:00:07. > :00:14.There's a parliamentary election today.
:00:15. > :00:16.Only in Government-controlled territory, though.
:00:17. > :00:21.Meanwhile in Geneva, peace talks are continuing.
:00:22. > :00:24.I've details on both, plus the BBC gets exclusive access
:00:25. > :00:28.to a city recently recaptured from the Islamic State group.
:00:29. > :00:32.It's a disastrous day for America's biggest coal producer -
:00:33. > :00:36.We'll explain why this is part of a bigger shift
:00:37. > :00:40.The UK culture secretary is under fire after it was revealed he had
:00:41. > :00:43.a relationship with a sex worker that several papers knew about.
:00:44. > :00:56.His impartiality is now being called into question.
:00:57. > :01:02.this is a sport I'd never heard of until a few hours ago.
:01:03. > :01:05.You're going to have to wait until OS Sport
:01:06. > :01:14.If there are questions you want me to address on any of the main
:01:15. > :01:27.stories, use the BBC OS hashtag I'll get back to you.
:01:28. > :01:30.In a moment, I've an exclusive report from inside a Syrian town
:01:31. > :01:34.that's been controlled by Islamic State until recently.
:01:35. > :01:37.First, let's go through a number of developments relating to Syria.
:01:38. > :01:56.The other important development is that there is an election in Syria.
:01:57. > :01:59.A new 250-member parliament is being elected.
:02:00. > :02:04.This is a polling station in Damascus.
:02:05. > :02:07.60% of the population can take part - those are the adults living
:02:08. > :02:19.Not surprisingly the opposition is unimpressed.
:02:20. > :02:21.One member of the Syrian National Council told the BBC
:02:22. > :02:41.We hope for the return of security and stability in our country and we
:02:42. > :02:45.expect that the new parliament will improve the harsh conditions of
:02:46. > :02:50.displaced and affected people and will focus on the economic
:02:51. > :02:54.situation. TRANSLATION: Hopefully people's hopes will be met. The
:02:55. > :02:59.displaced people will return to their homes, the prices will return
:03:00. > :03:03.to what they were. The situation will stabilise and security will
:03:04. > :03:08.return to our country. During this crisis we want our candidates to
:03:09. > :03:13.improve the standard of living and also improve the economic situation
:03:14. > :03:19.in our country. All we want for our Syria is a return of security and
:03:20. > :03:20.stability. I think all Syrians would agree with the final point that
:03:21. > :03:22.woman was making. President Assad has also voted -
:03:23. > :03:35.the first time he's done that TRANSLATION: It's normal that we
:03:36. > :03:39.would be here together today. The first contribution of the president
:03:40. > :03:44.and his wife in this type of election. It's normal that we would
:03:45. > :03:47.contribute to data these elections, as Syrian citizens, who defended
:03:48. > :03:51.constitutional elections and all that the constitution represents for
:03:52. > :03:54.us as two Syrians and Syrians in general. Voting taking place in
:03:55. > :03:56.government-controlled territory. Of course, there is a lot
:03:57. > :03:58.of territory controlled BBC Arabic's Feras Kilani managed
:03:59. > :05:38.to get into a town previously By an air strike. The courthouse,
:05:39. > :05:42.where sentences were handed down. We meet a man outside committee
:05:43. > :05:50.witnessed the brutality first-hand, and feels IS will return.
:05:51. > :05:53.TRANSLATION: Anyone that was sentenced was taken outside the
:05:54. > :05:58.court. If they were condemned to death, they would be shot or
:05:59. > :06:04.beheaded. Then they would hang them for three or four days. This man was
:06:05. > :06:09.one of the Islamic State commanders who tried to defend the city. He was
:06:10. > :06:17.captured after being injured by a US air strike. Having fought in both
:06:18. > :06:23.Iraq and Syria, he admits IS are struggling to cope with the aerial
:06:24. > :06:28.attacks. TRANSLATION: They've affected ocelot, it's had a big
:06:29. > :06:30.effect to the extent than 2% of our defeats are due to air strikes.
:06:31. > :06:38.Practically there's nothing we can do. The aeroplanes used thermal
:06:39. > :06:45.images at night. It easier during day but at night it's a big problem.
:06:46. > :06:48.Under cover of US and British air strikes, the Kurdish led forces are
:06:49. > :06:55.slowly advancing in the North. We joined them just outside the
:06:56. > :07:01.self-declared capital of Islamic State. These fighters are just 30
:07:02. > :07:05.miles from the city. But it may take months, if not years, before they
:07:06. > :07:11.make it inside and defeat Islamic State.
