26/02/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Kasia Madera,

this is Outside Source.

Russia agrees to a daily

five hour ceasefire

in Syria's Eastern Ghouta -

it'll start on Tuesday -

the first break for

the rebel stronghold.

Britain's Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn sets out his vision

Jeremy Corbyn sets out his vision

for trade post Brexit -

calling for the UK to form

a new customs union with the EU.

It could spell trouble

for Theresa May's strategy.

The Beast from the East

blows into Europe -

temperatures are falling

and so is the snow.

And Donald Trump faces criticism

over his proposal to arm teachers.

We'll hear from Anthony

Zurcher in Washington.

Welcome to Outside Source...

we start the programme in Syria.

Russia has announced it

will establish a humanitarian

corridor out of the Syrian rebel

enclave of Eastern Ghouta.

The Damascus suburb

of Eastern Ghouta has endured one

of heaviest bombardments

of the Syrian civil war,

hundreds of people have been killed

in the last eight days.

Russia says the ceasefire will be

in place from 9am to 2pm, every day,

across Eastern Ghouta,

starting on Tuesday

and a "humanitarian corridor"

will be created to allow

civilians to leave.

The US, rights groups

and Syrian media have

said Russian planes have carried out

the air strikes on Eastern Ghouta,

including on hospitals.

What medical clinics are left

in the area have been overwhelmed

by wounded civilians and have very

few supplies left.

Let's hear a little from some

of the injured on the ground -

and the doctors treating them.

My brother-in-law came in, and in

the missile from the plane hit. I

didn't feel anything, my son, nine

years old, gone. We want this ordeal

to end. Our people are simple

people, they are exhausted. They

just want a bite to eat, they don't

want anything. We don't want

anything more, stop the wars, stop

all the destruction against my

people.

TRANSLATION:

In the

hospitals of Eastern Ghouta we are

suffering from an extreme shortage

of medical needs. We receive ten to

20 people at once and our staff are

exhausted. The nine days the

escalation has been night and day

and the staff have been working

nonstop. There has been no calm

whatsoever, there hasn't even been

time to catch 1's breath. The blood

is flowing, the hospitals are

overflowing with patients and there

is no place to evacuate them.

Voices

of some of those still trapped.

Earlier, I spoke to Mahmoud Ali

Hamad from BBC Arabic about

the humanitarian corridor,

and what it means for the people

of eastern Ghouta.

If you look at what the Russians are

trying to achieve, it is similar to

what they have done over a year ago

in Aleppo, where they attempted to

retake the city on behalf of Assad's

regime. At the latter stage of that

procedure meant, and after days of

bombardment, basically carpet

bombing the whole areas, they would

announce in cooperation with the

Syrian regime for the opening of

corridors, and that would allow

civilians should they choose to meet

those pockets and enclaves where

they have been stuck since 2013. So

I think the Russians are drawn to

show they are taking measures to

minimise the level of, and it did

not work in Aleppo, and it is hard

for it to work in Ghouta. Pooter had

almost three times the number of

civilians we had in Aleppo. Plus in

Aleppo, people knew that they were

going about 50 to 60 kilometres

away. For Ghouta Buzz McAfee port to

accept the Russians terms, getting

out of Ghouta, and living just

behind the gunmen and the armed

militias, means being displaced 300

kilometres away to the North from

their home towns and villages. And

for them, for at least the people we

spoke to today, they said we are not

prepared to do this, to actually be

forced to relocate, to be displaced,

and this is the only way to save

your life, they say we are not

prepared for this option, because we

have seen what happened to the

civilians of East Aleppo, and for

East Ghouta, we believe that the

Russians have the same fate in

store. This is the sentiment that we

are getting from civilians in the

East Ghouta. That is part of a

problem they are having in actually

implementing such a plan. Another

one is that all those different

militias working with the Assad

regime to basically continue

besieging East Ghouta, they are

composed of different Shia militias,

and the population of East Ghouta is

majority Sunni, so you can imagine

they went feel comfortable handing

themselves over because basically

they don't know who sounds they will

fall into. This is one of the things

we keep hearing from civilians in

Ghouta. They save the seven years

they wanted to get us, and now it is

their chance. No one is going to

walk to them and we are not going to

be received with open arms.

The leader of Britain's opposition

Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn,

has backed the UK remaining

in a permanent customs union with

the European Union after Brexit.

The shift in policy could lead

to Labour teaming up with rebels

in the governing Conservative Party

to try to defeat Prime Minister

Theresa May's Brexit strategy.

