13/12/2017 Outside Source

If

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

this is Outside Source.

We've got to talk about

this upset in Alabama.

the ayes to the right, 309. The noes

to the left, 305.

It's going to get its first Democrat

senator in 25 years.

President Trump has defended his

support for a republican candidate

who's accused of child molestation.

A lot of Republicans

feel differently.

They are very happy

with the way it turned out.

But I would, as the leader

of the party, I would have liked

to have had the seat,

I want to endorse the people

that are running.

We'll look at what Roy Moore's

defeat means for the Republicans

and for the Trump administration.

And we will look at some authorities

cracking down on some entertainers

in Egypt.

Theresa May has lost a major Brexit

vote in Westminster.

The issue at stake was

whether MPs will have a vote

on the final Brexit deal.

The government opposed this -

but this is what happened.

The ayes to the right, 309. The noes

to the left, 305.

This particular

rebellion was led from within the

Prime Minister's Conservative Party.

The Tory MP, Dominic Grieve,

proposed the amendment. And he

invoked Winston Churchill.

Apart

from a chest too, I don't think I

ever rebelled against the government

in all the years in this House. I

find it entertaining that some who

criticise me for speaking my mind on

this matter are individuals who have

exercised the luxury of rebellion

are many, many occasions.

That having been said, there is a

time for everybody to stand up and

be counted. As Churchill said, he is

a good party man come he puts the

party before himself and the country

before the party.

And this was the Prime Minister

making the counter-argument.

I am happy to confirm to my right

honourable friend we will put the

final agreement between the UK and

the EU to both houses of parliament

before it comes into force. As we

have said, we expect the UK

Parliament to vote ahead of the

European Parliament, so we expect

Parliament to vote before March 20

19.

Here's an insight into how serious

the government has been

taking this vote that's

the Chancellor Philip Hammond today

and he's holding a scribbled list

of the rebel plotters

within the Tory party.

Those are the people who have been

identified as the rebels who need to

focus on in order not to lose this

boat. That strategy didn't work. We

know the Conservative MP Stephen

Hammond has been sacked as

vice-chairman because of this. Let's

get more coverage on this now.

Vicki Young joins us.

It sounds like the upper echelons of

the Tory party are moving fast

against these rebels?

These things

always create tension and there is

enough tension in the Conservative

Party over the issue of Europe going

back several decades. This won't

help. MPs have been tweeting saying

the Tory rebels have put a spring in

Labour's step, they have undermined

the Prime Minister, that is the

accusation. They would say it is all

about putting this place, Parliament

in control of the Brexit process.

They say that was one of the main

arguments for leaving the European

Union. They were unhappy at this

idea of having a take it or leave it

to vote on the terms on how we leave

the European Union. They wanted it

put into law so they could

scrutinise it more carefully said

the government couldn't just make

changes without MPs looking at it in

more detail. But it does show how

difficult it will be the Theresa

May, because there will be a lot

more of these nights ahead. How

difficult it is when you don't have

a majority in the House of Commons

to get through the things you want

to go through.

In terms of the deal

Theresa May struck with the EU a few

days ago, in terms of phase two of

the Brexit talks, no immediate

impact?

That's right, a few days

ago, it shows how quickly things

have changed. Monday, last week,

disaster. She had gone to Brussels

and it had fallen through because

the Democratic Unionist Party who

prop up our government said they

wouldn't go with it. Then it was all

back on, Friday was a great success.

We were here this week saying unity

had broken out in the Conservative

Party. Now it has turned around

again. It shows those who were on

the remaining side of the argument,

who don't want this cliff edge

Brexit, who want to be closely

aligned to the European Union after

we leave, wanted to stand up and be

counted. That had been doubted

because they have promised rebellion

in the past but they never really

did it. But they did tonight and it

may make Theresa May thing twice in

the future. She is trying to

navigate a difficult path to not

just two wings of her party but are

divided parliament and a divided

country here in Britain.

I know no

members of Parliament will say out

loud they want to stop Brexit

because it seems to go against the

will of the people, but some

Brexiteers will say that is what

some of these remain are trying to

do, grind the country down until

they are forced to have another

vote?

