31/01/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

We are going to go straight to

Washington. President Trump gave his

first State of the union address. We

will hear some of the main clips

from Bath and fact checked some of

the main claims.

Theresa May has started her state

visit to China. We will look at the

trade relationship both countries

are trying to create.

The world has been enjoying a superb

blue blood Moon, a triple lunar

spectacle. We will see it in Los

Angeles and just north of London.

The BBC's from China editor Carrie

Gracie has answered questions about

pay and equality, questions posed by

members of Parliament. The BBC

director-general also faced

questions.

President Trump proclaimed

a new American moment in last

night's State of the Union speech.

He's got low approval

ratings generally -

but this went down well.

CBS showed 75% of viewers approved.

65% said it made them feel

proud to be American.

35% said it made them feel safer.

A majority of viewers also

credited him with the current

buoyant state of the economy.

Right, let's hear

some of this speech.

First here's the President on trade.

America has also finally turned the

page on decades of unfair trade

deals. They sacrificed our

prosperity and chipped away at our

companies, our jobs and our wealth.

Our nation has lost its wealth, but

were getting it back so fast. The

era of economic surrender is totally

over. From now on we expect trading

relationships to be fair and, very

importantly, reciprocal.

APPLAUSE

Whenever there is a big American

political moment, I turned to the

BBC News website for Anthony

Zurcher. He described a smoother

trumpet the same hard edges. You

will see what he was talking about

in this clip on immigration -- a

smoother Trump with.

Under the current broken system a

single immigrants can bring in

virtually unlimited numbers of

distant relatives. Under our plan,

we focus on the immediate family by

limiting sponsorships to spouses and

minor children.

APPLAUSE

This comment fact, is our new

American moment.

There has never been a better time

to start living the American dream.

So to every citizen watching at home

tonight, no matter where you have

been or where you have come from,

this is your time. If you work hard,

if you believe in yourself, if you

believe in America and you can dream

anything, you can be anything. And

together we can achieve absolutely

anything.

Mr Trump says he wants the

detention centre at Guantanamo Bay

to be kept open. That reverses an

Obama directive to close it,

although President Obama never got

that close to see what happened.

This is Luis Fajardo from BBC

Monitoring in Miami.

President Trump's announcement

regarding Guantanamo did not cause a

huge amount of surprise in Miami.

People see this as a controversial

issue but they went through eight

years of waiting for President Obama

to fulfil his promise of closing 110

oh, so they did not expect a major

change in that sense.

Regarding immigration it was not a

huge announcement either given that

many people understand there is a

long political journey to go on

until this bill becomes a reality,

if it ever does. And the idea of

President Trump of stopping what he

calls chain migration would

disproportionately affect the Latin

community in the US, where many

immigrants have the dream of

bringing their relatives to the US.

In general it was not a huge

surprise or a major reaction in the

Latin American community.

The President made

several calls for unity -

most leading politicians

in the US do.

It rarely happens -

didn't last night.

Covers every time the Republicans

stood up and clapped and gave Mr

Trump a standing ovation, the

Democrats sat in stony silence.

Here is Elizabeth Warren.

That gives you an idea of how far

away we are from political unity in

Washington at the moment.

A number of people were

invited onto stage -

veterans, first responders.

And take a look at these pictures

of the parents of Otto Warmbier,

the American who died

after being detained in North Korea,

and the North Korean

defector Ji Seong-ho.

No doubting who they wanted

to see that last guest.

Not sure if Kim Jong

Un was watching.

Kevin Kim from BBC Korean was.

President Trump described North

Korea as one of the worst

dictatorships in the world, a

country that oppresses its people.

To highlight these points he had a

special guest in the crowd that

introduced. The parents of an

American who travel to North Korea,

was arrested, sentence and later

died. Also in the crowd was a

prominent North Korean human rights

activist. During the famine in North

Korea he lost his limbs. When his

name was called out by Mr Trump, he

raised his crutches high in the hour

for everyone to see. Both were key

individuals that President Trump

wanted to show what North Korea, in

his view, is really like.

Day one of Theresa May's

state visit to China.

Her leadership has been

under severe pressure -

but she started this trip by saying,

"I'm not a quitter".

There is a long-term job to be done,

she said.

In terms of China, one minister has

described Mrs May as "cautious" -

and not David Cameron's "headlong

rush to be China's best friend".

