01/03/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Philippa Thomas,

this is Outside Source.

President Putin says Russia has

developed a new array of invincible

nuclear weapons that can "reach

anywhere in the world".

Prompting this response

from the pentagon.

We're not surprised by this

statement. And the American people

should rest assured that we are

fully prepared.

President Trump says

he'll impose swingeing tariffs on

imported steel and aluminium next

week. We'll bring you the latest

from Washington.

Europe sees some of its lowest

temperatures in years ,

hitting minus 40 degrees

celsius in places.

A

And the strange case

of a woman who thought God

was telling her to self-harm ,

an illusion that was

caused by a brain tumour.

Welcome to Outside Source...

We start with the revelations

from the Russian President's annual

state of the nation speech.

Here's how our Moscow

Correspondent described it

And indeed Russians will vote

on March 18th, an election

Vladimir Putin is widely

expected to win.

Here's what the president had to say

to court the soldiers' vote.

we were working on the development

of weaponry technologies.

We've made

significant new steps in creating

new systems of strategic weaponry.

Let me remind you that the United

States create their dire ballistic

protection against strategic

missiles. This is the basis of our

strategic weaponry as well as other

countries.

One element to the speech

that was picked up by Alec Luhn

from the Telegraph

Reuters gave this reaction

from the US - the Pentagon downplays

Russian President Vladimir Putin's

announcement of new nuclear

weapons on Thursday,

saying Moscow's weaponry was long

under development and had already

been factored into US assessments.

To get a sense of what part

of the speech was actually

important to Russians -

here's Olga Ivshina from BBC Russia.

The whole second half of this

address was really unexpected. When

we now look back I sort of see the

build-up because Russian Prime

Minister was talking about it, you

know. Various Russian ministers were

saying we won't step back against

the threats. The US is trying to

scare us. But no

no one expected such a performance,

they intentionally move this from

the Kremlin which normally happens

to another more spacious building.

And they brought three huge screens

just to show all the graphics of

flying missiles for the first hour

they were only showing boring

statistics and we wondered what the

show was about. Then when all the

missiles started flying around,

that's when I understood.

You start

hearing about invincible weapons,

nuclear weapons, and new reality.

It's a message not just for the

audience and the voters, but for

Donald Trump for example.

It was a

message both for external and

internal audience. Russia was

talking to the West for a number of

years, no one has listen, now you

will listen us. When someone is

threatening the partners or just

showing the partners military

capabilities, the world is going to

listen.

Vladimir Putin is going to

win the upcoming election, partly

because his biggest competition

isn't allowed to stand.

Yes, what is

the most prominent opposition

leaders, Alexey Melania is not

allowed to stand. Even if the

opposition manages to get to

participate, there's not that much

chance. Each TV bulletin starts with

ten minute long pieces about Putin,

today he got two hours airtime on

all Russian TV channels. -- Aleksei

Nevalny.

It's not a fair game to be honest.

It would be the shock of a lifetime

if he wasn't re-elected.

The Russian

electoral committee says there is no

mistake, Mr Putin is not breaking

any rules by broadcasting state of

the nation address, he's just

performing his professional duties

as head of the country. Each time

such questions are asked by

opposition leaders, each time the

answer is the same, he's just

performing his duties. Definitely no

one has any doubts about the

upcoming election.

Heavy snowfalls and icy winds

continue to batter Europe

as the region shivers in a deadly

deep-freeze that has hit

countries from the far north

to the southern Mediterranean.

In some places the temperature

dropped as low as minus 40 degrees

celsius, and there is little sign

of conditions improving.

Jessica Parker looks

at the picture across Europe.

Paris freezes over. Tourists tread

carefully.

It's so cold.

In Croatia

this waterfall has been silenced.

There are pockets of warmth. In

Poland coal burners steam on the

streets. But there is no beating

this ice blast. In the grip of a

Siberian weather system Europe is

seeing some of the coldest

temperatures for several years.

Today's recorded low, minus 41.8

Celsius in Norway. It brings danger,

as this lorry driver in Bulgaria

discovered. In Scotland around 1000

vehicles were stranded on a major

motorway overnight. On this road,

dash camera footage shows a

frightening near miss.