Yes, some in the opposition

party do want a second referendum

and are quite open about the fact

they want to stop Brexit. Some in

the Conservative Party say they are

not trying to frustrate Brexit, they

do respect the referendum result but

they also feel 52% voted to leave,

48% wanted to remain. The

Conservative Government is to talk

to them. They feel Theresa May

hasn't done that. There are

unresolved questions about what

Brexit we have. There are many

different options about the

relationship this country has with

the European Union once we leave.

The Cabinet, the government haven't

articulated what they want from it.

What we are seeing is a battle

between MPs about the kind of Brexit

they want to see in the coming

years.

Thank you, Vicky Young. If

you want more details on Brexit,

there is more online.

Alabama decided against taking

President Trump's advice.

The Democratic candidate,

Doug Jones beat the Republican

and alleged child

molester, Roy Moore.

Bear in mind Alabama is one

of the most conservative

states in the US -

it hasn't had a Democratic

Senator for 25 years.

But that's about to change.

As Dr King liked to quote, the moral

arc of the universe is long,

but it bends towards justice.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.

Tonight, tonight, ladies

and gentlemen, tonight in this time,

in this place, you helped then that

moral arc a little bit

closer that justice.

closer to that justice.

This result reduces

the Republican majority

in the Senate to the bare minimum.

Thrilled for this win last night. It

has been a fun campaign, despite

what people say and despite all the

things that get thrown at you, there

wasn't anything we didn't expect.

Most importantly, we've had an

opportunity to travel around the

state, talking to so many people

from so many walks of life.

Listening to their cares, concerns,

their joys and their happiness. It

has been so gratifying. It is

especially gratifying to know that

in this day and age in the state of

Alabama, a message of inclusiveness,

and message of equality, dignity and

respect. Importantly, messages of

issues that are, at the end of the

day, those issues that people care

about. Kitchen table issues we have

heard about and the issues you have

heard me preach about. It has been

an amazing day. I have received

calls from so many well-wishers,

friends and family, but also future

colleagues in Washington on both

sides of the aisle. I have received

calls from Democratic senators. I

have received calls from my

long-term friends, Senator Shelby.

Leader McConnell and calls from the

president, President Trump. All very

gracious and congratulating us on

the way we have run this race, the

way we put trade ourselves in the

campaign. All expressing a desire to

look forward together, to try to

work for the betterment of the state

of Alabama in this country, to do as

we have said from the very beginning

of this campaign, to try to find

common ground so we can move

forward. I very much appreciate all

of those senators and the president

for reaching out to me today. It is

very warm and gratifying and now the

process begins...

This is Doug

Jones, who will be one of the two

senators who represent Alabama in

the US Senate. We know the Senate

will be centre stage because of tax

reform that Donald Trump is hoping

will go through before Christmas.

But let's be clear, this election,

while it will change the numbers in

the Senate, it won't affect the tax

because the new senator doesn't

enter the game until the New Year.

You saw the senator elect on the

podium but Roy Moore hasn't accepted

defeat yet. Earlier, Donald Trump

spoke and this is what he said.

As leader of the party, I would have

liked to have had the seat.

This

result reduces the Republican

majority in the Senate to its bare

minimum. It will be 51-49 President

Trump talked about the numbers as a

central reason to vote for Roy Moore

but he was under pressure because of

accusations of sexual misconduct

with teenage girls. The president

has made the point in this tweet. He

says...

Doug Jones won by 1.5%. Not enough

to trigger a recount. We have votes

for the Republicans in the darker

colour than votes for the Democrats,

sorry in the darker colour and votes

for the Republicans in the lighter

colour. Over half of the women

voters went for the Democrats, but

the thing to really notice is the

black women voters, 96% went for the

Democrats and that was one of the

crucial parts of this election.

Let's hear from Laura Bicker.

The

reason they are going on about this

today, there is a rush to get tax

reform done because of what happened

in Alabama last night. The Senate

majority for Republicans has been

cut to just one vote here. They are

trying to get tax reform through

within the next couple of weeks

before Doug Jones, the new Democrat,

takes his seat. Plus, of course, by

having this press conference, by

showing he is trying to give

hard-working families tax break, he

is trying to wipe away everything

that has happened over the last 24

hours. He is also trying to distance

himself from Roy Moore, who many

Republicans believed was a flawed

candidate. He did take time to

endorse him, but when he did, he

full throated the endorsed him, went

down to the border of Alabama and

had a rally and called on voters to

vote for Roy Moore. Now he is

saying, I was right all along, she

shouldn't have been a candidate, but

he is my shiny new tax reforms and

this is what the focus should be on.