Mr Corbyn was speaking in Coventry

in the West Midlands, an important

centre for the British car industry.

He said the industry was dependent

on components crossing

borders freely in Europe.

We've long argued that a customs

union is a viable option for the

final deal. So Labour would seek to

negotiate a new, Conference of UK EU

customs union to ensure there are no

tariffs with Europe and to help

avoid any need whatsoever for a

hardboard in Northern Ireland.

Let's remind ourselves

of what a customs union is.

It's a group of countries

with a single set of tariffs

on goods from outside.

Within that area goods move

freely, without tariffs.

But member countries cannot

do their own separate trade deals,

they have to be agreed jointly.

And that's why the UK

Government wants to leave it.

Here's the international

trade secretary Liam Fox.

Remember that only the Bharatiya of

Britain's traders with the European

Union. -- the minority. The IMF

estimates that 90% of global trade

will be outside the European

continent, so we have to give

ourselves the freedom to have the

agreements necessary to maximise

Britain's share of that increased

trade because that is where the

prosperity of the next generation

will live.

On Friday the Prime Minister Theresa

May is due to give another speech

fleshing out what the government

wants from Brexit.

She's expected to say that Britain

wants the right to diverge from some

European standards over time.

But 20 months after

the referendum, everyone

is still asking for more detail.

Let's cross over live to

Westminster, because my colleagues

there, Jonathan Blake, is monitoring

all of these events. Let's start off

with what Jeremy Corbyn has been

saying. This into context for us?

What we got today from Jeremy Corbyn

was a point, which puts it at a

distinct different position to the

government's. Labour's position on

Brexit has been evolving, you could

say, confused, others would say, for

some time now, but Jeremy Corbyn, as

you heard, stood up and confirmed

what the party has been strongly

hinting about in the recent days and

weeks, that if it were in

government, it will seek to keep the

United Kingdom in a customs union

with the European Union. So they

were delivered on the referendum and

take the UK out of the EU that they

have a different approach to the

Conservative Party who are in

government and keep the UK in a

customs union, whereas the

government would like to take us out

of that particular mechanism. The

detail is less clear. The charge

that has been levied at the

government time and again is that it

is trying to have its cake and eat

it, take the benefit of being a

member of the European Union whilst

existing outside. Jeremy Corbyn's

desertion has two a certain extent

left the Labour Party open to the

same charge because he said whilst

he would want to keep the UK in a

customs union with the European

Union, he would still want to have

influence on negotiating trade

deals, which would affect the UK's

national interest. The European

Union is likely to say if you are

not in the European Union that you

cannot have a say on trade deals

negotiated by the European Union. So

the big selling point does put

Labour in a different place to the

government, but the detail as to how

those positions would work is far

less clear.

We are expecting to hear

from Theresa May on Friday. Thank

you very much, Jonathan Blake in

Westminster.

Donald Trump has been

hosting state governors -

inevitably the topic came back

to gun control.

There is currently a state inquiry

into law enforcement's response

to the school shooting

at Marjory Stoneman

Douglas High School.

But here's what the president said.

I got to watch some deputy sheriffs

performing this weekend. They

weren't exactly medal of honour

winners, all right. The way they

performed was frankly disgusting. I

really believe, you don't know until

you test it, but I really believe

that if I ran into them, even if I

didn't have a weapon, and I think

most of the people of this remark

would have done that too.

Anthony Zurcher in Washington.

The president really speaking his

mind, as per usual.

Yes, as per

usual. Hypothetical heroism is the

easiest kind, and Sarah Huckabee

Sanders the White House press

secretary came out afterwards and

said he wasn't really literally

talking about running into the

building, it was talking about how

he would want to take a leadership

role, and like everyone else, trying

to take some sort of a leadership

role, and contrasting it with what

the deputies did or did not do at

that particular time. I will leave

it up to the viewers if that was an

accurate interpretation of what

Donald Trump said.

After the

president spoke of the floor was

opened up to the state governors.

This is what the Washington governor

had to say about the proposal to

armed teachers.

I have listened to

the first grade teachers who don't

want to be pistol packing first

grade teachers. I have listened to

law enforcement to have said they

don't want to train teachers as law

enforcement agencies, which takes

about six months. I just think this

is a circumstance where we need to

listen, that educators should

educate and Richard not be foisted

upon this squad is ability of

packing heat in first grade classes.

Now I understand you have suggested

this, and we suggest things

sometimes we listen about it, maybe

they don't look so good a little

later, so I just suggest we need a

little less tweeting here, a little

more listening, let's take that off

the table and move forward.

