09/01/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

North and South Korea meet

for the first time in two years -

but is it enough to diffuse

the nuclear threats and what does it

mean for relations with the west.

There have been violent clashes in

this year after austerity measures

imposed by the government. We report

from Tunis.

This Ukrainian lawyer successfully

argued in court against the release

of her sister's killer.

But then she was murdered.

We look into the case that has

outraged the country.

And the Japanese astronaut who's

grown 9cm after just

three weeks in space

- he's concerned.

We'll explain what's

happening - with the help

of the UK Space Agency.

Welcome to Outside Source.

North and South Korea have held

talks for the first time

in more than two years.

A week ago the North

was threatening nuclear war so this

is progress of a sort.

Two important things

came out of these talks.

First, an agreement to hold more

talks to ease military

tensions on the border.

Second, North Korea will

send a large delegation

to the Winter Olympics

in South Korea next month -

that will include athletes

and cheerleaders.

The talks were held here

in the demilitarised zone that

separates the North and the South.

You can see the demarcation line -

with the demilitarised

zone either side of it.

And this is the moment

North Korean officials

stepped across the border.

The line is marked on the floor. The

moment he steps across he is leaving

North Korean territory and so he

did. A few moments after that, the

two sides greeted each other and

exchanged pleasantries. Then they

got down to talking properly. Sophie

Long has been covering this all day

and here is her latest report.

North and South Korean delegations

shaking hands and exchanging

new years greetings.

This is the first time the two

governments have met

for more than two years.

Within hours of negotiations getting

underway the South Korean government

announced the first breakthrough.

Pyongyang had agreed to send

a delegation to the Winter Olympics.

It will include athletes,

cheering squad, and a tae kwon

do demonstration team.

Welcome news particularly

for the South Korean president

who believes that the games

are the opportunity for

ground-breaking change.

The discussions then moved

on to the other inter-Korean issues

like the thousands of people

separated from their families

for decades by the heavily

fortified border zone.

TRANSLATION: We propose to hold

a Red Cross meeting to discuss

family reunions in time

for the lunar New Year

which is a national holiday.

Later the South Korean government

announced a military hotline,

closed two years ago as relations

soured, would reopen.

We can then show you the Chinese

reaction to the talks. TRANSLATION:

Is a neighbour of the Korean

Palencia we welcome all positive

steps that will allow an easing of

tensions between South and North

Korea. -- Korean peninsula.

Here is

Robert Wingfield Hayes.

Well I think there is a huge amount

of relief because it has been

a pretty scary year at least

here in this region.

It is felt very much

like a times we have been

teetering on the edge of war.

We've seen missiles flying,

nuclear tests, America sending

aircraft carrier battle groups

to the coast of Korea.

Making very bloodcurdling

threats towards each other,

North Korea and the United States.

So in many ways this,

there is relief that these

talks are taking place,

just because talks are now happening

and also because it appears

that the North Korean side is now

very keen to de-escalate

the tensions.

The bigger question is is this

an opening to really deeper dialogue

between North and the south

and will the denuclearisation of the

Korean peninsula be on the table.

And there is no sign

of that at the moment.

I think what has happened

is the North Korean leadership has

looked into the abyss of a possible

conflict with America

and stepped back and said,

we need to do something

to de-escalate tensions,

we need to find an off ramp.

The Winter Olympics here

in South Korea are that ladder

to climb down for the North Korean

regime, a kind of cover for them

to de-escalate this very

frightening situation.

To Tunisia.

There have been violent

protests in ten cities

across the country this week.

And the anger we're

seeing in these places

is directed at the government

and its austerity policies.

For example, the New Year

budget government brought

price and tax increases.

The BBC's Rana Jawad

is in based in Tunis.

These protests are essentially are

about the price hikes that Tunisians

have seen since the beginning of

this new financial year. The

government has had to impose new

austerity measures in compliance

with donor countries who are giving

it the much-needed foreign aid. And

this has included things like a rise

on the tax on imports as well as a

rise in prices on things like gas

and other essential goods which will

also affect the prices of for

example the intranet. So people have

taken to the streets in at least £10

and earlier today in Tunis itself

there was a small protest downtown.

