21/01/2016 Outside Source

An hour of international news live here.

An inquest into the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko

says Vladimr Putin probably approved the killing.

I am very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed, when

he accused Mr Putin of his murder have been proved.

We'll look at the evidence that led to that conclusion.

Russia has called the report a provocation, and warned it

will affect its relationship with Britain.

Brazil is struggling to contain a virus thought to cause a rare

David Cameron is at the World Economic Forum.

He's drumming up support for his plans to renegotiate

Britian's place in the European Union.

And you are welcome to get in touch with us.

A long-running public inquiry has found that the murder of this man -

ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko - was probably approved by Vladimir

Mr Litvinenko had fled to Britain in 2000 where he became UK citizen.

In 2006, he was poisoned with polonium-210 at the Millennium

He was meeting two former FSB agents, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri

The FSB is Russia's security service.

He drunk poisoned tea from this teapot.

After three weeks, he died here, at University College Hospital.

The report found that Mr Litvinenko was murdered over his criticism

of Mr Putin and the FSB and his association with other

Let's hear reaction from some of the inquiry's main players.

There is a strong probability that when Mr Lugovoi poisoned Mr

Litvinenko he did so under the direction of the FSB, the federal

security service of the Russian Federation. I have further concluded

that Mr Kovtun was also acting under FSB direction. The FSB operation to

kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev, then head

of the FSB. And also by President Putin. It was saying yes, these two

guys definitely committed this crime. Yes, they are working from

Moscow. I believe final justice, when these two people will be

punished, will happen. But today it was a very serious... It happened

officially in the English courts. And now we absolutely support this

verdict to say yes, I support, I know who killed my husband and I can

name them. The conclusion that the Russian state was probably involved

in the murder of Mr Litvinenko is deeply disturbing. It goes without

saying this was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most

fundamental tenets of international law and civilised behaviour. We have

to accept this does not come as a surprise. The inquiry confirms that

this was a state-sponsored act. That was Theresa May and before that we

saw Marina Litvinenko. I've been talking to Famil Ismailov

from BBC Russian about her role. She lost the person close to her,

she lost a lot of her life. It was not just something political, a

political murder, for her it was a personal quest to get justice for

people who murdered her husband and today she is probably really happy

because she can now put this at rest. What has she been able to do

to push the UK Government's response to this? She was always there, never

thought that is it, there is nothing much I can do. She was refused to

judicial inquiry. She appealed and got permission to do the public

inquiry, which was the most important thing, to be able to say,

I know who killed my husband, I have proof. You are staying with us, I

will come back to you in a moment. I want to look through how some of the

main Russian TV channels have covered this. We do not have the

rights to show you at length. This is from a popular channel. It has

been highlighting words such as probably, supposedly, in the

findings. Another report, saying the inquiry was based on the study of

classified documents the public cannot see. This is interesting,

from last December. A serious retelling the Litvinenko story and

in the film the key suspect is shown as a noble -- in this he is shown as

a noble FSB agent fighting conspiracy. TRANSLATION: This is the

logical conclusion of a studio legal process is performed by a British

court and government. In itself this is controversial. We can say this is

criminal. There was only one objective, which was obvious from

the start, to denigrate Russia, its representatives and leadership.

There was a certain inevitability about the British Government and

Russian government reaction. The British Government had to be shown

to take action, that it will not let it lie unanswered. Russia, at the

same time, the relationship is still at the bottom, frozen, worse as ever

before. The Russians believe there is nothing much they can do. There

are sanctions connected to 2007 and the Litvinenko case and also to

Ukraine. Showing there that somebody is out to smear Russia's name. This

is not judicial process, they say, it is you don't judicial process,

and that is how they want the people in Russia, it is for the domestic

audience, how they want to be seen in Russia. It was referred to as a

smear, but Mr Litvinenko is dead and was poisoned. What is the

alternative narrative offered by the Russians? The Russians tried to make

sure it is seen that somebody else has done it, maybe MI6, MI5. Having

dealings with polonium-210. The important message is for the

domestic audience. This is what happens to traitors of the great

Russia. That is what will happen to those who betray us and go to the

other side and are now trying to make us look bad.

Our correspondent Daniel Sandford has reported on the story

Here's his report on how the finger of blame finally pointed

It was a police investigation like no other.

In a London hospital, a man was dying of a mysterious

illness, claiming he had been poisoned on the orders of Vladimir

Exactly what the poison was was a mystery, until almost

by chance, a nuclear scientist realised that it was a very unusual

and highly radioactive isotope, called polonium-210.

