22/01/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

Washington is back in business -

for the time being at least.

As the US Senate approved

a short-term fix

on the federal budget.

Protests - from Arab-Israeli

politicians - as Mike Pence says

the US embassy will move

to Jerusalem before

the end of next year.

The woman behind

a one-person protest

in the centre of Tehran

- went missing.

She removed her headscarf -

now with the help BBC Persian

we will find more about who she is.

And we're going to discuss

the Venice restaurant bill

that topped out at more

than 1,000 euros.

The Mayor is getting involved

and I've been speaking with him.

The US government shutdown

is over, for now at least.

It lasted three days and kept

hundreds of thousands

of federal workers at home today.

It's over because the

Senate has agreed to

a short-term spending bill.

President Donald Trump has

responded to the deal

via his press secretary,

Sarah Sanders.

We're pleased to see Senator Schumer

accept the deal that President Trump

put on the deal from the beginning.

A statement from the president of

the United States that I quote, I'm

pleased that Democrats have come to

their senses and are willing to fund

our great military, border patrol

and insurance for vulnerable

children. We will work to solve the

issue of unfair illegal immigration.

We will make a deal if and only if

it is good for our country."

The Democrats agreed to this deal

because Republicans promised

to address a key immigration issue.

But the fall-out continues about why

this shutdown ever happened.

Here's the most senior Democratic

Senator blaming the President.

The great deal-making president sat

on the sidelines. Despite and

because of this frustration, I have

been having conversations with the

Republican leader over the weekend

about a path forward. After several

discussions, offers, counter offers,

the Republican leader and I have

come to an arrangement. We will vote

today to re-open the Government, to

continue negotiating a global

agreement, with the commitment that

if an agreement isn't reached by

February 8th, the Senate will

immediately proceed to consideration

of legislation dealing with Daca.

In this stand-off -

The Republican's wanted

extra military spending,

and money for Donald Trump's wall

between Mexico and the US.

The Democrats wanted to deal

on the status of young immigrants -

often called Dreamers.

A short time ago I asked Jane

O'Brien what this deal has changed.

Not very much. I think that is the

short answer to that. I think it is

a question that Democrats themselves

will be asking. Really what have

they come away with? Because at the

end of the blame game and there is a

lot of blame to go around everybody,

what deal have they got that wasn't

on the table on Friday. They would

say they have won a concession from

the Senate majority leader, Mitch

McConnell that the Senate will look

at legislation that could give

protection to the Dreamers, but

there is no guarantee. And further

more the House has to be party to

any legislation going forward and

there is Donald Trump who has to

sign it. And nobody's really sure

what his views on immigration are.

We also were listening to the White

House press Secretary a few moments

ago and when she was pressed on

specific issues about this, she

seemed to imply that although the

Democrats would like to talk about

the Dreamers, the White House is

looking at more comprehensive

immigration legislation that will be

ambitious and full of pit falls.

This is the impact

the shutdown has had.

Over the weekend, some

services were affected,

including access to national parks

and visitors to the Statue

of Liberty were turned away.

Space X had to delay rocket

tests because it relies

on assistance from the US air force.

But today was the real test.

You could see the difference

on public transport -

thousands of non-essential employees

issued a "furlough" -

a leave of unpaid absence.

In fact the hashtag "Furloughed"

was getting heavy use.

But because it wasn't prolonged,

the cost to workers

hasn't been too great.

Here is Jane on that issue.

The

political stakes were high, because

when people start losing money, they

feel the pain in their pocket, that

is when they turn against their

representatives and we're coming up

to the midterm election and that is

what both parties were worried

about. When this happened last in

2013 the Government was closed for

16 days and that hurt. To a certain

extent the Republicans and the

Democrats have dodged a bullet this

time, because two of the three days

were over the weekend and the

Government is now starting to

re-open again on a Monday. So the

pain has not been that sharp. But

had it carried on, then there would

have been serious problems and I

think both parties would have faced

far more of a political fallout than

they have done so far.

Mike Pence is in Israel.