Thanks, Laura.

Stay with us on Outside

Source - still to come.

A new warning about

rising temperatures.

Reports that the rate around

the Arctic is increasing twice

as fast as the rest of the planet.

A report from New Orleans where a

major conference is taking place.

A fourth child has died after a

House fire in Manchester. The mother

remains in hospital under sedation.

A man and woman were remanded in

custody charged with murder,

attempted murder and arson. The

ringleader of a gang that use drones

to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons

into prisons, has been sentenced to

more than seven years in jail. Craig

Higginbotham ran the operation in

Worcestershire where he is serving a

separate sentence for armed robbery.

The 11 strong gang organised 49

drone flights smuggling goods worth

more than £1 million.

We didn't see

this one coming so the drones came

from nowhere. They were flown in and

it was a game changer. We had to

look at the systems, procedures and

methods of gathering intelligence.

It gave the gang is an opportunity

to breach the secure perimeter is

almost effortlessly.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is:

Theresa May has been defeated by

rebels in her own party and a key

Brexit vote.

Let's look at the World Service as

well.

The Saudi-led coalition has killed

at least 30 people in air strikes

on a rebel-run prison camp

in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

A prison guard said that

an initial attack damaged

one wing of the jail,

prompting some detainees

to try to escape.

Then another strike almost

flattened the whole building.

The US Federal Reserve has announce

a quarter point rise

in interest rates in the US -

setting the Federal Funds rate

between one and a 0.25 and 1.5%.

We'll have more details on that from

Washington.

And these pictures are

being well viewed online.

This breathtaking footage is a treat

for all skywatchers.

It's from the International

Space Station and shows

the Northern Lights,

also known as Aurora Borealis.

There's a new warning

about the Arctic.

Scientists say temperatures in areas

close to it are rising twice

as quickly as the rest

of the planet.

This animation shows

the arctic between March

and July this year.

The melting ice is seasonal,

but this year the amount

of sea ice in March

was the lowest ever recorded.

You can also compares

this image from 1986.

And this from 2016.

The US National Oceanic

Administration recently stated

that The Arctic environmental system

has reached a "new normal"

and that this is characterized

by long-term losses in sea ice

and winter snow cover and sea

surface getting warmer.

Let me bring up these pictures.

They show how thin the ice is.

The findings were presented

at the annual scientific

event in New Orleans.

Victoria Gill is there.

What have you been hearing, please?

This is a global report, 85

scientists from 12 different

countries reporting from the top of

the planet.

All of the science going

on measuring temperature, sea ice,

satellite data or on the ground

data. They say this is the new

normal, the warming and crucially,

dynamic Arctic is not the reliably

frozen north it once was. It is

constantly changing, they have seen

higher air temperatures and the

maximum of sea ice in March in the

winter was the lowest records. Those

are the headlines from the Arctic

report card.

As the Arctic changes,

what impact does it have on the

environment around the globe?

That

is crucial, it is something the

director of the Arctic programme

said. He said it is like leaving the

planet's refrigerator door open. He

said the Arctic has been acting like

a giant fridge for the planet

because that reflective ice reflects

so much of the Sun's energy back

into space. It is one of the major

issues pointed out by this current

Arctic report card. Because the ice

is disappearing it is exposing more

of the darker ocean and land surface

and it takes on the effect of

warming. He called it a runaway

effect, it is multiplying and

getting out of control.

The

scientist who were documenting this

change, do they get involved in how

the world should respond to these

changes?

In terms of how they should

respond, no. Jeremy Mathis, who I

spoke to yesterday after he

presented these findings with a team

of his scientist at this conference

in New Orleans, just said he was

there to deliver the science that

policymakers could do with it what

they saw fit. But he said these are

facts, based on scientific evidence

and this information in this Arctic

report is beyond reproach.

