29/03/2017 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins, this is Outside Source.

Let's look through some of the main stories here in the BBC Newsroom.

This is an historic moment from which there can

Britain is leaving the European Union.

Formal notice came in the form of this letter - and now two years

Our goal is clear - to minimise the cost

for the EU citizens, businesses and member states.

We'll be taking a look at what issues could be

the most contentious for the two negotiating teams.

The chairs of the a US Senate inquiry into Russian interference

in the US elections say they will speak to over

20 people - including the President's son-in-law.

Plus, the year's best surfing wipe-outs on OS Sport.

This is a man you are going to be seeing a lot of in the next two

years. Michel Barnier will lead

the EU's negotiating team. He's in Malta today with some

of the EU's centre-right leaders. Maltese government spokeman

@KurtFarrugia says: "This is Day 1 There are some points that both

sides agree they want to sort out In fact, I just saw a tweet come in

from one of you watching. Myself and my husband are both Swedish, we have

lived in England for 20 years, will we be kicked out? I can't answer

that. The status of UK citizens living abroad in the EU and EU

citizens living in the UK is certainly a pressing one. Michel

Barnier was on Twitter today. "@MichelBarnier #brexit

made EU citizens worry Here is a senior figure within the

European Parliament, the president, speaking earlier. European

Parliament must defence it dozens' rights. This is why we need an

agreement -- citizens' rights. We need Risse Brockley and

non-discrimination. Not reaching a deal for the right citizens means

not reaching a deal at all. As you can imagine, that's just one

concern on a long list Others are immigration and borders -

particularly between Northern Ireland and the Republic

of Ireland, which is an EU member. Here's what Guy Verhofstadt,

the European Parliament's Brexit The Brexit agreement needs to fully

respect the Good Friday Agreement in all its aspects, and it means also

that we will never accept a hard order again between Northern Ireland

and the Irish Republic -- a hard border.

There's the suggestion Britain will have to pay an exit fee -

the argument being that the UK would still be liable

for outstanding financial obligations in the EU budget it had

already committed to, as well as things like EU pensions.

Here's the Wall Street journal's reporter in

Brussels Julia Verlaine said - "@JAVerlaine The 60 euros billion

question: How big is the #Brexit divorce bill going to be?"

We don't know the answer to that yet.

And there's the question of what kind of trading relationship

the UK and EU countries will have afterwards.

Here's Guy Verhofstadt again on that.

We hope for fair and constructive negotiations, that means no behind

will back. And for example, we made very clear in our resolution that we

will never accept for example that behind all back the UK is starting

trade negotiations with other countries before the withdrawal,

because until the withdrawal, the UK is a full member of the European

Union with all of the rights, but also with all of the obligations.

Let's being in Ken Brown, who has been covering the story all day --

let's bring in Ben Brown. I'm interested in how the EU side of

things, having won negotiation on the exit process and another on the

future trading relationship. I don't understand how you keep those two

apart? Well, that's what they want to do, they really do want to give

them apart. In fact, I was talking to one member of the European

Parliament who was saying, the thing with the British is, it's like

walking into a restaurant and having all of your food together at the

same time, all three York -- courses. Where is the EU want to do

things separate and have it has three courses, so you start off with

the financial deal on the divorce settlement, whether it is 60 billion

euros or whatever, you start with that and then the other exit

arrangements and the third course, if you like, is the trade deal.