-- ten towns. People protesting the

new financial measures and also the

death of the protester in one town

yesterday night.

Now the government

and opposition do not agree as ever.

Tunisia's prime minister says he;'s

working to end economic hardship.

The country's main opposition party

wants these protests to continue.

Here's Rana on the politics.

Well we've heard from the Tunisian

Prime Minister so far and he has

promised the people that this will

be the last difficult financial

year, economically speaking. He said

that they are facing extraordinary

and difficult times. However he did

not woody present a plan as to how

he would ease the burden on the

people which analysts say is mainly

affecting the weaker class or poorer

population of Tunisia.

Remember Tunisia was where

the Arab Spring began

over seven years ago -

a street vendor set himself on fire.

That eventually led to a Revolution

and the overthrow of the Tunisian

president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

But that didn't remove

all of people's frustrations.

Here's Rana once more.

Since the revolution in 2011

overthrowing Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

from power, economically speaking it

has gone backwards. The cost of

living has steadily risen, inflation

is at its highest at the moment. And

people are still facing high rates

of unemployment. To top it off of

course there was the 2014 terror

attacks targeting the tourism

industry here which also affected

state revenues because Tunisia is

heavily reliant on the tourism

industry. So all in all it has been

quite a struggle for the country and

the people to economically recover

since this revolution.

This is Norishige Kanai -

he's Japanese - and right now he's

on the International Space Station.

He's only been there three weeks

and already he's grown 9cm.

He's been talking -

I assume tongue in cheek -

about concerns he won't fit

into his seat on the rocket that

will bring it back to earth.

I spoke with Libby Jackson

from the UK Space Agency -

mostly just to find out how

concerned we should be.

It is normal for astronauts to grow,

for their back to extend in space

because as soon as you get up there

floating around you cannot feel the

effects of gravity and your spine

decompresses and the vertebrae and

muscles relax. Nine centimetres is a

lot, normally it is between two and

five centimetres.

Does that have

ramifications for your more general

health?

Yes, it can cause pain in

your back while you're up there and

as he said he has got to fit into

his seat in home but I'm sure it

will not be a problem. The same

colour problems affect ageing

people, people who have to spend a

long time in bed so it is quite

important that we studied these

things. And that is what this space

agency is helping to fund. Is he

going to shrink when he gets back

home? Yes, as soon as it gets back

on Earth and feels gravity the spine

will compress again and the muscles

get stronger. There is some risk of

problems when people come back to

earth and the spine does that but he

will be fine within a few weeks.

Presumably this is just one of a

number of physical changes that

occur in space.

Absolutely. Going

into space, as soon as you get there

at your body starts to adapt because

you do not feel gravity, your bones

and muscles are weakened and a fluid

shifts around, lots of things. If

you stayed in space forever it would

not be a problem with the astronauts

coming back, they do a lot of

exercise to make sure their strong

as possible for coming back.

If you

stay up for longer and longer do you

keep getting bigger and bigger dose

the expansion occur in the first few

days?

Generally in the first few

days. Scott Kelly spent a year in

space and he grew about six

centimetres after his stay in space

but he is all back to normal now.

The body adapts and then you

stabilise and just get used to

living and working in space.

Thank

you.

Stay with us on Outside Source -

still to come.

We'll report from Las Vegas, the

biggest tech event in the world and

this is one of thousands of gadgets

on show. That is a suitcase that

will follow you around the airport

without you holding it.

It is one year since Martin

McGuinness resigned as the Deputy

First Minister of Northern Ireland

bringing down the Stormont

government.

The big question is

whether it would be possible to get

members of the power-sharing

executive back into the building

behind me. Especially given the bad

blood that exists between the main

parties the DUP and Sinn Fein.

Yesterday when the former secretary

of state James Brokenshire released

his resignation letter he said

Northern Ireland was well into

overtime to try to get this

executive up and running. And

further intervention would not be

needed in other words, a return to

direct rule. So the new secular

state Karen Bradley has got a

challenging job ahead and a very

full entry. -- in tray.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is...

North Korea has offered to send

a delegation including athletes

and journalists to next month's

Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The offer was made at the first

talks in two years between

the north and the south.

Zimbabwe's anti-corruption agency

is investigating whether the former

First Lady Grace Mugabe fraudulently

obtained a doctorate.