In the east of England, the shovels

are out.

Trying to get home. I

phoned to work and said I can't make

it, I'm stuck in the drift.

Trains

have been cancelled, airports

closed, meanwhile dozens of people,

many homeless, are reported to have

died across the continent. This

weather event has several names

across Europe. The Siberian back,

the snow cannon, the beast from the

east. Different names similar

stories. Forecasters predict extreme

weather will continue to grip the

Europe into the weekend.

It's been a big week for the Brexit

negotiations and tomorrow it reaches

a climax with what's billed as a big

speech by British Prime

Minister Theresa May.

This may be the moment to clarify

where her government stands

on the UK's future relationship

with the European Union.

If you remember last week Mrs May

and her ministers spent

the day thrashing this out

at her country residence, Chequers.

They reportedly agreed that Britain

would seek to diverge from some

European regulations over time.

How much and how, are two of the big

unanswered questions.

Striking a very different note,

a former British Prime Minister

the Labour politician Tony Blair

today talked about

the dangers of Brexit.

And he called for EU immigration

rules to be reformed to encourage

British people to change their mind

and stay in.

Let's just remind ourselves

of an extraordinary week

when the Brexit debate

became even more heated.

Labour would seek to negotiate a

new, Combrinck sieve UK- EU customs

union.

A customs union would remove

the bulk of incentives for other

countries to enter into

comprehensive free trade agreements

with the UK.

With fair and equal

access to a very large, rich EU

market, if you're going to give that

up for the promise of some bilateral

deals with markets that are much

less important to us is like giving

up a three course meal for a packet

of crisps.

The island of Ireland

will be protected and a hard border

will be avoided. Ireland has to be

covered by the union customs caught.

Draft legal text the commission has

published, if implemented, reckons

the constitutional integrity of the

UK.

Let Parliament to decide. Or put

the issue back to the people.

Having

a second referendum or whatever, I

haven't listened to John Major's

speech, does seem rather absurd.

European leaders share the

responsibility. To lead us out of

the Brexit cul-de-sac.

It is an

inevitable side-effect of Brexit by

nature.

That uncompromising message from EU

Commission President Donald Tusk

was reinforced by chief Brexit

negotiatior Michel Barnier ,

in a speech to business leaders.

Here he is.

The UK Government wishes to read the

game Sturridge regain its autonomy

following agreements. It has

indicated its intention to leave the

customs union. And this choice, this

choice, has consequences. Being

outside the customs union always

involves customs procedures.

One fantastic source

for Brexit News is the BBC's

Brexitcast podcast -

For the latest programme

Adam Fleming ends up

in Tony Blair's hotel room.

Speaking of Adam -

here's his view of today.

Stay with us on Outside

Source - still to come.

Find out why this magazine cover is

causing controversy in India. You

may be surprised that the reason.

Drivers have been stranded on road

while people still wait for flights

out of Glasgow airport and are

getting ready to bed down for

another night after it was closed

again. Lorna Gordon has more.

You've been here a good 17 hours at

the moment.

They've moved about 100

metres.

This storm was forecast well

ahead of time. But despite warnings,

people did still venture out. Now

after waiting nearly 18 hours on

this stretch of motorway, it looks

as if, finally, the traffic might

just be about to start moving again.

You're watching Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom. The US

government says it is fully prepared

after President Putin revealed

Russian is creating a new arsenal of

nuclear weapons in his State of the

nation address Mr Putin said the

weapons included an underwater drone

and cruise missile that could reach

anywhere in the world. Some of the

other stories about BBC News today,

BBC Mundo reports the Catalan

separatist leader Carles Puigdemont

is withdrawing as president of the

Catalonia region in favour of a

jailed activist, Jordi Sanchez.

You'll be arrested if he returns to

Barcelona to be sworn in, he is

currently in exile in Belgium.

Marine Le Pen says she will be

silenced after being placed under

formal investigation for treating a

graphic image of violence by the

so-called Islamic State. She says

she had simply been condemning the

group's atrocities. The BBC World

Service is covering that story. A

lot of you're watching online with

those freezing winds sweeping across

Europe this video offering tips on

how to keep warm in the cold. BBC

colleagues in chilly climes, it's

proving very popular.