That is veiled criticism of May's

predecessor, David Cameron, and his

approach to China.

Here's Theresa May in Beijing.

The Prime Minister with the Chinese

Prime Minister giving a statement.

She warned the Chinese Prime

Minister that China that it must

respect international rules on trade

and intellectual property.

But let's be clear -

the tone of this trip is positive.

Brexit means a new close

trading relationship

with China is essential.

That is the priority.

The two countries are expected

to reveal $13 billion deals over

the next few days but that's a small

step - China is still only Britain's

eighth biggest trading partner.

The UK wanted to shift up the list.

Theresa May included

a stop in Wuhan.

Not a major city in Chinese

terms but it's a hub

for higher education in China.

Here's the Prime Minister

meeting students and staff.

Britain is a high

performer in this sector.

The Prime Minister is there to make

more connections and develop more

business.

Theresa May will also return home

with China having lifted a ban

on imports of British beef.

Good news for UK farmers.

Let's get more from Steve

McDonnell in Beijing.

Theresa May has been accompanied by

50 business leaders, all prepared to

cut deals right now. This delegation

is leading with its best hand. What

does Britain have that China's vast

army of consumers might want?

Education services, tourism,

automobiles, all available to this

vast Chinese public. I say that, but

if Theresa May wants to pump China

up the run of its ladder of the

countries it is dealing with, all

you need is the smallest advance in

percentage terms and this can bring

large dividends. For example, here

we have a quarter of the world's

population, they are all becoming

more affluent, all wanting to buy

goods and Theresa May wants a piece

of the action. Imagine a 2% change

or something along those lines, for

these companies involved it can mean

vast profits.

That's what's in it for Britain,

but of course it's a two way street.

Earlier I asked Vincent Ni

of the BBC's Chinese service

what China wants out

of the relationship.

He is a regular on Outside Source.

The Chinese press came up with a

term to call Theresa May, which is

auntie May. But if you speak to

reasonable Chinese analysts they

will strike a more cautionary tone.

They know Theresa May is mired in a

leadership question back home here

in the UK, they are not sure how

long was Prime Minister will be

around for.

With reference to this

trip, what do the Chinese want out

of it?

They want a market in the UK,

but there is also a sense that the

UK is losing importance in Europe

because of this Brexit, because for

a long time the Chinese take the UK

is the gateway to the European

market, especially western Europe.

The UK is gradually leaving the

European Union, so the Chinese will

need to look the destinations. After

this Brexit vote we have already

seen the Chinese investing heavily

in other western European countries

like Germany and France. We know

that the French president Emmanuel

Macron went to China ahead of

Theresa May's visit. This is a very

big circle to the British

politicians that China is still

interested in Europe, and it is

shifting its focus away from the UK.

So we started with stories from

China and the US, in a few minutes

we will have a story much closer to

home. Senior figures within the BBC,

the director-general added former

China editor Carrie Gracie, have

been taking questions from MPs on

pay and equality. We will see what

they said.

MPs and peers are set to leave

the Palace of Westminster

during a proposed multi-billion

pound refurbishment

after the Commons approved a motion

calling for a full and timely decant

by 236 votes to 220

a majority of 16.

During a debate on the Restoration

and Renewal plans, the Leader

of the Commons Andrea Leadsom said

MPs and peers would not leave

the Houses of Parliament

until 2025 at the earliest.

Here's our political

correspondent Eleanor Garnier.

The key thing is if the move would

not start until 2025 would have had

another election by them, with a new

Government and Parliament could they

change their minds on this whole

thing? This big decision on what to

do about the state of the Palace of

Westminster has gone on for quite

some time and there have been calls

for a decision to be made quickly,

because the state of the palaces so

serious.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

President Trump says his

first year in office has

advanced his mission to make America

great again, but his opponents say

millions of people are left behind.

Let me take you some of the main

stories from BBC World Service.

Many of Kenya's privately owned

TV and radio stations

are still off air.

This started yesterday

when they attempted to broadcast

the opposition leader Rail Odinga

swearing himself in as

"the people's president."

That is from BBC Swahili.

An Istanbul court has

released on bail the head

of Amnesty International in Turkey.

Taner Kilich is accused of being

a member of a terrorist group -

and has been in detention since

June.

He and Amnesty dismiss

the allegation.

And this is Wikie the whale.