She was awarded the PhD just

months after enrolling

at university in 2014.

A suicide bombing in

the Western Pakistani city of Quetta

has killed at least seven people.

A police van was nearby -

and the Pakistan Taliban

is claiming responsibility.

And this is the Sahara Desert -

the hottest desert in the world -

after a very rare snowstorm.

The biggest tech event

in the world is happening

in Las Vegas - right now.

Every year we cover

the Consumer Electronics Show.

All bases are covered.

For example this is a suitcase which

we are told will follow you around

the airport without you having to

touch it. There's a camera that can

send videos from your home to your

phone. And robots that will take

simple sketches like this and turn

them into much more complex works of

art. And all of this of course sits

right on the edge of what is

possible. Things do not always go to

plan. This bit is excruciating, LG

Electronics with the robot, Chloe.

Am I on my wash cycle. Even robots

have bad days! What is for dinner

tonight?

OK, she's not going to talk to me.

She does not like me, evidently.

I feel for the robot because I have

days like that when I do not want to

answer your questions! But this time

I will respond. It is cutting edge

technology and sometimes goes wrong

but we are seeing great advances,

even that whole field of robotics

and generally artificial. What we're

not sure about yet is what will be

the hot new products emerging from

that. A lot of it is underground,

making your phone smarter,

recognising photos of you on

Facebook saying that is someone

else, that is you and that is very

advanced science which has happened

over the last few years. What we're

seeing is something of a battle

between the big American companies,

Google of course here in force and

the newcomers from China. China

really staking claim to be huge in

artificial intelligence.

In terms of

how CES works, is a business to

business or can people pay and

coming?

This is just a trade show,

what you have here is the worlds

technology companies their customers

in the form of the retailers, their

partners and so on. All eyeing up

the latest products. Tens of

thousands of products launched each

year and I think quite a few

disappear without trace. But I have

been standing in in front of a robot

dog on the Sony stand and the woman

next to me said to her colleague, I

think we will take that in our store

later this year. And he was more

sceptical saying, you do not know

where the dog has come from. Is it a

rescue dog or what. Conversations

happening all over about which

gadgets are going to take off and

which are not.

And more of that

through the week.

Just before the New Year dissed

Ukrainian lawyer was murdered. A few

days before that she had argued in

court against the release of the man

who killed her sister in a drink and

drugs car crash in 2015. Today

Irinia was buried on the outskirts

of Kiev where she had lived and

died. These are some of the pictures

that came in from the funeral

earlier and we know that she was

buried next to her sister was my

great. For the people who knew her

of course this is an incredibly

upsetting time but her murder has

caused outrage across Ukraine.

Investigations being seen as a test

of the police and judiciary, both

seen as being corrupt. The police

are moving quickly and have already

made an arrest. That has been

greeted with some scepticism. This

is one MP and activist.

People

understand that the judicial system

is not about people at all, we

understand it is about corruption

first of all because all of these

judges for 25 years, first of all we

have corrupt politicians, the whole

system is corrupt.

Well the identity

of the person in custody was

confirmed just a short time ago.

Here are the details. So the man in

custody has been confirmed as the

63-year-old man who is the father of

the guy whose custody has been

prolonged by the court. On the day

that Irinia disappear. And was

killed. Her lawyers, her family

lawyers told the BBC that they have

suspicions about the ease and

convenience of this particular

suspect. They consider him to be an

easy target, a scapegoat. He

admitted that he is indeed the

culprit.

And this is generating

tension in Ukraine and even the

president has been commenting on

that. Why has it become this

national issue?

Well Irinia was

practically unknown in the country

until her activism was brought to

national media attention by a tweet

from the American embassy expressing

regret that she disappeared and was

probably died. And then hundreds of

activists came picketing and

protesting at the interior ministry

building demanding that she be

found. The society is no longer

prepared to let the judiciary,

broadly considered to be corrupt and

inefficient, get away with it. In a

way it is a vigilante activism,

people demand that the authorities

investigate and find something. It

is unlike anything we've seen in the

past.

There could be a perception

the judiciary and police are corrupt

but have they been studies to prove

that that is the case? Any evidence

that backs up that perception?