President Trump said America

will impose substantial

tariffs on steel and aluminium

imports next week, after meeting

industry bosses in Washington.

Tariffs of 25% on steel and 10%

on aluminium imports

are expected next week.

The action could provoke

retaliation, but China is by no

means the biggest steel supplier

to the US.

China is the 11th biggest

exporter of steel to the US,

less than 2% of US imported

steel is Chinese.

That compares with the 16%

of steel imports from Canada

or the 7% from Turkey.

Barbara Plett Usher

Is in Washington. Donald Trump

campaign strongly on that

protectionist note.

That's right,

he's always been eager to follow up

on that campaign, so eager he has

made this announcement between the

details had been worked out. It has

to be signed next week. He has to

rebuild America's steel and

aluminium industry which has

struggled to compete with China

dumping cheap steel on the market.

He is backed up by this because his

administration is determined this is

a national security threat. Says

America needs to have a domestic

supply for defence purposes. Really

I think this is about Donald Trump

wanting to deliver on those campaign

promises to protect American

workers.

There has already been some

concern about what this could mean

in terms of cost to American

business.

That's right, this is

popular with the steel industry but

not many other constituencies,

especially industry is that consume

steel, things like industries that

make autoparts and oil parts. This

is going to increase their costs and

mean they have less profits and

possibly also affect jobs in these

industries. Early reports that Exxon

Mobil, this could impact its plans

to expand a major oil refinery. It

could have implications for steel

consuming industries. Broadly

speaking its more unpopular beyond

that. The Republican party, even

members of Mr Trump's own

administration have warned against

this move.

Blue Peter leave my

watching the markets. How have they

reacted to this tariff boost? --

Yogita. The Dow Jones has ended down

after that Ray Teret announcement.

Earlier in the day when we didn't

know whether a firm announcement was

coming from the Trump

administration, use a steel company

stocks rise. Once the announcement

was made stocks of companies from

sectors that Barbara was talking

about earlier, for example the auto

sector, which is a big consumer of

steel, leasing company stocks beaten

at the markets today. That is why we

are seeing markets, all of the major

US industries, actually, ending

about a percent, one and a half

percent down.

Donald Trump says he's doing this

for the US steel industry. Can that

industry provide all the steel

American business wants?

Can it be

saved at this point? It's certainly

true tens of thousands of steel

industry workers have lost their

jobs in the US over the past many

decades. Can it be rolled back that

it can deliver the domestic demand

in the US? That is what a lot of

manufacturers here are concerned

about. A group of many factors has

even written to the Administration

saying, please, before this

announcement was made, please

reconsider this, please do not

impose heavy taxes on steel and

aluminium imports. It's not just

those sectors that are worried,

people in the US are also worried

about what reciprocal action could

be taken by the countries affected.

For example if you've got China,

which as you pointed out is not the

one most impacted by this move. If

you have a reciprocal reaction and

they decide they want to slap

tariffs on soya bean exports, soya

bean imports from America, what

happens to soya bean producers here?

There is worry in business beyond

people who are even connected to

steel or aluminium.

Who wants a

trade war? Thanks for getting us

up-to-date on a significant

announcement. Severe weather

conditions have put a strain on gas

supplies here.

The National Grid warned that it may

not have enough gas to meet

the current demand and has asked

suppliers to provide more.

It says large gas users , such

as industry and some businesses ,

are being asked to use less.

Household supplies are not

expected to be affected.

Our business editor

Simon Jack explains.

You add surging demand to cuts in

supply and get a potential deficit.

A gas death warning is set at five

o'clock in the morning. It's

basically the National Grid vein,

we're not sure there is enough gas

in the system to meet that demand.

Does that mean you're going to turn

on your cooker or central heating

and it's not going to work? No. It's

the first early warning shot of a

number of measures. But they can

then take to bring the supply and

demand back into balance. It

includes for example asking heavy

users to use less. In fact, a big

chemicals company has been asked by

National Grid and they've agreed to

dial down their usage by 20%.

Lets turn to India where

this magazine cover has

split public opinion.

The headline reads 'Moms tell

Kerala- don't stare,

we want to breastfeed.' Now

there are two issues here -

both breastfeeding in public

and the two people in the photo.

The magazine used a model,

not a mother - on the cover.

Inside, though, the baby's

real mother is pictured

breastfeeding her child -

next to the model.

This is how it's seen in India

blogger Anjana Nayar

"That point

"That point

at which you decided to push a real

mother actually breastfeeding her

child into the inner pages

and portray a model holding a baby

to her bare breast on your cover

is where you delved into cheap

sensationalism and exploitation'.

But supporters are calling

the front cover courageous,

bold and path-breaking.

The model told us this -

"I was expecting a lot

of criticism, but I decided to take

it all on with pleasure for the sake

of all mothers who want

to breastfeed with pride

and a sense of freedom,".

A journalist in Kolkata says

@shreyateresita 'To some it's gross,

to some it's a free show.

To a child, it's unquestionably

simple and necessary.

To anyone smart

enough, it's natural.

Good work'.

I've been talking to

Gita Aramuvadan, a journalist

and author in Bangalore who has

praised the magazine's

decision as groundbreaking.

In India, for a long time, until the

last generation probably, people

weren't feeding their babies in

public. Feeding a baby in public was

not something to be ashamed of. And

people would put their babies on in

trains and buses. In the open. At

family gatherings. I know that in

our family gatherings there would be

young mothers feeding their babies.

What changed to make it such an

unusual image today?

The British in

a way bought some kind of Victorian

morals and it was considered correct

for you to close your dress. In

Cowler for existence, women were

walking about with breasts bared

until the early 20th century. -- in

Kerala. In most of South India it's

very hot, women would just where the

sari and cover their breasts, but

not wear a blouse or anything. So

feeding a baby in public was not

something which was unusual.

What do

you make of the critics who say the

breasts on the front cover of a

magazine with a baby on the end of

it is sexualised and somehow

offensive?

It's a very bold kind of

picture. Perhaps not the way a

mother might feed her baby, or it

might be, breast-feeding is normal.

There is nothing wrong about it. You

don't have to do it in a particular

way, you don't have to be coy about

it. You can go out in the open and

feed your baby anyway you want. It's

as natural as anything else. Men

have said it's very eroticised and

have said, you know, having a model,

especially the model who is an

unmarried woman, and is a model, and

the baby is not hers. People have

raised objection to that. A model is

the model. She's only representing

something. She doesn't have to be

the person who actually performs

that action.

Now to a surprising medical case

in which a woman thought God

was telling her to harm herself -

all because of a brain tumour.

The case arose here in Bern

in Switzerland, where in late 2015,

a 48-year-old, we'll call Sarah,

checked herself into

the psychiatric emergency service.

Sarah had stabbed her own chest

several times - deep wounds.

She told the doctors she'd been

following direct orders from God.

Melissa Hogenboom is

a Features Writer for BBC Future

and has been looking into Sarah's

case and described how the doctors

first viewed the case.

She showed delusions, voices, these

hallucinations and she was really

manic. When you probed deeper, you

thought, this lady isn't withdrawing

from social contract, she's not

taking time away from her family.

This doesn't quite fit. That's

exactly what he thought. He did a

routine brain scan, which they tend

to do with patients like this, and

found a significant brain tumour in

a very particular area of the brain.

It's really important for how we

process sound. The thalamus, the

area you are using right now

listening to me speak, interpreting

what I say, sending it to the right

part of your brain to understand

what I'm saying based on your

previous knowledge of the world. If

this area is broken bits if any

patient is often thinner than this

brain tumour was encroaching on the

area. It messes with how we

experience sound.

I know you are

talking to me and not inside my

head. Sarah couldn't quite tell who

was standing next to her and who she

was imagining inside her own mental

universe.

Precisely right, she

couldn't differentiate between

voices in her head and what was

going on in the real world so to her

these voices were as real as what

you can hear I'm doing now. What was

interesting is it wasn't just these

voices which had distrusting sounds,

the neuroscientists bought the brain

tumour itself had caused the initial

interest in religion and that is the

really interesting thing.

She'd had

interest in religion going back

years, kind of spurts of enthusiasm

for spirituality.

She'd shown manic

spurts of interest. Because this was

a very specific type of brain

tumour. It grows very slowly over

time. The brain can adapt that

particular kind of stress so each

time the tumour would grow and then

Grosjean this area important for

hearing sound, it would distress her

brain and make her think she was

hearing voices. Then when her brain

managed to adapt to the tumour

because the tumour remained static

for long periods, the voices would

go away. That was what was unique.

Much more to come here an Outside

Source. Do stay with us.

Could easily. Certainly not the best

night to be out and about.

Disruptive and in places, dangerous

wintry weather continues. So much so

the Met office has issued a red

weather warning across parts of

south-west England and South Wales.

Heavy snow, strong winds, blizzard

conditions. This is the radar

picture from earlier. Snow spreading

up from the south. Particularly

setting in across the south-west and

southern half of Wales. Snow showers

continuing further north and east.

Still a Met Office amber be prepared

warning for north-east Scotland,

down into north-east England. It

warning in force for the

south-eastern corner of Northern

Ireland. Snow feeding in here. It is

the south-western corner where we

will have the most disruptive

weather overnight. An amber warning.

Some of that coming to the

south-east of Wales, covered by the

red warning. A lot of snow piling

up. Sunspots seeing 15, 20

centimetres, maybe 40 or 50 over the

high ground. Some of that snow

fringing into parts of Northern

Ireland as we go through the night.

We keep snow showers across parts of

northern and eastern Scotland. The

far north-east of England. These

areas particularly at risk of

disruption overnight. Across the far

south-west of the snow may begin to

turn back to rein in places. If that

happens the rain is likely to fall

on cold surfaces. It brings a

significant ice risk to take us into

tomorrow morning. Travel disruption

very likely indeed. A dry spell

perhaps for the south-west and Wales

through the first part of tomorrow.

Then looks like snow will return

from the south. Heavy snow at that.

Could be snow in other southern

areas. Still a lot to play for with

that, some uncertainty in the

forecast. Snow showers into northern

and eastern areas. Fine weather with

sunshine in between. When we

consider the strength of the wind

this is what it'll feel like through

tomorrow afternoon. Sub zero in many

areas. But a slight change in the

feel of the weather through the next

few days. Looks like we'll bring

something slightly less cold from

the south, particularly into

southern areas. The weekend we can

see that for many it will remain

cold, less cold towards the south.

Still the risk of some snow.

Hello, I'm Philippa Thomas,

this is Outside Source,

and these are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom:

President Putin says Russia

has developed a new array

of invincible nuclear weapons that

can "reach anywhere in the world",

prompting this response

from the Pentagon.

President Trump

says he's spoken with

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

about bringing a lawsuit

against companies involved

in the opioid business.

It came after a summit

he hosted at the White House

to try to tackle the nation's

opioid addiction problem.

The administration will roll out

policy within the next three weeks,

and it will be very strong.

An exclusive report

from southern Yemen,

where government forces have pushed

out the Houthis, but at a cost.

Get in touch.

#BBCOS is the hashtag.

Welcome to Outside Source.

War in Yemen between

the ousted government,

supported by Saudi Arabia,

and Houthi rebels,

supported by Iran, has raged

for nearly three years.

A UN-brokered peace process

has all but failed.

The country is in economic

ruin and its people

are on the verge of famine.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet is the first

international journalist to gain

access to Beihan in the south

of the country, where Yemeni

government forces have

pushed out the Houthis.

Celebrations are central to Yemen's

intractable war. A victory on this

in hostile terrain. It has taken

more than two years to get this far.

Now Yemeni troops and tribesman

controlled the southern of events.

-- province. The commander says who

thes are hitting civilians here.

House is over there and over there.

The front line in Yemen's brutal war

are starting to slowly shift, but it

still seems like a war without end.

Everybody talks about a political

solution but nobody believes it will

happen, not wild horses on both

sides still believe they can keep

gaining power. But victory can be

fragile. It is dangerous here, the

soldiers shout. The Houthis have us

in our sites, we must move quickly.

Beihan is the biggest town in the

province and back in the Army's

hands, a strategic town and a vital

supply route. Only weeks ago Ghouta

had it but Beihan is broken by years

of strife and health services have

collapsed. There is only one

hospital here and only two

specialist doctors caring for tens

of thousands. Many staff left when

the Ghouta came on the salaries

stopped, but the patients keep

coming. Hassan's house was hit by a

mortar. It is not clear who fight

it. They took my whole family, he

says, all three children gone. There

were 11, six and two. There is just

me and my wife left, he says. In

intensive care, a young man shot

through the chest on the front line.

He had to travel for hours to get

help, but had to stand a fighting

chance in conditions like this, the

only surgeon here does his best

against the odds. Next door, what

seems to be an empty room. It is

not. A tiny baby, alone, struggling

to survive. We are told he has

septicaemia. Even doctors are

targets. This doctor tells me, the

Houthis sent him to prison, accused

of being a spy.

They are taking

information by hitting us, by

electric shocks.

We are really

suffering. When you are seeing

people here suffering, no matter who

is in charge, they are still

suffering?

There is no salary. There

are many problems. They are thinking

of their daily life. He wanted it.

In Beihan's main market, people tell

us they are worried. They say they

need everything, schools, jobs,

security. Some expressed relief that

the Houthis are gone Saudi led

coalition has stopped bombing here.

I asked, did many die in the air

strikes? Not many, this man says.

Others disagree. A lot of families

died, some shout, five, says man. An

entire family was killed in this

home. More than 13 people. The

Minister of information wants to

make sure we see this. What the

Houthis did, he says. He says they

do not want to wipe them out, they

are Yemenis, but they should give up

their guns and seek power to

elections instead. Noble thoughts,

but a brutal battle rages across

this fractured land and, for

Yemenis, the battle simply to

survive.

The White House is clearly trying

to address the opioid drug crisis,

which claims 115 lives

in the US every day.

The screening of potential drugs

traffic has been part of the border

protection legislation the President

has signed and today,

along with First Lady Melania Trump,

the President hosted a summit.

Here's what he had to say.

The administration will roll out

policy over the next three weeks and

it will be very strong. I have also

spoken with Jeff about bringing a

lawsuit against some of these opioid

companies. What they are doing in

the way the distribution, you have

people that go to a hospital with a

broken arm, they come out and they

are addicted to painkillers, and

they do not even know what happened.

They go in for something minor and

they come out and are in serious

shape.

Anthony Zurcher is in Washington.

It has been very well documented,

this appalling crisis which is

hitting a lot of middle America.

Right, and as Donald Trump discussed

just there, a lot of this started

because of drugs companies and

doctors prescribing these is

painkillers. I was in Kentucky a few

weeks ago and met with a woman who

first got prescribed opioids because

she said she had complications with

pregnancy, another man who came back

from the military was given the

injuries. So there are millions of

opioid drug addicts because of local

prescriptions. The opioid addiction

has shifted since then. There has

been less prescribed by doctors,

more and more is coming from these

people becoming addicted finding

them illegally on the streets or

even ordering them abroad from

manufacturers in China.

So what is

the White House pink can do about

that?

What they want to try to do,

and I have been government studies

of this already, is improved

screening of incoming mail. We are

talking about millions of pieces of

mail coming in every day, more than

3 million a year coming through.

What they want to try do is track

individual pieces of mail by getting

data on it from De Schepper, so it

is coming from China, they get

information on where it came from,

then they can target the screening.

Donald Trump also mentioned

something opioid manufacturers which

is what number of states are going.

That is something the federal

government could get involved in. So

far, the Trump administration is

focusing on cracking down on illegal

sales and increasing penalties. But

less on treatment. Millions of

people are addicted. People I talk

to on a local level have as much

concern is dealing with addicts out

there right now, treating them than

punishing drugs companies or

sellers.

Now Bill Gates has added his voice.

