12/12/2017 Beyond 100 Days

This is Beyond One Hundred Days,

with me Katty Kay in

Birmingham, Alabama -

Christian Fraser's in London.

Our top stories.

Voting has been taking place

in the US state of Alabama,

in a Senate election dominated

by allegations of sexual misconduct

against the Republican

candidate, Roy Moore.

50 world leaders -

minus the United States -

gather in Paris for a climate summit

President Macron hopes will give

new momentum to the fight

against global warming.

Coming up in the next half hour.

Canada enjoys mostly unfettered

trade access to the EU -

could that same deal work

for a post-Brexit Britain?

And I'll have more on that

special election taking

place here in Alabama -

why do we care so much?

Let us know your thoughts

by using the hashtag

'Beyond-One-Hundred-Days'.

Alabamans are voting

to chose their next senator -

the Republican Roy Moore

or the Democrat Doug Jones.

The polls suggest it's

close but the polls

here can be inaccurate.

Mr Moore - who's been accused

of sexually harassing teenagers -

has been largely invisible the last

few days but he has given one

interview to local television.

The interviewer was 12-year-old

Millie Marchl.

What do you think are the

characteristics of a really good

Senator?

Just adhering to principal

and not trying to stay in office for

30, 40 years and building an empire.

You're there to serve people. I want

to serve the people of Alabama.

So

what can my country do for me, but

what can I do for my country? Yes,

as JFK said.

Thank you so much. With

me now...

me now...

Kyle Whitmire -

State Political Columnist

for the Alabama Media Group.

I do not think anyone expected this

much attention Alabama. We knew it

would be a very different race. Not

just all or getting into the race

that brought so much attention to

it. We had controversy from the big

killing. The governor appointed a

very unpopular governor and Attorney

General who was supposed to be

investigating him at the time. And a

lot of the people here projected

that and voted for war Liam Moore

instead.

All the people who have

come here have Comber because they

want to see what Roy Moore is going

to do to the Republican party.

Is he

a second Donald Trump? I think he is

more Donald Trump than Donald Trump.

In that primary race Donald Trump

endorsed Luther strange his opponent

and we sent reporters to an event

that Donald Trump held in North

Alabama, we asked them are you

voting for Luther strange because

Donald Trump is endorsing him and

they just said no one came to see

the president but we will go home

and vote for war and more. -- vote

for Roy Moore. I think that shook

the president to hear these voters

in his base who decided they liked

Roy Moore more than him.

Nationally,

you know Roy Moore, you have covered

him for years, if he is elected as

the next US senator from Alabama

what does he do when he gets to

Washington, how much have it pretty

weak?

I think plenty. One unusual

thing is he has been radio silent.

He did not really even campaigned

this last week apart from one

appearance last night. He has been

in hiding and that is not his style.

He sees this as a pulpit from which

he can preach and he could do that.

And he has said he wants to take

this to the American people. That is

not something that I think many

Republicans want associated with

them especially now with all these

allegations about possible sexual

assault against young women.

We

spoke to a supporter of Roy Moore a

few moments ago who seemed reluctant

to believe the allegations. Is that

a common thing here?

Absolutely. I

think Roy Moore has built a base

here in Alabama and that loyalty was

already established. And once those

allegations came out, it is hard for

people to change their minds once

they've decided they believe someone

or believe in someone. We've heard

over and again why are these

allegations coming out now, people

are suspicious about them and think

it is some sort of media conspiracy.

But let's say that he is elected,

hopefully we will see a Senate

investigation, and ethics

investigation to really get down

into some solid proof.

Thank you

very much for joining me.

Interesting speaking to people here,

you hear at the staunch defenders of

Roy Moore is saying these are

outsiders bringing these allegations

to light, and we just do not believe

things like the Washington Post. But

also some saying we are embarrassed

that our state has been portrayed in

this light.

There is a word that

they use a lot in the American

media, the optics. What are the

optics of Roy Moore, who has dodged

every interview with an adult for

the last three or four weeks, being

interviewed by a 12-year-old when he

is alleged to have abused a

14-year-old girl!

It was an

interesting decision. It is being

talked about here in Alabama. I

suspect this is the Roy Moore

campaign and they must have known

what the optics were going to be,

they're all employee savvy media

people who can tell them what the

response would be. And in typical

Roy Moore fashion this was a kind of

in-your-face, I'm going to do it my

way and not be cowed by the

reporters and by the establishment

and I'm not going to stop the way I

do things just because you do not

like it. If he takes that attitude

Washington that is what will make

him a liability for the Republican

party.