:07:12. > :07:14.Here in the UK it's been revealed that the Culture Secretary had
:07:15. > :07:19.John Whittingdale says he ended the relationship when he found out
:07:20. > :07:23.What business is that of anyone's, you may ask.
:07:24. > :07:28.But the issue here is that John Whittingdale is the man
:07:29. > :07:30.responsible for many of the laws around the press and media
:07:31. > :07:33.in the UK, and four newspapers had this story from 2014
:07:34. > :07:38.Here's our political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
:07:39. > :07:42.He's in charge of the rules for the press.
:07:43. > :07:45.Can you really regulate the press after last night's regulations?
:07:46. > :07:50.But the papers held one of his secrets,
:07:51. > :07:51.and the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale,
:07:52. > :08:02.Before he was in the Cabinet he met a woman on a dating site in 2013,
:08:03. > :08:04.and then had a six month relationship with her.
:08:05. > :08:07.He says he simply didn't know she was a sex worker, but others did.
:08:08. > :08:15.Mr Whittingdale said: Labour believes he should give up some
:08:16. > :08:23.Labour believes he should give up some
:08:24. > :08:29.There is a perceived undue influence, possible, upon him,
:08:30. > :08:31.in his role in the Cabinet, as the person who looks
:08:32. > :08:38.He ought to excuse himself from making the decisions,
:08:39. > :08:48.I think that is sensible for him and the Government to do.
:08:49. > :08:51.If they don't, then the concern is that the press has
:08:52. > :08:55.It is awkward for Number Ten, but the Prime Minister didn't know
:08:56. > :08:58.anything about this until last week, but embarrassing rather than career
:08:59. > :09:01.ending for a politician in the 21st century to be caught in this
:09:02. > :09:09.Could the Culture Secretary be neutral in his dealings
:09:10. > :09:11.with the press, when he knew some newspapers had details
:09:12. > :09:19.He is adamant he was, yet the rules for ministers say
:09:20. > :09:22.they mustn't just avoid conflicts of interest, but they must steer
:09:23. > :09:29.well clear of anything that looks that way.
:09:30. > :09:31.And politicians in the press have been battling in the aftermath
:09:32. > :09:35.The Leveson Inquiry that heard from its victims,
:09:36. > :09:41.those familiar faces, promised sweeping changes.
:09:42. > :09:43.There have been some, but campaigners accuse
:09:44. > :09:46.the Government of having gone soft, and there are suspicions -
:09:47. > :09:48.firmly denied - that newspapers might have used their knowledge
:09:49. > :09:54.of Mr Whittingdale's relationship to persuade him to go slow.
:09:55. > :09:56.The second part of the Leveson Inquiry into press
:09:57. > :10:02.Criminal cases are still going on, though.
:10:03. > :10:05.There still isn't an official press regulator, although the papers have
:10:06. > :10:08.created their own body and a new law on libel costs is not
:10:09. > :10:13.Sir Brian Leveson's recommendations have not been carried out
:10:14. > :10:18.However, they have to gone a long way to meeting his requirements.
:10:19. > :10:20.They have set up a new regulator, much more independent,
:10:21. > :10:26.but it has changed the climate, the culture of Fleet Street.
:10:27. > :10:28.Number ten says John Whittingdale is a single man entitled
:10:29. > :10:34.For now, the Prime Minister is content to keep him
:10:35. > :10:47.There will be more an the News at Ten following Outside Source.
:10:48. > :10:49.If you want a measure how the world's energy
:10:50. > :10:51.industry is changing, look at this.
:10:52. > :10:52.The nation's biggest coal company, Peabody Energy,
:10:53. > :11:11.Here's a news feed on the shale gas industry.
:11:12. > :11:14.It described coal as being battered by shale and the global slowdown.
:11:15. > :11:20.And there's reason for confidence in the shale industry.
:11:21. > :11:30.The US has the largest reserves in the world.
:11:31. > :11:32.Three years ago coal made up 40% of US energy consumption.
:11:33. > :11:35.Now it's 33%, and is matched in scale by natural gas.
:11:36. > :11:41.Consequences for coal producers are severe.
:11:42. > :11:47.That figure is matched by natural gas. This is having huge
:11:48. > :11:48.consequences for American coal producers.
:11:49. > :11:51.Companies that account for 45% of coal output have
:11:52. > :12:00.Almost half of the industry fundamentally disrupted.
