27/03/2017 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Philippa Thomas, this is Outside Source.

Our top story - Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

15 days in prison following nationwide anti-corruption

I stopped expecting anything but a guilty verdict

Hundreds of demonstrators were detained in the biggest

anti-government protests for five years.

The Kremlin says they were breaking the law and provoking violence.

We'll bring you a report from the front line in Iraq

It might be good for the tempo of the military operation but it

isn't necessarily good for preserving civilian lives.

In the Syrian City of Homs, the second phase of a major

Children with infants in their arms, the elderly in wheelchairs

and many of the fighters carrying automatic weapons.

In Russia, Alexei Navalny has been jailed for 15 days

for resisting police orders during nationwide protests.

Mr Navalny is one of the most outspoken opposition leaders

and he's one of at least 500 people held by police.

There were protests in Vladivostok in the far

East and major ones in Tomsk and Novosibirsk.

But it was the ones in St Petersburg and right

in the centre of Moscow that drew thousands of people.

The trigger for the protests was this video.

claiming that the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev controls

a fortune that far outstrips his official salary.

Ahead of the ruling in the court Mr Navalny tweeted @navalny: Hello

The time will come when we will judge them.

Steve Rosenberg was in court for the verdict and gave us this update.

I'm standing outside a Moscow court house in a spring blizzard.

A short while ago the Russian opposition

activist Alexei Navalny was found guilty of organising Sunday's mass

protests, anti-government protests across Russia.

He was fined the equivalent of around $350.

Then he was found guilty of disobeying

police and for that was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

This police van behind me has arrived to whisk him

Some of Mr Navalny's supporters turned up to

wave good luck signs, so that he could see them

Then police officers came up to them and took them away.

Earlier I managed to ask Alexi Navalny outside the courtroom how

significant he thought yesterday's protest had been.

It was Alexei Navalny who had called Russians onto

the street at the weekend to take part in anti-government protests.

And people came across the country in dozens

of towns and cities in

I was on Pushkin Square where there were thousands of

That protest was broken up by Russian riot police.

These protests have cemented Alexei Navalny's

position as unofficial leader of the Russian opposition.

Meanwhile the Kremlin today said it respected

people's right to come out and voice their opinion but that

repeated its belief that some of those protests

at the weekend had been unsanctioned and therefore illegal.

Olga Ivshina is following the story in Moscow.

And Alexei Navalny said that, and also the range of the cities that

participated. This was more than 80 cities all over Russia. In most of

the city is the rallies were not allowed by the Government, which

means that people didn't take those risks to come to streets, which is

very interesting, but many young people, students and even

schoolchildren were taking part in the valleys. This says that Alexei

Navalny managed to get his message through not by traditional means of

communication which are controlled by the Government, but by unusual

means, internet, social media. And he is spreading the message to the

masses which are not watching the TV. And of course the Prime Minister

was the focus of these corruption allegations. I want to show our

viewers a Tweet from The Guardian's reporter in Moscow.