Just

under 10% of criminal, of all crimes

and criminal investigations in

Ukraine and in prosecutions, Ukraine

has conducted more in the previous

24 years and yet for society

patience is running out and the

perception is that the rule of law

that still remains almost

unachievable as a goal, is not quite

there yet.

We are indebted to the

BBC World Service for covering these

issues. Later on we hear about the

manual Macron in Beijing and an old

video of the Iranians supreme leader

that has gone viral.

Shares in some big tech firms

are down after Microsoft said it had

suspended some patches to fix two

major computer chip flaws.

That's because they froze some

machines powered by AMD chips.

Samira Hussain is in New York.

We were told that this would take

one week to fix but it seems it will

take longer.

What we're talking

about, there are two major

chip-makers, Intel and AMD. We

already heard from the Intel boss

saying that the Intel chips, it is

going to be fixed within the next

week or so. But AMD is suffering

some other problems, these chips had

a patch and they put out the patch

to try to fix it but Microsoft has

been receiving complaints from its

customers saying that after they put

in this fix they are getting a

frozen screen, the dreaded blue

frozen screen and as a result

Microsoft has said we are not going

to issue this patch any more until

we can try and figure out some kind

of six with AMD.

And is there any

evidence that anyone has been

adversely affected by these

problems?

Not as yet and what a lot

of people suggest is bad it offers

some kind of window into people's

computers. But in terms of the

possibility of being hacked people

say, you are more vulnerable to

other forms of hacking really than

the kind of vulnerability that

exists in these particular chips.

And if you're really worried you

should just contact whoever takes

care of your computer operating

systems. And they should be able to

try and rectify the situation faster

for you.

How does it work on these

big firms need to come together to

resolve a problem because usually

they are rivals were not share any

information with each other.

They're

not exactly rivals, I would say, in

the case of AMD and Microsoft, AMD

depends on Microsoft to use their

chips in their computers so it is in

the best interest of these companies

to work together to try to find a

fix. The same thing with Intel, a

lot of tech companies use Intel

chips and it is in the best

interests of Intel to really get

moving on a patch.

Thank you very

much.

US President Donald Trump

will mingle with the global elite

at the World Economic Forum in Davos

later this month.

The first US president in almost 20

years to go to this gathering in

Davos.

Trump's "America First"

policy has put US trade,

industry and jobs at the fore.

A strategy at odds with many

of the poitical and business leaders

flockng to the Swiss Alpine

gathering.

Inequality in the workplace

is worse in high tech jobs,

says a report from US think tank

Pew.

It polled more than 2,300 workers

in science, technology,

engineering and maths,

known as STEM.

And found half of women working

here have experienced

gender discrimination.

It's worst in male dominated

workplaces - 78% said they'd

faced discrimination.

And almost as bad for those

working in computer jobs -

the figure is 74%.

Cary Funk from Pew Research Centre

is the author of the report.

There are striking differences

between women and men in computer

jobs, some work in the tech industry

and some do not but this is a wide

section of people, 74% of women in

these jobs said they had experienced

workplace discrimination. And both

women are more likely to think that

where they work, women are not

typically getting a fair shake when

it comes to opportunities for

promotion and advancement.

An

interesting development in the US in

the last few minutes, Reuters saying

that Steve Bannon formerly chief

strategist at the White House,

currently in charge of Breitbart

News Network commie stepping down as

executive chairman. So he has gone.

All connected to that book about

Donald Trump. More on that in the

next few minutes.

Donald Trump. More on that in the

next few minutes.

Time for a round-up of some weather

stories from around the globe and we

start by heading down under and

record-breaking heat in Sydney. And

here is an image of one of the big

shower clouds looming over Sydney

after that heat. It was a colossal

storm. It could be seen from space.

It started off pretty small, then

swung through the morning bringing

torrents of rain and flashes of

lightning and thunder. That system

tagging onto the tail end of this

area of low pressure and we start to

see that affecting New Zealand later

in the week. A fresher feel finally

for Sydney for the next few days.

Now the Eastern seaboard of the

United States is warming up through

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Notice those brighter colours but

another plunge of cold air coming

down across the plains by Friday.

That could give some complications

once again on the Eastern seaboard.

