27/11/2017 Outside Source

for Northern Ireland, and to the

western side of Wales and south-west

England. Temperatures of 4-7d,

probably even colder on Thursday.

I'm Ros Atkins what welcome to

outside sources to pay royal wedding

in the spring. Meghan Markle and

Prince Harry have announced their

engagement.

I could barely let you

finish proposing.

Then there were

hugs and I had the ring on my finger

and I said, can I give you the ring?

In Indonesia Mount Agung threatens

thousands. We report on the

overfishing and pollution of

Africa's biggest freshwater lake.

And the Pope has arrived in Myanmar.

An hour of the biggest global

stories coming live from the BBC

newsroom. There are a number to

focus on across the hour. Of course

we'll talk about the Royal

engagement. These are some of the

latest pictures from Indonesia where

thousands of people are being told

to leave their homes because of this

enormous volcano and barley. We've

also got this special report to

play, it's about Lake Victoria and

pollution damaging the lives of

fishermen. Hope Frances is in

Myanmar and that's going to be a

delicate diplomatic trip because of

the issue of the Rohingya Muslims.

We will talk about that in detail as

well. There's no doubt what the most

popular story has been at BBC all

day. The American actress and

campaign Meghan Markle is engaged to

Prince Harry. Here they are making

their first appearance since the

announcement. Harry has taken the

Royal family somewhere new. Meghan

Markle is successful and well known

in her own right. She's a divorcee,

mixed race, her mother is

African-American. The big day is

going to be in the next year. We

spoke to the happy couple. This is

them and falling in love in the

spotlight that comes with both of

their lives.

We were hit so hard at

the beginning with a lot of missed

troops. I made the choice to not

read anything, positive or negative

-- we were hit with all of the

mistruths. We focused our energy on

our relationship, and asked.

Some of

that scrutiny was centred around

your ethnicity. When you realise

that what did you think?

Of course

it's disheartening.

It's a shame that that is

the climate, in this world,

to focus on that, or be

discriminatory in that sense.

But I think, at the end of the day,

I'm really just proud of who I am

and where I come from,

and we have never put

any focus on that.

We've just focused on who we are

as a couple, and so,

when you take all those extra layers

away, and all of that noise,

I think it makes it really easy

to just enjoy being together,

and tune all the rest of that out.

Now that it is all official,

Prince Harry, do you have that sense

that the combination of the two

of you and your different

backgrounds, that you together

represent something

new for the Royal Family?

I don't know if it's something new.

For me, it's an added

member of the family.

It's another team player

as part of the bigger team.

For all of us, all we want to do

is be able to carry out

the right engagements,

carry out our work, and try

and encourage others and the younger

generation to be able to see

the world in the correct sense,

rather than perhaps

being a distorted view.

So, you know, the fact that I fell

in love with Meghan so incredibly

quickly was sort of confirmation

to me that everything,

all the stars were aligned,

everything was just perfect.

There was this beautiful woman

who had literally tripped

and fell into my life.

I fell into her life.

And the fact that she...

I know the fact that she'll be

really unbelievably good at the job

part of it as well is obviously

a huge relief to me,

because she will be able to deal

with everything else that comes

with it, but we are

a fantastic team.

We know we are.

We hope to, over time,

try and have as much impact

for all the things we care

about as much as possible.

I'm very excited about that.

To many of you Meghan Markle will

need no introduction. She was a

well-known actress before Prince

Harry came on the scene. Lots of you

will have seen her in the TV series

Suits. She's been another shows and

films. She is a global ambassador

for World Vision and she has

campaigned on the issue of gender

equality, here she is talking on

that issue for the UN. She's got a

long track record of campaigning.

When she was 11 she took issue with

an advert she saw, that she felt

unfairly portrayed women. She wrote

letters to high profile women like

every Clinton taking up the issue.

Here is Meghan Markle talking about

that story at the UN.

The tag line said women all over

America are fighting greasy pots and

pans. Two boys in my class said

that's where women belong, in the

kitchen. I remember feeling shocked

and angry, and also feeling so hurt.

It just wasn't right and something

needed to be done.

I'll play you an

extended part of the interview with

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in

about 25 minutes. Let's turn to to

some of the other main stories.