Plenty more about Alabama in

the next few minutes.

In two days there will be

an important summit on the issue

of UK-EU trade post-Brexit.

David Davis the Brexit secretary

says he wants a deal

similar to the one agreed

between Canada and EU.

That deal, the Comprehensive

Economic and Trade Agreement removes

98 percent of customs duties on EU

exports to Canada and Canadian

exports to the EU.

Canada does not pay for access

to the single market.

But the agreement provides less

opportunities for services,

including the financial sector.

Canada is also a member

of another trade block NAFTA -

so how does the country navigate

several trade deals simultaneously?

I am joined in the studio

by Jaime Watt, who acts

as an advisor to Canada's political

and business leaders.

Good to see you. How does it do this

because they must be some

regulations that do not fit with the

EU that do fit with America. How

does Canada straddle this?

Well

within the agreement there is an

agreement to make sure there is

harmony with regulations. It is a

light touch, there is an annual sit

down between the EU and Canada to

work out any kind of difficulties.

They've been doing this for nine

years and now they think they have

an agreement to take them through

the goods part of the agreement. Not

the services part which of course

when people in the UK talk about

Canada plus, releases the plus that

is left out of this agreement that

will need some attention.

But the

whole point of this, David Davis and

Liam Fox, they want to go off and

weigh up these new deals around the

world. Does it confine them in doing

that if they are already committed

to alignment with the EU, does it

confine Canada?

Not at all because

all these agreements come together

at different times and in different

ways. The UK where the leaders in

pushing Canada and the EU together

on CETA nine years ago.

So I do not

think that will change. So you think

that rather than the idea that

regulations are diverging in actual

fact because everyone is involved in

global trade we are all converging?

Of course and not only converging

but converging for policy as well as

business reasons. Looking at the

relative importance of these

different markets, the Chinese

market as well, in Canada we have

the Americans abandoning the TPP

agreement which is great news for

Canada because on the other side of

our borders on the Pacific side we

have a whole new opportunity with

China. So Canada I think is going to

go in there.

Your Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau was in China recently

and did not manage to get a comp

offensive trade deal with the

Chinese, not as much as he have

wanted.

Was that a blow to Canada? I

think it was disappointing for the

Prime Minister, his father has a

very special relationship with the

Chinese and I think Justin Trudeau

was looking to build on that. He

also went in there with an

aggressive progressive agenda on

human rights and equity and equality

issues which was not admittedly to

the liking of the Chinese. So I

think there was a setback. But not a

disaster by any stretch. They will

continue to work on this. I think we

are seeing that with Nafta, our

major preoccupation, everything else

is dwarfed by Nafta, these

politicians say certain things to

their domestic audience but when the

reality of business and commerce

comes to the fore everyone puts a

bit of water in the wind.

We have

been talking about the Paris climate

change and of course America is not

there today. It could be a situation

where he pulls America out of Nafta

so how good the comedians deal with

that?

I'm not so sure that he is

going to pull out of Nafta. -- how

would the Canadians deal with that.

Canada is the number one customer

for the United States and if Donald

Trump does not want protests and to

lose their biggest customer he has

to think about what he's asking for.

Right now is asking for a percentage

of car parts, such as the entire

auto-parts industry would be

destroyed. He's asking for

unfettered access to the market and

not giving it in return. The

proposition is ridiculous. So I

think Congress will come to its

senses. Remember it is Congress that

approves the free trade agreement

and not the president.

Great to see

you, thank you very much.

An influential American think-tank

is warning that the British economy

will probably be weakened by Brexit

- even if the UK agrees a new trade

deal with the European Union.

A report from the Rand Corporation -

which is part-funded

by the US government -

says almost all likely trading

relationships after March 2019

will be worse than Britain's current

membership of the EU -

International Vice President

at the Rand Corporation Charles Reis

joins us from Brussels.

Good to see you. You have looked at

eight different scenarios involving

the UK, the EU and the US.

Explain

why you did that? Well basically we

assumed Brexit was going to happen

and we were trying to appraise all

the possible ways that the EU, the

UK and the EU, the UK could develop

and organise its external trade. And

so eight scenarios is not all of the

possibilities but it captures the

range of possibilities.

