10/05/2017 Outside Source

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

has defended his shock decision to fire the FBI director, James Comey.

Because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply, he was not doing a good

job. The White House deputy press secretary later explained the

decision at a press briefing. The basic just atrocities and

circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice. But

outraged Democrats say there must now be an independent investigation

between -- into ties between the dump administration and Russia.

Nothing less is at stake than the American people's faith in our

justice department and the integrity of our government. We will get the

reaction of a journalist for politico in Washington and in sport,

we will find out which Madrid team will join Juventus in this year 's

Champions League final. Welcome to Outside Source. Donald

Trump needs a new FBI director after his sudden sacking of James Comey as

head of America's director -- America pars-mac Security agency.

Let's show you the latter that he sent to Mr Comey. It is brief and

fairly brutal. He says in this letter, you are not able to

effectively lead the bureau and he goes on to say, it's essential that

we find the leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and

confidence. There has been a lot of criticism of this move but as John

Sobol now reports, Donald Trump has defended his decision.

FBI director James Comey has been fired by the President

The term breaking news is bandied about with abandon but last

At FBI offices the first they knew their director had been

fired was when it flashed up on their TV screens.

And James Comey, who was in Los Angeles addressing

about it either until an aide handed him a note.

The letter sent by President Trump was brutal.

You are hereby terminated and removed from office,

At least they left him the government jet to fly

A private citizen, a turbulent career cut short.

And today the president was unrepentant.

Because he wasn't doing a good job, simply wasn't doing a good job.

James Comey, the six foot eight tall director confirmed in March

that the Trump campaign was under investigation

for its links to Russia during the election.

The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission,

is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere

The president has railed consistently that it's fake

news and there has been no improper contact.

Last night, he fired the man heading the inquiry.

It's caused fury and dismay among some Republicans, and all Democrats.

If there was ever a time when circumstances warranted

a special prosecutor, it is right now.

But the White House is seeking to persuade people that the decision

to fire Comey had nothing to do with Russia or the FBI

It is time for a fresh start at the FBI.

I think the president did as he has done in many other cases,

He provided strong leadership and to act on the recommendation

The White House says the loss of confidence stems

from James Comey's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use

of a private e-mail server when she was Secretary of State.

I made a mistake using a private e-mail.

He decided last July there'd be no prosecution,

Then, stunningly, he reopened his inquiry 11 days before polling.

It took guts for Director Comey to make the move that he made.

But if it really is all about the way the FBI conducted

the Hillary Clinton investigation, why sack him now?

Why not do it when Donald Trump first came to office?

And how do you reconcile it with the praise heaped upon James Comey?

Whatever, it's left the FBI feeling very sore about the way

And into the Washington maelstrom, who should arrive today

for his first visit to see the Trump administration than Sergey Lavrov,

the Russian Foreign Minister, in jokey mood.

He then went to meet Donald Trump at the White House, but curiously,

for the camera-loving president, the press was kept away.

This feels like House of Cards on steroids.

We can now talk to Daniel Lipman in the politico newsroom in Washington.

Daniel, I almost don't know where to start. Let's start with the

Democrats demand for a special prosecutor. How likely is this? If

there are more allegations that continue to come out over the next

few weeks and if it continues to dominate the public agenda in

Washington, then the chances go up for that, then, because there will

be more calls from regular citizens into their Republican citizens and

congressmen asking for an investigation. It is unlikely right

now because Republicans don't want to embarrass Donald Trump and they

feel the enquiry is already taking place are adequate to get to the

bottom of what happened with the Trump campaign. I suppose there's a

danger, isn't there, if you appoint a special investigator, I was a

Washington correspondent when the Bill Clinton investigation started

and they spiralled and spiral down these things can. I think they

recognise the lessons of the 90s where once you a point a special

prosecutor, you lose control of the investigation, that's the whole

point, but it can have unintended consequences. The investigation is

already very dangerous for Donald Trump and his administration. It

feels like the White House is already under siege right now

because they were not prepared to base so much blowback and it looks

like they have also made enemies of the FBI, among the ranks of the FBI

agents, because they feel like they're director was basically

executed yesterday. Behind all this is that question of possible links

with Russia, the Trump campaign team and Russia. Does the Russia probe

continue now that Comey has gone? Yes, it is going on 40 in. I'm sure

the 100 or so FBI agents who worked on the probe have come into work

today but it is such a long time to finish one of these

counterintelligence investigations and if there is any allegation that

the White House or the new FBI director, whoever that might be, is

stifling the probe, is kind of having a cover up, then that will

really get lots of people angry in Washington, even more than they are

today. That is my final point. The new FBI director, whoever he or she

might be, any names in the brain? There aren't really any concrete

names, just people being bandied about. I think one issue I would

probably turn down this job. It's probably turn down this job. It's

one of the toughest jobs in one of the toughest jobs in

Washington, because he gets so much pressure from the Trump White House,

from Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, and also Democrats and

Republicans on Capitol Hill, is that they should probably have extra

bonus combat paper taking this job. Daniel Lipman, thank you very much.