:12:01. > :12:02.Here's the BBC's environment analyst Roger Harrabin
:12:03. > :12:13.Cole, the fuel that drove the Industrial Revolution, brought
:12:14. > :12:17.millions out of poverty. But it's the dirtiest fossil fuel and with
:12:18. > :12:20.fears about climate change and air pollution, its fortunes have
:12:21. > :12:26.slumped. Stocks in coal firms are down nearly 80% in just eight years.
:12:27. > :12:30.Peabody is the grand old man of American coal, producing for more
:12:31. > :12:36.than a century. Cold by the time. Goosen from its million year old
:12:37. > :12:40.band, scooped up by the loading machine in minutes to begin its
:12:41. > :12:45.journey out of the mine. Peabody is the biggest private coal firm in the
:12:46. > :12:50.world but it lobbied against climate science and didn't foresee the glut
:12:51. > :12:55.in the cleaner fuel, gas. Orders dried up and Peabody began to sink.
:12:56. > :12:58.We have a lot of sympathy for the 8000 workers potentially made
:12:59. > :13:02.redundant but not for the owners and company. They backed climate denial
:13:03. > :13:07.even last year. As Cole has come under pressure from renewables and
:13:08. > :13:12.gas, their market has disappeared. Tim - hopes China would provide new
:13:13. > :13:17.markets but it was a bad bet. As China tackles climate and air
:13:18. > :13:23.pollution it is shutting 4300 coal mines and cutting annual output by
:13:24. > :13:28.700 million tonnes. Cheap renewables are also challenging coal. Solar
:13:29. > :13:31.power is cheaper than coal in sunny countries. In Europe a quarter of
:13:32. > :13:36.nations are banning coal for electricity because of its harm to
:13:37. > :13:39.the climate. The headquarters of the world coal Association overlook one
:13:40. > :13:41.of London's most prestigious streets. They are not ready to give
:13:42. > :13:52.up the ghost just yet. Coal is playing a big role in the
:13:53. > :13:57.world's energy today. It's 41% of electricity, 17% of steel, 19% of
:13:58. > :14:00.the world's cement. It's a key ingredient to the energy mix today
:14:01. > :14:06.and will be for the foreseeable future. This was to be the future of
:14:07. > :14:10.coal, a technology to capture carbon emissions and bury them. But the UK
:14:11. > :14:14.and US governments pulled out of projects to promote it. The coal
:14:15. > :14:16.industry isn't dead yet. But its dominance of world energy is on the
:14:17. > :14:24.wane. You're welcome to get in touch with
:14:25. > :14:34.questions on the stories we're covering. Christopher sent me this
:14:35. > :14:40.treat. -- Tweet. As we said, coal is going to remain an ingredient in the
:14:41. > :14:43.energy America users. You'll see more renewables inevitably, wind
:14:44. > :14:49.power, solar power can huge industry is now in the US. Fundamentally
:14:50. > :14:54.we're talking about pressure in from another natural resource. Shale gas.
:14:55. > :15:00.Applying pressure to coal. It's not all going to be about renewables. If
:15:01. > :15:05.I can't answer a question, quite often it's the case, I have lots of
:15:06. > :15:11.colleagues who can help. Later this week it's going to be two years
:15:12. > :15:15.since those girls went missing in Nigeria. They were kidnapped by Boko
:15:16. > :15:18.Haram. We've been back to the school they were taken
:15:19. > :15:26.from to hear about what happened that day.
:15:27. > :15:29.Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe have been designated
:15:30. > :15:31.the official Leave and Remain campaigns in the EU referendum.
:15:32. > :15:33.Vote Leave defeated a challenge from a rival campaign
:15:34. > :15:35.backed by the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage.
:15:36. > :15:46.Our chief political correspondent, Vicki Young, has more.
:15:47. > :15:51.The key question here is the fact there has been a rather bewildering
:15:52. > :15:56.number of groups trying to be the lead campaigner to leave the
:15:57. > :16:00.European Union. They're been real divisions amongst them. Nigel
:16:01. > :16:04.Farage, Ukip leader, probably the person and the face most associate
:16:05. > :16:09.with leaving the European Union, has always felt immigration should be
:16:10. > :16:13.the main theme for those who want to leave. He thinks it's the only way
:16:14. > :16:16.they can win this referendum. Others didn't agree so that's why we have
:16:17. > :16:22.these different groups. Mr Carter was on the losing side of that
:16:23. > :16:28.argument today. -- mystify rush. He will carry on campaigning, he won't
:16:29. > :16:34.disappear from TV screens or newspapers. -- Mr Farage.
:16:35. > :16:38.This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom.