She's the first whale

say English words -

apparently she can count,

say hello and the name Amy.

I don't know if you can't quite make

them out!

Being able to learn new sounds

is very rare amongst mammals.

And, presumably, all animals!

Senior figures from the BBC

have been answering MPs

questions about gender,

pay and equality.

Carrie Gracie stood down

as the BBC's China editor

in protest at pay inequality.

We also heard from the

BBC's director general

and director of news.

Carrie was first to speak.

I have said I don't want any more

money, I'm not a physical liability

to the BBC. They are trying to throw

money at need to resolve the

problem. This will not result my

problem. My problem will be resolved

by an acknowledgement that my work

is of equal value to the men who are

served alongside as an international

editor. An apology would be nice, I

note that the BBC says it is very

grateful to men, last Friday, taking

a voluntary pay cut. They have never

said they are very grateful to me

for not taking a pay rise at the

time.

Next Tony Hall, Director

General of the BBC.

He acknowledged that the BBC

inadvertently underpaid

Carrie Gracie for years.

Here's some of what we heard.

We got something is wrong. I wish

that we hadn't got those things

wrong, but we did get something is

wrong, I think we should be clear

about that. Perhaps I might also say

that I hold Carrie in the greatest

regard, I was lucky enough to spend

some time with her in Beijing when

she was there as editor. I think she

is an absolutely first rate editor

and Houston first rate work for the

BBC, and I do not want in any way to

undermine what she has done, she has

been extremely good.

For his analysis on this I spoke to

the BBC media Reddit, Amol Rajan.

It is extraordinary, especially for

the first half.

The BBC's media

editor.

Carrie Gracie's testimony

was explosive, punchy, personal,

there was interesting new data.

There was a representative from the

National Union of Journalists. Then

when the BBC management, Tony Hall

and his deputy, were in front of the

committee, it was a bureaucratic

wall of noise. There are two

parallel conversations. Carrie

Gracie spoke about the specific, as

she sees a comment justices of her

case the past record of the BBC.

Tony Hall and the others from the

BBC were keen to talk about the

future. And that Umaga conversations

never got together. We discovered to

my clippings, and above all the BBC

acknowledged it got certain things

wrong and for the first time in

public and said there is a

difference between an automatic --

North America editor and China

editor. Had she been in North

America, she would have been paid

more.

Gillian Howard is an

employment lawyer. Here is her take

on the situation the BBC is in.

The

law was passed in 1970 and enacted

in 1975, which required employers to

give men and women equal pay when

doing the same job or a job of

similar nature, or work of equal

value.

It has taken an awfully long time

for employers to wake up, and that

is what they had to do. Within pay

grades and pay scales and players

can of course give extra pay within

a pay scale for skills,

qualifications, added value,

experience in the job, that kind of

thing, irrespective of gender. But

what happens is, and what has

happened at the BBC, the women seem

to have been rewarded for those

things and the women have not -- the

men seem to have been rewarded.

You

talk about pay bands, the law does

not say how big the bands can beat

and in some cases, whether the BBC

or other companies, they are so wide

as to what must be meaningless.

If

they are, the employers offending

the law and basically has an

unlawful pay scale. The tribunal is

appointed independent job evaluation

expert to go in and evaluate the

jobs and make the pay scales

sensible.

You use the phrase work of

equal value. In the example of

broadcasting, which we are focused

on today, it is incredibly

subjective?

It is partly subjective,

but there are objective factors

which employers are meant to take

into account, such as

responsibility, accountability,

skills, the added value brought to

the job, those sorts of things. The

effort and skills required in the

job. There are objective factors

which employers are required to use

under the legislation but, yes,

there are also subjective elements,

of course.

This law dates back to the 1970s. As

you look at the way it has been

implemented for 40 years or more and

you look at what is happening at the

BBC now, how significant do you

think it is, the amount of pressure

brought to bear on the BBC systems?

If you mean Carrie Gracie and her

female colleagues, what they are

doing now, they are starting a

revolution. It is 40 years' time

delay but they are doing it.

A

revolution at the BBC, or bigger?

Much bigger. I believe that will

give great confidence to other women

in the companies who, for many, many

years, has been downgraded in pay

and promotion prospects,

discriminated against when they come

back from maternity leave. I think

it will be a revolution for a of

other employers.

If you want to see more clips from

Carrie Gracie, the National Union of

Journalists and the four

representatives of BBC management,

including director general Tony

Hall, it is on the BBC News website.

Three of the big tech giants -

Facebook, Microsoft and eBay -

have all announced results

in the last half an hour.

Dave Lee, our North

America technology

correspondent, joins me now.

He is in San Francisco. Busy reading

while I bring him in. Somebody has

said in my ear that Facebook is up

by 40 something percent? Is that

right?

There are some incredibly

interesting metrics. I am reading

through them now because they have

just been published. Facebook saying

that their changes to the news feed

have already resulted in 50 million

less hours being spent on the

platform, which will have a big

impact on how many adverts are being

seen. As part of that announcement,

Mark Zuckerberg has attached a

statement to these earnings which

goes into more depth than usual, he

goes back to the talking points he

has made recently. I will read you a

small bit comment 2018 we focused on

making sure Facebook is not just fun

to use but also good for people's

well-being and society. What he is

doing is basically saying, look,

this will impact our network, it is

already impacting, but it is

important we have sacrifice right

now to protect the long-term health

of Facebook. Shares around by about

4% at the moment.

What about eBay

and the others?

I am only reading

them as they drop. Microsoft had a

strong earnings results,

unfortunately I have no chance to

pick through them yet.

Let's talk

about Facebook more than, I guess

the issues the Zuckerberg is money

is not necessarily the number one

factor long-term, he needs to fend

off criticism and regulators?

I

think the concern is the problem has

two sides. They are not quite sure

how Facebook will solve what could

be seen as a societal problem of

large, also the pressure put on

Facebook to get onto this problem

immediately could be quite

expensive. Compared to this time

last year, Facebook is 47% more

employees, a huge amount of growth

for what was already quite a big

company. Over 2018 they will hire an

extra 10,000 employees to police

various parts of the network, be

more stringent on what kind of

adverts are right on its network. --

adverts arrive on its network. It

will be very costly and may not even

work. This is just the beginning of

Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook trying

to take hold of the situation.

Dave, I will let you get back to

those figures. Thank you very much.

We try to bring you the latest

information as a concern, but asking

Dave to jump ahead and tell me

things he has not yet got was asking

a bit much of him! Follow him on

Twitter for his analysis as he

digests those figures.

The US Federal Reserve has left

rates unchanged at 1.25 to 1.5%,

but it is the last time any Fed

event will be chaired

by Janet Yellen.

She's the first woman to hold

the post and the first head

of the Fed not to remain in the post

after the election

of a new president.

Yogita Limaye is in New York. A

woman of huge stature, whatever your

politics, who will be missed, I

guess, by many people?

Yes, she

steered the economy through tough

times, these with the economy in

pretty good state. Growth rate of

2.3% in 2017. That is not the key

job of the Federal Reserve, the key

job is fixing interest rates and

ensuring it keeps inflation and

unemployment in check. On her watch,

and employment at 4.1% went to a 17

year low. Like a trader told me

today, she was a good leader but not

necessarily creative.

Thank you.

Just a quick conversation today. We

finish with a report about how

charity shops in the UK perhaps do

not want all the clothes are

donating.

Pity today because my clothes. One

minute yellow is the colour, next

week Denham, tomorrow it is mint

green fur, anyone?!

If you are like me, you try to

lessen the guilt of your fashion

fickleness by dropping off some of

your barely worn clothes at a

charity shop.

And I am not alone.

They come every

single day. From 10am to 6pm, a

continuous drop in donations.

Donations to Oxfam have increased

over the past year, but only a

fraction of the clothes here are

actually sold through the store. The

unsold inventory is bought by

distributors who sell them to other

countries, where they are resold in

second-hand markets like this one in

Uganda. It used to be a virtuous

cycle, except increasingly these

countries don't want the second-hand

clothes. Data from the United

Nations shows the used clothing

import business has declared

recently. That has hurt companies

that buy the unsold charity shop

clothes. So what to do with all of

these unwanted clothes? Retailers

say the future will involve fully

recycling these clothes into fabrics

that we might be able to use again.

In a couple of minutes we will fact

checks of Donald Trump's state of

the union address. See you then. --

fact check some of Donald Trump's

state of the union address.

Good evening. New Zealand has been

one of the Big Brother stories this

week, and again tonight. What a

week. -- one of the big weather

stories. Temperatures got close to

40 degrees. Part of the South Island

had tried declared on Tuesday, and

with a certain amount by Rinnie we

are seeing flooding rains arriving

due to the amalgamation of a former

Tropical Cyclone Joyce in forwards

and a weather front moving out of

Australia. They are joining forces

across the South Island. We can see

well over a month's worth of rain

just over a date falling onto very

parched and dry ground, causing lots

of run-off, lots of surface water

flooding. The rain eases through

Thursday and Friday, we will see

severe storms push across the North

Island, then back to quieter

weather.

A few showers and a cool breeze.

Across the other side of the

Pacific, very cold air across Canada

and the north-east United States. At

the opposite end of the scale, to

the south-west, very warm air in

place. In California, temperatures

have got over 30 degrees, over 90

Fahrenheit in one or two spots. The

warm air stays in place through the

week, further plungers of Caldara.

Concentrate on California, here is a

satellite image from this time last

year. White air and into Nevada is

where snow lies after a bumper

snowfall. The snow was very

important to Californians, as I will

tell you. Not as much snow on the

map this year, all the warmth has

melted down the snow pack is crucial

to Californians in the summer,

because it helps to supply the

water.

Returning to Cape Town and their

water supply issues, it is the next

stage in water restrictions in the

city, the water is running out. Once

the reservoirs get to around 13%

capacity, taps will be turned off,

which could be as soon as the 12th

of April. There is no rain forecast

this week. Very warm conditions, if

it is not worn it is windy and both

help to evaporate water, causing the

reservoirs to drop quicker.

The other side of Africa has had the

first snow in about five decades in

parts of Morocco. Cold air here, dry

at the moment but very windy

conditions of call. The Canaries and

Madeira will take as do the night

and into Thursday. Frequent Henry

and thundery showers across parts of

southern Spain and into Gibraltar. A

brighter, drier less breezy day on

Thursday. It will be windy across

northern parts of Europe, including

us. Strongest winds pushing towards

the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany

and seven Scandinavia, they will be

pushing snow fall back towards the

Alps. For us, cold air. Will it

last? We will find out with Nick in

half an hour.

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source,

and these are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom.

President Trump says his first year

in office has advanced his mission

to make America great again,

but his opponents say millions

of people are left behind.

Theresa May is in China to forge

new partnerships ahead

of Britain's exit from the EU.

A judge says the number of known

sexual abuse victims of former

US Gymnastics doctor,

Larry Nassar, now stands

at more than 260.

Your questions are always welcome.

#BBCOS is the hashtag.

Back to Donald Trump's first State

of the Union address.

The BBC's Reality Check

team have been fact

checking some of the claims

he made during the address.

First, here's what he said

about unemployment.

Since the election, we have created

2.4 million new jobs.

Including...

Including 200,000 new jobs

in manufacturing alone.

Tremendous number.

Jane O'Brien has been working

with the Reality Check team.

She is live with us now. Can you

assess what the president said the?

He was always going to talk about

the economy because that is his big

thing. He is the great deal-maker.

And yes, that figure is correct and

comes from the Department of labour

and statistically is absolutely spot

on. The issue is, can he take credit

for that? His critics will say no,

because he inherited a very strong

economy from Barack Obama and his

capitalising on a very firm

foundation. Your success

unemployment among African-Americans

was at an all-time low and among

Latinos also at an all-time low.

Yes, again, statistically true. But

the big question, can he take

credit.

Next - tax reform.

Mr Trump's talked a lot

about this topic -

it was his major legislative

achievement last year.

He mentioned it in his address.

Have a look.

Just as I promised the American

people from this podium 11 months

ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts

and reforms in American history.

APPLAUSE.

Since we passed the tax

cuts, roughly 3 million

workers have already

had tax cut bonuses.

Many of them thousands and thousands

of dollars per worker,

and it's getting more

every month, every week.

Back to Jane on that one.

That is trickier. What we do know,

from a lobby firm here, is that 285

firms that we know of said that as a

result of the corporate rate cut,

they could create other benefits.

But tax reform only really came in

at the end of last year. It is in

January. We have a little bit more

to go before we can really clearly

assess the benefits to ordinary

American workers.

One more thing to look at. Foreign

policy. Here is what the president

said about the Islamic state group.

I am proud to report

that the coalition to defeat Isis

has liberated very close to 100%

of the territory just recently held

by these killers in Iraq

and in Syria and in other

locations as well.