That was

the Washington governor addressing

the president. Anthony, a lot of

concern over this concern about

arming teachers within schools.

Right, and the democratic governor

of Washington, Washington has been

one of the state that has been very

active in opposing some of Donald

Trump slack policies, particularly

in immigration, so it is not

surprising to hear their governor

the very strong in his question of

that arming schoolteachers policy.

We are talking about millions of

schoolteachers. Right now about 60%

of the American public has concealed

handgun carry licenses, -- about 6%

of the American public. It is a

massive undertaking. It is not

surprising to hear some of Donald

Trump's critics try to pick that

apart a bit, although I will note

there is a sheriff in Ohio who is

offering within his county free

handgun training for public school

teachers. He says he already has 300

teachers who have signed up to get

training, so in some quarters that

seems to be a welcome option, a way

of countering school gun violence.

Thank you for putting that into

context for us.

Stay with us on Outside Source -

still to come...

The film studio co-founded

by disgraced producer

Harvey Weinstein is to file

for bankruptcy; we'll

have the latest from New York.

Five people have now died

following an explosion at a shop

in Leicester last night.

Authorities say it could take

some days to establish

the cause of the blast,

and that some people may

still be unaccounted for.

Police said the search at the scene

will have to continue in Leicester.

This operation for the emergency

services will carry on while there

is a possibility that someone might

be trapped in a void. To give up is

not correct. Once the thorough job

has been completed, the site will be

secured, made safe and a proper

investigation into what happened

will take place.

And EU have

knowledge of how many people there

may still be trapped?

Not really,

bearing in mind it was a shop

premises with a flat above, that is

why we have been asking all day, it

someday hasn't seen somebody they

expected to see today, please ring

Leicestershire police and let us

know who that person is and as much

information about them as possible.

This is Outside Source,

live from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is?

Russia has agreed to a five

hour daily ceasefire

in Syria's Eastern Ghouta

starting on Tuesday.

It'll be the first break

for the rebel stronghold.

BBC Arabic report that Saudi Arabia

has opened applications for women

to join its military.

Women have until Thursday

to apply for positions

with the rank of soldier.

The decision is one of many reforms

enhancing women's rights

in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

A dangerous attempt at to summit

Pakistan's K2 mountain in the winter

has been aborted. A Russian attempt

of the solo attempt after he argued

with the rest of the expedition. He

then set out a loan before turning

back a day later. And a lot of

people online have been reading

about the global shortage in

raisins. It is caused by a drop in

production in California. The UK is

hit hard. It is the biggest importer

of dried fruit, but don't be too

concerned. This current shortage has

come too late to affect the cost of

hot cross buns, for this year, at

least. Let's bring you up-to-date

with the Outside Source business

news.

Reports suggest that Harvey

Weinstein's New York film studio -

the Weinstein company -

looks set to file for bankruptcy.

Several media outlets say that talks

to sell some of the business'

assets have broken down.

Joe Miller is in New York.

So they couldn't find a buyer?

No,

they couldn't. In fact, this looks

like it's the end of the road for

the Weinstein company first let's

talk you through what happened here,

after dozens of allegations of

sexual harassment surfaced in

October, the company got rid of

Harvey Weinstein and tried to wind

down and find a buyer. That wasn't

too easy. Eventually it found a

conglomerate that was adjusted in

buying it for about $500 million,

and that look like it was going

ahead, until an extraordinary

intervention by the New York

Attorney General a couple of weeks

ago, and he filed a civil rights

lawsuit, saying he didn't want this

deal to go ahead unless there were

assurances that the people who are

allegedly involved in this sexual

harassment, or involved in covering

it up, would not benefit from the

sale, and that the employees, some

of whom were victims of the alleged

harassment, would keep their jobs.

It looked like both parties could

not agree this would happen, and

therefore the Weinstein Company is

saying it has no choice but to file

for bankruptcy.

Another story we

want to have a look at. According to

this particular tweet, which

suggests there are quite a few

people out there who are lying about

owning Bitcoin, I guess weather

status or something. 50 cents admits

he has never owned and is not now

own any Bitcoin. What is going on?

The latest hilarity in the 50 cents

bankruptcy proceedings. 50 cents,

the rapper, also known as Curtis

James Jackson said, he has been

filing for bankruptcy for a while.

The court has essentially asked him

to prove that the wealthy flaunts on

social media is not real. -- 50

Cent. First he had to defend

Instagram posts that his lawyers

said were fake money. Now we have

the filings that say that 50 cents,

who had been bragging about making 8

million in Bitcoin from one of his

albums in 2014 actually made

nothing. He says, so long as a press

story is not irreparably damaging to

my image or brand I usually do not

feel the need to publicly deny the

reporting, so in other words he

thought that owning Bitcoin or

looking like he did, was good for

his brand, and when news

organisation started reporting that

committee kept quiet, but

apparently, according to this

filing, he never did own any of it.

Thank you, Joe Miller in New York,

as always. Let's keep the news on

the OS business news. Here is a

question to you, would you like to

know when a recession is coming? It

could be simple. How many women are

pregnant? It could suggest that the

rate of women becoming pregnant

tends to fall seven months before

the start of a recession. Our

business reporter explained it to

us.

We are looking for certain data

points that might give us a centre

for what happened in the future, why

they are related, who is to say.

They are correlated but not

necessarily causing the thing

happening. This particular bit of

research looked at 109 million birth

records, and found that since 1988

there have been big recessions in

the US, three of them, and almost

six months before them, you could

see fewer women were getting

pregnant. That is the sort of

interesting data point they are

looking here. Maybe you are sitting

down with your partner at the table,

trying to figure out what the future

will look like for you. Do you want

to bring a child into the world? If

you do, you are optimistic about the

future, so the idea is you might not

have lost your job yet, or got that

promised bonus, but you're not

really do this together at getting

it, so you will put off having a kid

in the hopes that things might

improve.

If you have an opinion on that, you

know where to get in touch. The

smartphone event is underway in

Barcelona, the Mobile world

Congress. Global sales of

smartphones fell by over 5% in the

last three months of 2017. In the

battle to be another one, Samsung is

still beating Apple, selling over

80% of all -- 18% of all handsets

last quarter. Apple were second, and

this is the interesting part of this

story. Rounding off the top five

phone makers were three Chinese

companies, Huawei. Rory Cellan-Jones

explains what is going on.

I think

what has happened over the last few

years is people for Chinese

companies, they are just going to be

in the Chinese market. That is a

huge market, plenty for them to play

at that, but they are showing here

in Barcelona that that is not enough

of them. Huawei in particular have a

huge presence here, a vast stand,

and they say they are probably about

number three in the world right now

and they have ambitions to be number

one. I went and visited them five

years ago when they were just

getting into smartphones. Their

ambition seemed unlikely. They said

they would be number three by now,

they have kind of done it, so don't

count them out.

Europe is in the grips

of a deep freeze.

And it's because of this,

a bitterly cold front, dubbed

the "beast from the east",

that is sweeping arctic

air from Siberia right

across the continent.

It's expected to continue having

a big impact in the coming days -

bringing sub-zero temperatures

to many regions.

Here in the UK, it's sent

temperatures plummeting.

These are some of the key pictures

that have come into the BBC

newsroom from across the country.

Snow has been falling in many

areas, including London.

It's disrupted some public transport

services, and caused dangerous

conditions on the roads.

If things pan out the way

they're predicted to,

it could be Britain's coldest

spell since 1991.

This is Rome.

Residents of the Italian capital

woke to a rare blanketing of snow.

It's the coldest weather

they've had in six years.

There's always someone

making the most of it.

This is St Peter's

Square in the Vatican.

Priests among the many joining

in the fun of a snowball fight.

And this weather it

hasn't been putting off

the brave in Germany.

These are swimmers taking

to an outdoor pool in Munich.

That's despite the temperature

dropping to around minus ten degrees

celsius in the area.

It is not over yet, these are

warnings that are in place across

the UK, across all of these regions.

Yellow regions indicating that the

weather is possible to go really,

really cold. Let's get a full update

from Nick Miller.

Widespread cold air across much of

Europe. You may have heard about

sudden stratospheric warming. The

result of that, what goes on high in

the atmosphere, is what we are

seeing right now across Europe. You

can see all the Blues here, the cold

air spreading from Siberia, from

Russia, across much of mainland

Europe and into the United Kingdom,

and with that blue, with that very,

very cold air, the source region for

the air, to badgers have fallen as

low as -40 Celsius, there are many

places that will see snow over the

next few days. -- temperatures have

fallen. Significantly the relations

of snow in places. It is stormy

through the Mediterranean, a lot of

the white showing up will be falling

the white showing up will be falling

as heavy snow. There are not many

places immune from seeing

significant snow as we go through

the rest of the week, because this

cold air is hanging around. It is in

no hurry to move away and we will

potentially see at the end of the

week an even bigger weather system

heading towards the British Isles

with significant disruptive snow.

It is one of the coldest, snowiest

periods we have seen across Europe.

