13/04/2017 Outside Source

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

Jeremy Bowen is right beside me and we will talk to him in a moment.

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

We start in Syria, where Syria's President has responded

to American accusations that he used chemical weapons to

The United States is hand in glove with the terrorists, they fabricated

the whole story. This means we now have three

completely different explanations - one American, one Russian and one

Syrian - for how an attack that Our correspondent is inside

North Korea, amid speculation the country could be preparing

for its sixth nuclear test. Donald Trump has said that

North Korea is a problem that Speaking of Mr Trump,

we'll be taking a look back at the last seven days

of his presidency. He's met the President

of China, as well as He's also launched an airstrike

against the Syrian government. But what does this tell us

about how his policies have changed And more violence has broken out

between European football fans - tonight, the start of

the match between Besiktas We can speak with Jeremy Bowen, the

BBC's BBC Middle east editor now. I'm Soyuz all the interview with

President Assad, what did you make of it? I watched the whole interview

and I read the transcript as well. In a way, he is very consistent in

the line he has always taken, which is that he is fighting a conspiracy,

directed from abroad, that has sent terrorists, and he never makes a

distinction between different groups, he just calls them

terrorists, who are out to smash the Syrian state. This is a line that he

has come up with consistently, adapted to different circumstances,

since the war started in 2011. But he also contradict in the country

which is helping him to be so secure, the conflicting emotions on

this? He seemed to me to be an anxious man, a man under pressure. I

have interviewed him a couple of times before the war, and a couple

of years ago, and at that time, he was under a lot of military

pressure, when I spoke to him at the beginning of 2015. But he seemed

pretty calm. I thought, it is very hard to tell through a TV screen but

I thought that he looked a little bit at bay, shocked, under pressure.

And I think that's because things have moved very quickly in the last

week or so. If you think back, after his forces, helped by the Russians

and others, got hold of the whole of Aleppo at the end of last year, he

was in a better position than he had been in at any time since the war

started. And in, well, it is only a week since those American attacks,

you sense the thing is unravelling. Because once more, the Americans are

talking about regime change fish before the chemical attack, they

were saying he could be part of the solution when it comes to dealing

with Islamic State. Talking about regime change, but there is no

evidence that Mr Trump is about to launch further military action, and

Russia has not moved an inch? No, and while the Russians are

supporting him, while there are Russian forces there, the tempo of

military operations is not going to be affected. But I think it is a

worry he didn't have. Having the Americans saying nasty things about

you is one thing, but when they are that up by a cruise missile attack,

when in 2013, when there was that big chemical weapons attack in

Damascus, healing well over 1000 people, Obama threatened to use

weapons against him and he didn't. Now, Trump has done it. So, the

thing about Trump's unpredictability is, it puts the uncertainty factor

into the minds of his potential adversaries, along the lines of,

what on earth is he going to do next coverage something a lot of viewers

will be wondering, what are the practicalities of getting into the

same room as Bashar al-Assad? It is complicated. This one which AFP did

must have happened fairly quickly, bearing in mind... It is another

sign that he's worried, he had to get his version out there. When we

did it, we had to negotiate the terms of how we would use the

material, we didn't accept any restrictions on how we used it with

them, although we did say that we would broadcast an uncut version, 23

minutes, so I had to do the interview to time. There is

obviously a lot of security. I did it in a different room to the one

they used for this, I noticed. But before all the interviews I have

done with him, and it has been three, he always gives you a little

bit of time, one on one beforehand, ten minutes, where you have a chat.

The thing about Assad is, Trump has been calling him a butcher. When you

meet him, he's very polite, rather charming. He stands back when you go

through the door, he opens doors for you. He's got rather old-fashioned,

courtly manners. But he does sometimes say things which frankly

don't stack up when you put the evidence against them and. He denied

they had ever used barrel bombs, and I said, Mr President, there's video

evidence of it. He still denied it. And the same way he's saying now

that those scenes, really shocking scenes, and I have seen all of the

video, including the bits which we deemed too horrible to broadcast, it

could not have been faked, even I think with a full Hollywood crew and

with Steven Spielberg directing, it was incredibly graphic. And those

kids were not acting, those ones who I saw pictures of, suffocated to

death in the back of pick-ups, with foam coming out of them mouths, and

they're eyes, showing signs of people suffering from exactly that,

the experts say. Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle east Tadic -- Middle

east editor, thank you very much. On Saturday, North Korea

celebrates the anniversary of the birth of its founder,

Kim il-Sung. Foreign journalists

have been invited - though their every move

is decided for them. He was right - the big event turned

out to be the North Korean People are coming in their

thousands. You can see the senior army officers, people are carrying

balloons and flowers, all here to celebrate the opening of this new

development. But the message, of course, is about economic

resilience, about a north Korea that is surviving against the odds, a

message that the young leader is bringing these sorts of benefits to

his people, and everywhere you look in this city, there are these small

signs of economic reform, the wing shoots of private enterprise. Of

course, all of this goes hand-in-hand with the nuclear

brinkmanship of the sense of crisis, but the two messages go together.