Here's how the US Ambassador

to Israel described it:

@USAmbIsrael Attending a special

session of the Knesset today,

I was moved to tears as .@VP

Vice President Pence

delivered his extraordinary address.

Here's some of it.

O' our administration will advance

its plan to open an Embassy in

Jerusalem. That will open before the

end of next year.

Next here's Tom Bateman.

They signed a waver putting off the

building of a new Embassy for

another six months, as his

predecessor did. So we know more

about where the centre of gravity in

the United States is. Some in the

state department are wary about

building a new Embassy too quickly.

It would be symbolic and it could be

a symbol for protest among

Palestinians. Now we know it will

happen by the end of 2019. As for

the response, we saw Arab members of

Israeli Parliament walk out. But the

Palestinians have called this a gift

to extremists, that was the word of

their chief negotiatedor negotiator.

They believe it reduces the space

that the PLO has operate in and

their president was in Brussels

trying to drum up support for EU

recognition of a state of Palestine

that is of coursesoming something we

don't have an official word from the

EU, other than to repeat their

previous position on this.

Focus on a woman who made

a remarkable protest

in Tehran in late December.

A video of it has

been widely shared.

This is it.

You can see a young woman

standing on a grey box -

she's waving her hijab as as a white

flag on the end of a stick.

In Iran women have to wear the

hijab. So this is a radical

statement. This is where the protest

took place. The name of the street

means revolution.

And hijabs have been compulsory

for women since the 1979 revolution.

This appears to have been a protest

against that strict dress code.

Well as the video's been shared,

people have been using the hashtag

'Where Is She' on twitter.

Nahid Seif TWEET @NahidSeif says 'No

one knows what happened to the girl

who made a flag from her-own scarf.

"No" to the mandatory Hijab!

She is symbol of courage!' Artists

have been sharing images

that have been inspired

by the protest.

This is one.

One user called Saina Sa -

"Iranian women will never stop

fighting for their freedom".

Well Rana Rahimpour from BBC Persian

came to see us earlier to say

they had more information on this

woman and where she's been.

Here's what she told me.

We don't know her name, but we know

she has been arrested. She is 31

years old and she has a 19 month old

baby A human rights lawyer, she went

to the street which is a very busy

down town street and spoke with the

residents and talked about what

happened on the 27th December. Which

happened to be a Wednesday. And

found out that she has been

arrested. But that is as much as we

know. Why is it significant? It

seems to be part of a campaign which

started online called white

Wednesdays and many women were

taking pictures of themselves

wearing a Whitehead scarf taking it

off. Taking pictures of themselves

and sharing it online. This was the

first time that somebody actually

did it in public. In a street.

Standing fully silent. No

conversation. No chanting. No

demands, just stand there, offering

a white piece of cloth which can be

a symbol of peace.

It is connected

to other protests?

It is difficult

to say there is necessary lay

connection. But the fact that the

other protests started the day after

that shows that there is discontent

throughout the country.

What kind of

punishment would you get for taking

off your hijab like this?

Usually

you might be put in prison for a few

days and you sign a paper and you

come out. Because her case has

become viral, it has turned into

something much bigger than just

offending the laws of the country.

So I think that there might be more

serious punishment against her.

Thank you.

We will report from Venice where

some Japanese tourists got charged

over a thousand euros in a

restaurant for a few steaks.

A court has heard that a man

who drove a van into a crowd

of people near a mosque

in North London last year wanted

to kill as many Muslims as possible.

He denies murder

and attempted murder.

Daniel Sandford reports.

The pandemonium on a summer night

in north London after a large box

van smashed into a crowd

of worshippers at speed, leaving

them strewn across the pavement -

some with life-changing injuries.

And leaving 51-year-old

Makram Ali dead.

Today, his family were at

Woolwich Crown Court to watch

as 48-year-old Darren Osborne

from Cardiff went on trial.

Jonathan Rees QC for the prosecution

said Osborne deliberately drove

into a group of Muslims,

trying to kill as many as possible.