It is one of the coldest, snowiest

periods we have seen across Europe.

We start our round-up in North

America, where the planes of the US

and the Mississippi Valley have

played host to some very heavy

rainfall through the weekend. In

fact, the Ohio river, the biggest

victory of the Mississippi river, it

does mean we have had extensive

flood alerts issued. Since that it

was on moderate alert, with the

levels reaching 65 foot. Anything

above 59th that will trigger those

alerts, but almost all communities

adjacent to the Ohio river have been

on alert. Water is continuing to

recede through Tuesday as high

pressure builds. Our hire can only

hang on for so long here, because we

will see the showers developing

across is to parts of Texas on

Tuesday, and eventually coming

together in a more well formed

weather system, which then is going

to push its way further north latest

Tuesday, but particularly on into

Wednesday. It tracks all the way

across the plains, along with some

southerly winds, and will push more

heavy rain into Ohio on Wednesday.

This story far from over. New

Zealand saw some very heavy rainfall

through the weekend. 300 millimetres

in just the space of Saturday

falling across part of the North

Ireland. Again, an ongoing story

here, New Zealand has been hit by

many areas of low pressure in recent

weeks, and if we take a look at the

latest satellite picture, we can see

another one here queueing up and the

Tasman Sea. It will bring a spell of

strong winds, yes, but more

importantly through the course of

Wednesday it will be the heavy rain

once again that affect the south

island. We can take a little bit of

closer picture for Wednesday.

Auckland has had the worst of the

rain but further south that system

covering a good part of the south

island through the data stop a

little bit closer to home now, let's

head across to Europe, where the

cold continues. Sunday night, parts

of northern Russia, -41 Celsius but

even closer to home across

Scandinavia, low as as low as -35 in

Sweden and Norway, and that is where

we are pulling our air from at the

moment. All the way across this

really right the way down into

southern Europe, that cold air

spreading, blasting out into the

Atlantic too. Meeting up with

slightly warmer air across the

warmer waters of the Mediterranean,

cooking up some pretty nasty

low-pressure systems here for the

next few days and stop some strong

winds and heavy snowfall Romania,

heavy rain to Turkey, and look at

this mess across Portugal, Spain and

the South of France on Wednesday.

Further north, the easterly winds

continue to blast from Siberia.

Plentiful snow showers in the

forecast Scandinavia and also for

the UK and a significant wind-chill

as well. As ever, I will leave my

colleague to give you more details

on that in just half an hour.

Hello, this is Outside Source,

and these are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom.

Russia agrees to a daily five-hour

ceasefire in Syria's Eastern Ghouta.

It'll start on Tuesday -

the first break for

the rebel stronghold.

Britain's Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn sets out his vision

for trade post Brexit,

calling for the UK to form

a new customs union with the EU.

It could spell trouble

for Theresa May's strategy.

Every day, Outside Source

features BBC journalists

working in over 30 languages.

Your questions are always welcome.

#BBCOS is the hashtag

It's six months since

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas,

killing 68 people and forcing more

than 40,000 to flee their homes.

More than 60 inches of rain fell,

causing devastating flooding.

Laura Trevelyan reported

from Houston on the impact

of Harvey last August,

and has returned to find out how

people made homeless

by the ferocious storm are faring.

Houston underwater. This was the

catastrophic flooding caused by

hurricane Harvey. As record rainfall

saturated the city, again using

neighbourhoods and turning lives

upside down. It's an emotional

moment for Gloria, clutching Snoopy

as she shows where she was rescued

from as the floodwaters rose.

It was

devastating. I just couldn't believe

it. I look at it and it is still

hard.

Her home of over 20 years is

uninhabitable, and she didn't have

flood insurance, like thousands of

others in Houston. Now she is living

in a hotel, paid for by the federal

emergency management agency, but she

doesn't feel safe.

I have to

barricade myself in here every night

because there is so much going on

out there. Prostitution every night,

guys driving by one night, shooting

eight times towards this hotel. I

had to get on the floor.

What impact

as it had on you personally, being

out of your house for these past six

months?

I'm on medicine for

depression, I have got to the point

where I really wanted to die, and

asked God to take me home.

Volunteers from a Houston charity

are helping rebuild Gloria's home.

Hopefully she can return in March.

Mother nature did what she did and

we are helping people recover as

best we can.

Federal officials are

trying to help families like

Gloria's get back home.

People do

expect someone to fix it. Our role

is not bad. We want to help

everybody in every way we can as

quickly as we can but in doing that

we also have to be mindful of the

taxpayer dollars that we are

spending.