We are keeping an eye on this low

pressure as it moves East Tuesday

and Wednesday, introducing mild air

and bringing some rain to the Ohio

Valley. Freezing rain in fact

because it lands on frozen surfaces.

Then milder air brushing through the

East coast on Friday with colder

tagging in behind. Again we could

see some torrential rain and snow

storms again through the north-east.

Across to Europe now and it is a ski

resort, not used to seeing quite

such an inundation of snow. In fact

some resorts have been forced to

shut on Tuesday because of such

large amounts of snow. And very high

avalanche conditions as well. That

low now clearing away eastwards but

we have this area developing and

pushing towards the Bay of this

paper Wednesday. That looks as if it

will bring nasty conditioned into

Spain, France and across the

Pyrenees. Wednesday night into

Thursday. And as for the Alps

themselves, looking a little bit

quieter for the middle of the week.

Closer to home some rain soaked bush

across the British Isles and the

next 24 hours but brighter skies on

the way on Wednesday for many. More

details on that in half an hour.

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source,

and these are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom.

North and South Korea meet

for the first time in two years,

but is it enough to diffuse

the nuclear threats and what does it

mean for relations with the west.

We have learned the North Koreans

will be sending a significant

delegation to the Winter Olympics in

South Korea next month.

Violent clashes against

the government's austerity

measures sweep over Tunisia,

seven years after protests

there sparked the Arab Spring.

there sparked the Arab Spring.

This Ukrainian lawyer successfully

argued in court against the release

of her sister's killer.

But then she was murdered.

We look into the case that has

outraged the country.

Steve Bannon has stepped down from

Breitbart News after that public

break with President Trump.

Your questions are always welcome.

#BBCOS is the hashtag.

Every day we bring you some of the

most pressing global stories.

Now I want to turn to

the Central African Republic -

it's not a country we cover very

often here on Outside Source.

It's not because we don't want to -

it's just really difficult to get

clear and accurate information.

Today we had this tweet.

Around 30,000 people have fled

fighting and are taking

refuge in Paoua town.

All peripheral health centres

are closed and very few

wounded casualties have

reached the hospital.

There's the broader map

of Central African Republic and

you can see that town

near the border with Chad.

A Medicines Sans Frontier team has

been to the hospital which is why

it's a source of new information.

To understand what's

happening, we turned

as we often do to Mary Harper.

MSF says 30,000 people have been

displaced by some recent fighting in

the west of the Central African

Republic which is an area that

hasn't been that badly affected by

fighting until now. They've come to

this town called Paoua. They are

telling the most horrific stories of

people being killed, injured. They

describe men on horseback coming and

shooting people, anything that moves

they shoot. An SF is particularly

worried because it had to abandon

the health centres where it was

working in these areas. Seven health

centres. MSF worried out of the

dirty dozen people who have fled and

the others killed and injured, only

13 people have checked themselves

into this town -- MSF are worried

that out of the 30,000 people who

have fled.

What's driving the

violence?

MSF says this violence,

even though there are some rebel

groups, they are basically taxing

people for their livestock and

houses. They are basically exporting

from people and killing them on

their way. It seems to be the most

purposeless violence that hasn't got

any A more ambition in mind except

to create mayhem and chaos and total

misery for civilians.

Evidently

central government and the regional

authorities are not able to stop

this?

Interestingly, MSF which

normally avoids politics came out

with quite a harsh statement. They

basically said the government is

unable to protect civilians and

that's why all of these problems are

occurring. If you look at a map of

the Central African Republic right

in the heart of Africa, and you look

at the areas where there is

conflict, there are little

explosions almost everywhere in the

country and the government is

confined to the capital, unable to

protect people beyond the confines

of the capital. That's the problem.

I appreciate the similarities are

limited but Somalia is a place with

a government that can't control all

of its territory and it gets a lot

of support from the African union

and other agencies. Does the

government in CAR get the same?

If

you think about Somalia not only do

they have 22,000 African union

troops, they have American military

advisers and people from other

countries in the world. Central

African Republic has a minimal

amount of outside intervention and

is often described as Africa's

forgotten conflict. This conflict

has been going on for five years and

it's still one that appears to have

no end in sight.