Victoria,

thank you very much indeed. Victoria

live from New Orleans. We have been

live in Westminster, New Orleans and

we have reported from Capitol Hill

in Washington. Let's go back to The

States because the central bank has

raised interest rates.

It's the fourth rise in borrowing

costs since December last year.

And is being seen as a vote

of confidence in the strength

of the US economy.

Yogita Limaye is in Washington.

What other calculations that go into

this decision?

As he said, it was

expected and the chair of the

Federal Reserve held a press

conference a short while back and

she said it was confidence in steady

economic growth here in the US,

where you are seeing more than 3%

growth. But also a good labour

market, unemployment at a 17 year

low. Those were the main reasons.

This is the fifth rate hike since

the financial crisis and the third

one this year. Importantly, the

focus this time on the fact it was

her last press conference as the

chair of the Federal reserve. There

will be another meeting in January.

But this will be the last time she

will be answering questions on

monetary policy here.

With these

very gradual rate hikes, do

consumers in America really feel

then?

This is what the Federal

Reserve says, to stop any

overheating of the economy. It is

seen steady growth, but if you keep

the cost of borrowing low, there is

a chance you might see it speed up

too quickly, which wouldn't be good.

This is their attempt to get it to

the level before the financial

crisis. There has been a problem

that the Federal reserve has not

been able to solve and that is the

problem of low inflation. It has

consistently remained below their 2%

target. Inflation needs to be at a

moderate level to show the signs the

economy is healthy and is in running

order. But what she said about that,

she thinks it is transitional,

something that will go away. In her

mind, she felt the economic outlook

was healthy.

Thank you very much.

Google is deepening its push

into artificial intelligence

with plans to open a research centre

in China, even though its search

services are blocked there.

Our Asia Pacific Editor Michael

Bristow explains why

Google is doing this in a country

where it's not welcome.

There is a great tradition in

Chinese education science and maths,

the start-ups attracted to Beijing

where Google is opening this

research Centre. We have a great

pool of people there. Google has

already employed some of them, it

has job adverts out, looking to get

more. It recognises China is at the

leading edge and wants to get in on

the act. It's not Google trying to

operate a business to sell products

or services in China, it is going

there and cherry picking, or trying

to cherry pick the best engineers it

can. It is a reverse. We are used to

Chinese people trying to entice

people to work in China. Google

pulled out of China a few years ago

because of an argument over

censorship. It refuses to censor its

search results. So it is a flawed

relationship but Google is trying to

go back in.

Can't afford to do

without the Chinese market so Google

investing in China wants more.

The Bank of England plans

to remove gendered language

from its documentation.

The move comes after the central

bank was criticised for its lack

of senior female bosses.

As part of the changes,

titles such as "chairman"

become simply "chair".

And specific terminology

like "grandfather/ing" will be

updated to "conversion".

That is it for the first half of

Outside Source. Political shocks in

Westminster, an hour or so ago. Tory

rebels going with the opposition

Labour Party and the opposition

Liberal Democrats won a vote, got an

amendment through that had been

proposed by Dominic Grieve, Tory MP.

It insists there is a full vote and

debate on the final Brexit deal. The

government had opposed this

amendment but Theresa May was

defeated. The other political

shotgun is what has been happening

in Alabama because Doug Jones, the

Democrat, will be the first

Democratic senator there for 25

years. See you in a minute.

Good evening, some of us have had at

least for today something less cold.

But no real sign of the north-east

USA getting out of the deep freeze

any time soon. This area of low

pressure which has brought some snow

in the North USS and eastern Canada.

We winds all the way down from the

Arctic, into places like Atlanta and

Miami, who have had some

disappointing temperatures over the

last few days. For many, it will

remain cold during Thursday. New

York, Chicago and Detroit's

struggling to get much above

freezing. Out west, there have been

wildfires in California and nothing

much in the forecast that will help.

It stays dry across California as we

head into the weekend. It stays

chilly the New York and Chicago. If

you are heading that way, a cold and

wintry weekend ahead.

For the Southeast of Australia, 37

degrees in Sydney. In Perth, highs

of 32 on Thursday, find for the

start of the third Ashes Test.