The prosecution say Darren Osborne

became enraged after a BBC drama

about sexual abuse by Pakistani men

in Rochdale, and by the attacks

on London and Manchester.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

The US Senate agrees

a short-term fix

on the federal budget to allow

government to reopen.

More than 400 women's rights

campaigners have held

demonstrations in Nairobi,

demanding the implementation

of a constitutional requirement that

at least one-third of Kenyan MPs

should be women.

At the moment, only 19% are women.

The most active volcano

in the Philippines,

has erupted again.

A huge ash cloud shrouded nearby

villages in darkness.

Officials have now

raised the alert level -

meaning that a hazardous

eruption is imminent.

Major intervention today

from the UK's top soldier -

General Sir Nick Carter has been

talking about Russia.

He's concerned about large

scale military exercises

like this one last year -

several have been right

on the border of NATO countries.

And then there are these

long range missiles.

They've been used by

the Russians in Syria

and they have a range

of over 1,500km.

General Sir Nick Carter thinks this

requires a response.

This was earlier.

I believe our ability to pre-empt or

respond to these threats will be

eroded if we don't match up to them

now. They represent a clear and

present danger. They're not

thousands of miles away, they are

now on Europe's doorstep. And the

character of warfare is making it

much harder for us to recognise true

intentions and thus distinguish

between what is peace and what is

war.

Serving generals don't normally

speak out like this.

It's gone down well amongst

other senior figures

in military circles BOX 4

I'm amazed and delighted. It is

unusual for serving chief to even

talk about threats when those

threats have got serious. But for

them to talk about the need for more

resources, I haven't known that in

my 52 years in the navy. It is

extraordinary.

This is one example

of why some have concerns

about UK defence spending.

The Russians have been developing

these new Armata tanks.

Meanwhile this is the British

Army's Challenger 2 -

it's not been modernised

for 20 years.

And then there's troop numbers.

Britain's armed forces

are now at their smallest

since the Napoleonic wars.

It's gone from 100,000

personnel to 82,000 -

in the last 7 years.

But there's a different angle here.

The UK spends more than

many other countries -

NATO requires of its members

that they spend 2%

of GDP on defence.

The UK is one of only a few

members who do that.

It spends 50 billion dollars.

Well Deborah Haynes from The Times

went to watch that speech

by General Carter earlier and then

came to tell us what

she made of it SSOURCE

This speech says the UK will not be

able to respond if threatened and

the threat of attack is, it is out

there, it is not something that is

not going to happen.

Isn't it a

mistake to see the UK in isolation.

In reality it would act with NATO?

Yes the problem the UK is

experiencing is something that is

experienced across NATO, including

the United States. They have talked

about how their military capability

or their military competitiveness

has eroded. Because we have been

focussing on countser terrorism

operations as opposed to state-based

threats.

Is the answer to Russia

flexing its muscles, the Chinese are

spending more for the west to spend

more. Or should there be diplomacy.

Both soft power is not credible

unless it is backed by hard power.

We have seen across NATO a reduction

in defence spending and a hollowing

of capabilities that we had hoped we

wouldn't need and now it seems in

this time of intensifying threat,

those capabilities are necessary.

Why do you think this speech was

able to go ahead. Talk about the

domestic political environment for

defence spending. Absolutely. We had

a previous Defence Secretary calmed

Michael Fallon. During his time

there was tight control over what

the military chiefs were allowed to

say. He left in November under a bit

of a cloud and a new chap called

Gavin Williamson is there now and he

was confronted with the problem of

threats, a defence budget that is

insufficient to match the ambition

that the Government stated. Instead

of talking up the spending, he is

addressing the deficit.

The US Senate has agreed

a temporary budget to end

the government shutdown.

Let's see what the markets

have made of it.

Samira Hussain.

What Tiss news.

On all three

markets, they ended higher and in

fact they broke records.

Record-breaking highs that. Shows

that markets are not concerned very

much when it comes to some of the

political machinations that are

happening in Washington. What

they're concerned about is the

impact things have on corporations.

This shut down didn't impact

corporations. So it didn't filter

over into US markets.

A quick one

thank you. We will talk again

tomorrow.