Here is how this suburb

looked in August. The neighbourhood

was deliberately submerged, as

officials let water out of the

nearby reservoir to stop it

overflowing. Dan and Virginia did

not have flood insurance, and are

still trying to rebuild.

Six months

on, we're not home yet. We vacillate

between saying, do we want to be in

this house or do we want to start

over somewhere else?

I describe it

as a roller-coaster of emotion. It

was the horror of being flooded,

being a house with two small

children and a new dog, and the

craziness of the last six months,

trying to rebuild your life.

As

Houston recovers from the impact of

Harvey, the next Tara came season is

only four months away. This is a

sprawling coastal city, with bayous

like this which I won a ball to

flooding. So is anything being done

to protect Houston against future

hurricanes.

It did not disconnect as

to whether you work for otherwise,

the floodwaters came and you were

adversely affected.

The mayor knows

all too well how exposed to city is.

Rejecting it is a long-term project.

It is important for the city to take

steps towards mitigating flooding.

Why use need to be expanded, there

needs to be more retention places

put in place.

That is the full

comfort for Gloria, still waiting to

go home, traumatised by the

flooding. Hurricane Harvey destroyed

homes and lives. Houston's

rebounding, but the road to recovery

is a long one.

Russia has announced it

will establish a humanitarian

corridor out of the Syrian rebel

enclave of Eastern Ghouta.

The Damascus suburb

of Eastern Ghouta has endured

one of the heaviest bombardments

of the Syrian civil war -

hundreds of people have been killed

in the last eight days.

Russia says the ceasefire will be

in place from 9am to 2pm every day,

across Eastern Ghouta,

starting on Tuesday

and a "humanitarian

corridor" will be created

to allow civilians to leave.

With me is Lyse Doucet, our chief

international correspondent.

You know this area, you have been

there before. The conditions that

people there are suffering under our

unimaginable.

The UN

Secretary-General called it hell on

earth, where you have nearly 400,000

people who have been besieged,

encircled in that suburb of Damascus

since 2013. In the last eight or

nine days, they have seen some of

the heaviest bombardment since this

war began. There is also the impact

and pressure on the people of

Damascus, who have had barrages of

missiles, mortars fired from the

rebel groups who are based in that

enclave, and it is for that reason

that Russia and the Syrian

government are saying that this is

not a Germanic Terry and crisis as

many in the world are saying, it is

a battle against terrorism. -- it is

not a humanitarian crisis

a battle against terrorism. -- it is

not a humanitarian crisis.

There are

many saying that the corridor will

not allow things to come through.

People have to decide to leave

through the corridor, that is the

thing we saw in Aleppo in 2016.

Russia and the Syrian government

also offered these corridors, many

people didn't leave because they

were afraid of the consequences if

they did. They didn't have anywhere

to go, so they decided to stay where

they were. In some cases in Aleppo,

rebel groups stopped people from

leaving. More than a year on, there

is even more people living in this

area, they are more afraid about

leaving because they have nowhere to

go, they don't want to be

transported to a distant province

where they have no family, no

relatives, no one to seek refuge

with. Also they don't know what the

rebel groups are and what their

goals are, and if they are going to

stop people from leaving. We will

have to wait and see if people will

take advantage of the corridor. It

is meant to be safe, will it be?

Are

you convinced, confident that there

will be eight is fired during those

five hours?

There will not be a

ceasefire as we know it, because

Russia has said time and again that

certain groups will not be included.

It is also excluding partners of

groups like Al-Qaeda, which gives

them a licence to keep fighting. We

have heard the same message from the

Syrian government as well.

How will

this compare to what happened in

Aleppo?

Each situation is different.

This is up particular concern for

the Government because it is on the

edge of Damascus. It also comes at a

time when they want to finish it

off, they want to take this area.

There is a real determination to try

to continue to push out the rebels.

There were intense discussion to

some of the rebel groups. The

Government made it clear that they

would not negotiate with the

hardline linked to Al-Qaeda. In some

cases, the rebels refused to leave,

and this is what happened.

Thank you.

Don't forget you can get much more

detail on our top stories

on our website, including

extensive coverage of the crisis

in Eastern Ghouta.

One week ago, 110 Nigerian

schoolgirls were abducted

from a town in Yobay

state called Dapchi.

It has taken a week

to have that confirmed -

at first, the state government said

the girls were simply "missing".

This is what is left of the school.

This was the classroom.

It's now empty, but last Monday

students and teachers

were running to bushes nearby

as Boko Haram militants

stormed the school.

Katalla Bukar's 14-year-old daughter

Aisha is among the missing girls.

He's begging the Nigerian

government to act quickly.

TRANSLATION:

As of now, we are

disturbed because it is Monday and

the children have spent seven days

with those militants. They have

never experienced such a thing in.

Until this moment, there are no

hints about their whereabouts was

the buying here to speak on behalf

of the fathers of the abducted girls

stop no more, no less, we need

maximum contribution of every camp

in the world. We also need the help

from the state and federal

government to help because they have

not experienced this will stop I

know they were abducted by militants

and where ever they are now they are

mentally affected because the oldest

among them is only 20 years old. I

can't explain further because I am

not with them. Both the state and

federal covered have said they will

bring them back soon. We are in a

bad situation. Me and the family are

in a bad situation.

His anger is felt

by many of the parents.

They want answers over reports

that soldiers withdrew

from checkpoints in the town.

Some of them are angry

that the military had claimed

to have defeated Boko Haram

in the area just last month.

Nigeria's President has apologised

and declared a national disaster.

His information minister said,

"We want to assure Nigerians

that no stone will be left unturned

in our determination

to rescue these girls."

It's not surprising

that these kidnappings

are being compared to the abductions

in Chibok,

a town that's only

300 kilometres away.

UNICEF says, "We have not forgotten

the tragedy of the Chibok girls

from four years ago,

when 276 girls were abducted

by Boko Haram militants."

Still, large number

of the girls have not returned.

And now this.

These figures from UNICEF show

the dangers faced by teachers -

over 2,000 teachers

have been killed by Boko Haram

and 1,400 schools

destroyed since 2009.

Our correspondent,

Stephanie Hegarty, is in Lagos.

It seems that finally the Government

is starting to take control, to step

up their efforts to find the girls.

They said they deployed all of the

airpower they can, they have

surveillance aircraft monitoring the

region. But it is a week later and

many parents are still angry and

confused about how the federal

government is dealing with this. We

have had comparisons to what

happened with the kidnapping in

2014, lots of people criticising the

Government and saying they did not

learn anything from that incident.

At least this time we have an

acknowledgement that this has

happened, and we have some movement,

although it has been slow, from the

Government to try and find the girls

stop the big question is, why won't

the school is being protected by the

Army? The governor was angry at the

military for pulling out from a

checkpoint and week before. There

has been much criticism of that. The

army said in their defence that they

can't man every single school, every

single village in the entire region.

But this was a big school, close to

1000 students, so lots of people

were asking why it was not a

priority to protect those girls.

The Democratic Republic

of Congo is facing

an uncertain political future.

This is the president,

Joseph Kabila -

he has overstayed his time in power.

His mandate expires

at the end of 2016,

but there is no date

for another election.

People have been protesting

on streets in Kinshasha -

two people were killed on Sunday.

Two weeks ago, we brought

you a report from the border

with Uganda on the flow of migrants

escaping violence and hunger.

Now we have a report from Bunia

where a bitter ethnic conflict

is starting up again.

Catherine Byaruhanga has been

there - this is her report.

Three friends who only have each

other. They ran for two days after

their village was attacked. Their

parents are gone, so they have to

fend for themselves. Fighting has

erupted here between rival ethnic

groups. But when I asked the boys

which tried they belong to, they

have no idea. Children have taken

the brunt of this conflict. The boys

are staying with Francoise. She has

lived through war before and knows

what it is like to run away from

home with nothing. She has opened

her doors to over 40 people, but

can't look after all of them.

TRANSLATION:

The Government needs to

assist them so that I can help them

all. This places in the open, and

they feel cold. There is no

mattress, no food, clothes.

The

fighting is happening out here in

the countryside. It is too remote

and too dangerous for aid agencies

to reach. Some have stayed behind,

but not out of choice. This church

is now abandoned. There are no more

masses. The Catholic Church is one

of the most powerful institutions

here in the Democratic Republic of

Congo. The fact that priests and

nuns have fled is a sign of the

level of insecurity in this region.

This woman has spent her life

farming, but now she can barely find

food to feed her children. She can't

afford to go to Bunia, the safer

town.

TRANSLATION:

We know the situation

is difficult here, but what can we

do? Because we can't travel to ten

two without money. It is to far to

travel without kids. We are forced

to live in this church.

Across the

TRC, nearly 5 million people have

been driven from their homes will

stop the president has delayed

elections, leading to a power vacuum

and a web of conflicts. The UN has

its biggest peacekeeping force in

the country, but it's struggling to

protect civilians. The Government

doesn't seem ready to take

responsibility. The only person who

would talk to us is the Army

spokesman, but he says the fighting

isn't their problem for now.