Should stay dry into Friday and

Saturday but it looks like rain

later on in the weekend. And talking

of rain, as we drift north towards

the Philippines, there is a lot of

rain on the weather menu, courtesy

of this area of cloud. A tropical

troublemaker, tropical depression

that has developed and is

strengthening, bringing huge amounts

of rain to Central parts of the

Philippines. Not expected to be an

intense storm, but the rain could

cause some issues with flooding. The

wettest of the weather staying away

from Manila, so it should be dry

here Friday and Saturday. Elsewhere

across south-east Asia, torrential

rain the Jakarta and showers the

Singapore. We have had more than our

fair share of rain across Eastern

Europe, this cloud has been slow

moving and brought heavy rain here

over the last couple of days.

Something drier on Thursday. Just

the odd shower for parts of western

Greece, up into the Balkans. Showers

across northern half of Italy.

Notice another weather system

pushing in across Western Europe.

That will make progress southwards

and eastwards as of south-east

Europe who have already had

flooding, more rain will be

welcomed. On home on Thursday, it

will be a windy day. There will be

some showers, wintry showers

particularly in the west the central

and eastern areas, a fair amount of

dry weather and spells of sunshine.

Not particularly warm but not as

cold as it has been. On Friday and

Saturday, a few showers, dry weather

as well. More details on the UK

forecast in half an hour.

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source,

and these are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom,

where Theresa May has

been defeated by rebels

from her own party on a key

Brexit vote.

We'll be live in Westminster.

Alabama is going to

get its first Democrat

senator in 25 years.

But President Trump has

defended his support

for the republican candidate who's

accused of child molestation.

A lot of Republicans feel very

differently, they are very happy

with the way it turned out, but as

the leader of the party, I would

have liked to have had this seat, I

want to endorse the people that are

running.

We'll look at what Roy Moore's

defeat means for the Republicans

and for the Trump administration.

A summit of more than 50 Muslim

countries responding

to Donald Trump's announcement

on Jerusalem and Israel -

and calls for an independent

Palestine with East Jerusalem

as its capital.

And, as always, you can get in touch

with us here in the BBC

Newsroom using the hashtag #BBCOS.

More reaction to Theresa May

suffering this significant defeat in

Parliament over her Brexit strategy.

Rebelo MPs from her own Conservative

Party tabled an amendment that would

oblige the government to put the

final Brexit deal through full

Parliament scrutiny and the rebels

won by just four votes. Dominic

Grieve said a last-minute concession

from the government came to late.

While in the past few minutes the

opposition Labour leader, Jeremy

Corbyn, has been giving his

reaction.

At last Parliament has asserted

itself. The Prime Minister tried a

power grab, tried to push through a

EU bill without proper parliament

really scrutiny. Parliament won a

vote, saying there has to be a

proper decision by the British

Parliament on the terms of what

happens in Brexit, it is not all

going to be left to David Davis.

Is

it about time you were honest and

open about exactly what a Labour

Brexit would look like?

We have made

it clear that what we want is tariff

free, and protect the rights of

European nationals and their spouses

to remain in their homes across

Europe. We have made it very clear,

we're not going down the road of

David who definitely described his

wishes to have a seater plus plus

plus, a trade agreement with Canada

which we believe would be very

damaging to our new factoring

industry and conditions at work in

our environment.

Bunch more on this

boat in the Commons today and much

more about the Brexit process more

broadly, you can get it online right

now through the BBC website.

The consequences of

Donald Trump's decision

to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's

capital keep coming.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud

Abbas today said the US has

'disqualified' itself from future

Middle East peace talks -

remember, for years,

the US has been the broker

of the peace process.

This statement was at the

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,

which represents over 50

Muslim countries.

It's been meeting in Turkey

with President Erdogan as the host.

He oversaw a call for a recognition

of its Jerusalem as the capital of

any Palestinian state. He also

attacked that decision by the

Americans on Israel as illegal and

provocative. Here's some more from

the president. TRANSLATION:

With

this the session, the perpetrator of

crimes such as occupation, siege,

illegal settlements, demolishing

settlements, land grabs,

disproportionate violence has been

rewarded for all these terror acts.

Although he is alone, this reward is

given by Trump.

Alan Johnston came

to see me a few minutes ago. He

starts by talking about the

president being disqualified from

further peace talks.