The International Monetary Fund has

upgraded its forecasts

for the global economy for this this

year and next.

The International Monetary Fund is

meeting in Davos. 3,000 delegates

are going including leaders from

business, politics and royalty. All

making an appearance. He is a

president who has championed America

first, challenging the concept of

free trade and globalisation. A

powerful audience for him, who have

paid top dollar to attend. Business

leaders including the likes of a

Chinese entrepreneur, Facebook and

IBM to name a few. But it is no just

about deal making, gender equality

is a theme, only 21% of delegates

are women. There are high profile

campaigns now I under way not just

to tackle sexual harassment in the

work place, but to end unfair pay.

Davos is often criticised as just

being a talking shop for the elite.

So the big question is - can it

bring about any lasting change?

The International Monetary Fund has

put its laters report and says there

is growth coming. We heard from

Christine Lagarde the concerns are

will the benefits be shared?

There

are still too many people left out

of recovery and acceleration of

growth. In fact about one fifth of

emerging and developing countries,

one fifth of emerging and developing

countries, saw their per capita

income decline in 2017.

A very big bill in Venice -

for four steaks, a plate of fried

fish, water and service four

japanese tourists got hit for 1,143

euros - that's $1,347!

This is the actual bill.

This happened in the

Italian city of Venice,

in the famous St Mark's Square.

They complained about the bill

to the police and the mayor

of Venice says: TWEET @luigibrugnaro

"If this disgraceful episode

is confirmed, we'll do all we can

to punish those responsible.

We are for justice - always!"

So is this a frequent

problem in Venice?

Here's Marco Gasparinetti

from a Venice residents' forum.

I would say this may happen in many

different cities, Paris included.

There were so many million tourists

are there just for a day. And some

cowboys think that these people are

kind of meal cows, because they will

never come back again and they can

be Joe charged. -- Overcharged.

The

mayor sounds angry.

We welcome this

change of at lewd. Last year when

something happened to British

citizens having lunch in a

restaurant in Venice and they

complained in Britain, they wrote a

letter to the city mayor. We very

much welcome the change of attitude

and we trust the local police, who

is investigating this specific

issue.

As I said, you would expect

to pay more for lunch in St Mark's

Square. How does the city decide

what an appropriate bill is?

No,

this is left to the free market.

This was not in the St Mark's. I

think there is a misunderstanding,

because some people may think this

happened close to a restaurant close

to St Mark's Square. It was not a

restaurant. It was a kind of pub.

That is why the price looks

stranger.

Did these four Japanese

tourists pay?

Yes they did. With

credit card. But they were not given

any receipt which under Italian

legislation is compulsory. It is

fiscal.

Can they expect to get their

money back?

This is the question. I

wouldn't be sure about that. Because

there is an ongoing investigation,

we would trust the local police.

Next time, next time, hopefully not,

but these things shouldn't happen.

But any British citizen who finds a

similar situation the advice is to

call, there is a number and they

speak English.

If you're in Venice

and you get a big bill, speak to the

police. Speak to you in a minute.

The weather for the week ahead

coming up in half an hour. We will

talk of the milder weather in the UK

and you can see that mild air due to

a south-westerly wind driving

through the UK. The cold air still

under an area of high pressure in

eastern Europe. The dividing line is

this front bringing snow across the

Alps for a time before things calm

down. That snow likely to cause some

disruptions later this week we have

the world leaders gathering in Davos

to discuss their annual World

Economic Forum and know has been

falling through the Alps. This is

Davos where we had half a metre of

fresh snow. In the last couple of

weeks we have had over three to four

metres of snowfall in the alpine

resorts. Plenty of snow to come

through Monday. Once we have got

through Monday into Tuesday, things

will quiet down and we will see more

sunshine and the south-westerly flow

driving the milder air in. You can

see the difference across western

Europe, 12 or 13 degrees, but still

cold. Moscow seeing a day time

maximum of minus 8. We had some

stormy weather moving through the

great lakes. That has cleared and

things has quietened down. It is

windy in North Merck and America and

we have another system moving in.