Why is it that CAR

is forgotten to the degree that

Somalia isn't?

Probably because

Somalia has an Islamist militia that

is allied with Al-Qaeda leader. It

is seen as a sort of threat, not

just to the people of Somalia but

that the people of the region and to

the wider world. The Islamist group

Al-Shabaab has threatened western

shopping centres, its threatened

London. That means it attracts

international attention. Whereas

Central African Republic, even

though so many people are displaced,

so many people are suffering, it

isn't a conflict that threatens

anything except for itself and its

neighbouring countries because so

many displaced people are fleeing.

It doesn't have international

repercussions really and the world

has been able to turn its back on

the country.

If you want to

learn more about any of the

countries we cover their country

profiles available on the News

website. A huge political story in

the US, Steve Bannon was the chief

strategist in the White House is not

so many months ago. Now he is not

only out of the White House, he now

stood down as the person in charge

of Breitbart News. Our reporter is

live from Washington, DC. Did we see

this coming?

I think the writing was

on the wall. We've seen a press

release from Rebecca Mercer who was

one of Breitbart's chief funders,

very wealthy family, disavowing

their ties to Steve Bannon. There

was talk about meetings at

high-level about whether to keep him

on at Breitbart. Here we are,

apparently it's going to be

effective Tuesday but the news is

already posted on the Breitbart

website. It is a remarkable fall for

Steve Bannon. Just five months ago

he was a senior adviser at the White

House. He was Trump's campaign

chair, very influential in the early

days of the administration and here

he is now effectively unemployed.

In

terms of the politics of the

country, I guess this reasserts

Donald Trump as the primary figure

for a particular type of American

who wants a particular type of

politics.

Right. It's interesting

earlier today Donald Trump was

sitting down holding a bipartisan

meeting to talk about comprehensive

immigration reform. That's an issue

that the Steve Bannon s of the world

were very much against, any kind of

compromise on immigration. It could

represent that the Trump

administration is at least moving

somewhat away from this

nationalistic populism that Steve

Bannon represents, at least on

things like immigration or tax

reform with the big corporate tax

cut that was just past.

I'm assuming

we should draw a straight line

between what's happened here and the

book by Michael Wolff.

I think that

obviously was the nail in the coffin

of Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon went

after Donald Trump's family in very

personal terms, he said Donald Trump

Jr may have committed treason by

meeting with Russians during the

presidential campaign. He called

Ivanka Trump dumb as a brick and

said she had her own presidential

ambitions. That prompted a sharply

worded rebuttal from Trump who said

Steve Bannon had effectively lost

his mind. I think that was what put

him over the edge as far as his

involvement with Breitbart News.

Help me out with the midterms. They

are coming up later in the year.

Steve Bannon had big plans to put up

particular candidates against

mainstream Republican candidates,

presumably without Breitbart

alongside that tasks becomes harder?

I think there are a lots of

Republican incumbents smiling right

now. First and foremost Mitch

McConnell who had been in a war of

words for months with Steve Bannon.

Steve Bannon said he was going to

fund and support antiestablishment

candidates to run against every

single Republican senator up for

re-election later this year except

for Ted Cruz in Texas. The first one

he backed was Roy Moore who ran in

Alabama and upset the incumbent

Republican in a primary at the

middle of last year, and then lost

in the general election to a

Democrat in December. That was the

beginning signs of his star

diminishing somewhat. There are

Republicans in the establishment,

officeholders across Washington

right now, that are probably

breathing a sigh of relief because

Bannon doesn't have the media empire

or the money at all with the Mercers

pulling out.

Steve Bannon is stepping down as the

man in charge of right part. On most

of the big US political developments

when you go on the website you find

Anthony or Jon Sobel's analysis.

Next a report on Bitcoin in Uganda.

Not something we've covered before -

You'll know what's been

happening with bitcoin.

It's a digital currency. Last year

its value was around $1000. It went

up to around $16,000. Some people

made an awful lot of money on that,

but not everyone.

Here's Catherine Byaruhanga.

Like many Ugandans, this lady is

always looking for new ways to make

cash. After trying different options

such as selling clothes and even

moneylending, she settled on

Bitcoin. Since August she's bought

more than $1000 worth of Bitcoin.

That investment has multiplied.