They are all about regime survival against the odds and they are sent

to the outside world to anybody whom he be thinking of changing this by

force. A Reuters journalist quoted

the North Korean premier, who spoke at the event,

as saying this opening was, quote, "a very significant, great event,

more powerful than the explosion of hundreds of nuclear bombs

on the top of the enemies' heads". Interesting that he

should mention bombs. Analysts think North Korea may

be planning its sixth nuclear test as part

of the celebrations on Saturday. If it happens, it'll be

at Mount Mantap, where all nuclear This is 38North, a website

run by Korea experts. They've been looking at satellite

images and they've noticed a wide range of activity around

Mount Mantap in the last few weeks. Of course we have no idea weather

that actually means anything will happen this Saturday. We shall have

to see. Time for some sport. Last night, there were violent

incidents between Leicester supporters and Spanish

police in Madrid. We can bring in Mark Edwards from

BBC Sport. The game is between Lyon and Besiktas. It is in Lyon in

France. The game was delayed for 45 minutes due to some crowd

disturbances. It started in the city beforehand, and sadly the

hooliganism reared its ugly head once more, violence breaking out

behind the goal. Reportedly, Besiktas fans in the top tier

launching objects down below. Even the Lyon president had gone into the

crowd to try to calm things down. Both sets of players stayed in the

middle of the pitch, applauding all four sides of the Lyon stadium to

try and calm the stadium down. They kicked off 45 minutes late. Besiktas

ended up scoring in the first half, Ryan Brobbel, the ex-Liverpool man

scoring. Hooliganism rearing its ugly head once again. -- Ryan Babel.

He plays for the Portland Trailblazers in the NBA.

And he did so by not shooting a single three-pointer in the final

There is an article from the Washington Post.

At the start of the season, Harkless was told he would get a $500,000

bonus if he finished the season having made 35% of his

He begun the last game with a percentage of 35.1 -

meaning if nothing changed, the money was his.

Of course, the easiest way to do that was by not attempting

He posted this picture to Instagram afterwards -

with the caption, "I guess dinner is on me."

Another sport for you this evening that doesn't get as much coverage

These are pictures we've got in from a World Kiteboarding League

event being held in the south of France right now.

Many will be familiar with the sport.

it involves competitors strapped to specially designed boards,

who use use giant kites to pull themselves through the water,

and as you can see, out of it as well.

The location for this event is known for its strong winds.

That makes it hard, but you can aim for bigger tricks.

This event runs for a few more days, so hopefully we can

If there's a sport you want us to cover, let us know.

In a few minutes, we will talk about President Trump's last seven days.

A record number of people who went to A departments in England

this winter had to wait at least four hours to be admitted.

Almost 200,000 people had to wait much longer

than they should for a bed - a big rise on last year's figures.

Spring is here, but the NHS won't forget this winter in a hurry.

More patients coming in, problems moving

them out, even if they were medically fit, and intense,

Hospital managers here, like many others, say

The hospital has been functioning most

And that has put a huge strain on the services.

I think it is important to note that this was a mild winter.

And despite that, it has been very tough.

The latest figures for England show longer waiting

135,000 people had to wait longer than four hours to be found a

For planned treatment, including routine surgery, 264,000 were

waiting more than 18 weeks in February 2016 but it was 367,000

In recent years, hospitals have noted

that the pressure never eases off in the summer.

And in the months ahead, there could be an extra challenge in

the shape of possible industrial action by nurses.

The largest nursing union is consulting members

on whether they're prepared to go on strike

over a 1% pay offer, which is

Most nurses are unhappy with their income.

So, they're working harder than ever.

But there's been years now of absolutely no pay increase.

And then this whole cap of 1%, when we know all their

they're actually struggling to pay the bills.

The Department of Health says it's going along

with an independent pay review body's recommendation, and it can

Thus argue that with all the pressure on

the NHS, patients won't get the right

care from a workforce that is short on numbers and low on role.

care from a workforce that is short on numbers and low on morale.

This is Outside Source live from the BBC Mewsroom.

Syria's President Assad says reports of a chemical attack by his forces

last week are "100% fabrication", and there was no order

Let's just pause to consider the last seven days

There are always differences between what a politician says

on the campaign trail and what they do

The differences though are not always this pronounced,

and don't always come this thick and fast.

So, let's consider the significant actions

Last Thursday, Mr Trump began a summit with

And he launched a strike on a Syrian Government air base.

Something he'd warned President Obama not to do

Mr Trump also called for Bashar al-Assad must go.

A week before this, Sean Spicer saying...