You looked

at the one I talked about, the UK EU

US agreement, clearly the one that

appeals to the government. But you

say it is not likely in the current

political atmosphere that prevails.

So the question I have then is are

you looking at the very short-term

rather than the longer game for

Brexit?

Well we tried to at all of

these scenarios on a ten time frame

but it is ten years beginning in

2019, so the short term in political

terms. We were trying to figure out

what it is that would be in the best

interests of the UK if they were

interested in preserving their own

economy and growth prospects. That

was the motivating factor. But

you're right in the introduction, in

almost all of the scenarios we found

the UK would be worse off

economically than it is as a member

of the EU. This is because there is

almost any other trade regime

including free trade agreements with

the Canada model, they impose

customs restrictions, rules of

origin and other kinds of nontariff

areas which are costs to trade and

reduce trade below what been

otherwise. And the result is lower

economic growth.

The only problem

some people would have with this

report, you preface your findings by

saying whether Brexodus judged a

success or not will depend to some

degree on its economic impact. --

Brexit is judge. But many leave

voters were prepared to take the

economic hit because far more

important to them was immigration,

the sovereignty of the UK

Government.

There are many people

who say that. When their own

economic circumstances deteriorate

however they may change their mind.

But not if they have not been

touched by the economic progress, in

some towns and cities in the north

they feel they have been left behind

which has been part of the problem.

Indeed, it is sort of the trend

towards economic nationalism,

talking really about the United

States, many countries in the

post-globalisation era are

struggling with questions of equity.

Questions of two which segments of

the population benefit from

international trade and this has

been debated in the UK as much as

elsewhere. But if you look at the

breakdown of voters for Brexit, it

was older voters who voted for

leaving the EU. And younger voters

with a longer term horizon if you

will, but it almost, quite

substantially to remain within the

EU. And were quite upset at the

outcome.

Very interesting, thank you

for coming in.

This is Beyond One Hundred Days.

Still to come.

A new insight into the history

of the slave trade -

in the wrecks rediscovered

in Senegal.

Last night was the coldest

this winter and if you live

in Shropshire you'll have known

all about it - it was down

to minus 13 celsius in one place.

The freeze has led to fresh

disruption for travellers -

and hundreds of schools are closed

for a second day running.

Here's Sima Kotecha.

A bed of snow with

freezing conditions.

Across parts of the Midlands it's

not been easy - icy roads,

school closures, but for

the children another day off school.

We have been sledging,

building a snowman.

In Shropshire more than 200

schools were closed and in

Gloucestershire and Herefordshire

almost 100 remain closed.

It is difficult trying

to find things for

them to do and keep them occupied.

When you have childcare issues

and you are working full-time,

obviously it would be disruptive

to you

because the schools are closing

on a day-to-day basis and you're not

knowing until the last minute.

It is bitterly cold

here, the temperature

is around minus four Celsius

and there's no sign of this snow

melting any time soon.

As night falls, the temperatures

are expected to plunge

even further.

In the West Midlands

it was a similar story, more schools

closed than open.

Some councils have been

criticised for advising them

not to reopen even though many

roads have been cleared.

The initial advice last

Friday was for all

schools to close, we have changed

that advice to save the decision

should be made locally depending

on whether you can get school

transport to the school

and whether it is safe

to do so in consideration

of the roads and other conditions.

More than 200 homes in the region

were without power this morning.

Tomorrow will present

its own challenges.

With rain coming in from the west,

some of the snow will turn

to ice making pathways

even more slippery.

You're watching

Beyond One Hundred Days.

Alabama is a state synonymous

with the civil rights movement.

I was at the Sixteenth Street

Baptist Church in Birmingham today,

where a bomb blast killed four

African-American girls in 1963.

That same year Martin Luther King

was arrested and jailed

for protesting at the way blacks

were treated in this state.

The history runs deep.

Its roots though lie thousands

of miles away in West Africa,

where archaeologists have begun

searching for the forgotten wrecks

of the trans-Atlantic slave trade -

the ships that sank,

while carrying thousands

of African men, women

and children to the Americas.

Many of those slaves were bound

for the deep south including

the state of Alabama.

And now, as part of a US-funded

programme, archaeologists in Senegal

have been trying to find those

wrecks off the coast of Dakar.

The BBC's Laeila Adjovi joined

one of the expeditions.

These divers are Senegal's first

generation of marine archaeologists.

As part of their research this

professor and his team explored

the sea floor in search of remains

of sunken slave ships.