Have we not have any official response from him? No, there was no

official response. All we know is that the Prime Minister and Alexei

Navalny from his Instagram account and yesterday he was asked by one of

his followers on Instagram how did he spend his day, he replied, he had

a nice time skiing. The United States is investigating

whether a coalition-led air strike killed at least 100 people

in the Iraqi City of Mosul. It happened in the city's

west ten days ago. The Iraqi military disputes

the death toll and blames booby-traps set by so-called Islamic

State. Meanwhile the US-backed Iraqi

forces are still battling He's been tweeting

updates over the weekend. He's also watching residents just

trying to get on with life. This is the Iraqi solution

to an offensive that's stalled over It feels as if the air war over

Mosul is intensifying. They seem confident

they won't get shot down. And every day a few thousand more

people come walking out of the areas of Mosul still held by the jihadists

who call themselves Islamic State. Many said IS used them as human

shields, shooting out from the cover But the response, more air

strikes, horrified them. TRANSLATION: They destroyed our

homes, our cars, everything. Entire families are gone,

they are under the rubble. Some very sophisticated modern

weapons are in this fight. Locally made rockets used over

a short range, a blunt instrument. It might be good for the tempo

of the military operation but it isn't necessarily good

for preserving civilian lives. But they want to win

this battle and they're Most of the people arriving

in government-held territory Many said IS fighters forced

themselves into their homes. Nine of this woman's family were

killed in a big raid on the 17th. She said she wasn't escaping

the jihadists but air strikes that used tonnes of bombs

on a single sniper. TRANSLATION: They destroyed

the houses when there are one or two or three so-called Islamic State

men inside them. My children, nine

of my family killed. They call them smart

bombs but this is stupid. The people of Mosul have been left

with impossible choices. Risk death in their own

homes or risk death Iraq has been shattered by the years

of war and sectarian conflict that followed the US

and British invasion. It might be too late to put this

country back together. I want to take you across the border

now to northern Syria. It's the largest in Syria and has

been under control of the so-called US-backed Syrian forces

are trying to take it back. But efforts have been paused

because the dam could be This image was released

by the IS news agency which says it shows

a burnt control room. The UN warns that would mean

catastrophic flooding. We'll monitor the situation

and bring you news. Meanwhile, in the

Syrian city of Homs the second phase of a major

evacuation is getting Thousands of rebel fighters

and their families are leaving the al-Waer district as part

of a deal backed by Russia. Time and again this

is how battles have ended over the course

of the Today it is the fighters

from al-Waer and their families who are

being forced to leave. Children carrying all their worldly

goods that they can The elderly, the injured

in wheelchairs. Many of the fighters

carrying their automatic weapons. These buses will take them further

north close to the Turkish border where they'll continue their battle

against Syrian Government forces. The process has been

supervised by the red jacketed officials of

the Syrian military police

as well as police from Russia It's a deal the Government

calls reconciliation, part of the process,

they say which will bring Syria But for the fighters that

amounts to a surrender Many of them are

leaving their homes. Once this process in

al-Waer is complete all of Homs, the country's third largest

city, will be back in the A city that the opposition once

called the capital of Today, in al-Waer,

it is coming to an end. Stay with us - in a couple

of minutes, we'll tell you about a new appointment

in the Trump administration. The President's son-in-law

Jared Kushner will be in charge of a new unit to overhaul Government

bureaucracy. Northern Ireland's political parties

have been given more time to form a power sharing Government. The

Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein failed to strike a deal and the

Northern Ireland minister said there is only a short window of

opportunity know before they can get a political deal together.

Throughout this process the UK Government has been active in making

positive proposals to try and bridge these gaps and help the parties move

things forward. Despite these efforts, agreement at this stage has

not proved possible. This will have impacts. We are rapidly approaching

the point at which Northern Ireland will not have an agreed budget. This

is not sustainable and will have consequences for public services.

This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has been sentenced

to 15 days in jail after his arrest on Sunday at an

Mr Navalny was one of hundreds of demonstrators detained

The Metropolitan Police have told the BBC that no evidence has been

found of a link between Westminster attacker Khalid Masood and so-called

Masood's mother has released a statement saying she is deeply

shocked, saddened and numbed by his murderous actions.

Turkish citizens in six European countries have started voting

in a referendum which could see Turkey move from a parliamentary

republic to a presidential one, boosting President Erdogan's powers.

Around three million people are eligible

Two girls were barred from flying on a United Airlines flight because

they were wearing leggings. The airline said they were travelling on

a special pass which required if certain dress code.

Donald Trump has unveiled a new unit aimed at overhauling the bureaucracy

it is his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The Office of American Innovation will reportedly have sweeping powers

In a statement to the Washington Post Donald Trump said he's

creating it because "Government stagnation has hindered our ability

"to properly function, often creating widespread congestion

"and leading to cost overruns and delays."

How powerful does this make them? It makes him very powerful. It looks

like Jared Kushner had been sidelined to people like Steve

Bannon, no he seems to be having a resurgence. He has always been

involved in foreign policy decisions but this gives him a wide range of

four different areas. He will be co-operating with leaders of various

companies, coming up with best practices, in order to try to

improve Government. When he has recommendations the question will be

forever executive agencies take these recommendations, how much

pressure of the trumpeter illustration can apply, we will have

to see how it all shapes up. This is a young man and an

apparently uncomfortable spotlight. But we show our viewers a Tweet from

the New York Times breaking the story.

This is because he became the point man on foreign contacts for the cup

campaign. Exactly. He was in contact with the

Russian ambassador to the US. Apparently he also had a meeting

with a Russian development bank. He has been having these back Channel

meetings outside the Department of the state adds traditional

diplomatic channels with various foreign leaders. He will be under a

bit of a spotlight like to see exactly what role he played in the

Trump administration's relations with Russia. As you know during the

campaign there was some questions about the kind of ties that the

tramp campaign had with Russian officials, and they had been in some

hot water, and that is an ongoing FBI investigation into possible

Russian meddling in the elections and any influence the tram company

may have had on that. Let us go back to the kind of thing

that Donald Trump is promising during the campaign. One of the

promises was he would build highways, bridges, dams, reform

American infrastructure. As it is harder for him to get onto that no,

isn't it? It is. The health care loss, failure

to advance that reforming Congress, was a blow to this administration,

they needed to get that taken care of quickly, they needed to get some

of the taxes down that were involved, in order to tackle

projects going forward such as infrastructure. It seems that

infrastructure, which could have been a bipartisan issue, has been

pushed back indefinitely. They are focusing on tax reform next. They

can get through that, and that is a big job, then they will go on to

infrastructure. They are being put under the gun here. They are on

their backheel is a bit. And building infrastructure could be

an issue that wins bipartisan support from Democrats as well, but

as our reporter reports, that will not be an easy task.