"With respect to Assad, there is a political reality

"Once again, Obama fails to classify China as a currency manipulator.

He just helped China steal even more jobs and money from us."

about tweet was sent while President Obama was still in the White House.

But then, in an interview in the Wall Street Journal

And remember this is an interview with a German newspaper recently.

But this is what the President said in a press conference

with the Nato Secretary-General this time yesterday.

I complained about back a long time ago and then made a change. And now

they do fight terrorism. I said it was obsolete. It's no longer

obsolete. So, that has changed. Mr Trump is heading to Mar-a-Lago,

his resort, for the weekend. He would often attack

President Obama over similar breaks. President @BarackObama's vacation

is costing taxpayers But look at this graph

from the Washington Post. Donald Trump is set

to outstrip the travel costs of President Obama's entire

Presidency, in one year. At this current rate, Mr Trump will

reach the equivalent expenditure by the end of his first year in the

White House. Our troops are being killed

by the Afghanis we train Today, the President dropped

the largest non-nuclear bomb It's the first time

it has been used. Let's bring in the BBC's Jane

O'Brien, live from Washington, DC. The speaker, all politicians change

positions, but in the last seven days, there have been some

remarkable turnarounds? Yes it is quite a litany. It is like Donald

Trump has dipped his toe in the pool of foreign policy but has not quite

made up his mind which direction to swim in. Really, even though he

seems to be changing his view and changing his mind, we're still not

entirely certain to what. Because there hasn't been any clearly

articulated policy on any of these issues. Take Syria, for instance.

Suddenly, the Assad government matters to him, and he orders a

strike on an airbase. Danny hasn't said what else he's going to do, but

we do know that he did want to send a message to Russia, whom initially

he said he was cosying up to and wanted to be friends with, but now

admits that the relations between the US and Russia are at an all-time

low and that the element of trust has completely disintegrated. But

where do we go from here? And that's what's missing in this whole piece.

Jane, I wonder if this is partly because Mr Trump is an instinctive

operator, he was during the campaign and many people saw it as a

strength, and he's continued to be spontaneous, responding to events,

since becoming president? Yes. Very much so. And we know that television

affects him, we know that he goes with his gut, in his own words, and

that seems to be the motivation behind his decision to strike the

Syrian government's airbase. Saw pictures on television of the

victims of a chemical gas attack and that's what spurred him to action.

And he continues to refer to that. But it doesn't explain why he would

suddenly change course on Nato, saying that Nato was once obsolete

but just a a few days later, it isn't any more, and it is thanks to

him. He did not say why it was thanks to him, what he suddenly did

you make Nato relevant. Jane O'Brien, thank you very much.

One of the Mr Trump's biggest promises was to reform healthcare.

You may remember that a Republican plan to repeal and replace

Obamacare failed to make it through the Republican controlled

That was largely due to the freedom caucus who said the plan

didn't go far enough - leading to a split in

Laura Trevelyan has been to Lima, Ohio, a district represented by one

of the Freedom Caucus, to find out what his constituents

The sound of an economy that's growing.

PalletS move goods around America, shifting everything

And at the Lima Pallet Company in north-west Ohio plans to expand

Owner Tracy Sanchez can't employ more people until the cost of health

insurance comes down and she was frustrated

to see the Republicans botch their first attempt.

I was a little disappointed that we'd had eight years to work

on this, and I would hope that the Republicans in eight

Your representative here in Lima was very opposed to the bill,

and the President now is blaming him and other members of

the Freedom Caucus for the failure, is that fair?

We know they are working on it on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

I really feel confident, as most of us in this area do,

You're not ever going to get all you want, but if you push,

He's a conservative Republican, a member of the Freedom Caucus group

who helped torpedo the White House's attempt at health care reform.

The president directly singled out Jim Jordan

with his furious tweet storms, but the Congressman is unmoved.

Tweets and statements and blame don't change facts, and the facts

remain that there are concerns with this legislation, real concerns

that we have, and we're trying to make it better.

Lima is in a county where more than two thirds of the electorate

voted for both Donald Trump and Congressman Jim Jordan

The message from Republicans here is loud and clear,

time for the party to work together and deliver on its promises.

At Lima's QP Diner, they've served burgers and shakes

And the regulars are keen observers of politics.

I really don't understand why they're fighting.

If it's to help the American people, help them.

Quit this crap about the Republicans and Democrats.

Trump's not a politician, I want to tell you, but he's going

Back at the pallet factory, they're outgrowing their surroundings.

Tracy wants to build a new warehouse and provide affordable health

care for the new workers she is itching to hire.

She's relying on President Trump, who has a construction

background after all, to lay the political foundations.

Sometimes he flies off the handle a little too quick,

I think things are coming around and I think they'll work together

Thanks for watching Outside Source this week. I will see you next time.