That's the way the EU want to negotiate it, and they are going to

be firm on this. Whereas the British want to do it all together. And then

they will be pleased they are finally getting on with this. I was

there a few days after the Brexit vote and there was an impatience to

get on with it. But if we pause, this is a huge blow to the European

Union, isn't it? It really is. I think psychologically the European

Union, if you think about it, is only ever growing, in large, had new

members, new countries, countries really knocking on the door saying,

please, let us in, we want to be part of your club. Suddenly today we

have got British and the British permanent representative knocking on

Donald Tusk's door and saying, actually, we want to leave your club

and not be part of it any more. That is a blow psychologically. Then we

have got the fact that Britain is a net contributor to the EU

financially. And the EU, everybody here says it, is going to be much

the poorer financially after the United Kingdom's withdrawal,

billions of euros shorter. And other countries are going to have to make

up that shortfall, that is another concern for them. Thank you, Ben

Brown. Live with us from Brussels, just outside the European Commission

building. Don't forget, while the EU

will negotiate as one - whatever deal is reached,

it'll need to be approved by the parliaments of

the 27 remaining members. Arguably the most powerful

of those is Germany. Here's the front page of Die Welt,

a German newspaper, today: Very good, he says the Germans don't

have a sense of humour?! Jenny Hill has been saying what it wants from

Brexit. It has been to shore up the future of the remaining 27. Angela

Merkel said that would be her lead during the talks. She also

interestingly stress the need to protect EU citizens living in the

UK. Germany and the UK for decades have been significant political and

economic allies. Within the EU. Perhaps it is no wonder that today

the German Foreign Minister appealed, let's try to stay friends,

although he did also acknowledged that these talks are going to be

very tough and there may very well be ill will on both sides. What of

course really ties Germany and the UK together is business. The UK is

Germany's fifth most important trading partner and there is a lot

of concern about how that will be affected by Brexit. Today we heard

from the Finance Ministry spokesman saying, the timetable for these

talks is, and I quote, down narrow. He also talked about the uncertainty

that this is creating with the business and economic environment

as, poison. A lot of concern bird too. We are hearing a lot from, new

factories who are keen to try and protect their deals with the UK, --

from car manufacturers. There is concern that the EU must be

protected first and foremost. If Germany is very influential, so is

France as well. And of course there is an election coming up in France

which will add an extra dimension. This is the front page of the

Liberation newspaper saying, we will miss you, and in a smaller front, or

not. Brexit is not the top story in France, the presidential election

is, we have the first round towards the end of April, and whoever wins

that will have a huge impact on how the French approach Brexit. Lucy

Williamson is embarrassed. The two top contenders at the moment -- is

in Paris. Macron is committed to the EU, liberal and centrist. His main

rival is Marine Le Pen, far right and Front Nationale. She has

promised to pull France out of the euro and hold its own referendum

perhaps. Two very different stances. Emmanuel Macron made it clear that

as far as he is concerned there will be no cherry picking on his watch.

If he is in the Elysee Palace when Britain is trying to negotiate, they

will find quite a tough cookie to deal with. He said that once Britain

leaves the EU it will become a bit like the island of Guernsey, simply

a trading post on Europe's borders. He is not going to be an easy

customer to deal with. When it comes to public opinion here in France and

political opinion, most of it or much of it seems to be with Emmanuel

Macron. A lot of the candidates running in this election say they

will make tough demands of Britain, and there are good reasons for that.

There are many here who say they just don't want to encourage the

kind of exit support or encourage people here to say that they would

like to leave the EU as well. Of course that is exactly what Marine

Le Pen does want to do. If it is her Britain ends up dealing with they

will find a much softer negotiating partner, whatever national interest

she is looking out for she is also going to want to make Brexit look as

attractive as possible. Let's take a breather from Brexit

and bring you some sports news. Some very happy Brazilian players are

smiling. Brazil have become the first nation

to qualify for next year's With four games to go -

Brazil are top of the South American qualifying table -

and they can't finish outside Columbia, Uruguay and Chile are in

the top four automatic qualification places.

You'll notice in fifth - it's Argentina.

That is a potential problem for the Argentinians. Let's talk to Tulsen

Tollett about this. I have not have a chance to look at this Brazilian

team in detail. They didn't have a good last World Cup. I assume they

have rebuilt since then? They certainly have. A new manager took

over from Luiz Felipe Scholari. They were beaten 7-1 in the semifinal by

Germany and then they lost to the Netherlands in the third and fourth

play-off match. The manager was sacked after last year's Copa

America in the emerging states. To tow then took over, they have won

eight in a row and they are now points clear. -- nine points clear.

