11/12/2017 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

We'll begin in New York

where there's been

an attempted terror attack.

Three people have minor injuries -

so does the suspect,

who's in custody.

Here's the city's mayor.

there are no additional known

incidents at this time, there are no

additional -- no additional known

activities.

It's the last full day

of campaigning in Alabama ahead

of a senate election that's become

a national issue.

Donald Trump is supporting

the Republican Roy Moore,

who's accused of child molestation.

Vladimir Putin's been to Syria

to announce he's pulling Russian

forces out of the conflict.

He's also been to

Cairo and Istanbul.

We've details of the deals

done on each stop.

And we'll be live in California

as firefighters battle

some of the worst wildfires

in the state's history.

Let's start with the attempted

terror attack in New York.

It happened in downtown Manhattan

during the morning rush hour

in the underpass

at the Port Authority terminal -

that's America's biggest

and busiest bus terminal.

This is Street view

of the terminal on a normal day.

You get the sense it is right in

downtown Manhattan, traffic and

commuters all around.

It serves more 65

million people a year.

The authorities are saying

a "low-tech explosive device"

was strapped to the suspect's body.

Here are some eye-witnesses.

Over my head, I heard a loud bang

and I looked out the window and I

saw people running towards the

second and then everybody took off

running in the opposite direction.

Everyone was freaking out on the

train, people were laying down, some

people were looking at the exits,

because it is fairly crowded in the

morning.

I was in a restaurant,

sitting inside the Port authority

and suddenly, I see a group of

people, like 60 people, running like

mad and a woman fell and nobody,

even cops, stopped to help because

the panic so scary.

Three people

suffered minor injuries, so did the

suspect who is now in custody. Here

are some pictures of the police

response in the moments after the

attack. As you imagine, it was

sizeable, near nearby subway

stations were evacuated and the Port

authority was temporarily shut. The

suspect has been identified.

He's been identified as

a 27-year-old called Akayed Ullah.

New York's Mayor Bill De Blasio

shared more details.

This was an attempted terrorist

attack.

Thank God, the perpetrator did not

achieve his ultimate goals.

Nearby

to whether Saban, Nada Tawfik has

been reported grid reporting all

day.

Akayed Ullah entered this busy

transit hub at 7:20am during rush

hour and as he was walking through

the underground passageway,

authorities say he intentionally set

up the device. It is what they

described as a low-tech crude pipe

bomb strapped to his body with

Velcro and when it went off, he

himself suffered the worst injuries.

Three others nearby were injured but

as he fell to the floor and clamped

down, authorities were able to get

him into custody. They say he came

here in 2011 on an immigrant Visa,

he was actually sponsored by someone

here in the United States, to come

along with his family and three or

four siblings and he was able to

eventually gain permanent residency

and he has lived in Brooklyn.

Authorities are investigating his

motives, combing his home in

Brooklyn, going over a video of

surveillance here. Reporters asked

authorities during the press

conference here in New York whether

he was known to have any known links

to the group that calls itself

Islamic State. They said he made a

statement but wouldn't elaborate

more than that.

And where the

explosion took place, is it still

sealed off or has life returned to

normal?

Well, it is pretty

remarkable, just a few hours after

this happened, you had eighth Ave

back up and running, the Port

authority running out and bus

service but the subway lines that

run through this underground area

where the explosion took place, that

is still closed off for now.

Authorities say in terms of the

evening rush hour that all of this

will be back up and running at 100%

capacity so it is pretty remarkable

to see that, authorities are very

quick to underscore that New York

won't have their main lifeline, the

subways and the transit system, shut

down in the face of this attack and

are very keen to get New York back

to 100% up and running.

It's the last full day

of campaigning in Alabama.

The Senate election is on Tuesday -

and it's been followed

across America.

That's not because of the Democratic

candidate Doug Jones,

it's all to do with the Republican

Roy Moore.

A number of women have

accused him of sexual assault -

some have alleged he had sex

with them when they were teenagers.

Mr Moore denies this -

and the allegations haven't

stopped President Trump

offering his support

in a number of ways, including these

automated telephone calls.

Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass

our make America great again agenda.

Roy is a Conservative who will help

me steer this country back on track

after eight years of the Obama

disaster. Get out and vote for Roy

Moore. His vote is a Republican

Senate and it is needed. We need Roy

to help us with the Republican

Senate. We will win and we will make

America great again.

That's called a robo-call -

they're used a lot in political

campaigns in the US.

Obama has done one

for Doug Jones too.

Alabama has two senators -

Roy Moore will be one if he wins.

The other, already

serving, is a Republican

and said this at the weekend.

I want to reiterate again, I didn't

vote for Roy Moore, I wouldn't vote

for Roy Moore. I think the

Republican party can do better.

Here's what the man himself

Roy Moore has to say.

I do not know them, I had knowing

counter with them, I have never

molested anyone and for them to say

that, I don't know why they are

saying it but it's not true.

The latest poll by Fox News

puts Jones ahead of Moore

with a 10-point lead.

That's a 2-point slide for Moore.

If the poll is right,

Republicans will only control

the Senate by 51-49.

That is why the president and lots

of other Republicans are paying this

so much attention. But these polls

are proving very tricky to follow.

He is box media pointing out Doug

Jones leads by ten points, other

polls saying that Roy Moore is

winning. They make the point it

comes down to turn out assumptions,

one of the reasons it is

particularly hard to call.

Anthony Zurcher can talk us through

the importance of what happens in

Alabama to the importance of

Washington.

That is the way he has

framed it, whether you like Roy

Moore not, he is a more reliable

vote for the Donald Trump agenda

than the Democrats and Roy Moore

himself has been campaigning on

that, saying he is going to vote for

Donald Trump's immigration policy,

for building a wall, for defence

spending. When you're talking about

just a handful of seats in the U.S.

Senate, if the Democrats picked that

up and Doug Jones wins, it makes it

much more likely the Democrats would

have a realistic shot at taking

control of the Senate come 2018.

There are a couple of states where

Democrats have a pick-up

opportunity. After that, it is a

much longer reach for them to pick

up three seats in next year. It puts

it within reach and that is the way

I think Donald Trump wanted to view

this race in Alabama.

Help us out

with why this is proving so

difficult to predict.

As you

mentioned, it is about turnout and

what pollsters do, they construct

models to try and predict who will

turn up at the polls. This is an

election just two weeks before

Christmas, special election, the

only people on the ballot are these

Senate candidates, plus you have a

Republican candidate with his own

problems, you have a Democrat

running in a very Conservative

state, Alaba map -- Alabama. The

Democrats are motivated but a small

number, the Republicans, will they

vote for a riding candidate and hold

a ballot for Roy Moore or just a

home? It is very difficult to

predict and when you change the

model, you can see anywhere from a

big Doug Jones went to a big Roy

Moore win, and a couple of pollsters

have put their cards on the table

and said hear how you can come up

with Roy Moore up big, this is how

you could come up with the Jones up

six. It is very difficult but we are

seeing an absentee ballot, people

are paying attention in Alabama.

And

it is quite something that Roy Moore

is still in with a shout, these

allegations would have finished off

many candidates. Had we understand

that in this case, that has not

happened?

Alabama is one of the most

Conservative states in the US.

Donald Trump is still very popular

there and Donald Trump has put

himself fully behind Roy Moore. Roy

Moore also is a known quality in

Alabama, he has been off and on the

ballot for 20 years, he has run

state-wide, won a Supreme Court

justice seat there so he has had

votes cast him. He has a strong

evangelical following and they have

stuck by him thick and thin and

don't believe the allegations made

against him and Roy Moore continues

to it, so of all the states where

you can have a Republican with a

over his head and still have a

chance to win, Alabama is one of the

top five.

As and when we get the

results, we will of course bring

them to you here on the BBC.

Vladimir Putin has been in three

countries today, including in Syria.

He's been at an air force base

used by the Russians.

President Assad was there -

his government has benefited

enormously from Russian military

help.

And at the air base, President Putin

made this announcement.

TRANSLATION: In two years, the

Russian armed forces, together with

the Syrian army, have defeated the

most efficient group of

international terrorists and so I

have made a decision a significant

part of the Russian military

contingent in Syria is home to

Russia.

Russia intervention has

undoubtedly made a difference.

But at a cost.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory

for Human Rights says Russian air

strikes in Syria have

killed 6,328 civilians,

including 1,537 children.

And we should be clear -

this announcement today

is not the end of Russia's

military presence there.

Olga Ivshina from BBC

Russian can explain.

Troops are being withdrawn, some

helicopters and fighter jets have

already flown back to Russia, but

actually, a Russian presence remains

in Syria. There are two military

bases, Russian linked bases in

Syria, unable one and an air force

one and that is very important for

Mr Putin to keep. That allows him to

re-establish himself as a very

important player, at least, in the

Middle East and he will try to

present himself as an important

player on the international arena as

well because he uses this Syrian

card, big gamble on wider issues

also discussing matters with the

United States, Turkey, Iran, the

eastern Ukraine, the question of

sanctions, he will keep using Syrian

card to play on all of that.

Mr Putin visited three

countries today.

Syria first, Egypt next.

He met the President Abdel

Fatah Al Sisi in Cairo.

Two things to note about this.

First, Russia says in principle

it's ready to resume

passenger flights to Egypt.

Two years ago, a bomb

brought down a Russian

passenger plane over Egypt with 224

people on board.

Also, Egypt and Russia

have signed a final contract

for the building of Egypt's first

nuclear power plant".

for the building of Egypt's first

nuclear power plant.

Mr Putin's final stop was Turkey

and a meeting

with President Erdogan.

These two had an awful lot to talk

about.

Mark Lowen is our

correspondent in Istanbul.

They talked about energy, they

talked about tourism, they talked

about the issue of Jerusalem, the US

declaration of Jerusalem as the

capital of Israel, both leaders

agreeing that it was destabilising,

President Putin saying it could

raise the prospects for peace

between the Israelis and the

Palestinians, and they discussed

Syria. This is the really

interesting point between the two

because you will remember, two years

ago, the two men also came to blows

with a Russian jet was shot down by

Turkish military over Turkish

airspace and they were on opposite

sides on the war in Syria, Turkey

backing the rebels against President

Assad, Vladimir Putin and Russia

backing the Assad regime but there

has been an incredible rapprochement

between the two. I say incredible,

the reason there has been a

rapprochement, there is a you

scratch my back, I scratch yours on

this because Turkey has tolerated

and in effect backed or endorsed

Russia supporting the Assad regime

in return for Russia allowing Turkey

to send its troops into northern

Syria to hammer the Kurdish

militants in Syria. So it is really

both sides basically allowing each

other to further their own aims and

objectives in Syria and turning a

blind eye to what they don't like

and that is the basis of that

rapprochement, that is why these two

leaders stood together in Ankara

tonight, the eighth meeting this

year and that shows you the level of

cooperation there is now between

Turkey and Russia, just two years

after almost being on the verge of a

military conflict.

So finding a way

to work together on Syria. Tell me

about energy, what do Turkey and

Russia do for each other in that

sector?

Russia is the biggest source

of gas for Turkey, Turkey imports a

lot of energy from Russia and so

Russia is building a nuclear power

plant in Turkey, that is getting

under way, and also there is a gas

pipeline, Turk stream as it is

known, being pumped from Russia to

do Turkey and could potentially be

sourced out to other countries in

Europe like Greece and Bulgaria and

that could be as early as 2019. So a

big sense of cooperation between

them. Tourism as well, Turkey saying

for provide million Russian tourists

came to take you to share. President

Erdogan prospect critics say that as

Turkey's ties with the West have

strained, it has got closer to

Russia and that they lament the

cosying up, as they see it, of one

authoritarian Government to another.

Well, already on Outside Source, we

have reported on stories in Turkey,

Syria and Egyptair in New York and

Alabama but we will turn to

California in a few minutes because

the most destructive wildfire there

has expanded significantly. We are

going to be live in Santa Barbara.

Snow, ice and plunging temperatures

have caused major disruption across

swathes of the UK today and

forecasters are warning temperatures

could reach -13 degrees overnight.

That is what you call a lot of salt.

We are at the gritting station next

to the M5 just outside Stroud in

Gloucestershire and as you can see,

they are getting ready for another

busy night. They have been added

since Friday evening gritting the

roads here and they will be out

tonight, really busy indeed, because

here in Gloucestershire, the

temperatures could get as low as -12

Celsius. That is the air

temperature. The roads will be a

little bit warmer than that, if you

can call it warm, at minus nine

Celsius so it is really important

when this salt goes out onto the

roads, the timing is crucial, that

it goes onto the road when it is

still quite wet and will absorb all

of that but they also have to make

sure they don't cause maximum

congestion problems with other

traffic. They have to make sure it

is not too cold as well.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

There's been an attempted

attack at New York's

busiest bus station.

Four people have been injured,

including the attacker

who's in custody.

His device failed

to go off properly.

Other stories making the news...

Saudi Arabia has announced it

will lift a ban on cinemas that's

been in place for

more than 30 years.

It's part of a major

drive by Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman

to modernise the country.

That is from BBC Arabic, we will

have more on that in a few minutes.

The Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah

has one this year's BBC African

footballer of the year. He helped

Egypt's the World Cup for the first

728 years and is top scorer for

Liverpool this season. -- for the

first time in 28 years. I wanted to

show you this satellite image.

This is the area

in California that's

affected by the wildfires.

It's the size of New York City.

There are a number of fires.

This is the one in Ventura County.

It was the first to start -

it's burnt through 930 square

kilometres in a week -

that makes it one of the largest

fire in California's history.

that makes it one of the largest

fires in California's history.

But there are now other fires -

some in Los Angeles county.

It is putting huge pressure on

thousands of firefighters who are

working all hours of the day to

bring the fires under control. He is

one of them.

Hot and heavy, it moved down into

this community that you see behind

you, it is really unfortunate, but

if you turn around and see what

these guys saved last night, what

they did last night was amazing.

They saved this entire community. I

am a 29 hours straight, every other

day, everyone on this division is on

28, 29 hours, we are exhausted but

not coming off until it is done.

The Californian governor Jerry Brown

has connected these fire

The Californian governor Jerry Brown

has connected these fires

with climate change.

This is the new normal and this

could be something that happens

every year, every few years. It

happens to some degree, it is just

more intense, wore widespread and we

are about ready to have firefighting

at Christmas. This is very odd and

unusual but it is the way the world

is. With the kind of carbon

pollution that we are not only

living with but we are generating

still, it is still increasing. We

have to make that turn, it is going

to take Herek efforts.

Let's bring

in Chris Martin is from CBS, live

from Santa Barbara County. Tell us

more about what you have been seeing

today.

I will show you right behind

me what is happening, you can see a

helicopter and it might come back

here in just a minute, and get some

water out of this pond to make the

drop like it is doing right now.

They are able to do that today

because finally the winds here are

very calm, so that is helping

firefighters start to get a leg up

on this fire but you said a minute

ago, this is now one of the largest

and worst fires in Californian

history, more than 230,000 acres

burned here. Right now, it is about

15% contained, so firefighters have

a long way to go. More than 800

homes have burned in this one fire,

thousands more are threatened and we

have nearly 6,000 firefighters and

fire crews battling this one. It has

been around the clock fight for just

about a week. Today, finally, they

are starting to see some

improvements with the weather and

hopefully that will help them turn

the tide here and start to get this

fire a bit more under control.

Does

the state have enough firefighters?

Well, they don't. Just in

California. However, the

firefighters here have come from

across the state and they are coming

from other states nearby here in the

western US, they have a mutual aid

agreement so when there is a fire

like this, firefighters from around

the region come to help, so

firefighters are from states like

Utah, Arizona and Nevada and even

further like than that. Leaving get

help in from Australia as well and

man, they sure do needed because

these guys are working long hours

around the clock, barely getting any

rest because this fire was growing

so rapidly and with such intensity,

they weren't able to take a moment

away from fighting it. So hopefully

here in the next couple of days, now

the weather has changed and those

very in -- intense winds are dying

down, they will finally get a leg

up.

Much has been made of the wins

and quite rightly but the terrain

looks arid. To what degree has the

drought in California played a role

in these fires?

To a very large

degree and in fact, that is what we

have seen here over the past few

years. California had a tremendous

trade of the last six or seven years

and this has sort of become a new

normal -- such a tremendous drought

over the last six or seven years.

The ground is so dry all across the

state that we could see these fires

at any times, you have those very

dry grounds and the wins that fan

the flames and it is a devastating

combination and that is what we saw

last week. It is rare, not

unprecedented, but rare to see fires

of this magnitude at this time of

year and that is why it caught so

many of the firefighters and the

residents of this area off-guard

because it is not something we see

that often, but with those dread

conditions we are talking about,

this is something we have to be

aware of and on guard for really all

year round.

Chris, we appreciate the

update, thanks for your help, Chris

Martin is from CBS News live with us

from California. Let's talk about an

interesting business story, and full

is buying Shazam, an app that

listens to a small part of a song

and tells you what it is and you can

buy the song if you like it. Let's

bring in my correspondent, eyelid

use Shazam but have no idea about

it, how big an operation is it?

It

has been around a long time and is a

British firm and is unique because

from the get go, it has been able to

make money and they have been doing

that from advertising revenue and

there are always adds coming up on

Shazam, as you may have noticed as a

Shazam user. They have an incredible

number of daily users, some 20

million people use the site every

day and it comes on every phone, on

android and iPhone is, so it is a

really popular app, but the question

of course is why did Apple want to

buy it? Because Apple could really

recreate a similar kind of service

to try and track what a song is, but

the key is actually in the data that

Shazam has accumulated over the

years. They have just got a massive

amount of data on people's listening

habits, what they like to listen to,

when they like to listen to it and

if you find a song that you like, it

directs you to purchase it either on

spot a five all Apple music, rather,

and now they are going to directed

to Apple music.

Samira, we will be

watching that news with you live

from New York. If you have any news

that we cover on Outside Source, if

you don't have the app on your

phone, go to the App Store and in a

few seconds, you will have access

from all the latest information from

here in the BBC newsroom. See you in

a couple of minutes.