We'll begin in Indonesia because

more than 100,000 people living near

a volcano in Bali have been told to

move. You can see Mount Agung on the

east of Bali, it is Indonesia's

largest volcano. Here are some of

the pictures that have come in

today. This smoke and ash is being

fired four kilometres into the. Some

activity has been going on for at

least two months. If you look

closely at these pictures you can

see magma is visible. But may mean

that a full eruption could come

soon. The alert has been raised to

the highest level the authorities

have accessed. I also wanted to show

you these pictures from 1963. That's

the last time that the volcano

erupted. At that time over 1000

people were killed by the eruption.

The exclusion zone around the

volcano has been extended to ten

commenters. -- ten kilometres.

In

the last two days, well, yesterday I

was wearing a mask and goggles.

Today it's been largely better

because it's been raining which has

dampened down the volcanic ash.

TRANSLATION:

There are concerns

among the villagers. We tried to go

to your evacuation centres, maybe

this afternoon, but we also need to

stay here to feed our livestock.

Yes

I am scared but I have to stay

because I don't have any money. If I

had it I would leave.

Some of the

locals. Bali is also a big tourist

destination. Its airport has been

shot which means 50,000 people are

stranded. This is what we've got on

the flight radar website. There is

the ash cloud. These flags are

making a sharp west turn. They can't

come into Bali at the moment. We've

been following the story. Here's the

latest.

Predicting what a volcano

will do next is a Falls game. It is

possible this is a low skill

eruption over a longer period of

time. We've had activity for two

months ever since tiny tremors were

detected from the volcano. What

happened recently is that magma can

be spotted near the top of the

volcano. That is a clue for

scientists that a larger scale

eruption could be coming soon.

What's been happening is the magma

has been moving up through the

volcano, heating water inside,

creating steam which in turn creates

pressure. That pressure is forcing

that huge plume of rock and ash

thousands of metres up into the air.

The authorities can't take any of

chances. They are trying to evacuate

100,000 people from the local area.

Some people in villages around the

volcano are staying put. They closed

the local airport. A lot of people

are stranded, tourists and locals,

thousands of journeys ultimately are

disrupted. The priority for the

authorities and Bali is to make sure

there isn't the death and

destruction that happened the last

time it erupted.

In US politics,

first let's talk about the longest

serving member of the US Congress.

He's a Democrat and he stepped aside

from a senior congressional position

because of allegations of sexual

misconduct. He accused of firing a

former staffer because she refused

his sexual advances. He tweeted

earlier that he denies the

allegations, many of which were

raised by documents apparently paid

for by a partisan right-wing

blogger. That story follows on from

a couple of weeks back when the

Democratic senator Al Franken was

accused of sexual misconduct by four

women. He's not spoken about those

allegations for the first time. --

he has now spoken about these

allegations.

I know that I let a lot

of people down, people in Minnesota,

my colleagues, my staff, my

supporters, and everyone who has

counted on me to stand up for women.

To all of you I want to again say I

am sorry.

That clip will no doubt

have been watched by just about

everyone gathering in Iowa for the

2017 Iowa Democratic party gala. I

guess these repeated stories about

sexual harassment inevitably are

seizing the agenda.

Definitely is

something people have been talking

about a considerable amount.

Democrats trying to figure out where

to go on this because members of

their own party have been swept up

in the allegations. Donald Trump

himself was accused of sexual

harassment during the campaign. I

think Democrats are trying to pick

up the pieces. They lost control of

the State government, they are

trying to find a way to go forward

and make inroads in this Republican

majority, not only here but across

the country.

Is it frustrating to

Democrats that they are not making

more political progress, given the

trouble is that Donald Trump has

had?

I think they understand that

they don't control power in

Washington or here in Iowa right

now. There's only so much they can

do to slow down the Republicans.

There's a certain amount of optimism

based on election results in

Virginia for instance. They might be

looking at big wins in mid-term

elections in 2018 but they

understand they have a long way to

go and they have been trying to come

up with what message they need to

come up with. Whether it is Bernie

Sanders style populism or moderate

approach to appeal to the middle

class. They need more than being

anti-Trump if they want to give a

positive message to voters.

I also

want to ask you about this because

in the last few minutes they clip as

coming from Donald Trump speaking at

an event in the Oval Office to mark

the achievements of some Native

Americans who served during the

Second World War. This is what the

President said.

You're very, very

special people. You were here long

before any of us were here. Although

we have a representative in Congress

who they say was here a long time

ago. They call her poker --

Pocahontas.

But I like you --

but I

like you.

That was him referring to

Senator Elizabeth Warren as

Pocahontas. Why is that comment so

controversial?

This came up in 2012

when Elizabeth Warren was running

for the Senate. Apparently she

listed Indian heritage on her

resume, it was listed on her Harvard

Law directory when she was a

professor there. It was turned into

a campaign issue because apparently

there's not much evidence she has an

Indian background. Donald Trump has

coined this Pocahontas which has

been considered a racist slur

against Elizabeth Warren. Calling

her Pocahontas because she has these

questionable assertions about her

Indian background.

To hear him say this again in this

context standing next to Native

Americans at an event honouring them

is pretty remarkable. Donald Trump

has had run-ins with the Native

Americans in the past when he was a

casino owner. In Atlantic City he

had some legal fights with Native

American casino operators in the

area. There maybe more background

context of the stand justified with

Elizabeth Warren. -- more background

than just the disagreement with

Elizabeth Warren.

Scientists are

claiming overfishing and pollution

are badly damaging the ecosystem in

Lake Victoria.

In the UK the government has been

accused of keeping Parliament in the

dark after handing over edited

versions on the analysis of the

potential actor Brexit on sectors of

the economy. The Papers were passed

to the cross-party select committee

on exiting the EU. Here is David

Davis.

The leader of the House

accepted that it was binding and it

was clear that these reports,

unredacted in full, should be handed

over. If it doesn't happen, arguably

that is content of the house that in

the first instance we will obviously

raise it in Parliament to get

answers to these questions.

For those of you watching in the UK,

that was Keir Starmer, not David

Davis, I do know the difference

between the two, sorry about that.

This is Outside Source, our lead

story, Prince Harry and Meghan

Markle have announced their

engagement, news has gone around the

world, the wedding will be in spring

of next year. And other stories for

BBC World Service. American Tobacco

companies have been forced to run a

series of television adverts

detailing the deadly effects of

smoking. One says that smoking kills

on average more than 1000 Americans

per day, more than murder, AIDS,

suicide, drugs, car crashes and

alcohol combined. And this skeleton

of a mammoth which is more than five

metres long has gone on display in

France. It will be sold. It is more

than 15,000 years old, it is

estimated at more than half $1

million worth. Iraqi forces are

trying to drive Islamic State out of

the Western Desert of Iraq. If we

show you this graphic, the area in

light pink is territory controlled

by IS in 2015 and the much smaller

area in dark pink in the west of

Iraq and eastern Syria is what IS

currently control. You can see how

much that territory has contracted,

that is because of military pressure

applied to IS and with that, some

foreign fighters have decided to

leave the Islamic State group, or at

least their families have decided to

leave. A look at the story of Tanya,

a British woman who moved to Syria

with her American jihadist husband

but she very quickly opted to leave

because of the circumstances in

which she was living. She told her

story to the BBC.

My name is Tanya,

for a decade I was an Islamic

extremist. My ex-husband became a

leading member of the Islamic State

and now I am hoping to come to his

ideology. Womack in the late 1990s,

she went to high school here in

Harrow, a middle-class suburb.

I

grew up here and went to school just

down the road. I didn't know her at

the time that knew many people who

did, they described her as a normal

teenager, she sometimes had

boyfriends and played truant from

school, she wasn't known to be

particularly religious or

politically engaged.

So when did it all change?

I turned to religion

in my life when I was 17.

I just wanted to change my identity.

I didn't want to be Tania

from Harrow any more.

I wanted to be someone pious,

someone that people

didn't call a tart.

So it gave me structure in my life

that I needed and helped me feel

like I belonged somewhere.

In her late teens and early 20s,

Tania mixed with various

radical groups in London.

They changed the way

she looked at the world.

Our minds were being

filled with these images,

terrible, disturbing images.

They would give examples of what

happened in Srebrenica and Bosnia.

We were made to feel this shared

sense of guilt because we're

a community and it was our duty

to do something.

And that something was jihad.

In 2003, she married

John Georgelas, an American

convert she had met online.

Over the next eight years,

they lived across the UK,

the US and the Middle East.

By the time they reached Syria

in 2013, Tania was pregnant

with their fourth child.

I stayed in abandoned

homes by ex-military.

The windows had been blown out

and every single night,

I had become accustomed

to hearing gunfire.

By this point, Tanya

said she had started

to question the life of Jihad.

She wanted to take

the children back to America.

After three weeks in Syria,

she pleaded with John

to let them escape.

He agreed.

There were bullets,

like snipers, on these towers,

shooting, and we could see

the bullets flying everywhere.

I remember putting my kids

through the barbed wire

and the Syrian refugees,

they were just guys,

they were helping us

as much as they could.

I put the stroller in and then John

passed me another baby.

It was so scary.

John remained in Syria

and went on to join

the so-called Islamic State.

Until earlier this year,

the group controlled vast

areas of Syria and Iraq,

where it implemented brutal rule

and killed thousands.

Tania says she hasn't heard

from John in over a year,

and doesn't know if he's

alive or dead.

The last thing he told me, the last

message, was that he apologises

for the wrong that he's done to me

and the children, and that

if I don't hear from him in six

months, it's most likely

because he's dead because he has

to fight, because the fight

is drawing closer to where he lives.

Tania now lives

in the United states.

Her children are looked

after by John's parents and seem

well adjusted to American life.

Why should they give you a second

chance?

I think because I realised I

was wrong and made a mistake. I

really want to make up for my

mistakes.

She says she's turned her back

on extremism in order

to use her experiences to deter

others from making

the same mistakes.

If you were to meet a woman

who was thinking about going down

the same path that you once took,

what would you say to her?

I would say, I lost my family,

I lost my home, I lost ten years

of my life that I should have been,

you know, working towards

an education and my career.

I have four children

who don't have a dad now.

Is this the situation

you want to be in?

If you want to see that report, it

has been on the most watched list on

the BBC News Apple day long.

In Zimbabwe, as we were talking

about last week, Emerson Gabler is

the new President, we await his

cabinet, that will be a major clue

as to how he approaches things, will

he stick with his allies from the

McGarr Bay Area? We also have this

man, who mediated between the

Zimbabwe and they -- Zimbabwe army

and Robert Mugabe. He has spoken to

Richard Galpin.

In the African

world, senior citizens are there for

advice. The new president, he is my

mentor. You said that he is your

father and your leader? He is my

father, my leader, and my mentor.

You played a very key role as the

main mediator to persuade Robert

Mugabe to step down. What was the

deal which did persuade him to go,

what was he given and what was he

offered?

Listen, we didn't offer him

anything. You are asking a direct

question for him to resign. He

wasn't offered anything. He resigned

for the good of Zimbabwe. Bayern how

confident are you that the new

president will pursue a democratic

path rather than reverting to the

morgue autocratic -- to the more

autocratic presidency of Robert

Mugabe.

He will be a Democrat? Yes.

And you believe him?

Well, I do,

after 50 years in his active life as

a soldier and as a politician, he

knows what it means, that democracy

is crucial.

Before we finish this

half of Outside Source, cut Time

magazine is getting a new owner and

there's the potential for a

political dimension to this. Can you

tell is more, please?

Time Warner

has been purchased by Meredith, they

own magazines like Better Homes and

crab-macro Gardens, the clientele is

mid-American but what makes the

story interesting is who has helped

Meredith make the purchase? It is

one of the richest men in America,

and they often fund things that will

serve their conservative values.

They put money towards interest

groups and towards funding political

candidates that are really more

geared towards the conservative

ideals. Meredith has said that the

Cope brothers will not have any

role, they will not sit on the board

or have any editorial direction for

Time Magazine but of course there

are still doubts.

We had to leave it

there, we are at the end of this

half-hour of the programme. We will

also play that interview with Prince

Harry and Meghan Markle with Mishal

Husain, if you cannot wait for that,

we will have more coverage on the

BBC website. But we will see you in

a couple of minutes time...

Hello, we have seen big contrasts in

weather conditions across North

America recently, the south-west

United States has been exceptionally

warm throughout November with

records being broken, and further

north, it has been unsettled. No

pressure bringing in winter storms,

and another round of unsettled

weather pushing into the Pacific

Northwest with snow cascades and the

Northern Rockies. Through the course

of the week, this club moves into

the great Lakes. Further south and

into the Caribbean, Panama and Costa

Rica, heavy rain has been affecting

this part of the world in the last

24 hours. This is the satellite

picture. Some of the heaviest rain

will be across the Caribbean and in

Cuba, around the Bahamas and

southern Florida. We could have a

risk of flooding. Speaking of

flooding, a significant risk across

parts of Malaysia and Indonesia. You

can see these bright colours

denoting areas where they could be

tropical storm developing in the

next few days. There could be

torrential rain for Kuala Lumpur,

Singapore and disruption could be

caused at the airports there. Heavy

rain across the Bay of Bengal, into

southern India and the Maldives. On

the satellite picture, explosive

cloud denoting these heavy

downpours. There is a chance of

these thunderstorms showing

circulation and developing into

tropical cyclones as the week wears

on. Something to keep an eye on. In

Colombo, some thunderstorms likely

and across Chennai. This active for

the front spreads across the central

Mediterranean, southern Italy,

Greece, the islands and into the

Aegean. Heavy thunderstorms here.

This satellite picture pushing into

western Turkey. This ties in with

this area of low pressure, pushing

north-eastwards, on Tuesday and

Wednesday, heavy snow on the high

ground of the Balkans. In Northwest

Europe, this high pressure coming

into the Atlantic, this area of low

pressure across Scandinavia, strong

winds in northern Europe, with a

surge of Arctic air spreading

southwards across the UK & Ireland

Poker Tour penetrating as far south

as central and southern Spain and

Western Europe. Temperatures will be

below the seasonal average across

the UK, throughout the week, cold

northerly winds, sunshine in Central

and southern areas with wintry

showers in northern and western

areas, especially on the eastern

coast. Settling snow on the hills.

Temperatures of 5-7dC. A cold

outlook across the UK.

Here in the UK the news has been

dominated by the new royal

engagement. Prince Harry and the US

actress Meghan Markle are going to

be married next year.

I could barely

let you finish proposing.

She said

can I say yes, can I said yes. There

were hugs and I had the ring, I said

can I give you the ring? She said,

oh yes the ring!

In Indonesia Mount

Agung is threatening to erupt. And

we have a report on the Pope who has

arrived in Myanmar.

Let's go back to the most talked

about story of the day, the

announcement Prince Harry and Meghan

Markle will marry next year. Two of

them met in London last year and

they have been speaking to Michelle

Hussain earlier.

We were introduced by a mutual

friend. We should protect her

privacy but it was through her. We

met in London last July, at the

beginning of July. Then it was three

or four weeks later that I managed

to persuade her to come and join me

in Botswana and we camped out with

each other. Then we were really by

ourselves.

Then we were really by ourselves,

which was crucial to me to make sure

we had a chance to get

to know each other.

The friend who introduced you,

was she trying to set you up?

It was definitely a setup!

We talk about it now,

because I'm from the States,

we don't grow up with the same

understanding of the Royal family

and so while I understand now very

clearly there is a global interest

there, I didn't know much about him

and so the only thing

I asked her when she said she wanted

to set us up, one

question - was he nice?

Because if he wasn't kind,

it didn't seem to make sense.

We went for a drink and then we

said, what are you doing tomorrow?

We got our diaries because I was off

to Africa for a month and she was

working. The gap happened to be in

the perfect place.

How much did you

know about Meghan? Had you seen her

on TV?

I had never heard about her

until this friend said Meghan

Markle. I was like, give me a bit of

background. I've never watched Suits

or heard of Meghan before. I was

beautifully surprised when I walked

into that room and saw her and that

she was sitting there. I thought,

I'm going to have to up my game and

make sure I've got good chat.

For

both of us it was really refreshing.

Given that I didn't know a lot about

him, everything I've learned about

him I learned through him as opposed

to having grown up around different

new stories or tabloids. For both of

us it was really authentic and

organic way to get to know each

other.

Was quite refreshing for you

in the way you've been brought up

with a lots of people knowing a lot

about you?

Or thinking they know.

Exactly.

It was hugely refreshing to

get to know someone who isn't in

your circle, didn't know much about

me, I didn't know much about her. To

start almost a fresh and getting to

know each other step-by-step, and

then taking that huge leap of two

dates and then going effectively on

holiday together in the middle of

nowhere and sharing a tent and that

kind of stuff, it was fantastic, it

was amazing to get to know her as

quickly as I did.

In the case of your relationship,

unlike many people, there's a layer

of what it means to get involved

with someone from the Royal family.

How much of a sense did

you have of the enormity

of what you were getting

into and what it would

mean for your life?

As naive as it sounds now,

having gone through this learning

curve over the last year and a half,

I didn't have any understanding

of what it would be like.

I think we both said that.

No, I tried to warn her as much

as possible but I think both of us

were totally surprised

by the reaction after the first five

or six months we had to ourselves

of what happened from then.

I think you can have as many

conversations as you'd

like and prepare as much as possible

but we were totally

unprepared for what happened.

The scrutiny?

Well, all sorts.

And also, there's a misconception

that because I've worked

in the entertainment industry

that this would be something I'd be

familiar with but even though I've

been on my show for six years

at that point, and working before

that, I've never been

part of tabloid culture,

pop culture to that degree and had

lived a relatively quiet life

even though I focused so much

on my job.

So that was a really stark

difference out of the gate.

And we were hit so hard with a lot

of mistruths that I made the choice

not to read anything,

positive or negative,

instead we focus our energies

on nurturing our relationship.

On us.

On us.

Some of that scrutiny, you made

a public statement about it,

some of the scrutiny was centred

around your ethnicity, I think.

When you realised that,

what did you think?

Of course it's disheartening.

It's a shame that that is

the climate in this world,

to focus that much which would be

discriminatory in that sense

but at the end of the day I'm

really proud of where I am

and where I come from.

We have never put any focus

on that, we've just focused

on who we are as a couple.

When you take those extra layers

away, all of that noise,

I think it makes it really easy

to just enjoy being together

and tune the rest of it out.

What was it like introducing Meghan

to your father and your brother?

Do you have that sense that you

together represent something new for

the Royal family?

I do think if it's

something new. For me it's an added

member of the family, another team

player. We want to try and encourage

others and the younger generation to

see the world in the correct sense

rather than perhaps having a

distorted view. The fact that I fell

in love with Meghan so incredibly

quickly was confirmation to me that

all the stars were aligned,

everything was just perfect. It was

this beautiful woman who tripped and

fell into my life and I fell into

her life, and the fact that she'll

be really unbelievably good at the

job part of it as well is obviously

a huge relief to me because she'll

be able to deal with everything else

that comes with it.

I am very excited about it.

Meghan

given your acting, you'd been

involved in the area 's quarters and

been an ambassador for UN Women.

What about this new role with a

bigger platform and big voice? What

do you want to do with it?

I think

what has been really exciting as we

talk about the transition of this

out of my career but into the role

is that, as you said, the causes

that have been important to me I can

focus more energy on. Early out of

the gate you realise once you have a

voice people are willing to listen

to, with that comes a lot of

responsibility.

And at the same time I think,

in these beginnings a few months,

and now being boots on the ground

in the UK, I'm excited to just

really get to know more

about the different communities

here, smaller organisations

who are working on the same causes

that I've always been passionate

about under the same umbrella,

and also being able to go

round to the Commonwealth.

I think it's just

the beginning of...

There's a lot to do!

There's a lot to do.

There's a lot to read on the Royal

engagement and you can find

extensive coverage on the BBC

website with videos and articles on

both Harry and Meghan Markle. If

you'd prefer you can get the same

information on the BBC News app.

Next we are going to talk about Pope

Francis. He's arrived in Myanmar for

his first-ever visit. He's been

greeted a bit earlier and this is

going to be a delicate visit. He is

being urged to put pressure on the

authorities over their treatment of

Rohingya Muslims as we've reported

many times. More than 600,000 people

have fled across the border from

Myanmar into Bangladesh since

August. The UN has accused Myanmar

security forces of ethnic cleansing.

Already since the Pope's arrival the

army chief is insisting there is no

religious discrimination in Myanmar.

Pope Francis will give a speech

tomorrow after meeting the day

factor leader of Myanmar, Aung San

Suu Kyi. Every single word of the

speech will be looked at closely for

references to the Rohingya Muslims.

These are Roman Catholics from an

ethnic minority. They've come for a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to

see the Pope. The congregation here

at St Anthony 's Church, normally

used by the Tamil community, is

suddenly swollen. The hymns lifted

by extra voices. She is on her first

ever visit here. TRANSLATION:

I

never imagined he would come to my

country. You can see hundreds of

thousands of people here who have

travelled four days by train. I

never thought I would ever be here.