Alexander Litvinenko's son, Anatoly, now a young man,

knows how close it came to his father's death

Let's say if they did not happen, like starting straight

from when my father died, if they did not find the polonium,

they would never have been able to trace the killers.

The death, the murder of a man who had just become a British

citizen, a man who had been working with MI6, sparked a massive

To my knowledge, there had never been another investigation

into the murder of a British subject in London by means of radioactivity.

We were cutting new ground almost at every stage of this enquiry.

By following a trail of polonium-210 left at a London sushi bar,

on a British plane that arrived at London Heathrow,

and another that routed from Hamburg, police were led to two

suspects, who had met Alexander Litvinenko in the bar

They had given him tea, laced with polonium-210.

Those men were former Russian spies, Andre Lugovoi,

seen here on the firing range, and Dmitri Kovtun, both confirmed

For almost five years now, Andre Lugovoi has been the source

But when I met him in 2011, on a fishing boat in

the far east of Russia, he was still denying

he was the killer and wondering what the fuss was all about.

TRANSLATION: Are we going to fight about it for the next 100 years?

Alexander Litvinenko was buried in a North London cemetery

in a lead-lined coffin, leaving a grieving widow

and relations between Britain and Russia in tatters.

We saw Daniel on a fishing boat with Andrei Lugovoi. He has made a

statement which we have received in the past hours.

We have been discussing where these two men are now. A Russian citizen

cannot be extradited. Both have successful careers. Mr Lugovoi was

given a medal for services to the motherland. He has been a successful

politician. He has been elected to the Duma and made a name for

himself, in the Duma, the parliament. He is also a presenter

of a TV show, which is called Traitors. It is an interesting

career for someone he used to work for the FSB. Mr Kovtun is still an

entrepreneur and successful. He definitely is not poor. Is there any

prospect of the report will change everything? I guests Russia will

have formed their view on these men? They will be seen as heroes by the

Russian authorities. If they travel abroad they might be arrested and

get into trouble. As long as they stay in Russia, they will be safe

and lead their lives. If you want more background, go to the BBC News

website. I've got a brilliant report

by the BBC Click team on hyperloops. I don't really understand them -

but if they work they could In the UK senior BBC figures are

likely to be called before MPs to see if changes have been made in the

light of the Jimmy Savile scandal. It is claimed that Dame Janet

Smith's report had a deferential culture and above the law managers

and a statement said the document was out of date and significant

changes had been made to contents and conclusions. The BBC chief Lord

Hall said that lessons would be learned. What happened was a dark

chapter in the history of the BBC. Dame Janet's report will be

invaluable in helping us to understand what happened and help

ensure we do everything possible it does not happen again.

This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom.

An inquiry in Britain has found that President Putin probably approved

the murder in London of the former Russian spy,

Russia has dismissed the inquiry as biased.

Some of the main stories from BBC World Service.

A car bomb has exploded at a restaurant in the capital

There are reports of explosions and gunfire have been heard

Islamic extremist group al-Shabab have claimed

A new case of Ebola has been confirmed in Sierra Leone -

the second since the World Health Organisation declared an end

Will Smith has confirmed he will be joining his wife,

Jada Pinkett Smith, in not attending the Oscars next month.

He said it would be awkward to attend in the light of the row

about the lack of black people among this year's acting nominees.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the programme, a worrying story

coming from Brazil. The number of babies born

with abnormally small heads since October has now

reached nearly 4,000. This is something called

microcephaly - and rates are four Well 90% of recorded cases

are in the north-east. These areas are

particularly affected. Authorities believe this

is connected to something called Camilla Costa is for

us in Sao Paulo. When were the authorities aware

something unusual was happening? In August last year. So far Zika was

considered a milder form of dengue fever. The mosquito that spreads

those is widespread in Brazil and last year was ill had one of its

biggest dengue fever epidemics in history. At that point they thought

Zika was a mild form of this. In August last year, doctors in the

north-east noticed an abnormal surge in the number of babies born with a

malformation, the microcephaly, which is when the alarm sounded.