Some of that colder air is starting

to push back across the Great Lakes

and that will introduce something

fresher for the next few days.

Nothing like the bitterly cold

eweather we have seen of late. But

temperatures in New York down to two

degrees on Thursday. But we keep

some blue sky too. Moving to Asia

and things have been cold and

stormy. We have the cold air across

northern China, Korean peninsula.

The snow leaving Japan. Things the

largely quieter. Some heavy rain in

the southern Philippines N

Australia, some stormy weather in

the northern territories. We need to

keep an eye on that. Further south

it is not as hot as it has been,

that extreme heat easing. Certainly

welcome new tosser the tennis. But

things will get -- welcome news for

the tennis. That is it.

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source,

The US Government shutdown has been

stopped after three days. The US

Senate has approved a short-term

funding fix.

Turkey ignores international

calls for restraint

as it continues its incursion

into Kurdish-held territory

in northern Syria.

George Weah is sworn

in as the new president of Liberia -

he told thousands of people

at the inauguration in Monrovia

that he will do his 'fair share'

meet their expectations.

If you have questions on any of the

stories we are covering, please use

the hashtag:

#BBCOS.

It is day three of the Turkish

offensive against Kurdish fighters

in north-western Syria. We were last

week reporting on the Turkish

military build-up. All on the

Turkish side of the border, but all

of the focus on an enclave just

inside Syria. Turkey says the

Kurdish militia there are

terrorists.

TRANSLATION:

We will handle it.

There is this stepping back from it.

APPLAUSE

We discussed these with our Russian

friends. We have an agreement with

them. We also discussed it with

other coalition forces and the

United States.

Our spokesperson is very close to

the area, he has been telling us

what he has been seeing and hearing.

The Turkish artillery is still

bombing the area. From morning until

now it hasn't stopped. At the same

time the Turkish army declared that

they took over one of the strategic

positions on the eastern side this

afternoon. But has also come after a

declaration of the Turkish army,

saying they took control of 11

points. Five of them are Kurdish

villages in the north and also the

western side where we are standing

now. The situation is very difficult

for the Turkish army because they

are still facing a very difficult

situation under this bad weather and

also the geographic reasons, because

there is a mountain. That has made

the movement for the Turkish army

very difficult. At the same time we

must mention that the Kurdish

militia is still firing rockets

towards the Turkish villages. And

today many rockets landed on the

Turkish side. That is what Turkish

medics said. Many of the casualties

have been recorded on the Turkish

side.

See all of this in the context

of the manoeuvring around

who will control what in a post-war

Syria.

In this case, Turkey wants

to minimise territory that's

controlled by Kurds.

Our Istanbul correspondent

Selin Girit has interviewed

Turkey's Presidential Spokesperson.

Here is some of that exchange.

Was this operation absolutely

necessary?

It was because this is a

right that has been given to Turkey

as a self-defence within the UN

Charter Article 50 one. Turkey is a

Nato ally. We expect our Nato allies

to support us in our fight against

terrorism.

Many people would say you

are invading another country, Syria,

unilaterally.

We are not, we're

eliminating terrorist threat. That's

why we said we had no interest in

any Syrian territory.

Is Turkey

moving away from Nato and the

Western alliance?

Sometimes our

public feels that Nato is not paying

enough attention to Turkey's

legitimate security concerns. The

Syrian war has entered its seventh

year. We have had many casualties on

our borders. We fought against the

Daesh terrorists, and other

terrorist organisations, and we've

received little help from Nato. Our

public keep asking us, where is

Nato? But that doesn't mean that we

are running away from Nato, or

nature was running away from Turkey.

Key players are making

their feelings known.

Russia is indicating it's

sympathetic to Turkey on this -

that matters because the Russians

are now the dominant

military force in Syria.

The UK and US have

acknowledged Turkey's right

to secure its border -

but they want the fighting to stop.

Here's more on the wider

implications of this

from Rasha Qandeel of BBC Arabic.