Coutinho of local picked up the first and then two goals coming in

the second half. -- of Liverpool. Neymar captained the team in the

evening, the Barcelona forward picking up that. He missed the

penalty as well. It was the Real Madrid vendor who picked up the

third to send them nine points clear at the top. -- defender. This comes

about because of the route's surprise 2-1 win over Uruguay. --

per room's. For me it is down to Tito, the manager, who took over

last June, it is brilliant. Tulsen, thank you.

Madeira is a small Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco.

It's where Christiano Ronaldo grew up.

Well, the airport has been renamed in his honour.

As was the Portuguese President and Prime Minister.

Impressive guest list for a change in an airport's name.

A bronze bust of Ronaldo which has been unveiled out

It's been the butt of countless jokes -

the main point being it doesn't look like him.

You can compare and contrast. Ronaldo and the bust. I will leave

you to decide what you think about that!

The World Surf League has released its contenders

They can all be filed under completely terrifying.

He comes unstuck at the top of that wave. All of these guys practice

holding their breath because they get help down for several minutes as

well as obviously having huge volumes of water.

Great Britain's Tom Lowe in Halfmoon Bay in California.

Nathan Florence, off the Tasmanian coast in Australia.

Some of these waves are up to 23 metres high.

It's unimaginable even thinking about doing this, to be honest.

This has the biggest waves to be served anywhere in the world, you

get pulled right up and over the top of the lid.

He is probably thinking of racking up millions of YouTube hits.

The winner of wipe-out of the year takes home $5000.

The person that filmed it gets $2000.

The winner is announced in California next month.

We might play it to you when we get the result. In a minute we

live in Washington to talk to Anthony Zurcher about the latest in

the investigations of the Russian interference in the US elections.

A minute's silence has been held on Westminster Bridge to mark

the moment Khalid Masood began his terror attack last week.

The family of the American victim, Kurt Cochran,

They mourned his loss together at the place where he was hit

Kurt Cochran was the first to be hit when the vehicle

Leslie Rhodes was also killed on the bridge,

The final victim was PC Keith Palmer.

He died despite the desperate efforts to save him.

Earlier, at exactly 2:40pm, the moment the attack began a week

ago, the family joined others on the bridge whose lives had

They included Andrei Burnaz from Romania, who suffered a broken foot

in the attack. His girlfriend Andreea Cristea was hit by the car

and thrown from the bridge. She remains in hospital in a critical

but stable conditions. Doctors, nurses and ambulance crews

were also in Westminster, with schoolchildren

and representatives They stopped in silence

and solidarity. The memories of last week will have

been particularly raw for A group who had lost

a one of their own. They recalled the sacrifice

of PC Keith Palmer. This afternoon is about remembering

the victims of last week's events. Our thoughts and prayers go out

to everyone who was affected It was a moment of calm

after the chaos here It was also a united

front against the horror Today, inquests opened into

the deaths of three of those killed. It was also announced there would be

two separate reviews of security But this afternoon was about an act

of remembrance, a chance Daniela Relph, BBC News, Westminster

Bridge. I'm Ros Atkins, thanks for joining

me an Outside Source. Our lead story is Britain has

formally notified the EU Theresa May called it an historic

moment from which there I want to return to

the investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US

election - and President Trump's allegation that Barack Obama

had him wiretapped. That's become more controversial

because this man, Devin Nunes - who oversees the House

of Representatives investigations - is accused of inappropriately

assisting the White House - The new development

involves these two men. They are are running

their own separate investigation for the Senate -

the upper house. Here's some of what

they said today. The mission of the Committee is to

look at any campaign contacts from either with Russian government,

Russian government officials that might have influenced in anyway,

shape or form the election process. Let's bring in Anthony Zurcher. I'm

confused, how can this and House of Representatives need their own

apparently quite similar investigations? Well, that is the

way Congress works, they are intelligent committees in both

chambers of Congress, people who want to be involved in both chambers

of Congress so they are going to follow their own tracks. With all

the attention focused on to the House intelligence committee it is

easy to forget that the intelligence committee has been grinding away

simple the beginning of this, rational term. Staffers are poring

over thousands of pages and planning on calling 20 witnesses to be

interviewed privately. They will possibly have their own public

hearings with James Comey, FBI director, and will reach their own

conclusions. Is this a plate by the Senate to get more responsibility

against the other committee? The best that the house committee has

developed into with the allegations around Nunez coordinating with the

Trump White House and Adam Schiff, the Democrat, calling for an

independent investigation, it is logical that the Senate intelligence

committee tried to step in and seem like the big boys in this equation.

Generally the Senate is last partisan than the House of

Representatives. I think they have made a conscious effort to downplay

partisanship today, to be seen, operating and to be working together

in order to reach some kind of conclusions. -- to be seen,

operating. Now, I just want to turn

to the Congress and a vote on Tuesday that repeals a law

meaning US internet service Yesterday Donald Trump's

reversed US policies aimed Also this week, China has

reiterated its commitment Here's a Chinese spokesman

on the obligations TRANSLATION: No matter how

other countries policies as a responsible, large developing

country, China's resolve, aims and policy moves in dealing

with climate change will not change. We are willing to work

with the international community to strengthen dialogue

and cooperation, to join hands to promote the process of tackling

climate change to jointly promote green, low carbon sustainable

development for the whole world, to create an even better future

for the next generation. In the US there are big divisions

between science and politics. The scientific community is trying to

find new ways to break political barriers and reach the American

public. Scientists have made a new discovery

that you can ignore politics but politics won't ignore you. We're

going to cancel the Paris climate agreement and stop all payments of

the United States tax dollars to UN global programmes. The public really

do feel like their worldviews and mindsets are not being reflected in

the science that has been put out there. Instead of changing the world

with your mindset, they are doubting the fact. Conservative voters

particularly concerned scientists, for that group trust in scientific

research is actually on a 40 year low. How can scientists change that?

I would love to see 20% of Congress a double of scientists and

engineers, I think we would have a very different approach to governing

if we didn't have that -- made up of. Rather than waiting for a seat

at the table, they are going after it. A political action committee was

started to train scientists to run for office. It can be a challenge

for scientists to communicate with the general public. We are working

with our candidates to help facilitate that as well. But how

many would actually be interested? It turns out, a lot. 3000 have

already signed up for training. We have a lot of people in Congress

right now. The government went straight into public policy with no

expertise into any area whatsoever. I think we need more politicians

that go off on a track when they need and expertise in an area,

whether it is medicine, science, agriculture, anything, and then

comment with that knowledge and be able to make sound public policy.

That's the long game. But to put science at the centre of political

conversation now, they are taking a page from the women's march. As a

scientist and knowing a lot of scientists, it is embarrassing it

took so long for people to mobilise. I think things got more dramatic in

the last month. Caroline turned to Twitter to organise a march for

science in April. In just four hours, ten followers turned into

30,000, and now over 220 cities are planning marches of their own.

Obviously it would be great if it was an enormous crowd. But what is

most important is that it is not just about kind of the politicians

or the representative seeing it, it is about the people who are actually

doing the march and the idea that he was around by people who kind of

share this concern about the lack of evidence -based policy but also just

this passion for science. We have just got a tweet from Apple, who is

watching on BBC News channel in the UK. Now that Article 50 has been

started, can you go back to using feet instead of metres when you've

described the waves in your surfing reports! These negotiations for

Brexit of early important, but whether we use feet or metres will

just be decided by those of us here at the BBC regardless of whether the

UK is in the European Union or not. Thanks for all your questions. I

will be back tomorrow at the same time. See you then. Bye-bye.