It took years of training to launch

the slave wreck project here.

TRANSLATION: At the beginning

it was not easy.

In fact I could not even train

before this programme so the first

year was very difficult

for the whole team.

This morning the divers

are off an island which was

a notorious stopover

during the Atlantic slave trade.

Three years into the programme,

these pioneers are now

passionate about diving.

Once the wreck is found, the

scientists take photos and notes.

They also take a piece

of the ship for analysis.

To determine the exact historical

period of the sinking.

The team has yet to do in-depth

research on archives

and old navigation registers.

Dozens of slave wrecks could be

lying along the coastline

and at the bottom of the Senegal

River.

The professor hopes that in time

the findings can shed a new light

on the history of the slave trade.

TRANSLATION: The crossing

of the Atlantic is a very dark

moment that is not very well known.

We know that some slave ships

were wrecked and all the archives

are here under the sea.

It is important to document

the time of the crossing

because it is the time

of the rupture of the umbilical cord

between Africa and its diasporas.

Back on land at Dakar University

there is growing interest

in marine archaeology.

So having more African scholars

and more African students taking

part in this research and involving

local communities is all part

of decolonising the knowledge.

TRANSLATION: For a long time this

research was done by people

coming from the outside.

And for us it is crucial

that a local Senegalese

and African team take part.

And beyond that we really

want to work with local communities

who were directly impacted

by the slave trade.

So far the funding for the slave

wreck project has come

from the United States.

The professor believes

Senegal should contribute.

He is adamant that no

independent nation can thrive

without preserving its own heritage.

Fascinating insight into what is

going on in Senegal. Back to Alabama

and Ron Christie is back with us. It

is fascinating to listen to the

people we have spoken to tonight

about the links between their faith

and the way that they vote. That is

very different over here, we have a

secular society in Europe, not to

say that faith is not just as

important to voters here but we do

not hear it spoken about in such

terms as you see it in Alabama.

Good

to see you come it is interesting,

my grandparents are southern

evangelicals and having grown up

with this in my family I can tell

you they put a strong premium on

religion, on abortion and some

issues that we have spoken about

today. And they look at Roy Moore

and said that these are just

allegations and I'm willing to look

at those guys just allegations, but

he is a pious, strong Christian man

and we should give him the benefit

of the doubt. In many states that

would not apply like that but it

does here in Alabama.

There has been

some discussion in the course of

this Alabama race that everyone has

been focused on issues of sexual

harassment on on characters, on

these kind of outside issues. People

are saying what about the political

issues. But actually for

conservative evangelical voters here

I think those are the issues. His

discussion of abortion, his

objection to abortion, that is the

real issue and for many voters it is

a single voting issue. The one

single issue they would vote on and

Doug Jones who is pro-choice on the

issue of abortion, I've heard some

analysts here in Alabama saying if

he were not quite so pro-choice on

abortion, if he had some caveats in

there he would probably be much

further ahead in the polls. No

question. So we've spoken about

civil rights and this street that

runs deep in Alabama, if turnout is

king does that mean that the black

vote really matters today?

Well I

tell you, Alabama, the African

American population is about 20% and

I spoke to several people and they

recognise that this election could

be about to -- taking Alabama

forward or indeed back to the past.

There are so many concerns amongst

the black community, people I've

spoken to say it shines a bad light

on Alabama for the past but we have

had. So will it be enough, this is a

very red state, not the many

Democrats and so the African

American vote is crucial stop and

even if you had a massive turnout

for the African American community,

could it sway the vote.

And also one

group is suburban women, we have

seen them play a big role. In

Virginia in the end it was suburban

women that swung the state for the

Democratic governor. I am watching

suburban women here, I spoke to one

who was a Republican all her life,

her family voted Republican, she

knows the family of Roy Moore and

she switched, she is going to vote

for the Democrats Doug Jones and

she's calling her friends to get

them to vote for the Democrat Doug

Jones. All because of these

allegations of sexual harassment

which she said to me she believed

were credible. So watch the African

American turnout but also woman.

Absolutely, is all about turnout, we

have not got any indication is how

it is going yet but I've seen a lot

of signs up driving around, a lot of

signs up for the Democrat.

So stay

at super late to watch the result! I

know I can rely on you! I will text

you!

Coming up next on BBC World News -

Kasia Madera is here

with Outside Source

and for viewers in the UK -

we'll have the latest headlines

from Clive Myrie.

Thanks for watching.