:23:52.:23:54.

that the Government has made an announcement and is therefore

:23:55.:23:56.

showing a real interest But our fear is that they are not

:23:57.:23:59.

going to go far enough to really eradicate the ivory

:24:00.:24:06.

trade in this country. The test is whether this stops

:24:07.:24:11.

the slaughter of the elephants. The key is halting demand for ivory,

:24:12.:24:14.

especially in China and every initiative is meant to send

:24:15.:24:16.

a signal to the poachers. Seven men have been charged

:24:17.:24:20.

by police investigating allegations of abuse at a young offenders centre

:24:21.:24:30.

in Kent run by the private It followed undercover filming

:24:31.:24:33.

by the BBC at the Medway Secure Six men have been charged

:24:34.:24:38.

with misconduct in a public office. The seventh is accused of taking

:24:39.:24:44.

photographs and making recordings inside a prison contrary

:24:45.:24:46.

to the Prison Act. The forces of so-called

:24:47.:24:52.

Islamic State could be expelled from Iraq within months,

:24:53.:24:59.

according to the Defence He was speaking during a visit

:25:00.:25:02.

to Iraq where troops are preparing to attack

:25:03.:25:06.

the northern city of Mosul, which has been occupied

:25:07.:25:08.

by IS forces since 2014. As Iraq's army advances

:25:09.:25:11.

from the south, Kurdish Peshmerga Our Middle East correspondent,

:25:12.:25:13.

Orla Guerin, has visited their front-line, just

:25:14.:25:23.

a few miles from Mosul, On the front-line, a tense moment

:25:24.:25:25.

for Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They spot a car in territory

:25:26.:25:29.

controlled by the so-called Islamic State,

:25:30.:25:34.

they think it could be The commander tells me

:25:35.:25:37.

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

:25:38.:25:53.

times", says General Nabi Dolamari. "We have defeated them here",

:25:54.:25:58.

he says, "and we will defeat them We drive over rough terrain along

:25:59.:26:01.

the front-line which stretches Riding shotgun, in the shadows,

:26:02.:26:10.

a fighter who has been here on Bashik mountain for 18 months,

:26:11.:26:18.

but his uniform separates him He's a former British soldier,

:26:19.:26:22.

turned volunteer sniper, who says he has no hesitation

:26:23.:26:29.

pulling the trigger on IS. it's like putting your foot

:26:30.:26:34.

on an ant, it's nothing. For you personally, what was it that

:26:35.:26:45.

drew you here to risk your own life? You came for Scotland,

:26:46.:26:48.

this isn't your country, For people to say that this isn't

:26:49.:26:50.

the West's war, you've If Daesh have got their caliphate

:26:51.:26:57.

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

:26:58.:27:05.

to what we would see. The fact of the matter

:27:06.:27:12.

is that the Peshmerga held the line This mortar landed soon

:27:13.:27:15.

after we arrived. IS were responding to our

:27:16.:27:26.

presence, the Kurds said. Their horizons stretches

:27:27.:27:30.

beyond defeating the insurgents, the Peshmerga have been

:27:31.:27:34.

expanding their territory and plan They want independence

:27:35.:27:36.

for their autonomous region but, for now, the focus is on freeing

:27:37.:27:43.

Mosul. This IS defector, who surrendered

:27:44.:27:48.

to the Kurds, claims the extremists We're not revealing his identity

:27:49.:27:53.

because he has relatives They are trying to convert a canon

:27:54.:27:59.

to fire mustard gas so that when the army comes they will

:28:00.:28:13.

use it against them. They have underground

:28:14.:28:15.

tunnels around Mosul, They have bunkers equipped

:28:16.:28:19.

with bathrooms and enough Back at the front-line,

:28:20.:28:23.

a distant glimpse of Mosul, the captive city where

:28:24.:28:31.

IS proclaimed its caliphate. The UN is warning that

:28:32.:28:35.

if the militants decide to make a last stand there,

:28:36.:28:40.

they may want Mosul Orla Guerin, BBC News, northern

:28:41.:28:43.

Iraq. More than 1.5 million

:28:44.:28:51.

people in the UK work in the digital economy,

:28:52.:28:54.

in companies developing computer software or

:28:55.:28:56.

publishing computer games. But increasingly small British

:28:57.:29:00.

start-ups are looking to apply their expertise more

:29:01.:29:02.

widely, hoping to transform millions In the third of our series

:29:03.:29:05.

on the digital tech revolution, Reeta Chakrabarti takes a closer

:29:06.:29:14.

look at those emerging firms Digital start-ups have been

:29:15.:29:20.

popping up all over the UK. London leads the way,

:29:21.:29:24.

but three quarters of all tech businesses are in fact

:29:25.:29:27.

outside the capital. At the university, they're designing

:29:28.:29:28.

imposing new robots to carry out tasks as diverse as housework

:29:29.:29:35.

and space exploration. At the opposite end there's Marty,

:29:36.:29:40.

a pint-sized robot designed to get There's a shortage of engineers

:29:41.:29:43.

already in the UK and, as robotics becomes a bigger thing,

:29:44.:29:59.

as we need more and more of those skills, it's very important

:30:00.:30:03.

that we get people inspired when they're young to

:30:04.:30:05.

get into engineering. In the shadow of old Edinburgh

:30:06.:30:07.

is the new. CodeBase is an incubator for around

:30:08.:30:10.

70 aspiring digital businesses Some have now emerged

:30:11.:30:12.

as multi-million pound companies, demonstrating the UK's

:30:13.:30:18.

strength in the sector. What we're amazing at is building

:30:19.:30:25.

companies for industry, so rather than something

:30:26.:30:28.

which is very consumer facing, it's building solutions

:30:29.:30:30.

for industry. So things like healthcare,

:30:31.:30:33.

things like energy, things In fact, every sector you can

:30:34.:30:35.

imagine and building those solutions Speech Graphics is a software

:30:36.:30:46.

company, we develop software that converts speech,

:30:47.:30:50.

audio, into facial animation. This technology, using a real voice

:30:51.:30:51.

to drive a virtual face, is already It's going to spread

:30:52.:30:54.

and transform our relationships with computers, according to one

:30:55.:30:59.

of this firm's founders. Virtual humans will become

:31:00.:31:02.

more and more prevalent throughout our lives and the way

:31:03.:31:06.

that we relate to our computers is going to be increasingly the way

:31:07.:31:09.

that we relate to each other. Where will new ideas

:31:10.:31:12.

for the future come from? Well, it's hoped partly from here -

:31:13.:31:18.

a coding club for the under-19s, I found making software is a lot

:31:19.:31:21.

more fun than simply using it. So I've always been

:31:22.:31:26.

interested in programming. I have a couple of ideas about maybe

:31:27.:31:30.

working in digital technology - except coding, I'm not entirely sure

:31:31.:31:38.

whether it could be a job, but There is one big challenge,

:31:39.:31:41.

getting more women But work being developed here looks

:31:42.:31:44.

set to stretch into every COMPUTER VOICE: So could this be

:31:45.:31:48.

the face of the future? Rita Chakrabarti, BBC News,

:31:49.:31:52.

Edinburgh. Newsnight's about to begin over

:31:53.:31:54.

on BBC Two in a few moments.

:31:55.:31:59.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS