08/02/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Philippa Thomas,

this is Outside Source.

Syria accuses the US-led

coalition of war crimes,

after a series of attacks kill 100

pro-government fighters.

The UN's calling for a ceasefire -

Russia says it's not

going to happen.

We would like to see a ceasefire but

with the terrorists are not sure

they are in agreement to what is

proposed -- are not sure.

Trying to avert another US

government shutdown -

with the deadline just hours away,

can the politicians

reach a budget deal?

Twitter posts its first

ever quarterly profit -

sending its share value surging.

Take a look at that smile,

because it just made history.

This 18-month-old boy with Down's

syndrome is the new face

of a US baby food brand.

Welcome to Outside Source.

Syria has accused the US-led

coalition of war crimes,

after it carried out airstrikes

on forces fighting for

the Syrian government -

killing around 100 fighters.

The confrontation was the deadliest

between the two so far.

The bombardment happened

in Syria's eastern

Dair Uhzor province.

Here's how the Pentagon explains it:

the US-led coalition acted

in self-defence after a base

where US advisers were

stationed came under attack.

Here's the Pentagon

chief spokesperson.

We have the right to defend

ourselves and we have seen a

build-up for over a week, which was

unprovoked. We are comfortable and

the secretary is comfortable with

the judgment of our commanders on

the ground.

Here's what Syria says: this

is a "brutal massacre",

American aggression which amounts

to a war crime.

Let's show you why Dair

Uzhor matters so much.

Our map shows the parts of Syria

held by the government,

and then over to the east,

over the buffer zone

of the Euphrates River,

the territory held by the rebel

Syrian Democratic Forces

backed by Washington.

It's also worth knowing

that there are both oil

and gas fields over there -

valuable sources of cash.

What we are seeing, both sides, the

Americans and the Syrians, trying to

do Marco Reus, the Syrians are

saying they are trying to recapture

-- trying to D-mark areas.

And that

is the key, much of this territory

was held by the self-styled Islamic

State and if they are pushed out

there is something of a vacuum.

Exactly. Both sides are trying to

exert control and the US allies on

the ground, they want to establish

autonomy in the North and they have

the support of the Americans while

this is happening, but the Syrians,

the Syrian government and its

allies, would like to recapture all

of the Syrian territory and we have

been watching them do this over the

last seven years, and as they are

inching slowly slowly, this is what

we have been seeing, especially in

Dair Uzhor.

We showed our viewers

the line of the river, the buffer

zone between the sides but is a bit

worrying to realise the Russians are

backing those on the west and the

Americans are backing those on the

east, there's the potential

something dangerous to happen.

Absolutely, but we have seen this

interaction and rising tensions

before, last summer we saw it

further to the east where we had the

US allied forces on the ground and

the Syrians and their allies

including the Russians advancing

towards the Syrian Iraqi border and

we saw a similar clash between the

two said this is something that

needs to be taken into

consideration. -- so this. It is not

that important but it can be

considered a land grab by either

side, this area.

Well, going back to our map over

here you can see the area

of Eastern Ghouta -

and as these pictures show

it's under siege by government

forces who've been bombarding

it for four days now.

More than 200 Syrians

have been killed.

What the Syrian government is trying

to do, they are trying to work on

this area in terms of the local

reconsideration -- reconciliations

they haven't been doing in other

areas, and because this hasn't come

to fruition, what they do instead,

they conduct air strikes and we have

seen that, and in response we have

seen a number of casualties in

Damascus as a result of water

shelling -- mortar shelling so we

are seeing injuries in these Pacific

areas. -- 's Pacific. -- in these

specific areas.

There is peace talks

trying to happen, but this is

actually happening on the ground for

top the peace

-- the police

initiatives have resulted in very

little, we have seen slow

reconciliations from the initiatives

that have

resulted -- taken place, but that

has got to be specific to these

areas. It is unable to happen, this

piece, because neither side are

willing to make this a reality.

The US government

could shut down again

unless Congress agrees on America's

budget today, with votes expected

later in both houses of Congress.

This time yesterday

we told you Senate leaders

were celebrating reaching a deal.

Well, not so fast.

In the lower house,

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi

was outraged that the agreement left

in limbo the hundreds

of thousands of young

undocumented immigrants -

known as Dreamers - currently under

threat of being deported.