Right now, we will get you up-to-date with sport. Juventus are

free to the Champions League final. The question now, which Madrid club

will they face? Let's talk to Nick Marshall McCormac. What do you

think? I can tell you straightaway because it's just gone full-time and

its Real Madrid who will play Juventus in the final Cardiff. What

a Madrid derby we saw tonight. It was fast and furious, we had Diego C

Mirnyi running up and down the sideline like a man possessed as he

tried to fire his Atletico Madrid team back from that 3-0 first leg

deficit. Yellow flags -- yellow cards flying everywhere. That is the

best goal and that, though, is Antoine Grisman kicking in the

Fernando Torres penalty which was set up earlier. Is go put row Madrid

back in control though. 4-2 ahead on aggregate and they go three to the

final in Cardiff and they are calling it duo decimo now. I will

come back to you in just a moment but first, the bar are to

investigate Pogba's transfer to Manchester United. We want to show

you what Jose Mourinho had to say. I was interested in the headlines

regarding Pogba's transfer. We are not here to discuss that, just the

game. But the question is simple. If you ask for the fact, is that a

fact? Marina Green and not saying much about that. What are these the

same? They have confirmed that they are looking at the deal through

their transfer matching system and what that does is record all

transactions made internationally backed away from that I can tell you

that the underlying cause of concern is a book which is coming out very

soon, that is called the Football League, the dirty business of

football, and in that, it is alleged that the football agent was paid

around $53 million for acting under half of the buying club, the selling

club and the player himself. -- acting on behalf of the buying club,

the selling club and the player himself. That is not unusual but at

the same time, they have to make sure all these transactions are

recorded on their system. Manchester United are saying that fever have

all the documents they need so now we sit and wait. Now we go onto more

Fifa trouble, with their decision not to reappoint the ethics chiefs,

which means an effective end to the reform process according to the two

officials. The pair said they are impending departure means the

defendant -- the de facto end of their reform. The removal of the

ethics committee is not in Fifa's best interests. It is a setback for

the fight against corruption. The ethics committee is weekend and

incapacitated. Fifa's vice president fired back at the ousted ethics

chiefs labelling them as unprofessional and saying the whole

issue is overblown. I think it is the right of an organisation to do

these things. I think the people who are proposed to replace them from

what I have seen are of the highest standards. You have got a judge from

the European Court, so we are not replacing them with somebody who was

not of the highest standard, and I think, to be honest with you, it's

been way overblown from a hype perspective. Before we finish the

sport, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe joined some of rugby's biggest

names for the Rugby World Cup draw in Kyoto. These are the groupings:

do you stay with us here on Outside Source. Still to come, we will have

details of a new study which claims some painkillers could increase the

risk of heart attacks and other heart conditions.

It has killed nearly 100 dogs in the UK since it first appeared here five

years ago yet little is known about the disease called Alabama Rot.

First is go -- first discovered in America, it causes lesions on dogs

pause but there is still no known cure. This report is from Duncan

Kennedy. It's that time of day, the walk, the run, the fun, repeated by

8 million dogs across the United Kingdom. But for Gabrielle Williams

from Monmouthshire, those joys came to an end earlier this year. Her

dog, blur, a family pet for five years, caught Alabama rot and died.

Still hard to get your head around that she's not here because it

happened so quickly and she was so young, only five and a half, and it

was hard to see, so it's been very difficult, very sad. Alabama Rot was

still recorded in the United States in 1980s and gives dogs lesions,

ulcers and in many cases, kidney failure. So it's a very unpleasant

disease and luckily, Lola here has avoided it. 15 dogs in Britain have

died of Alabama Rot so far this year, bringing the total to nearly

100 since it was first noticed in 2012. Those first cases were seen in

Hampshire, but there have now been examples in 29 counties, yet with no

obvious pattern to the location or breed. Two days first-ever

conference on Alabama Rot in Britain has been organised by David Walker,

a vet who has studied it for five years. What's your gut feeling of

what this is? I'd say my gut feeling is that is -- there is intrinsically

within the dog a predisposition to this disease process and perhaps

there is an environmental factor on top which means they developed the

disease later in their lifetime. It's certainly a disease these

owners in the new Forest are now aware of. Until I see any signs up

here, I will keep going like normal. They don't know what is causing it,

so you have to continue like normal, really. Let's say owners need not be

alarmed. Alabama Rot remains extremely rare but symptoms should

not be ignored. Duncan Kennedy in the new Forest.

This is Outside Source live from the BBC newsroom. Our lead story,

President Trump has defended his decision to sack the head of the

FBI. The White House said he had been considering firing him since

taking office. Now, painkillers could increase the

risk of heart attacks and other heart problems, the finding of a

study published in the British medical Journal. The drugs in

question are anti-inflammatory painkillers like I be pregnant but

it's important to say this is not an issue for most of us -- like IBO pro

then but it's important to say this is not an issue for most of us who

take small doses. There have been increasing numbers studies in the

last few years which link heart problems to these non-steroidal

anti-inflammatory drugs painkillers and this is another study adding

that puzzle. There is a suggestion these drugs could affect the heart

but there are so many questions still to be answered, that the most

important thing is for people not to be alarmed and particularly if they

are only taking one or two of these, ibuprofen, for example, two tablets

for a headache over the counter. This study looked at people taking

high doses of the drug for prescriptions doctors gave them for

chronic pain, but it does perhaps add something new. It says that

perhaps these risks could start as early as the first few weeks of

taking the drug. So this shows us there may be a link between these

painkillers and a heart attack but we don't know that it's causal? Like

most scientific studies it's really worth taking them where they pinch

of salt and looking around the whole study. The fact is this study cannot

prove cause and effect. It could be these people were prescribed these

high doses of painkillers because something else was going on in their

body that, in turn, ended up causing them to have the heart attack, so it

might not be the painkillers themselves. The general advises, in

the UK, for example, doctors don't tend to prescribe these drugs to

people with severe heart problems or are very cautious in prescribing

them to people with severe heart problems. The general advice for

other people would be, if you have a severe heart problem and are taking

these drugs over the counter regularly, it is worth going to talk

to your doctor. If you are just taking them once in a while, it's

less likely you need to worry. OK, so there's no general panic here but

there is a message to patients, if you are taking more and more of

these painkillers, get professional advice. Doctors here say, if you are

taking one of these anti-inflammatory drugs, take the

lowest days for the shortest possible time. If someone finds

about having to take them all the time and a higher dose than is

recommended, it's definitely worth speaking to your doctor, and

particularly if you already have any heart problems. Here's a question

from my BBC colleague in the Netherlands. She says, as the shock

blogger boycott gone too far? She asks because of a row over free

speech in a question known for it. This shocking blog prides itself on

its thoughts and it has almost 2 million unique visitors a month, but

now, more than 240 women have called at -- launched a campaign calling

for an advertising boycott. Elaine muses one of the campaigners. I

think it's really important, you see it in the United States, advertisers

withdrew their support from the Bill O'Reilly show after the New York

Times showed that they had paid $30 million to pay off women you had

been sexually harassed by Bill O'Reilly. In the Netherlands, we

wondered how it is possible that a company like Mercedes-Benz here you

their support of the Bill O'Reilly show in the United States, why is it

still advertising on a shock blog like no style. The editors of that

blog pride themselves on being needlessly hurtful and they are read

-- really successful at that. The best criticisms were raised like,

why are advertisers choosing still to advertise on there? Why are they

still supporting that blog? And after the first criticism, the blog

incited an online rape of a journalist who had just discussed

the weblog and given a critical analysis. I think that crosses all

the lines... Can I just say, the blog itself that you have crossed

the line. They say you are famously tolerant in the Netherlands and this

is censorship. It's not censorship at all. We are not say to the

government, you have two prevent the blog. Of course not. Freedom of

speech is important. But we are saying they make money from

insulting other people and I don't understand how a company like

Mercedes or IKEA, how they could Atvod want to be associated with a

blog that incites online rape of women, terms that are so violent I

can't repeat them here on television. I think all the

companies should be really aware of where they are advertising and is

much more difficult with blogs because often online, people are

often followed. If I visit a KLM website, subsequently I often see

advertising. But aren't you worried you are giving them free publicity?

No, I'm not worried about that at all. Right now, a lot of advertisers

are dropping out. Not everybody is speaking out but I'm sure a lot of

advertisers are withdrawing, so we are hitting them in the wallet,

where it hurts most. There is just time to tell you this. It's an

incredible setting to see an opera but not the best place to hear one

because sound problems have dogged the Sydney Opera House since they

opened. That is about to change. It's the building that

defines not just Sydney, Bold and bathed in sunshine,

the opera house's tall But inside, the sound is,

well, not so stunning. For its resident Symphony Orchestra,

is a regular frustration. The shape of the concert hall makes

it hard to hear themselves, It's a bit like playing football

on a pitch that is sort of shrouded in fog and you know your team-mates

are out there somewhere, And for us I guess the issue

is they are a bit hard to hear. Often I don't feel like we are

really always playing together. And then with some of the other

sections of the orchestra, we can actually have time delays

at times as we are trying The problem dates back

to the very beginning. Changes were made to

the original design. The architect fell out

with the engineers and never saw After decades of trying

out different fixes, a new system of reflectors

and risers has been tested and, it is claimed, will finally deliver

crystal clear sound. It was honestly like someone had

just lifted the Perspex box off And you could hear

them so much better. The sound sounds

a lot closer to you. You feel as if you're actually

hearing, you can hear The famous tall sails that form

the outside of this building have always placed a limit

on what can happen inside. The concert hall is too big for

orchestral concerts, for example. The real challenge for the next four

years is making sure what happens inside here matches the quality

of what people see out there. This will be the first time

the opera house will close any But there will still be

music within these walls. As they try to fine-tune one

of the world's best loved buildings. With that, it is time to say thanks

very much for being with us here on Outside