There is no way out unless there is

an agreement between the US and

Russia over what should happen in

northern Syria and on the borders of

Turkey with Syria. Because the US is

basically locked between two allies,

Turkey under Nato, and the Kurds,

the other ally fighting Isis. There

is no way out unless there is a

clear agreement between the two big

forces, the US and Russia, over

Syria. Until now that doesn't seem

to be coming under way. The Russians

said they were concerned about the

Turkish operation in Syria but they

didn't come anywhere near

afterwards. The US, the scale of

statements from the Department of

State, has completely verged between

total support to the Kurds, to that

they are acknowledging the concerns

of Turkey and thinking the operation

can go but must be very limited in

time and scope. It's a bit confusing

for everyone, Trump's take on this.

Why are the Kurdish militia so

committed to this small part of

Syria?

This is the key to the whole

North of having a complete effect in

the North. If they managed to

complete their existence on the

north, that means a safe area for

them and a point of confirming

authority of the US if they keep

supporting them.

This is a military

mismatch, isn't it, between the

Turkish military and a relatively

small amount of Kurdish militia?

Many observers think that.

Especially the military ones. There

is a difference between them whether

the STF, the group that is on the

border is supported by the US, or

the other people's protection unit,

which is following another Kurdish

party. They are the ones that fired

the two rockets towards Turkey the

day before yesterday.

Everyday we bring you biggest global

stories. That is the situation at

three Turkey and Syria. Next,

Liberia.

George Weah has been sworn

in as the new president of Liberia.

It took place in a packed stadium

on the outskirts of Monrovia.

This is a moment of huge

significance - for Weah

he trades footballing stardom

for political power.

For Liberia - it's the first time

peaceful transition of power

in more than 70 years.

Tamasin Ford reports.

It's going to be the biggest match

of his life, South Africa's first

elected female, to the continent's

first football head of state.

Expectations are high but his fans

are confident. The

I love him so

much. I am here for our country. I

am so happy.

Weah Made his fame in

the 90s while Liberia was fighting

14 years of civil war. Weah Is sworn

in as the 24th president of Liberia.

What better way to do it than at a

football stadium? Africa's most

celebrated footballer is now the

24th president of Liberia. Fans here

are euphoric. He is called the

country giant here. They are

desperate that his glittering

football success can be translated

off the pitch.

We want to narrow the

gap between the rich and the poor.

We want to make sure that the

resources do not end up in the

pockets of others.

This marks the

first peaceful handover of power in

Liberia for more than 70 years. He

was an inspiration on the pitch, now

there is huge pressure to do the

same in politics.

We do our best to pack all of the

stories in. Of course, there are

more than we can get into one hour,

you can see the rest on the BBC News

website and you can use the BBC news

app.

At least six people have died of the

Democratic Republic of Congo during

protests calling on the president to

go. He was supposed to step down at

the end of his second term in 2016

but he didn't. Police have used live

ammunition and tear gas at these

protests which have been taking

place at some of the most

significant cities across the

country. Bearing in mind these

demonstrations were banned but went

ahead anyway. Our correspondent has

more on the story. You may find some

of the scenes in the report

disturbing.

These were the scenes on the streets

of contrast on Sunday morning. This

is the aftermath. Witnesses say this

16-year-old was shot dead outside of

charge in the Congolese capital.

TRANSLATION:

They fired at least

five bullets. My older sister lost a

lot of blood. We were there. There

was nothing we could do.

The UN says six people died and 49

others were injured after security

forces fired live rounds and tear

gas to disperse the crowds. The

Government denies this. Officials

say two people were killed and nine

police officers injured. Despite the

Government ban on protests,

demonstrators marched on Sunday

morning accompanied by Catholic

priests. They are calling on their

president to step down. The

president was expected to resign

more than a year ago after the

country's influential Catholic

church helped negotiate a deal, but

elections have been delayed until

December 2018.

TRANSLATION:

The Congolese people

are determined. We are fed up. We

need real elections.

He needs to be

removed from this country. He no

longer wants to respect the law. He

no longer even wants to respect the

agreement. He no longer wants to

respect the constitution.

The Catholic Church remained a key

voice of the opposition. In December

it called for a Government protest

which led to at least six deaths.