What Nancy did next

was extraordinary.

Here's the start of it.

Everyday courageous patriotically

lose their status and as members of

Congress we have a moral

responsibility to act now to protect

who are the pride of our nation and

our American in every way but on

paper. I used is built to -- are

used this bill to push further on

this.

Nancy Pelosi carried on telling

the stories of these

immigrants and their families.

And on.

And on.

For eight hours.

Setting a record for the longest

speech ever made in the House -

breaking the previous record

set in 1909.

Let's go back to her.

For the last eight hours I have had

the privilege of reading the

testimony of so many Dreamers, I

still have more.

APPLAUSE

I thank all of you.

Earlier I spoke to our correspondent

in Washington Jane O'Brien.

I asked her whether the threat of

a government shutdown is behind us.

It shows how conflicted Democrats

really are over this budget

compromise because although there is

a lot in it that they like increased

spending for domestic programmes

like childhood and health insurance

and disaster relief and tackling the

"Crisis, but Democrats went to war

with Republicans in the White House

over immigration and in particular

these Dreamers, young immigrants

brought to the US as children and

now facing deportation, if the

Congress cannot come up with

legislation to fix it. This is why

Nancy Pelosi says she can't support

the bill but she is significantly

not telling other Democrats how to

vote.

If the Senate and the house

vote yes to a deal, is that the end

of the budget crisis?

Pretty much,

yes. There is a stopgap funding

measure included in the bill which

means Congress will have another six

weeks to come up with a longer

funding measure but more importantly

this will set spending levels for

two years and raise the debt ceiling

for two years so it will create a

level of stability, financial

stability, that the US government

hasn't seen in years.

Another big

story, White House chief of staff

John Kelly is shocked by

allegations.

He said he is shocked by allegations

against an aide to President

Trump, Rob Porter -

that's him on the screen -

who's resigned amid

domestic abuse claims.

This is Mr Porter's first

wife, Colbie Holderness,

a US government analyst.

She says Mr Porter kicked her

on their honeymoon in 2003,

and punched her two years later,

giving her this black eye.

This is Mr Porter's second

wife Jennifer Willougby.

She said she filed a protective

order against Mr Porter

after he allegedly punched

in and broke the glass

of a door at their home.

Mr Porter has already

said the claims

are "outrageous and simply false".

Jane O'Brien with more.

Very

awkward, because it is pretty clear

that John Kelly as chief of staff

did know about these allegations

because they were holding up Mr

Porter's security clearances from

the FBI. What new allegations he is

talking about is not clear that

really the crux of the matter

because John Kelly as chief of staff

is a pretty important focal point of

White House operations and he was

brought in to put out these fires

and he seems to be fanning the

flames and that is not a good look

for someone as integral to White

House operations as he is. It is not

quite clear where this goes next but

certainly it is embarrassing for the

White House and also in the me, too,

moment, it puts them out of step

with what much of America is

thinking about at the moment.

Tech giants in the US today pushed

back against the idea

that their platforms were used

by Russia to meddle

in the Brexit referendum.

British MPs were holding the first

ever hearing of a parliamentary

select committee outside the UK.

The purpose was to grill the US

companies about outside interference

in the Brexit campaign.

Here's the chair of the digital,

culture, media and sport

parliamentary committee,

Damien Collins, questioning

two Twitter executives.

We are talking about lies, someone

who is deciding to spread lies about

someone else, by not harassing or

inciting violence but they are

spreading lies and by using the

anonymity of Twitter to do that and

there's nothing you can do about it?

The anonymity on our platform is not

a shield against breaking our terms

of service.

Telling a lie on Twitter

would not require action to be taken

against the account holder?

We do

not have rules based on truth.

Earlier I spoke with the BBC's

Aleem Maqbool, in Washington -

he says it's not just Twitter

in the firing line.

No, it wasn't, and the hearing is

still going on in this room to my

right. It was YouTube, Google,

Facebook, and all of them were asked

in this so-called fake news inquiry,

but the phrase does not give a real

sense of the breadth of questioning

that these tech companies faced.

They faced questions about whether

the information about us that they

gathered was used for political

purposes and they were asked about

what they do to stop access to hate

websites but also about what they

were doing about those who were

trying to influence elections. Every

single tech company was asked by the

chair Damian Collins MP as to what

they had found in terms of Russian

interference in the Brexit

referendum and they all said they

had found nothing or very little.

For Twitter, they said they had

closed down 49 accounts that had

tweeted fewer than a thousand tweets

ahead of the referendum, but there

is evidence to suggest from others

independently that there was more

influence from Russia ahead of the

referendum but the question is, what

can MPs do about it? They are

questioning these tech companies and

saying there is a problem but at the

moment all they have had back is

assurances and I can't get anything

more concrete from these tech

companies as it stands. -- they

can't.

Did you feel you had heard

anything new?

It was interesting,

some of the research cited when it

came to YouTube, that hate videos,

it was found that 70% of the

viewership to far right videos was

generated by YouTube's owned up next

features, recommended if you watch

one video, it will recommend the

next hate video. Many MPs said, that

is something you can do something

about, but menu these conversations

came down to the fact that these

companies want us to spend more time

on their platforms and that is the

interest -- but many of these

conversations. Unless something is

done where it is legally binding

where they have to do something

about it, it is clear by not minded

to do quite as much as the MPs would

like them to do. -- by a not minded.

Often these companies say they are

just a platform but the point has

been made that they write the

algorithms.

That is right. We have

heard a lot of talk about algorithms

and right now in the second session

there are two additional reporters

and editors from the US --

traditional. They are talking about

their problems, they are sort of on

the same side, saying social media

platforms need to do much more to

stop false news and misinformation

being disseminated but ultimately

the algorithms work for the

companies in terms of us spending

more time on their platforms and it

was about gearing those algorithms

towards a responsible way of

disseminating information.

Stay with us on Outside

Source - still to come.

The latest superhero

film from Marvel

with an all-black cast of actors

playing the heroes.

Interest rates have

been held at 0.5%

but there's speculation the next

rise could come as soon as May.

The Bank of England has signalled

that rates could rise earlier

and faster than it thought three

months ago with the global economy

expanding at its fastest

pace in seven years.

In order to return inflation to the

target, in order to bring it back to

target over a more conventional

horizon which means moving it in

from that three Horizon, it will be

necessary, likely to be necessary to

increase interest rates, to a

limited degree, in a gradual

process, but somewhat earlier and to

a greater extent than we had thought

in November.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story:

Syria has accused the US led

coalition of war crimes after a

series of attacks kill a hundred

pro-Syrian government forces.

Bermuda is the first

country in the world

to repeal same sex marriage.

The British Oversees

Territory had legalised

the unions in May last year,

following a Supreme Court ruling.

Same sex couples who married

in recent months will not

have their marriage annulled.

India's Supreme Court has ordered

the government to produce

a long-term plan for protecting one

of the country's most precious

landmarks, the Taj Mahal.

The World Heritage Site faces

a range of challenges,

including smog and the impact

of millions of visitors.

Here's a story catching a lot

of people's attention -

the Norwegian Olympic team in Korea

received a delivery

of 15,000 eggs -

they had asked for 1500.

The chefs blamed

a translation error,

but it could be down to a typo.

Either way, they were able to return

most of the surplus.

It's the social media

mammoth that has

never turned a profit -

until now that is.

Of course, we're

talking about Twitter.

It's reported its latest numbers -

in the three months to the end

of December it made just over $91m.

But the firm is struggling

to attract users -

it reported 330-million active

monthly users - no higher

than the previous period.

Twitter blamed this

on a clamp down on automated

or so called bot accounts -

we were talking about those

controversial accounts with Aleem

just a few minutes ago.

Let's go to New York.

And our correspondent

there, Joe Miller.

What's the reaction

to Twitter's latest figures?

Positive at last.

The reaction on

the stock market has been buoyant,

at one point their shares were up

over 20% and the reason for that is

that if you bought Twitter shares

when they first listed on the stock

market in 2013, you have had to wait

a long time for any profits and this

is the first quarter believe it or

not where Twitter has posted a

profit. The reason is video

advertising, they have brought in

revenues excessively with that, but

another reason that hasn't been

getting so many headlines is a

Twitter like many other companies,

it likes to give its employees stock

options in the company as well as

their salary and the problem is, you

have got to put that again shall

profits and it was bringing down

their profits year after year --

against your profits.

That is

important to know. On a wider

question.

And tell us more about the mood

in Wall Street, still nervous?

Yesterday it looked like the dust

was beginning to settle on Wall

Street but today the volatility is

back and the Dow Jones dropped over

thousand points and that is almost

Monday's levels, almost 4% and now

we are in the region that we call

the real market correction. It looks

like what has happened here today,

investors have been looking at US

government debt, Treasury bonds, and

seeing the prices drop to a

four-year low, and what is

happening, the future interest rate

rises being priced in and they are

looking at that, worried about

interest rate rises and beginning to

dampen the economy and they have

started the sell-off again.

Joe,

thanks for joining us. Another

business story.

19 top Japanese bosses have met with

British Prime Minister Theresa May,

seeking clarification

on the UK's industrial strategy

for the time after Brexit.

After the meeting, the Japanese

Ambassador to the UK explained

the threat to Japanese companies

if the UK did not secure a

frictionless trade deal with the EU.

If there is no possibility of

continuing operation in UK, not

Japanese only, but no private

company can continue operation. As

simple as that. This is all

high-stakes that I think all of us

need to keep in mind.

The latest superhero film

from Marvel has its European

premiere tonight in London -

it's called Black Panther -

it hasn't opened in the US yet.

But here's an easy way

gauge its significance.

Time's new cover: Behind

the revolutionary power

of 'Black Panther'.

The film features an all-black cast

of actors playing the heroes.

Our Entertainment Correspondent

Lizo Mzimba reports.

The free cinema trip would have been

welcome enough for these

American schoolchildren,

their sheer joy is because

the movie is Black Panther.

Such is the film's significance,

people around the world are crowd

sourcing money to give black

children in particular

the opportunity to watch

it on the big screen.

People like this actress from

Peckham in London, she has so far

raised around £4,000.

I think it's just a film

you don't really see,

you don't see black superheroes

in the big blockbusters.

The positive representation is good

for people growing up in this area

but I think all over the world.

Black Panther is being seen

as a cultural milestone.

A predominantly black cast leading

a big budget blockbuster.

People making it a reality for kids

who maybe wouldn't be able to go

to the movies and experience it,

I think it is beautiful, man.

It's the kind of film many have

been waiting decades

for Hollywood to make,

not only a host of black role models

but also strong female

characters at its heart.

Black Panther is a moment

and hopefully it's one...

It will obviously exist for long

after this particular moment.

We want the momentum to keep going.

I don't think it is Black Panther's

responsibility to change the world.

How important was it for you making

sure this was primarily

a piece of entertainment,

even with this huge amount of social

responsibility that was inevitably

going to come into the equation?

That's what it is.

It's not a political lecture,

you know what I mean?

It's a movie.

It's got to work as that.

And that is a movie expected to have

one of the biggest openings ever,

and more importantly,

show others in the film world how

lucrative diversity on screen can be

in the 21st-century.

Much more to come. But a reminder of

our top story.

Syria has accused the US-led

coalition of war crimes,

after it carried out airstrikes

on forces fighting for

the Syrian government.

Assad's government accusing the US

of a massacre in this area over Tim

on. -- Dair Uzhor. And to the east

of the region, our correspondent has

said this. The war isn't ending, he

has said.

We are staying across the action. So

many people involved. Do stay with

us.

Good evening. That time of day but

we have a look at what the weather

is doing around the world and is

quite active at the moment. -- when

we have a look. The cold air digging

in Baha'i, it is there on Friday --

digging in behind. We might have

more snow in the north and that will

combine later Friday and into the

weekend so more disruptive rain and

freezing rain and snow potentially,

and no sign of any much-needed rain

across the California area. Maybe a

few showers into the beginning of

next week but until then it looks

dry and warm. As we head into Africa

we haven't had much rain in the last

three years in Cape Town and there

is a dangerous drought but there

could be some relief on Friday with

rain moving in, lasting until

Saturday. An unusual picture with

low pressure in southern parts of

Africa, that will bring more

significant rain compared to what we

normally see, and further north,

Arsenal getting into the 40s, but in

the North West, quite cold for the

time of year -- temperatures getting

into the 40s. It is cold in China

and Japan and parts of career, we

have had disruptive snowfall in

Japan -- Korea. The risk of further

flooding for Indonesia. You can see

the dip in Lana for Tokyo, about

average for Hong Kong -- the dip in

temperature. It is building the heat

but they will be storms as well

generated from the heat and further

west, and then after last week's

Stormy weather, that we had in New

Zealand, it looks wet and windy

across the North Island for the next

couple of days. Wellington, heavy

showers, thunderstorms, but try

weather in Perth, and the high

temperatures in Sydney -- dry. We

might have more disruptive snowfall

through Friday across parts of

France and the low countries. It

will affect the northern part of

Iberia and there are warnings out.

And then the system coming out of

the north of Africa, that is what is

keeping Casablanca and Algeria and

Morocco below average and that could

bring Stormy weather and also very

heavy rain and mountain snow to

parts of Italy and the Balkans and

grace, as well. -- Greece. Back

home, nasty weather this weekend, we

have the details later.

Ally

This is Outside Source. These are

the main stories here in the BBC

News room.

Syria accuses the US-led

coalition of war crimes,

after a series of attacks kill

100 pro-government fighters.

The UN's calling for a ceasefire -

Russia says it's not

going to happen.

We would like to see a ceasefire but

the terrorist, I am not sure they

are in agreement with what is

proposed.

proposed.

Trying to avert another US

government shutdown,

with the deadline just hours away,

can the politicians

reach a budget deal?

Twitter posts its first

EVER quarterly profit,

sending its share value surging.

And an 18-month-old boy

with Down Syndrome has

become the face of food

maker Gerber as its "Spokesbaby"

for 2018, an action hailed

by advocates for people

with the genetic condition.

Welcome to Outside Source.

North Korea has held a military

parade a day before the opening

of the Winter Olympics in the South.

You can see both Kim Jong-Un and his

wife Ree Sull Choo were there.

The timing was somewhat provocative,

as the annual parade

usually happens in April.

Still, it was smaller, shorter,

and shown on North Korean television

as a recording, not live.

And there have been,

as we've been reporting,

several recent signs of a thaw

in inter-Korean relations.

Here's Stephen McDonnell

in Pyeongchang.

What I think has happened here is

the North Koreans are trying to

believe it or not, down play their

own military parade. That is because

I think the parade had been

organised a long time ago, before

they decided to send the team to the

Olympic Games here, and now they

have decided to put all their effort

into coming to the Olympics with Kim

Jong Un's sister and like, I think

that want the focus to be on that.

They to have the parade. They are

too embarrassed to call it off. I

think they are hoping that no-one

will pay much attention to it and

the focus will be back on their

efforts here in Pyeongchang for the

winter -- Winter Olympics.

Let us

see what other people aring of that

parade.

parade.

Journalist Jean Lee calls

it:

One of those high-level talks

will be with this woman,

Kim Jong-un's sister,

Kim Yo-jung.

She's part of the North Korean

delegation and will meet

South Korea's president on Saturday.

US vice-president Mike Pence has

already met with Moon Jae-in.

He touched down in Seoul today

and will head onto Pyeongchang next

for Friday's opening ceremony.

America's position on the North

Korean charm offensive

has been pretty clear.

Mr Pence reiterated it today.

The United States will can't to

stand shoulder to shoulder, in our

effort to bring maximum pressure to

bear, on North Korea until that time

comes, when they finally and

permanently and irreversibly abandon

their nuclear and ballistic missile

ambitions.

Let's talk more about this now

with Professor Robert Kelly,

who you may know is an expert

on the relationship

between the two Koreas.

The parade first, they move it, and

then they held it but it was

smaller, what did you make of it?

It

was a strange choice, the idea of

putting it before the Olympics

seemed to signal this was a threat

or intimidation, you had this big

event of global comedy and the day

before you have the sort of Soviet

style imDimitri parade. Then they

chose not to show it.

I suppose the

next thing we have to look at we

have the Winter Olympics starting

but there is talks going on,

potentially as well with the First

Sister how important do you think

she is?

I am sceptical that will the

Olympics mean a great deal. It is

good, right, North Korea is the most

dangerous country in the world and

with nuclear weapons they are more

dangerous. We should talk to them.