APPLAUSE

There's no doubt that

the Islamic State group

has lost territory -

the lighter red on this map shows

what it controlled in January 2015,

the darker red is the beginning

of January this year.

How else did you assess the

president on this issue?

He is right about the loss of

territory but when he says it is

coalition forces that managed to get

it back from Islamic State, don't

forget this is a very complicated

conflict. There are multiple people

involved. Not least the Syrian

government. Syrian government forces

backed by Russia and Iran have

indeed been responsible for taking

back a lot of that territory.

Perhaps the bigger issue was the

threat still remains.

Very, very useful. Thanks to you,

Jane, and the Reality Check team.

You can get lots of Reality Checks

everyday. Just search for BBC

Reality Check and find your way to

their website.

The number of known victims

of Larry Nassar has risen to 265.

We have talked about him a lot.

He was a doctor for USA Gymnastics

and he was jailed for

175 years last week.

He's now back in court

for his another sentencing hearing -

65 more victims will confront him.

One of them, Jessica Thomashow.

Here's some of her statement.

I would like to say something

to my abuser, Larry Nassar.

You took advantage of my

innocence and trust.

You were my doctor.

Why?

I ask myself that

question all the time,

especially while I am laying in bed

crying myself to sleep.

What you did to me was twisted.

You manipulated me

and my entire family.

How dare you.

This is Annie Labrie's testimony.

A paedophile cannot flourish

in the way Larry did

in an an environment that is not

conducive to his behaviour.

While justice has been

served for this sexual

predator, it is imperative

that we as a society do not view

this as an isolated incident.

He was prolific because

surrounding authorities

allowed him to be.

Because the gymnastics

world allowed him to be.

Because still women are not

perceived to be credible.

Nada Tawfik is in New York.

Help me understand the process here.

What's the difference between what's

happening now and what we saw last

week?

Well, as part of Larry

Nassar's plea agreement, he

basically pleaded guilty to two

separate set the mark of state

charges. The sentencing last week

was on seven counts of sexual

assault against John women at

Michigan State University and his

home. The sentencing hearing is Ford

three counts of sexual assault when

he is accused of molesting young

women at her gymnastics club in a

different part of Michigan. And so

that's why you have a separate

sentencing hearing. That's why it is

another opportunity for these young,

brave women to come forward and

speak out against it before he is

sentenced by the judge. He could get

25-40 years for each of the counts

but as we know he will spend the

rest of his life in prison.

A tweet

from USA Gymnastics says Michigan

State... USA Gymnastics has received

resignations from the board of

directors. I guess that there was a

certain inevitability?

Next USA

committee basically told USA

Gymnastics said, look, you can have

your Board of Directors completely

resign or be will take away your

governing authority. They thought

obviously that the best case

scenario to go forward with the

sport, to support young gymnasts was

to have the board resign. This is

something that the sport's most

famous members and gold Olympians

were asking for, and so they gone

through with that. The US Olympic

Committee, it is worth pointing out,

still has to do an independent

investigation into what happened.

Both of those bodies are still going

to be under investigation so this is

a long road. It's only not the end.

A final question about the hearing

were seeing. Is it a different

judge, is it even a different court?

In which weighed only connect?

It is

a different judge and court. They

are in two separate counties. Again,

that's why, after we had that large

televised sentencing hearing last

week, where we originally had 88

women who would come forward and

then the end had 175, that judge a

clear that she was going to give

anybody who accused Larry Nassar the

time to confront him. This judge has

made a similar decision and that's

why we, at this point, think they're

going to year by the end of this

three-day sentencing 65 women come

forward. All of it, again, is a way

for the judges to give the healing

process to these women who have been

irreparably harmed by Larry Nassar.

Thanks for explaining that. If you

want news on the story and many

others, you can go online to our

website or download the app for the

smartphone.

Intruiging development

for Catalonia.

Its former leader - now in exile -

Carles Puigdemont has accidentally

allowed some text messages

of his to be filmed.

In them, he says his campaign

to become President again is "over"

and that the Spanish government had

triumphed against him.

He's in Brussels to avoid arrest -

that's all related to

the declaration of Catalan

independence that led.

There were fresh elections

in December but we await

a new president,

in part because the Spanish

government says Mr Puigdemont cannot

return to the job while in exile.