When

I first invested in Bitcoin I just

wanted my income to grow. Now that

it has grown, I'd like to buy a car,

I'd like to buy land, build a house.

No one knows how many people own

cryptocurrency is in Uganda. But

anecdotal evidence shows the numbers

are growing. Mobile phones and

growing access to the internet are

making it easier for Ugandans to buy

digital currencies. You just

download an apt and then can use

Mobile money already stored with

your network or even a bank

transferred to buy cryptocurrency.

There are now lessons on trading the

new currencies. Over 50 people

attend these weekly classes by

Martin. He says high youth

unemployment is attracting

individuals to digital currencies.

If you don't have factory jobs and

you don't have corporate jobs, to

serve the thousands of young people

coming out of the universities, this

is an alternative.

But as well as

the winners, some are making big

losses. This man has just finished

university and is looking for his

first job.

I lost everything, within

12 hours. Cryptocurrencies can

easily bring in low sales. If it's a

low sale it's really low. If it's a

profit, I'd make $200.

Whilst some

Ugandans see this new industry as

the future, regulators here warned

that it's risky. And only for those

who can handle the losses when they

happen.

We started this half in Kampala and

Washington. Next we turned to Iran

because a video of its supreme

leader speaking almost 30 years ago

has emerged. In it he says he's not

qualified for the job. The clip has

gone viral. TRANSLATION:

One should

shed tears of blood for an Islamic

society that would even consider

someone like me to be its leader.

There are serious technical issues

with this decision.

Undoubtedly one

of the things driving beehive

viewing figures is the fact he

supreme leader spoke out against

those anti-government protests last

week.

There are constitutional

issues with him being the leader,

and what became clear was that this

was a session behind closed doors

that the members of the assembly

don't want the people to know about.

Now there are serious questions. 30

years on, how he's still the leader

of Iran and how come nobody has

talked about the fact he was

supposed to be a caretaker not a

lifetime leader? Like most leagues

there is definitely a political

agenda behind it. The journalists we

spoke with said that he received the

video last week during the height of

the protests in Iran and he knows

his sources wanted to publish it but

he wanted to make sure it was

credible. Clearly the supreme leader

is going through a crisis. His

legitimacy is in doubt. After the

protests in which people said debt

to the dictator, death to the

supreme leader, now this video has

emerged which shows he himself

wasn't sure about the job.

Toby Young has resigned

from his role on the board

of a new university regulator.

He says he was forced to stand down

because "My appointment has become

a distraction from its vital work

of broadening access

to higher education

and defending academic freedom".

He got the job because of his role

in co-founding and running this

free school in London.

But comments he's made

in the past on social media

quickly became the story.

Here's an example from 2012.

And in a Spectator article

from the same year, he wrote

schools have got to be

"inclusive" these days.

There was no shortage of people

lining up to condemn

Toby Young for these comments.

This is the chair of

the Education Select Committee.

I thought that if you are put on a

regulator for students, for

universities, it would undermine

confidence in that institution if

you had somebody with those kind of

use in post. I just thought it was

wrong.

Toby Young has his supporters too.

Here's the political

journalist Isabel Oakeshott.

She went on to say his resignation

is a great loss.

Toby Young's departure comes

on the same day as lots of comings

and goings at Number 10.

Here's Theresa May's new cabinet -

her reshuffle has seen more women

and MP's from ethnic minority

backgrounds appointed as ministers.

Not everyone is happy with how that

issue is being described.

Although the Telegraph's senior

political correspondent Kate McCann

makes this point.

For more on all of this let's speak

to Iain Watson at Millbank.

Do you think the Prime Minister was

setting out to suggest that this is

a more diverse approach to senior

government?

Absolutely. That was one

of the key things she wanted to

achieve from this reshuffle. She is

able to say there are 37 female

ministers. Not all round the Cabinet

table. Also more ethnic minority

ministers than ever before, up from

four to nine. The argument being

made by dining street is that

although some are in junior

positions, they are beginning the

construction of a ministerial

pipeline. People getting their first

fit in the ministerial door and will

in future be able to take more

prominent positions. When I was

speaking to Downing Street official

spokesman he wouldn't be drawn on

suggestions that this was about

political correctness or box

ticking. He simply said they've got

the best team to take on Britain's

challengers. Yes, no question the

Prime Minister herself set out to

have a more diverse team and she

herself has said effectively

government ministers should look a

bit more like the country that they

are aspiring to govern. But was a

motivating factor. Of course the

very top team, those at the very top

state either because she felt too

weak to move them in the first blaze

because some of them dug their heels

in.