It is good you have elites meeting

and we have a move 789,er and maybe

there will be the aura of good

feeling rolling over. But they are

canny negotiators, I don't think

they are suddenly going to roll over

on something important to them,

because they feel like you had a

mood or interethnic, inter-Korean up

lift. I don't see them negotiating

that way. I am sceptical.

I think it

is shared by many in South Korea,

who feel well, not least the

business of kind of accommodating

the athlete but they are wondering

is President moon in the south going

source far?

Certainly the

Conservative press has hit back

hard, which was predictable. There

has been a lot of hype in South

Korea, a bit too much. I am worried

are about expectations management,

that the media is getting carried

away. We have had

pseudobreakthroughs but it didn't

happen, then it falls apart and that

would be my be diction what will

happen this time. I am concerned

people are getting carried away and

thinking it is a big breakthrough.

It is another of those gapes of

multi-dimensional chess in which the

American President, if he gets

impatient has he has a tendency to

do, you might say all bets are off

with diplomacy.

I think the

Americans are overreacting. I don't

understand why Vice-President had to

throw cold water on this. It is

athletes.

Do you think it makes it

look as if the North Koreans are

pulling their strings.

What a

matters is when the South Koreans

and North Koreans sit down at the

table and start talking about things

we are concerned about. That is what

we need top talk about and the rest

of this is just fluff, the kind doe

dressing before the real show, that

is what matters.

What matters might

be the stuff we don't get to see at

all.

I am concerned that everybody

is getting carried away. Maybe,

maybe, but I am really sceptical,

the North Koreans aren't those kind

of negotiator, they are tactical,

gritty, they get into the weeds. I

would be surprised if they roll over

and give us something we want

because it goes well.

Thank you.

That was a dose of realism from you.

Sorry.

That is important especially

with North Korea, before we go, I

have to say we have been talking

about your other incarnation of BBC

dad, known from your daughter coming

in. Making you world famous for that

reason. And you were awarded or

there was an award last night for

this being the moment of the year.

That is right.

How did that feel?

We

won the key moment of the year from

the broadcast association, it was,

that was good. It is nice, my wife

and I are happen it has made people

so happy. We find it amazing this

keeps going. It was 11 months ago,

and people keep writing to me and

sending us e-mails but it is nice

that you know, in a year of tough

news, and things like Isis and stuff

like that people have a moment of

cheer. That is how we have tried to

take it. People sort of found

spontaneity of children, that is how

we see it too. It is our kids being

like little cards are. It is cute.

In a world of news you have to take

something that makes you smile. You

are a good sport. Thank you for

talking to us again about the two

Koreas.

The former Prime Minister

of Bangladesh, now leader

of the opposition, has been

sentenced to five years

in jail for corruption.

Khaleda Zia denied

all charges and said

they were politically motivated.

Thousands of her supporters took

to the streets to protest.

The verdict was read out in a cour

in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

It means Ms Zia will be barred

from running in this year's

parliamentary election.

The BBC's Akbar Hossain

in Dhaka has more.

It is very significant move, and

this verdict is very important for

Bangladesh's politics as well,

because Khaleda Zia, while she was

out of the court, she held a press

conference yesterday, where she said

that the Government is using the

judiciary in an attempt to keep her

aside from the up coming general

election hand her supporters believe

that, but the Government is saying

that you know, this is a corruption

charge, when Khaleda Zia became the

Prime Minister in Bangladesh in

1991, then she received some

donations from Kuwait organisation

which is amounting to $1.2 million

at that time, those money was given

for helping orphans in Bangladesh,

but the money was not used for

targeted people, rather half of the

money was diverted to personal can't

of Khaleda Zia's elder son who is

staying in London now, and

ultimately, he formed a charitable

trust which was named after his

father. His father was Bangladesh's

former President. What the court

says the way money was being

handled, it was not properly being

used. Prime Minister the -- being

the Prime Minister, it was not used

for the targeted people. That is why

they cannot avoid the

responsibility. That is why the

court has given her five years

imprisonment.

imprisonment.

Now I started this half hour talking

about the Winter Olympics -

if you want more you can

head to our website.

There is a day-by-day guide

to all the sporting action -

There is a day-by-day guide

to all the sporting action.

The number of people killed

in an earthquake that struck off

the eastern coast of Taiwan

on Tuesday has risen to ten.