Mr Werder

Gamma, King Abdullah, the -- Mr

Werder worm, King Abdullah, all of

them heaping criticism on -- Mr Tim

one. Bowloader Bass, the Palestinian

leader, he seemed almost personally

it affronted by what Mr Trump had

done. He suggested he had simply

given away Jerusalem, and more

importantly Mr Abbas talked in a

straightforward manner, he said the

Americans were biased and the Alison

in people were no longer prepared to

accept an air can roll in the

mediation process in the effort to

achieve a Palestinian Israeli peace.

But is quite something because for

many years the Americans have really

been the primary mediator.

Absolutely, you and I have watched

this tortured effort to achieve some

sort of peace in Israel for years

and years. Might have have the

deepest reservations on occasions

about the role that Washington was

playing, but it always tried to draw

the Americans on to the Palestinian

side. Mr Abbas says that is over,

that period is finished. You are

right, we haven't really heard a

Palestinian leader talking that way.

But what now for the Palestinians?

Find themselves up something of a

blind alley, because if there is to

be Palestinian-Israeli talks, the

Israelis will be involved and they

are more than happy with what Mr

Trump has done, more than happy with

the traditional role that the

Americans play in the peace process.

They say there can be no substitute

for the Americans and it may be that

the Americans and the Israelis feel

that over time and eventually the

Palestinians may feel they have

nowhere to go, they may need to turn

back to Washington and we might be

back to business as usual.

Can you

help me assess the summit and this

organisation? It has put out strong

statements on the future Palestinian

state and East Jerusalem as its

capital, but when you look at list

of countries, some countries do

don't get along.

This was an effort

to unite the Muslim world and push

back on this move over Jerusalem by

President Trump. More than 50

delegations from across the Islamic

world were there. But some really

key players, the likes of Egypt,

Saudi Arabia, UAE, sent much

lower-level delegations. These are

countries that are keen to work

closely, they already have close

relations with the Americans, they

would like to be closer. And they

really don't want, it seems, to be

seen to be pushing too hard on this

Jerusalem issue up against the Trump

administration.

Next more on the genocide in Rwanda.

It says French officials were

complicit. Written by a Washington

law firm called tanning levy news.

It will conduct an investigation

into the events of 1994. So far,

this has looked at information

publicly available, including

witness testimonies from people like

this woman here, who had to flee to

the Democratic Republic of Congo in

fear for her life. The port -- the

report also alleges French officials

provided support and shelter for

Rwanda's interim government, whose

leaders included the then president,

eventually convicted of genocide

related crimes.

This is not the

first time the rewind on government

has made these allegations. The

report brings together all publicly

available information that points to

a possible role by the French in the

genocide of 1994. The report

specifically accuses French

officials of facilitating the flow

of weapons into Rwanda in the

build-up to genocide and allowing

the public traitors to hold meetings

at the French Embassy in Kigali. It

also accuses them of providing a

safe harbour to some of the

perpetrators of the genocide. In the

past, the French government has

denied any complacency. In 1998 a

French committee opened

investigations into these

allegations but then the new report

says those investigations were

neither complete or transparent. The

Rwandan government is now calling

for thorough investigations into

these allegations.

Much more on that

story and the others we are covering

on the BBC website. Can see an

argument -- an article on Roy

Moore's defeat.

Look who's been talking.

All part of Germany's

search for a government.

Back in September, Outside Source

was in Berlin for the election.

We saw Angela Merkel's CDU

was the biggest party -

but delivered its worst

performance in decades.

And Martin Schulz and his

Social Democrats also

saw its vote plunge.

They had been in government

with Mrs Merkel - and thought they'd

been punished for it.

Seems there's been

a change of heart.

today Angela Merkel

and Martin Schulz have met

to discuss forming a government.

Something Martin Schulz said would

not happen.

Something Martin Schulz

said would not happen.

That's one option

for the Chancellor.

Another was a coalition

with the Free Democrats

and the Greens - those

talks collapsed though.

The third, is a fresh election.

The talks are in Berlin -

so is Jenny Hill.