:16:39. > :16:42.Syrian Peace talks are restarted as the country goes to the polls
:16:43. > :16:48.in parliamentary elections many are calling invalid.
:16:49. > :16:54.Some of the main stories from BBC World Service.
:16:55. > :16:56.BBC Mundo is reporting that prosecutors have raided the offices
:16:57. > :16:59.of Mossack Fonseca - the company at the centre
:17:00. > :17:03.The company has denied any wrongdoing.
:17:04. > :17:06.A senior Conservative politician in Germany has said that German must
:17:07. > :17:09.become the language of mosques in the country, and that funding
:17:10. > :17:16.the mosques receive from Turkey and Saudi Arabia must stop.
:17:17. > :17:20.The argument is that political Islam is undermining integration.
:17:21. > :17:24.This is, quite rightly, in the BBC's most watched list.
:17:25. > :17:27.This gorilla's balletic moves were recorded by a visitor to a zoo
:17:28. > :17:39.Viewing numbers have passed the million.
:17:40. > :17:44.Let's talk about Tesco. The company has had better days.
:17:45. > :17:46.Shares down on Tesco after a warning that profit growth
:17:47. > :17:50.Tesco can't be accused of not trying to diversify it's business -
:17:51. > :17:59.but so far the returns have been limited - or invisible.
:18:00. > :18:02.Harris and Hoole cafes - last year it reported a loss
:18:03. > :18:06.It took over loss-making Euphorium Bakeries
:18:07. > :18:14.It's controlled Dobbies Garden Centres for 8 years.
:18:15. > :18:21.It lost nearly 70 million dollars last year.
:18:22. > :18:25.And Fresh Easy was a five year attempt to break into the US -
:18:26. > :18:31.it was sold in 2013 - with a billion dollar loss attached.
:18:32. > :18:33.Plenty for Tesco's CEO to think about.
:18:34. > :18:44.Very, very challenging for a retailer. It's good news for
:18:45. > :18:48.customers. Prices are deflating, things are getting cheaper. But it's
:18:49. > :18:52.very uncertain, there's a lot of volatility in the marketplace and
:18:53. > :18:55.the critical thing for people like ourselves is that we stay focused on
:18:56. > :18:57.serving our customers a little better.
:18:58. > :18:59.As the political fallout from the Panama Papers scandal
:19:00. > :19:01.continues, the anti-corruption organisation Global Witness has said
:19:02. > :19:04.today that an area more than three times the size of Greater London
:19:05. > :19:09.is owned by secret companies in offshore tax havens.
:19:10. > :19:11.The group claims high-end properties in London are being used
:19:12. > :19:13.by corrupt politicians, drug smugglers and criminals
:19:14. > :19:20.All aboard for a bus tour like no other in Britain.
:19:21. > :19:22.It's early morning in central London, and journalists from around
:19:23. > :19:24.the world have been taken by anti-corruption campaigners
:19:25. > :19:26.to see a series of multi-million pound properties bought
:19:27. > :19:37.We want to shine the light onto the flows from global plutocracy.
:19:38. > :19:41.From Russia, Nigeria, countries in Asia and Latin America.
:19:42. > :19:43.Where kleptocrats steal from their countries,
:19:44. > :19:51.launder it in offshore vehicles and bring it here to invest.
:19:52. > :19:56.Back on the bus the tour continues through the heart of London.
:19:57. > :19:58.With activists giving details of specific properties whose owners
:19:59. > :20:00.allegedly include Russians close to President Putin
:20:01. > :20:11.It's claimed some of the purchasers use dubious money.
:20:12. > :20:14.What's particularly striking is the scale of what's going on.
:20:15. > :20:16.According to the campaign group Transparency International,
:20:17. > :20:18.more than 36,000 properties in London are owned by offshore
:20:19. > :20:28.companies in places like the British Virgin Islands.
:20:29. > :20:31.In Westminster the concentration is particularly high,
:20:32. > :20:33.one in ten of the buildings there belonging to those
:20:34. > :20:39.Of course many of those London properties will have been bought
:20:40. > :20:42.by perfectly legitimate offshore companies investing in Britain.
:20:43. > :20:45.But it is also alleged that London has become a magnet for those
:20:46. > :20:55.One of the reasons people come to London is that there is an army
:20:56. > :20:57.of estate agents, lawyers, banks and financial institutions all
:20:58. > :21:07.I think the time has come when we should consider a sanction
:21:08. > :21:09.and a penalty on all those advisers, if they knowingly help
:21:10. > :21:23.On the bus the activists hope the current focus on offshore
:21:24. > :21:25.companies will lead to action by the government to ensure
:21:26. > :21:27.the names of the companies' owners are made fully public.