It's been an interesting day.

Some people say the Prime Minister

is weak and can't reshuffle the

people at the top, you read other

people who say the Brexit Bill

before Christmas has strengthened

her. The fact she can pick these

people with a long-term view shows

she is stronger than ever. What

you're reading?

I think both can

actually be true. On the one hand

she wants to see a more diverse

range of ministers and in due course

perhaps even her eventual successor

will come from a new crop. She wants

to bring on people elected in 2015

and 2017 who may have some specific

skills. Also putting extra ministers

into areas that she regards as a

priority, including the Brexit

Department. Also a new social care

minister and an additional minister

for housing. These are seen as

priorities in areas where she will

be battling against a Labour

government. She didn't set out to

move some of her top team. Many of

the Brexiteers were critical of

Philip Hammond as Chancellor. She

certainly didn't feel strong enough

to take them on and what was also

interesting was when Jeremy Hunt

didn't want to move, then frankly

she didn't move him. In addition to

that, talking about more diversity,

she lost an MP, the Education

Secretary, who comes from a northern

background, who is gay and also

educated at a comprehensive School.

There has been some criticism that

the new cabinet is more reliant on

people who come from fee-paying

schools and Oxbridge than the

cabinet it replaced.

Thank you.

Emmanuel Macron in Beijing.

The very important trade matters

talks he's been holding -

have been somewhat overshadowed

by his effort - in mandarin - to say

"make our planet great again".

SPEAKS MANDARIN.

Here's how Vincent Ni from the BBC's

Chinese Service rated

Mr Macron's efforts.

Very good. In fact this is one of

the most tweeted videos and China's

internet this morning. This has been

seen as a very successful trip. I

think it has been branded and in

practice is a very successful trip

from both sides.

Why is Mr Macron

going down well?

First of all he is

hugely popular, ever since his

election as the youngest ever leader

in France. He has been very popular

in China. He has an amazing story to

tell in China. He has also been very

eloquent in front of the Chinese

leader Xi Jinping. But on the other

hand, the Chinese president also has

something he wants from Macron. For

example he went to one of the Asian

cities in China as an endorsement of

Xi Jinping's initiative.

Is he being

treated as just the president of

France or being seen as a

representative of the EU as well?

I

think he has been seen as both. From

one side he is a representative of

France. He has sent 15 business

delegates to China to sign these

deals. On the other hand Emmanuel

Macron has been working hard to

brand himself as a competent

emerging leader in Europe at a time.

Germany is mired in this complicated

coalition talks. So he is now

branding himself as this leader in a

New Year. On the other hand, he is a

descent of France, he is a leader of

the new Europe.

We are going to

finish the programme on Australia's

Great Barrier Reef. Today we are

being told that the green sea turtle

population on the reef is now 99%

female.

The reason is that the temperature

of the water around

the reef is rising.

Researchers say climate change

is causing that rise.

This is a green turtle -

and their sex is influenced

by temperatures during

their incubation period.

The turtles dig nests in beaches -

and small differences in temperature

can turn the whole nest 100%

male or female.

Here's more on this

from the charity WWF Australia.

This new research has found that of

the Northern population of the green

sea turtle on the Great Barrier

Reef, virtually over the last decade

or two decades, virtually no males

have been born from turtle nests.

This is due to higher temperatures

resulting in higher sand, and of

course the male to female sex ratio

is determined by the temperature of

the sand in which they are laid.

This population is a very important

population for the Great Barrier

Reef but is also globally important.

It is the first time we've been able

to use science to show what is a

really invisible impact of climate

change. No males being born over a

20 year period. The coral bleaching

we've had over the last couple of

years have been very visible, we've

lost nearly 50% of inshore reefs.

This is an invisible threat that

science has been able to shine a

light and.

I'll see you tomorrow at

the same time for more of the

biggest global stories.