Let's Kenmore Road this. -- let's

get more on this.

Gavin Lee in Barcelona

picks up the story.

The problem for Carles Puigdemont

and for the wider Catalan

independence movement

was inadvertently borne

from his own hands.

He sent a message via a supposedly

secure messaging app

to a colleague in Belgium,

saying that he feels

that the movement with him as leader

is over and that the Spanish

government has triumphed.

And that he'll spend the next two

years trying to rebuild his

reputation, in tatters,

he says, because of

the lies he says came

from

the Spanish government.

Now, what does that

mean for the wider

movement?

Is it true?

Well, he said on Twitter

today, he's somewhere in

Belgium, we're not sure exactly

where, but the Catalan

representation is heard in Brussels.

We haven't seen him.

He says it is true,

he did send the messages.

It was a very human moment.

He felt very down.

He spoke to other people since last

night and he will still

continue to be the leader

of the independence movement

and will try to be present.

But here is the difficulty

and perhaps why he was

sending the messages.

Because he has to be

physically present in

parliament for the

inauguration vote.

It was suspended yesterday

and is supposed to happen in ten

days' time.

But he is here, 800 miles away,

facing arrest if he

comes to Spain.

He declared independence illegally

last year. He is wanted in relation

to rebellion allegations. What

happens from here? Many say that if

the stalemate continues, parliament

could dissolve within two months and

new elections to come. That's why

many are asking right now, is at the

end for Carles Puigdemont, for the

man, if not the movement? He says

no, not yet.

Let's switch from Spain to

Afghanistan. It has been a desperate

ten days. The attacks of the utmost

seriousness. Hotel was attacked, the

Amber Rudd 's bomb at the weekend

and at the beginning of this week,

and army units defending and

National defence University was

attacked. All of them involve

multiple deaths. Islamist militants

shot themselves we very much present

in Afghanistan.

The BBC has done its own study

and found that it's active

in 70% of the country.

The Taliban controls 14 districts -

marked here in brown.

They have a presence

in another 263 districts -

marked in varying degrees of orange.

The darker the orange,

the more frequent the attacks.

You can see dark Orange in a number

of districts in the south-east.

Lighter Oranges in the more central

districts.

And if we focus on Helmand Province,

four districts have fallen

to the Taliban since foreign troops

withdrew back in 2014.

So, in under four years, four

districts have completely fallen.

One last statistic.

8,500 civilians were killed

or injured in the first nine

months of last year.

Bear all that in mind as we watch

this report.

BBC's Auliya Atrafi has this report

from Helmand Province.

This is Malik.

He's 11.

And too traumatised to speak to us.

He was playing in his garden

when he lost his legs.

And his best friend.

To a Taliban landmine.

Today Malik is walking

for the first time since the

explosion.

TRANSLATION:

Children go

through utter fear every night.

It's a horrific life.

It's so volatile that we live

by hours and minutes.

We are the living dead.

Last year, doctors at this

Red Cross clinic in

the Lashkargah

fitted almost a thousand

people with new limbs.

From the very old.

To the very young.

The violence does not discriminate.

Helmand was the base

of the British Army in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of soldiers died

defending these streets.

But since their withdrawal

almost half of the

province has fallen to the Taliban.

And the violence is spreading.

Just ten minutes from

hospital, the frontline.

It is very rare for international

journalists to come this far.

The soldiers say the militants

are so close they exchange insults.

Today though swearing is not enough.

We just got fired at by the Taliban

from that direction and

now the police are

returning the fire.

This is their frontline.

And it shows how volatile it is.

Although we are told it is normally

quiet during the day, but

this shooting proves otherwise.

Despite the danger, defending

Lashkargah is crucial.

If the city falls, so does

the whole of Helmand.

And it's a responsibility

the commander of this

battalion takes seriously.

He's the man they affectionately

call the Terminator.

Half man, and underneath his

uniform, half machine.

TRANSLATION:

The back of my head

was blown off by a rocket.

Soldiers reported that

I was dead on the spot.

And my brother came

to collect my body.

But doctors realised I wasn't dead.

They patched up my skull

with a metal plate.

Not long after I stepped

on a landmine and

lost both my legs.

But in Afghanistan

right now it's not fit

for an active commander

to sit at home.

This province has been

at war for 17 years.

Helmand is bleeding.

And its people feel forgotten.