Now Pope Francis has called for

peace.

TRANSLATION:

Let's think about the

Congo now. From this square. And all

of these young people. I ask the

authorities, those responsible, and

to everyone in that wonderful

country to put all of their effort

and work into avoiding all forms of

violence.

Tensions remain high in the country

after dozens were arrested during

the protests. Although elections are

scheduled for the end of the year

the Government crackdown over the

weekend has led many to lack

confidence that it will actually

take place.

If you go back just over a month on

outside source we were telling you

that Iraq's Prime Minister was

saying his forces had defeated the

eye S group in Iraq. -- defeated the

IS in Iraq.

But there are still daily

attacks on Iraqi soldiers.

Most are close to

border with Syria -

IS remains active there too.

Nafiseh Kohn-avard from BBC Persian

has spent time with the US army

in a place al-Qaim on the Iraqi side

of the border.

This is her report.

This train station has seen many

battles pass-through. The invasion

of Iraq and the fight against

Al-Qaeda and two months ago it saw

one of the final stanza of the

militants who called themselves

Islamic State. This was an American

base used back in 2008 to fight

Al-Qaeda fighters. It now, as you

can see, stands completely

devastated after it was recently won

over from Isis militants. The Prime

Minister declaring victory. But

months later this station which sits

on the border with Syria is not at

peace.

The threat is still very real

from Isis. In the past ten days

there have been attacks almost

daily. Attacking the border

checkpoints, destroying Iraqi tanks,

vehicles, there has been many

casualties.

Coalition forces are now

placed here. They have been fighting

attacks from across the border. They

gave us exclusive access to their

operations, covering one of the most

challenging areas of the country.

This area is a complicated mosaic of

different tribes and different law

enforcement and security

organisations.

The most popular are

the Iranians backed units. They have

been key in fighting IS. This was

some action recently on the border.

There is an uneasy understanding

between the Americans and many of

the uranium backed fighters. They

share a common enemy. But are far

from friends. -- Iranians backed

fighters. For now they say they are

focused on dealing with the threat

from IS and they know it could be a

long fight.

I don't know if we will

ever be able to say that Isis is

over. What I think will happen one

day is once the Iraqi security

forces and the Government of Iraq

and people of Iraq can work together

to create conditions where Isis

looks around and realises it no

longer has a place to insert itself,

I think on that day we will wake up

and realise that Isis is gone. It

won't be a decoration it'll be a

realisation. -- declaration.

But

that day is not yet here. They are

still clearly a threat.

Much more background on the

situation in Iraq online. We must

turn to a story which has been

getting lots of coverage in the UK.

The leader of UKIP Henry Bolton

is refused to step down.

The leader of UKIP Henry Bolton has

refused to step down.

Much to the consternation of many

senior members of the party.

UKIP's national executive committee

passed a vote of no confidence

in Henry Bolton yesterday -

all related to racist texts sent

by his ex-girlfriend.

This was Mr Bolton earlier.

I shall respect the next steps

in the constitutional process.

And will therefore not be

resigning as party leader.

I shall repeat, I will not be

resigning as party leader.

Instead, during the next four weeks,

I shall be calling for the

coordination and mobilisation

of all leave campaigns to ensure the

Government delivers full

independence from the European Union

in all areas of Government

and administration.

And I shall be calling

for the party itself to

mobilise in order to

support that effort.

This is the most pressing matter

facing our nation, and I am

determined not to allow the NEC

to distract the party away from

participating in the

independence debate.

Without reflecting at all

on its individual members, the NEC,

as presently constituted,

is unfit for purpose.

Henry Bolton also says he's

going to overhaul the party.

Here's Leila Nathoo.