TRANSLATION:

This is not a military

mission, it is about reinstating

public order, so it is commanded by

the police. If they believe the

situation is getting worse, the Army

will take hold.

Meanwhile, like many

children, the three boys are trapped

in a country sliding further into

chaos.

The Turkish President has been

strongly criticised after telling

a little girl who was dressed up

in military uniform

that she would be honoured

if killed while fighting.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was speaking

at a meeting of his AK

party in the southern

town of Kahramanmaras.

Here's Mr Erdogan with the child.

And if we take a closer look you can

see her maroon beret,

which is of the type worn

by the Turkish special forces.

Mr Erdogan is quoted as saying

"We have our maroon berets here,

but maroon berets never cry."

He then goes on to say, "She has

a Turkish flag in her pocket too.

If she's martyred, they'll lay

a flag on her, God willing."

There's been plenty of criticism

on social media

but Mr Erdogan has often glorified

martyrdom in the past.

Here's the BBC's

Selin Gerit in Istanbul.

It was a jubilant scene for Sun, but

difficult to watch for others. He

told the little girl that she should

be honoured if she got killed in a

military operation. Those who were

watching at the scene started

chanting slogans in his favour,

asking them to -- asking him to take

them to the combat zone. Criticism

erupted on social media. Some said

it was akin to child abuse, another

saying, you can't wish her dead. He

has been criticised for a long time

for promoting martyrdom. It is seen

as one of the highest honours of

Islam. Over 30 Turkish soldiers have

got killed in combat in recent

times, they are considered as

martyrs here in Turkey, every police

officer and every soldier killed on

duty is considered a master. -- a

martyr.

Let me take you to Jerusalem,

where Christian leaders

have taken the rare and sudden

step of shutting one

of their holiest sites -

the Church of Holy Sepulchre.

Let me show you what

happened on Sunday.

The big wooden doors to this

1,000-year-old doors

were closed indefinitely

in a land and tax dispute.

Moments earlier, these leaders

of Catholic, Armenian

and Greek denominations,

had strong words for

the Israeli authorities,

accusing them of a

"systematic campaign"

on Christians in the Holy Land.

Worshippers are forced

to pray outside.

Signs are put up in

solidarity which read,

"Stop the persecution of churches."

The church objects to an attempt

to tax its property,

which the authorities in Jerusalem

view as commercial.

They fear

that proposed property laws

would let the state

claim church-owned land.

Here are church leaders

talking about it.

It breaches their obligations which

guarantee the rights in what seems

to be an attempt to weaken the

Christian presence in Jerusalem. We

decided to take this unprecedented

step of closing the Church of Holy

Sepulchre.

But on the other side

of the debate is the Mayor,

who is trying to get

about $186 million

in uncollected taxes

on church assets.

Take a look at this tweet.

Well, the church attracts

thousands of worshippers

and tourists every year.

We know it as a key site

for Christians

who believe Jesus was crucified,

buried and resurrected there.

Let's hear from some

of the visitors there.

I am disappointed because I did not

know it was going to be close. I

came to Jerusalem may need to see

the church.

All over the rolled, I

have never heard of any church

paying taxes anywhere. What is this

new idea?

We wanted to visit the

actual grave, right? The most

important thing for us. We received

this information yesterday that it

would be closed. We hope for a

couple of hours, but apparently it

is closed for a longer period. I

feel disappointed.

A lot of disappointment indeed.

China's Communist Party has

proposed removing a clause

in the constitution which limits

presidencies to two five-year terms.

This means President Xi Jinping

could remain as leader

after the end

of his second term in 2023.

The censors have gone

into overdrive,

and people have been trying to get

around the firewall.

Here's the reason Winnie the Pooh -

the cartoon regularly compared

to President Xi - has been banned.

Here's Professor Steve Tsang

to explain China's

constitutional changes.

It is significant largely innocent

because the office of the state

president is so largely significant.

He asked for it and get it knowing

full well that there is a

significant price to pay in terms of

the party establish and being

uncomfortable with it. And also the

population is uncomfortable with it.

He has consolidated power, he

doesn't need to extend his office as

state president in order to stay in

power beyond 2023. He has already

done that in October. He is doing

it, and the difference is that in

2023, he can go on state visits.

There is not a lot else that he

needs this office in order to do. On

top of that, he has his thoughts

being written into the car is Jewish

and of the Chinese Communist Party.

The only other party who had that

was the founder of the republic of

china, nobody else had ever achieved

that apart from him.

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