:21:28. > :21:30.That, they say, could help prevent billions of pounds being
:21:31. > :21:52.Al Jazeera is ambitious and very expensive. Its network came to an
:21:53. > :21:57.end in America. The network Twitter feed telling us it is a brat. They
:21:58. > :22:06.say it's been an honour to tell over 10,000 of your stories. It was
:22:07. > :22:13.always going to be a long-term game, why has Al Jazeera backed out of
:22:14. > :22:16.this commitment? It was simply failing to attract enough audience.
:22:17. > :22:20.In fact, I remember it being launched less than three years ago
:22:21. > :22:25.with a lot of excitement that the channel would offer serious minded
:22:26. > :22:31.alternative news on American cable. But there was simply too much
:22:32. > :22:35.competition with other networks. According to Nielsen, al-Jazeera
:22:36. > :22:39.America only attracted some 20,000 viewers tuning in every day, which
:22:40. > :22:43.is quite low. Even though some of its work did win awards and the
:22:44. > :22:47.bosses last night said the channel still managed to achieve something
:22:48. > :22:52.special by putting journalism first and ratings second. But it also
:22:53. > :22:59.meant as of today 700 journalists are out of work. The parent network,
:23:00. > :23:04.based in Qatar, funded by the Qatari government, said it was an economic
:23:05. > :23:10.decision to shut its operations. The announcement was only made in
:23:11. > :23:14.January and many people say it was mainly because of falling oil
:23:15. > :23:21.prices, which affected the Qatari economy. Some say that while the
:23:22. > :23:25.Qatari government investment was a very rich at the time three years
:23:26. > :23:27.ago, the Al Jazeera name proved very hard to be sold to American viewers
:23:28. > :23:32.as well. Next story comes from BBC Earth -
:23:33. > :23:35.it's about a study that claims that the idea of monogamy evolved
:23:36. > :23:38.to protect against sexually The journal Nature
:23:39. > :23:45.Communications has said that our ancestors may have been
:23:46. > :24:04.forced to stay in pairs as a way Researchers wanted to understand why
:24:05. > :24:07.so many of us live in monogamous pairs because from revolutionaries
:24:08. > :24:12.point of view it doesn't really make sense. Many mammals for instance
:24:13. > :24:15.prefer to spread their seed around, it provides more optimal chance for
:24:16. > :24:19.their offspring to survive. Yet so many of us choose to stay together.
:24:20. > :24:23.They put all these factors as well as looking at transmission of STDs
:24:24. > :24:28.into a model and decided when societies became larger as
:24:29. > :24:31.agriculture boomed, people really needed to stay together to protect
:24:32. > :24:36.the transmission of diseases. Nothing to do with human beings
:24:37. > :24:40.developing a sense of morality? They didn't look at morality in this
:24:41. > :24:45.factor, it wasn't always a factor in the day when it was about survival.
:24:46. > :24:49.STDs impacted fertility and that's the main thing. In small hunter
:24:50. > :24:54.gatherer groups before that diseases wouldn't have time to spread. In
:24:55. > :24:56.larger groups 10,000 years ago when agriculture became the norm
:24:57. > :25:00.committee and began to settle, that is when diseases became more of an
:25:01. > :25:05.issue. It isn't about a threat to people's lives? It's about a threat
:25:06. > :25:09.to their ability to procreate. Exactly, their fertility, bacterial
:25:10. > :25:12.infections like gonorrhoea, syphilis, if you get infected by
:25:13. > :25:17.them that there is no treatment in the day. Today we have treatment but
:25:18. > :25:21.in the past it was a real threat and if you couldn't procreate, your line
:25:22. > :25:26.would die out. At the moment human beings approach relationships
:25:27. > :25:30.differently to most animals. Going back to the period being looked at
:25:31. > :25:34.by scientists, are we far closer to other beings on the earth? I think
:25:35. > :25:39.we've always stood slightly different from the animal kingdom,
:25:40. > :25:42.always potentially had a sense of morality about it as well. Today,
:25:43. > :25:49.we're not that different from our ancestors. We're not going to be the
:25:50. > :25:53.dominant force in so many cultures. Monogamy, staying together for life,
:25:54. > :25:55.is still that happens. It could have its roots in this time when STDs
:25:56. > :26:13.were more of a threat. Time for the global weather update.
:26:14. > :26:19.A look at some of the locations of current meter illogical interest.
:26:20. > :26:20.One area we are looking at is part of the Arabian Peninsula. Big storms