This would have been a provocative

statement from Henry Bolton. Many of

his colleagues wanted him to do the

right thing, in their eyes, and

stand aside for the good of the

party. They said this episode with

his ex Govett had been a damaging

distraction for the party. But he

thinks the opposite, that the

leadership and attaining these

thoughts of a change at this time

would be the distraction. He has dug

his hand in, lay down the gauntlet

to his party, he has said that it is

time for change and time to reform,

and he's the man do it. He has

challenged the NEC. He has said that

it should be cleared out and that

they should drain the Swan. He was

hoping that the statement would calm

the atmosphere in Ukip. I think this

has done the opposite. Before that

general meeting of Ukip members, who

will consider the vote of

no-confidence in Henry Bolton, I

think the next few weeks are going

to be pretty fractures. -- pretty

Crows.

Scientists think they're

as good at solving problems

as seven year old kids.

Here's some evidence.

This is a Caledonian Crow showing

off tool-making skills.

This bird using its

bill to make a hook.

Then it uses the hook

to retrieve food.

what is remarkable is not the use of

the hook, although that is

impressive, but also construct the

tall you are using, well, that puts

the Crow in a small group because

only humans and crows have shown

themselves capable of making a hook

and using it. Even our closest

relatives, the chimpanzees, cannot

make them.

Victoria Gill is our Science

correspondent and she explained how

scientists have made this discovery.

They can make hooks, it was spotted

20 years ago, that was just

something which was seen in the

wild. Researchers thought they were

using sticks to winkle food out of

little crevices. They thought they

were told -- tool using birds. They

were hard to reach. But because they

were seen to be potentially

interesting and could reveal so much

about this piece of technology they

have started using spontaneously in

the wild, these researchers from

Saint Andrews built an aviary on

that island so they could study the

birds. Bring in birds temporarily,

put them to the test, see how they

behave, and that is how this new

research has been carried out.

They

are not just using hooks but they

are making them, as well.

Exactly.

The fact you can see in these

experiments where they have time to

how good they are when using the

hooks at finding food, you can see

how carefully they craft them in

this video. This is a new Caledonian

Crow. In one of the aviaries. They

take their time. They strip away the

plant material. They turned the

engine to a perfect, Sharp hook.

That will be more effective than

just using a twig, which are the

birds have been seen to do, in

capturing the prey they want to get.

That is why it has evolved. They are

putting them to the test and seeing

how well they work. Researchers have

said they have seen technology being

developed in the animal kingdom. A

reason why it would evolve

spontaneously.

Very exciting. Thus

this animal shows signs of being

intelligent in other ways? Is it

markedly different from other birds?

They are an intelligent group of

birds. Crows and magpies, are the

ones we are familiar with, but these

guys, and a distant relative, the

Hawaiian Crow, who also evolved on a

tiny island with this unique

ecology. There are very few

predators. They also show signs of

using tools. Maybe it is something

to do with this island effect, they

are left to their own devices to be

able to naturally develop these

skills and this invention which has

something to do with this. What are

these researchers are looking to

find out is what that could tell us

about how technology developed in

human life, as well, and how our

ancestors developed fishing hooks

for the first time all of those

thousands of years ago.

Do they

teach each other? Do they share

knowledge?

Good question. They have

seen some signs that the older birds

are refining and fine tuning these

hooks to make them better. They seem

to be teaching one another. They

have been studying them for such a

short amount of time on an

revolutionary timescale that they

don't know exactly how this

knowledge is shared. That is

something for the future. Where will

they go next? Are they making the

technology better? Are they learning

from each other and creating a

culture of technology? These are all

the questions we want to find out.

Thanks to her for coming by.

Remember this guy from

the 2016 Rio Olympics?

This is Pita Taufatofua

who was Tongan flag bearer

at the opening ceremony -

and pictures of his bare-chested

outfit went viral.

He was in Rio as a

Taekwondo at competitor.

He didn't find much much success.

Now he's trying cross

country skiing.

He's the first Tongan to qualify

for the Winter Olympics and he'll be

in Pyeongchang next month.

The Olympic Games start on the 9th

of February.

Of course Tonga is a

small Pacific island -

lots of palm trees and

beaches less so snow.

Here's Pita training on roller skis.

This was a promotional video he was

making to raise funds to get to the

Olympics. He has managed to do that.

He hadn't seen snow

until two years ago.

We will keep an eye on how he does.

Thank you very much for watching.

See you tomorrow. Goodbye.