When the alarm started to sound, how did the authorities respond? Very

little is known up until now about the most serious consequences of

this virus. The authorities started to investigate. Whether the virus,

like other viruses, could cause an infection in the baby if a pregnant

woman caught the virus in the early stages of pregnancy. So far the

investigation has been ongoing, but the evidence has mounted this is

what happens, a pregnant woman catches the virus early in pregnancy

and it causes the malformation, which stops the brain development of

the baby, which causes a lot of limitations throughout the baby's

life. Have the BBC Brasil spoken to anybody affected? Definitely. I have

been to the most affected state in the north-east and spoken to doctors

who have been dealing with this case and mothers, as well. There is

anxiety with mothers feeling sad and frustrated because once the

diagnosis is given, there is little to do about the limitations the baby

will have. They have a limit as to how much they can achieve. There is

anxiety, some misinformation going on, as well, because doctors cannot

predict accurately what exactly will happen to each baby, because the

cases vary. The mothers are anxious to know what exactly will be the

future of the kids and how they can help. Thank you very much indeed.

Already we have reported other stories from BBC was ill, Somalia,

Africa and Russia. Next we will turn to business. And begin with a report

from the BBC economics editor. David Cameron has been

giving his latest thoughts on the renegotiation

of Britain's relationship All happening ahead of an in-out

referendum that has to be scheduled. Here's our economics editor

Kamal Ahmed in Davos. For a man who claimed not to be in a

hurry, there was a gear change over Europe as the Prime Minister came to

the Alps to sell to political and business leaders what he sees the

best deal for the European Union. If it reforms, Britain can stay in. I

am not in a hurry. I can hold my referendum at any time up to the end

of 2017, but of course it would be good for Britain and Europe if we

demonstrated we could turn the goodwill into action is necessary to

put this question beyond doubt. The Prime Minister admitted there was

some way to go and made it clear that curbs on EU citizens coming to

Britain were an essential part of the renegotiation package. If there

is no deal on welfare curbs for immigrants from the EU into Britain,

is there no deal at all? This migration welfare question is

absolutely crucial. You should have to wait for macro years before you

have full access to in work welfare. That proposal remains on the table.

I know other countries have difficulties with it. David Cameron

is in Davos with the big message for business leaders. Back my efforts,

he says, to keep Britain inside a reformed European Union. But it is

not the big public stages that matter, it is the private

negotiations with other European leaders and global leaders, and

those are happening today outside that door. One of those meetings was

with Mark Ritter, the Dutch Prime Minister and Mr Cameron's ally, but

on the issue of curbing migration, it was not plain sailing. The deal

on the table has the notion of discrimination. What we have to do

is find solution for all the 28 in which you would uphold the principle

of free movement and non-discrimination and I think that

is doable. Business leaders I spoke to said June was the best date for a

referendum. For others, it is not the case Britain needs to be in the

EU. I am not sure David Cameron is representing our interests in

diverse. It is disappointing -- Davos. It is disappointing the

changes he is trying to push through are so small. The skies were clear

over the outs, but Mr Cameron knows there could be more I see moments

before any deal is put to the British public in that long-awaited

EU referendum. This is a tweaked to whet your appetite ahead of the next

story, telling us that a vacuum transport system will be ready by

2018. I do not know what that means. I know that is to do with

hyperloops. This is Spencer Kelly. Welcome to

the hyper loop. It is an idea proposed in 2013. A network of tubes

carrying high-speed passenger pods between cities. Realising that

perhaps it was too big a job for him alone, he made plans public and

invited engineering teams from around the world to conduct research

and pursue their own hyperloop solutions. Hyperloop technologies is

one of the teams that has risen to the challenge and it is led by a

rocket scientist. It is obviously still in the early stages, but if

all goes well, the 50 acres of Desert on this site will see pretty

spectacular testing over the next 12 months. This is the landscape. We

have done technical engineering work to understand the ground and rock

formation that occurs out here, and we will start engineering work in a

matter of weeks and then pouring foundations. How long will it take?

For the propulsion test, about six weeks. It is a simplified structural

system. What will you propel? We have built a small pod to carry

elements required on the vehicle side. The pod in this case is a

small vehicle with a collection of magnets.

Because the pod is lightweight, it will accelerate quickly. To keep it

at an acceptable level, you either have to go straighter, which

sometimes, certain landscape does not allow, or go slower. A lot of

places we will not travel at maximum speed. It sounds so radical and

ground-breaking, it is hard to imagine it happening. Maybe it will,

we will have to C. We can look ahead to the next half-hour. We will

return to the lead story, the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. Looking at

government reaction. This is to do with an interesting story about

pharmaceutical companies asking governments to pay them to develop

new treatments. All of that coming up. We will take a look at the UK

and European weather in a couple of minutes, but first I will take you

to parts of the