Now I am here, just look at me and

all these people. This is already a

sign of change for the better. I am

so excited.

This is a big moment the

Myanmar's small population of Roman

Catholics, but a risky one for Pope

Francis. In a country that has

generated the largest refugee crisis

the region has seen in a generation,

but where there is very little

sympathy for them. There have been

big street protests here but in

support of the Myanmar military,

even after it was accused of ethnic

cleansing, of driving hundreds of

thousands of Muslims out of the

country. The Pope has already spoken

out several times over their plight.

But he's been warned not even to use

the term Rohingya during the visit.

TRANSLATION:

This is misunderstood

by the international community. If

he uses that word there will be a

strong reaction. He needs to look at

the situation here now. He needs to

be aware there are things he can say

things he should not say.

Buddhist

monks have been among the strongest

supporters of a resurgent intolerant

nationalism in this country. That

has affected other Muslim

communities like this one in young

has affected other Muslim

communities like this one in young.

Anti-Muslim sentiment has been

stirred up. But can a visiting Pope

do anything to help?

We need such

voices, the voices of concern, from

people who are impartial. He is not

speaking for any race or religion.

In his mind, anybody who is

victimised, he should speak for

them.

The build-up to this visit has

raised hopes on many sites which the

Pope will find hard to meet. This

old racecourse is a venue for one of

the masses he will hold. Speaking

bluntly about the Rohingya risks

offending his hosts. While failing

to do so will disappoint those who

have come to expect more from this

unorthodox pontiff. We'll have more

coverage on that speech by the Pope

in Myanmar and tomorrow's programme.

Now East Africa, I want to focus on

Africa's largest freshwater lake.

Lake Victoria plays a key role in

the economies of the countries

surrounding it but researchers say

it is suffering from pollution,

overfishing, which is impacting on

Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. You can

see one of the ways it is impacting

by this statistic. Go back to 2005.

Over 36,000 tonnes of fish was

caught. Come back to last year and

we are at less than half of that

figure. Let's get more detail in

this report. For centuries Lake Mick

-- Lake Victoria has provided

nourishment for its people. The

catch is now paltry. He shows me

what he caught today.

The catch of the fish

is very little.

Life is very hard.

As far as today's catch

is concerned, it is little,

it is about ten kilograms when,

back in the day, we used to catch

about 100 to 500 kilograms.

Abundant fish variety

were once here.

Fishermen have to go farther

and farther to find any at all.

Kwaesi is one of hundreds

of fishermen in this village and,

for him and others here,

the smaller catch means they survive

day by day, hand to mouth.

day by day, hand to mouth.

Lake Victoria was called the Lake

of Gods, and the people

believed its resources were endless.

At the height of the boom,

fishermen in Lake Victoria caught

more than 36,000 tonnes.

Last year, it was less than half

that, at just over 17,000.

Fishing is still a

lifeline for Uganda.

At this fish market,

the country's largest,

most of the Nile perch

are sent abroad.

But the waters on this bay look odd.

Algae has turned it

green, like pea soup.

Bloom levels are 20 times

higher than is safe

for swimming or drinking.

Scientists search for clues,

testing the water every month.

The lake is slowly dying, it is a

ticking time bomb.

How desperate is the situation?

We continue to pollute the lake

through untreated waste water,

for example, fertiliser being washed

off from agricultural enterprises.

Then the other thing is, of course,

the destruction of part

of Lake Victoria's ecosystem,

like the wetlands.

The flower business is

an alternative to fishing for some.

Uganda has perfect

weather for roses.

Large greenhouses dot the lake's

shores using water to grow rosebuds.

But it is adding to the pollution?

The pesticides can be coming back

and turning back to the lake,

and all of the communities

surrounding this bay.

The Ugandan government

is trying to save the lake.

A special task force raids

the villages to destroy

illegal boats and nets.

The military is coming

in today to control illegal

fishing on the lake,

looking at illegal fishing

methods on the water.

These measures are yet to help

fishermen like this man.

Today he has made just £2

to support his family.

They only live on my power.

If I don't go on the

lake, I don't eat.

I am scared of the

situation in the future.

Their songs reminisce

about the lake's past bounties,

but more has to be done

to stem its decline,

or future generations

will only hear tales

of the once plentiful

Lake of the Gods.

A little earlier I spoke to me now

because I wanted to understand how

the fishing works in Lake Victoria

and who controls it.