We will move away from Afghanistan

and talk about Hillary Clinton from

a couple of minutes.

She says she should have fired

a former campaign aide who has

been accused of sexual harassment.

The story's been building for days.

Here's the statement on Facebook.

We can zoom in on one part I wanted

to highlight. She says...

The man she is referring

to is Burns Strider -

he was Mrs Clinton's faith

advisor in 2008.

Last week, the New York

Times broke this story.

It reported that Mrs Clinton

overruled calls to sack Mr Strider

after a female colleague made

allegations at him.

Instead, she temporarily

docked his pay, ordered

he took counselling,

and moved the woman to a new role.

Here's more of the statement.

I have been talking to our

Washington correspondent about this.

That is exactly the case. There was

a pretty animated response to

Hillary Clinton's initial Twitter

adds up to the allegations. They

were viewed as not taking them

seriously enough. There was a piece

in the Washington Post when it was

said the writer was a supporter of

Hillary Clinton and she defended her

against allegations that she

mishandled her husband's sexual

harassment and assault allegations,

and she said she was done with

Hillary Clinton and could not defend

this because this was Hillary

Clinton operating as the Chief

Executive, essentially, of her own

company, her campaign. And she

decided not to fire this person,

moved around which is something we

have seen time and again with this

type of sexual and isn't allegations

and that allowed him to get the job

later on when he moved to different

organisation, where he was fired for

harassment there. There were sharp

criticism and, yes, Hillary Clinton

had to have a fuller response

because it was the Democrats in a

precarious position when trying to

tackle this issue.

It is curious

that way that this is covered,

considering she is no longer a

politician and will not run again.

We have seen the sketch from the

Grammys that she took part in, that

is otherwise a coverage, but

Republicans continue to attack her.

News of a major step forward in the

treatment of children with hearing

problems. This is in Tanzania. In

the past, some patients have been

forced to travel outside the country

of specialist treatment. Thanks to

government treatment, that is

changing and costing a lot of money

again. Here is the story. She has

struggled with her healing since she

was born. Now hearing operation is

about to change this youngster's

life. In the past, an operation like

this would have meant an expensive

trip to India or Kenya. Funded items

any and taxpayers. But this time,

she was treated in Tanzania by local

doctors at the country's National

Hospital. 11 children have had

surgery year since last July. And

doctors hope to help many more.

In

Africa, we have many children born

with profound healing loss. In the

past, they would wear hearing aids

with no benefit. But with cochlear

implant technology, we have a device

implanted in the year itself will

stop -- in the ear. Such real like

this one is cost as much as $37,000

per person and was most performed in

India. Now the cost has been cut in

half to at least $15,000 per person.

Cases of children being born with

hearing complications is said to be

common in Africa. Experts associate

this problem with inter-familial

marriages. These children have been

born with a hearing problem. But

having gone through this suddenly in

hospital, it can begin the

communication between them, the

appearance and their community.

I

have peace of mind and am happy for

the families. We discovered she

needed the cochlear implant and we

are very happy. I can't really as a

mother.

The Tanzanian government is

planning to scale up the programme

so that these corrective surgeries

can be done after every three

months, so that more children can

benefit.

Now if you're in a part of the world

where Wednesday night

is still to come, watch out

for a super blue blood moon.

This is a time-lapse of three hours

overnight in Los Angeles.

As you will see, as this develops,

it is a spectacular sight. It

happens in this form very rarely. We

get that, and it is really

incredible. Victoria Gill has been

watching the skies from the UK just

north of London.

She recorded this for us. It is a

Mac to embrace the cold and darkness

because in Hertfordshire, we are

seeing a spectacular film. It is

particularly spectacular in the UK

tonight because it is the second

film another month, a blue moon,

coinciding with what we call a

supermoon. In the ellipse shaped

orbit of the asked, that is where it

is closest to the Earth. It is about

7% bigger than normal. On the other

side of the world, Asia, Australia

and some parts of the US, earlier

today, Gillian Guy Mac time, they

witnessed at triple winner

spectacular when the super blue

blood moon landed at the same time

as a total lunar eclipse. That is

when the sun's light filters between

the sun and the moon and the moon is

turned blood red. It is an absolute

spectacle. We have enjoyed the show

on pictures from the other side of

the world. We will be treated here

in the UK to another lunar eclipse

in July.

And that finishes this edition of

Outside Source.