The magnitude 6.0 quake caused

several buildings to partially

collapse in Hwa-lyan City,

which is close to the epicenter.

Cindy Sui reports from Taipei.

Nearly two days after the

earthquake, rescuers are racing

against time to find people strapped

inside. In one of the of effected

buildings, that building has been

dissident republican tipped

dangerously and is leaning towards

the ground. It has been propped up

by beams, as rescuers go through

every for a, once again to try and

see if there are any more survivor,

they are also using sniffer dogs to

search through the rubble of the

second floor, to see if there are

any signs of people still inside.

Among those still missing are seven

people who are believed to be

tourists staying at the backpackers

hotel on the second floor. They

include five Chinese tourists,

including a 12-year-old boy.

Questions are being raised on

whether poor construction quality

may have led to the building

partially collapsing. Experting

looking at the rubble from the

collapsed floors saying a build

ermay have used more water and less

cement. Other experts point out

there weren't enough pillars in the

building and those that were there

were too weak. One experted said

that if an earthquake were to hit

the capital, which is densely

populated, it would topple more than

12,000 buildings. That is because

many of the buildings in Taiwan are

very old, they were built decades

ago when construction quality was

poor and Government monitoring was

lacking, many residents are

unwilling to or unable to retrofit

their buildings. This is a problem

in Taiwan, not just for the

government but the people to deal

with, especially as aftershocks

continue to happen since the

earthquake struck. Many are

predicted to happen in the coming

two weeks as people gather to

celebrate the Lunar New Year

holiday.

So-called Islamic State

has released footage,

which shows female fighters

alongside men, on the

front lines in Syria.

Mina Al-Lami from the BBC Monitoring

team picked up on that.

@minalami #ISIS's video supports

the group's October 2017 U-turn

on the role of women in jihad,

when it said jihad was a duty

on women just as it was on men

during times of intense

fighting and threat.

Here is Mina Al-Lami from BBC

Monitoring explaining the change.

The group in the past maintained

that the role of women was confined

to their homes, to raise children,

and serve the men, however, in

October, 2017, assism S was under

intense pressure in Raqqa, in Syria,

it shifted its past rhetoric on the

subject, and said actually woman had

a religious duty like men to do

Jihad, from the video itself which

is trying to promote this idea of

women being on the front line, it

only features a few women. Three at

most. Through that footage we are

not sure, we can't ascertain these

are women because they are dressed

from top in bottom in black

clotheses, their faces are covered.

This image it depicts of the female

warrior, would have you more appeal

probably among Isis supporters round

the world than the image of the

subservient Muslim woman whost only

there to serve her husband and

children. In terms the of reaction

so far, Isis supporters have use it

as a recruitment tool. They have

said it shames men who are not

taking part in Jihad. They are using

this shame element to get men to

join it P

Quite a disturbing story.

Now I want to turn from IS to

Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Last year, 133 children were used

by Boko Haram in attacks

in north-east Nigeria,

and two-thirds of them were girls.

BBC has been speaking to one

14-year-old who was forced

into becoming a bomber.

Her name is Faltima and her story

recreated and animated in this

specially commissioned project.

Is only there to serve

They didn't have guns. I had no idea

they were Boko Haram fighter, they

give you a choice. Marry a fighter.

Or go on a mission.

I told them, I don't want to marry,

because I'm still too young.

The older girls tell us they don't

care how old you are, if you marry

one of them, they will go to you for

private affairs day and night.

It is an incentive for the young men

to remain in this group so they form

family movements within the -- units

within the movement a lot of the

girls are sent on missions. They

were brainwashing them and telling

them you are doing this for Allah

and you are going to go straight to

heaven. They have been told if you

don't do it, we are going to kill

you.

I just like the normal teaching.

I find their teachings hard to

follow.

But even though I don't understand

properly, I don't think that killing

someone could ever be a lawful act.

Act. When your time comes they tell

you to look for a place filled with

non-believers, like a church or a

crowded market place.

And when you detonate your bomb,

they say you'll enter paradise.

On my way into town I decided to ask

the first people I met to untie the

vest but the first people I met were

also members of Boko Haram.

I spent a month with another group

of fighters in a different camp.

Just as before, I refused to marry.