I think it is a

partnership of all three countries.

It is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania

and three countries are in charge of

that.

Do they get along, are they

working together on the issue?

At

the moment there is no effort for

all three to work together. I was in

Uganda but the director of fisheries

in Uganda is trying hard to ensure

that the lake is in better shape.

Stopping illegal fishing and

encouraging fishermen to use better

methods instead of poison which it

used in previous times, they

encourage them to use greener

methods to catch fish.

And the fish

menu met, they must be concerned?

It

is the source of their livelihood,

one told me that he has had to move

further weight to find any fish at

all because fish have been swimming

from the polluted area which is the

closest to the lake.

Tell me more

about the pollution?

Well, Audi is

at the bottom of what is happening

at Lake Victoria, there is too much

of it. At normal levels it is good

because the fish eat them but here

there are 20 times the levels of

allergy in the area that they should

be.

Is that caused by people or is

it an unfortunate twist of fate?

It

is coming from multiple sources,

there needs to be better waste

management, waste coming from city

centres into the lake, people

polluting the lake themselves are a

source of concern.

These countries

could see one another as rivals when

they look at the wonderful resources

of Lake Victoria?

Some parts are

disputed, it is a big deal

understanding which country claims

which part of the lake. It is a

contentious issue.

And Pakistan,

there is a deal between is the mists

and the government which have ended

weeks of protests connected to an

accusation of blasphemy --

Islamists. It rotates around the law

minister, or he used to be the law

minister. He was accused of

blasphemy after a reference to the

Prophet Muhammad was left out of the

revised effort to stop the

atmosphere is less tense than the

last few days but thousands of

protesters have remained, blocking

this key road between Islamabad.

This morning, protesters reached an

agreement with the government,

brokered by the army. For the people

here it feels like a victory. All of

their key demands had been agreed

to. The law minister has resigned.

He is the man the people here

believe is responsible for the

amendment to the oath. Which started

all of this and rest and the

government agreed that all of those

arrested will be released. They have

achieved what they came for. The

whole purpose was to honour the

Prophet Muhammad. TRANSLATION:

Once

they have done this for our people,

we will go away and that is our only

demand now.

The violence has

concerned many in the country. Some

blamed the government and say they

should have taken firmer action and

soon. Others say that the powerful

military establishment in Pakistan

have used the protest as a tool to

pressurise the civilian government.

And there is a constant power

struggle between the two entities

although the military would deny

that. There is a great deal of

cleaning up to do. The crisis may be

over but the real damage could be to

the government's reputation ahead of

next year's general elections. Next,

the story of a mother from Uganda

who was attacked with a machete by

her husband. She lost both of her

hands but now, thanks to a charity

here in the UK, she has received a

new pair of prosthetics. It is the

smile that students from Salford

University had worked so hard for.

Just one year ago, this peasant

farmer from Fort Portal in Uganda

was in pain. She was subjected to a

vicious machete attack by her

husband, who was angry that she

dared ask for a share of their

harvested crop. She lost both her

hands and an ear in the assault and

was pregnant at the time with her

third child. But fast forward to

today, a charity called Salford

Knowledge for Change, they heard

about her plight. They helped to

raise funds so that she could smile

once again and have hope of one day

looking after her children again.

It's been a very difficult process.

Upper arms prosthetics have not been

developed in Uganda at all so we've

used our undergraduate student

placement programme to link students

in prosthetics and their staff here

in Salford with our team of

biomedical engineers in Uganda and

together, working between Uganda and

the UK, we eventually managed to

provide her with functioning limbs.

I was involved in this side of

things, being at the University and

with lecturers. When we received the

casts, a group of us rectified,

where you add an takeaway plaster to

form the shape of a cast that would

fit on her arm.

It was an

interesting project, one we wouldn't

necessarily see in the UK because of

the cultural differences. We took

the casts, send them back here, they

gave us new arms and that helped in

the rehabilitation process.

Months

were spent painstakingly creating a

new pair of hands. One is fitted

with a robotic thumb so that she can

grip objects. There will be no

substitute for the real thing but it

is hoped this new pair of prosthetic

hands will go some way to repairing

the damage from this attack.

I am

happy, the prosthesis means they are

measured and are the right ones.

Her

smile says it all. Gina Campbell,

BBC News. That report ends this

edition