The meeting between Angela Merkel

and Martin Schultz in effect gets

the ball rolling, and the very

beginning of talks, which might end

in Germany forming a new coalition

government. It would have been a

very interesting meeting, not least

because it is the first between

Angela Merkel and Mr Schultz, since

he performed a U-turn, and went

backwards on his vow never to work

with her again. Mr Schultz's party

did badly in the September

elections, and he had said he would

take them into opposition. That has

all changed, now the leaders are

talking, the parties are ready they

said to begin the first of a 2-part

process. The first step is

exploratory talks. If those are

successful, then proper coalition

negotiations can then begin. Already

there are clear disagreements over

health care policy, refugee policy,

the future of the EU. But the main

stumbling block will be how the

social Democrats feel about another

so-called grand coalition. Many of

them are very unhappy about the idea

of going back into government with

Mrs Merkel. They blame her for her

poor showing in the election.

There's a lot of talk about

potentially trying to form a

coalition light, if you like, where

they might some of Mrs Merkel's

policies but not all, some thing

that has enraged Mrs Merkel's

Conservatives. Remember if Mrs

Merkel cannot form a coalition

government, the other two options

are that she runs a minority

government or it is fresh elections.

This is the very beginning of a long

and very slow process. It is

unlikely that Germany will have any

kind of government before the first

couple of months of next year, at

the very least.

That is quite

something. In September, a lots of

people for the government would be

sorted by Christmas but that is not

going to happen.

This is Shaimaa Ahmed.

She's a 25-year pop

singer from Egypt.

Local media in Egypt say she's been

handed a two-year jail sentence

for this music video -

a court found her guilty of inciting

debauchery and immorality.

Here's the BBC's Marwa Amer.

The song is called I have issues, Ed

Kuyt last month, it is reasonably

suggestive, as you can see. She was

arrested and a court have found her

guilty of inciting debauchery and

immorality. We contacted BBC Arabic

and I have been talking to them.

She

is the latest artist to face

prosecution over sexually explicit

content. There were two ballet

dancers also cited for debauchery.

As you know, Egypt is a conservative

country, the backlash with regards

to these kind of videos were very

strong. She had a very strong

backlash by online users. Since

then, she has been sentenced for two

years. And also the director of the

online video. As they are accused of

inciting debauchery.

So shy would

have been aware when she was making

this video it would be controversial

-- Shaimaa Ahmed.

She wasn't sure,

it happens occasionally in Egypt, in

regards to cultural issues, so

people to be facing trials will kind

of prosecution, usually in the Egypt

what was happening since 2013 was

that the government was

concentrating on the crackdown on

news and human rights reports. For

the entertainers, it wasn't that

much common. It happened in 2013

with a presenter. He decided to stop

his programme, due to the backlash.

He was facing problems of censorship

but the government. He decided to

stop his programme. It was not that

common for the entertainers come in

Shaimaa's case and the other cases,

it was more about how the social

media dealt with the issue, and how

there was an online backlash. Since

then, the government started to take

it further, to the trials.

Aside

from this online backlash,

presumably there are people within

the entertainment industry and fans

of Shaimaa herself who are furious

about this?

Definitely. Especially

since there were other incidents

where a pop singer, very well-known

in Egypt, has been facing also a

trial, because she insulted in a way

while she was joking in a concert

the Nile Ranger, and there was

also...

The Nile Ranger?

Yes -- the

Niall -- the Nile river. Yes, the

Nile river. There was also another

incident in October when people were

arrested for waving rainbow flags in

support of the LGBT community in

Egypt at a concert by a Lebanese

rock band. It was also the first

time. We have been around some

incidents. They are not that much

related. Focusing on the

entertainers. It could be called

crack down on the entertainment. It

has been started.

That was a colleague from BBC

Arabic. Now we will hear from BBC

Brasil. It has been investigating

the 2014 election.

Brasil has found thousands of fake

online profiles were set up

to try and influence Brazil's

election in 2014.

And it's spoken to the people

who maintained the accounts.

Here's Juliana Gragnani

on how the plan worked.