The tallest damn in the richest nation on earth is no longer a

source of pride. After heavy rain as overflow channels began to crumble.

Nearly 2000 Californians had to flee. Neither water level has fallen

the damage is laid bear. What happened here is a wake-up call. In

a country where infrastructure spending has been out of fashion for

decades. The lesson is simple. The longer you put off repairs or

upgrades the greater the risk and the higher the cost in the end.

But that is exactly what the US has been doing. More than 2000 American

dams are rated as not efficient. We clearly missed if you things. When I

say we, it is the regulators, third-party independent consultants.

This is a catastrophic event but we are all learning from this. With

bands and parading troops, the celebration over the Lincoln

Tunnel... In the last century the US or two big building booms, the first

game in the 1930s, Roosevelt's new Deal puts millions of Americans to

work on projects like this, the second was in the 1950s in 1960s

with the construction of interstate highway system. Minutes after he was

elected president, Donald Trump, see third. They are going to rebuild our

infrastructure. It will become second to none. Mr Trump is

particularly scathing about America's airports, once icons of

progress, he now calls them third world. But Los Angeles International

is already spending billions on more dates, new railways, smarter

terminals, funded not by Government, backed by passenger fees and private

capital. RB really wants to be? We certainly are not. But as the

experience third World? Absolutely not. We are a airport. We have

fantastic facilities already but we are digging into that next level

which will be the gold standard airport. Showcase projects are one

thing but when it comes to more mundane repairers to roads and

bridges and dams, the US is to trillion dollars short. Life as we

knew it in the 21st-century in the United States is going to

increasingly look like what is moral and other parts of the world,

especially in Latin America. It is not going to be a 21st-century

Western country. The challenge it seems as not to make America a great

again to stop it from falling apart. Let us renew their business. The oil

price is dropping again after a recent rally. You can see the

turbulence in the prices. At the start of last year prices went to 13

year laws, but the rebound at following a landmark deal between

members of the Opec cartel to limit production rises. That group met

again at the weekend and there are questions over whether the

agreements will be extended. Let us find out what is happening from our

correspondent in New York. We are seeing West Texas

intermediate crude fell again, four tenths of 1%, is concerned that we

continue to see, which is there are worries about too much supply is

hitting the market, there are worries about what this she'll boom

that we have seen here in America is doing to the price of oil. Speaking

to people in the past there have been a sense of optimism that

perhaps by 2018 we would see the price of oil climbing back to $60

per barrel. At the moment that is hard to imagine. Let us broaden

things out and talk about how the markets are feeling about the Trump

presidency. Health reform goes by the wayside. He wants to get onto

tax reform but can he? All eyes on Wall Street just a short

distance from here, was on how the markets would open this Monday.

There has been concern, certainly amongst investors, about what

happens next to Donald Trump's legislative agenda. Can he pushed

through on things like tax reform, infrastructure spending? All of

these things that investors had assumed would come to pass, given

that they had a president famous for the art of the deal. That is why you

have seen this tremendous run-up in the stock market since the election

in November. Over the last few days you have seen the Dow Jones falling.

It seems to have broken that street. It calls just slightly down, having

recovered a lot of the losses from earlier in the day, but there are

definitely questions know about how effective he can be, and whether or

not he can get things done, specifically on tax reform, whether

he will perhaps have two dial down his ambition to get some of that

through. There has been some good news for

Apple, the Silicon Valley giant, it has won an important copyright

ruling in China which means it will not be banned from selling the

iPhone six in the country. A Chinese firm sought a ban last using this

particular smartphone model infringed its intellectual property.

Today a court ruled there was not enough evidence. China is an

important market for Apple, research suggests they sold 44 million

smartphones are there in 2016. Our business reporter explains why

Apple is struggling to increase its market share.

It has particular ways of operating and often Western companies find

that difficult but it is not impossible. There are still strong

sales of devices like the Apple, but last year they were down by 33%, so

it does seem like a local companies are coming up with budget phones,

and they are really taking off in the country. Apple was allowed to

continue to sell the iPhone six during the appeal process so it is

never really been banned, but it does go to show that if you take on

Apple when you had to be very sure about what you are fighting because

it is a huge machine and it will keep pushing, it has the resources

and the money to really fight these cases.

Much more to come. Do stay with us. The most significant weather story

across the globe at the moment as