They tied their own bomb on me, and

sent me right back out. In time, I

ran.

If I was caught again I felt I would

surely be killed. I ran and ran. And

when I stopped I found myself on a

farm. I asked the farmers to help me

take off the vest and throw it back

into the forest.

But they were afraid. Of me.

There is nobody in the North East

who has not had some experience of

Boko Haram, whether directly or

indirectly. Almost nobody.

Most people have lost somebody

result of Boko Haram.

I think they look at the act, rather

than the girl, and they think well,

this is a young person who is

willing to eliminate our whole

community, how can we take her back?

These are kids first of all and

these are victims.

So you are taken against your Will.

You have lived with these people in

horrendous condition, away from your

parents, guardian, anybody you know.

Then you are strapped with

explosives, you come back to the

community and by the grace of God,

it doesn't go off and now the

community rejects you. It is very

very sad.

An extraordinary story and

quite a way to show it, to tell the

story to you a all.

Take a look at that smile,

because it's just made history.

This 18-month-old boy

with Down Syndrome has

been named this year's

"spokesbaby" for the US baby

food brand Gerber.

He's Lucas Warren, from the state

of Georgia, and he is the first

child with Down's to be named

as a "Gerber baby" -

chosen out of more

than 140,000 entries.

The company's chief executive said:

"Lucas' winning smile and joyful

expression won our hearts this year,

and we are all thrilled

to name him our 2018 Spokesbaby."

Here's how his parents reacted.

It is just amazing, I mean, he gets

to spread so much joy and love with

everybody, and that is what we are

mostly looking forward to.

I am

excited to see how the world reacts.

We can let you know. The world will

be fall in love with this baby. It

says so much, because the Gerber

baby is the ideal baby. Lucas you

are the ideal baby.

Say hi?

Are you

going to wave? He started already in

his new marketing role and is

getting lots of good wish, look at

this for example from a mother of a

two-year-old girl with DS.

Gd also

Let us talk to Allyson. When you saw

this, what did you think?

I thought

it was a fantastic event, and there

aren't many brands that have the

vision, and the willingness to be

this inclusive, and it communicates

to the consumer this is a brand that

serves babies of all types, not just

babies that maybe a certain

ethnicity or a certain capability.

As we were saying these had a lot of

candidates to choose from. Lots of

proud parents sending in pictures,

out of 140,000 plus photos the fact

they have chosen a baby that is

disable add, and challenged, speaks

volumes and connected to parents

whos you know, may realise that it

is OK to embrace a child that isn't,

you know, the perfect photoshopped

ideal picture, that we have had in

the past. We wanted to share at

least one of those tweets because it

has led toe this outpouring of...

Social media does a lot for people

in challenging positions, people

have wanted to share their thoughts

and photos. Not surprisingly the

knock on effect for generaler as a

brand will be that parents think

this is a brand that is relevant,

that understands me, that is

inclusive, and therefore, they are

going to win in the market, where it

is intensely competitive, a cynical

person might say this is

manipulative, this is about engaging

and looking politically correct.

That is not what it is about. It is

genuine. It's a statement of

againer's qualifies. They are

getting kudos for this, it is not

the first company to do the right

thing, you found out from your mum.

So my mum was an actress and model.

She was wheelchair bound but brands

like in order storm used her in that

air ads in the early 9 #0s, so in

some ways this isn't new but what it

did for the brand, was it

communicated to people this is a

Brant that doesn't care what

customer we serve, we want to sr

customers of all persuasions and

types really. So it is a fantastic

statement about inclusion.

Do you

remember the reaction to that?

It

was fantastically positive.

Nordstrom was well ahead of their

time and putting my mum and others

in the store catalogue. Not only did

she get fantastic feedback from

Nordstrom but the customer gave the

store chain really great marks.

Now

it is interesting of course for

Lucas, on the knees of his parents,

he has been on one of the big shows,

he will go round and meet lots of

people. It will be exciting

hopefully not too overwhelming for

him.

Definitely. I he may not

realise the celebrity he will now

have and the family as well, and

Gerber as well, hopefully this

sparks other brands to say if Gerber

is doing this maybe we ought to

think about it too.

That is a good

point to end on. We are going to end

this edition of Outside Source,

thank you for being with us to watch

us tonight.