So we believe the accounts were

created to help influence elections

in Brazil. Mostly of the 2014

elections. People behind the

accounts, they tried to make

hashtags trend on Twitter by acting

together in a big group, and

hashtags that were related to

Brazilian politicians, so they would

look like they were going well in a

debate, and some people actually

complimented the politicians, to try

to make them look good. On Facebook,

they even created a group against

one candidate, adding fake profiles

and real people, so real people were

exposed to the things involved in

these groups. They tried to make

these profiles look real by using

real people's photographs, people

that sometimes we found they used

before that had already died. People

that were celebrities in Brazil or

had once been on the news and had

their picture put on the news.

Let's

look at some of these fake profiles

manifesting themselves in 2014.

Here's an account on Twitter,

which used the photo

of Greek actor and singer

Sakis Rouvas, and promoted Brazil's

former Senate President in posts.

Obviously that account isn't his.

Here's another false

Twitter profile -

this one used an image of a woman

who was deceased.

While this fake group

was set up on Facebook -

and attracted real users

as well as the cyborgs.

Now the investigation didn't find

any evidence these accounts

actually influenced the election

result - in 2014 it went

to a run-off with Dilma Rousseff

eventually being re-elected

President.

But it did delve into what drives

the people behind these accounts.

Here's Juliana to explain.

So, I interviewed ex-employees that

said they worked at controlling fake

profiles on Twitter and Facebook.

Most of them said they did not have

the notion that what they were doing

was wrong. They didn't think about

it as morally incorrect, because

they were very young people, and

sometimes people that weren't even

in university. They didn't

understand the job when they were

offered the job. They said they were

told they would be working with

social media. But there was one of

them that was proud of the job.

A

new report from the BBC's sports

editor, Dan Roan.

The four times Tour-de-France

winner, Chris Froome,

is facing questions after returning

an "adverse" drugs test

at the Vuelta a Espana

back in September.

The test showed a level of an asthma

drug which was double

the permissible limit.

We should say that it's not

against the rules to take

the drug in question,

and that Chris Froome has said

he was taking it under medical

supervision to treat his condition.

Dan Roan reports.

Having come to dominate

cycling's biggest race,

Chris Froome's established himself

as the pre-eminent force

in his sport, but the British

star now faces a fight

to save his reputation.

It was here during his historic

victory at Spain's grand tour

the Vuelta that he was found to have

exceeded the permitted legal level

of the asthma drug salbutamol.

He says on doctors' advice he

increased his dosage due to asthma,

but in a statement he said...

Team Sky say that Froome,

who has had asthma since childhood,

and regularly uses an inhaler,

was suffering from acute symptoms

in the final week of the Vuelta,

and he was asked about his health

immediately after the 18th stage

of the race on the day he provided

the irregular sample.

Speculation about

whether you are ill.

You said no yesterday.

100% fit and healthy today?

I felt fine today, yes.

Riders can take salbutamol

up to a certain limit,

but Froome's sample showed traces

twice the permitted amount.

In a statement Team Sky boss

Sir Dave Brailsford said:

If you are dehydrated, your levels

will be higher, also the speed

he can metabolise it

through his system,

if he does that fast,

it will increase the level

in his urine, so it is difficult

to sort of say if I take four puffs

I know my level will be this,

it is difficult to say

that on a daily basis.

Scrutiny on Team Sky has

intensified, with management grilled

at a Parliamentary select committee

hearing and a UK anti-doping

investigation into allegations

all denied and not proven

surrounding a mystery

medical delivery to Sir

Bradley Wiggins in 2011.

Froome has taken a strong moral

stance on the use of TUEs

for usually banned substances.

I think it does enormous damage.

Most people will listen

to everything we are saying

about hearings and defences

and so on and they just won't care.

As far as they are concerned

it is yet another thing that has

happened to Team Sky and cycling.

As far as the reputation

of cycling is concerned

it is enormously damaging.

2018 was meant to be the year Froome

would attempt to seal a fifth

Tour de France triumph.

Instead, with the threat of a ban

and the potential loss

of his Spanish title hanging

over him, he is riding

into an uncertain future.

I was reading that Chris Froome is

not planning to attend the BBC

Sports Personality of the Year

event, because he is training for

the gyro to tally early on in 2018.

-- the Giro d'Italia.

That is it for me and the Outside

Source team. Thank you for watching,

remember there has been a big

political shock in Westminster, with

the Prime Minister losing a key vote

on Brexit. More on the BBC news

channel in the coming hours on that.