"Right now, cryptocurrencies

are used for buying fentanyl

and other drugs, so it is a rare

technology that has caused deaths

in a fairly direct way.

Anthony, you just wrote this piece

that's on the BBC website.

Anthony with a little more on this

story about the opioid crisis. We

have heard so much about it from the

White House today.

Don't forget, you can get much more

detail on our top stories,

The Syrian Red Crescent says

that this elderly Pakistani

couple have been evacuated

from the rebel-held

enclave of Eastern Ghouta.

They're the only civilians known

to have got out of the area

since a Russian-backed humanitarian

pause in fighting was supposed

to take effect on Tuesday.

Here's CBS correspondent Seth Doane,

who's managed to get

close to Eastern Ghouta.

This is one of four humanitarian

borders that have been set up here

to allow civilians in rebel held

besieged eastern Ghouta in that

direction to come here in the

government-held territory. You can

see there are ambulances lined up

here and also buses to help evacuate

people, but this is the number three

and, as you can see, these

humanitarian corridors, this one

here, is empty, and both sides are

blaming the other. The government is

saying that rebels inside eastern

Ghouta have held hostage some

civilians there and also that the

rebels are bombing and targeting

these humanitarian crossings. The

rebels on the other hand are

accusing the government of making it

difficult for them to cross. They

say they worry that they will be

arrested once they get here. It is

impossible for us to cross into

eastern Ghouta so we reached out to

one doctor by telephone to ask in

what was like working there. What is

most difficult for you?

Everything.

Evacuating patients for ICU.

The

doctor told us that his hospital has

been prompt and, since then, he has

been performing are doing surgery on

the ground. We asked him why he

stays.

I don't want to go out. It is

my home.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are

ready to go into eastern Ghouta, a

lead is prepared, ready to go, but

they say these humanitarian pauses

are not long enough to be effective.

More than a week after the 19th

February attack, 110 schoolgirls

from Dapchi in north-eastern Nigeria

are still unaccounted for.

The girls were kidnapped by the

Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

The attack is chillingly similar

to the 2014 abduction of 276 girls

from Chibok in 2014,

which is 275 kilometres from Dapchi.

Many have taken to social media

to condemn the attacks.

Julia Gillard, the former

Australian Prime Minister

and now with the UN,

said, "The abduction of schoolgirls

is a deplorable attack

on education and human rights.

It is our obligation

to keep schools safe."

A founder of the Bring

Back Our Girls group,

said, "Today is World Book Day.

Painfully, 112 of our Chibok girls

are almost four years

as captives of terrorists.

Infuriatingly, 110 of our

Dapchi girls were failed

by their government.

We say to President Muhammadu

Buhari, where are our girls?

We need answers now!"

The BBC's Stephanie Hegarty

was in Dapchi and filed this report.

This is where Fatima

ran when the militants

attacked her school.

It was 7pm and she

was in her dormitory.

They were just about to eat their

dinner when they heard gunshots.

TRANSLATION:

One of our teachers

told us to come out.

We saw bullets flying

in the air, like fire.

There was confusion all over

the school, students screaming

and rushing towards the gate.

But the gate was locked.

Then we saw the militants' trucks,

and they were shooting and calling

us to get into the trucks.

They were pretending

they would help us.

During the attack, Fatima managed

to run away from the militants

twice, but she was with

her best friend, Zara,

when they were attacked

and they got separated.

She says five of her closest friends

are missing and she knows many more

girls who were taken away.

This is Zara, she is 14.

She said business was

her favourite subject.

Yes, business.

Her sister is 25 and went

to the same school.

She was close to Zara.

It was three days before

the government admitted

that there had been a kidnapping.

Sara's father was repelled by

gunfire and when he got back to his

compound there were hundreds of

schoolchildren taking shelter. He

searched through the night to find

his daughter but by morning he

realise she had been taken.

Last week, the authorities claimed

the girls had been rescued,

then they said that claim was false.

For Zara's mum, that

was the hardest moment.

Nigeria's president has said

that the military and air force

are searching for the girls,

but the parents are not reassured.

TRANSLATION:

In this school,

there are no children

of government officials.

The students are the

daughters of poor people.

Now the school is eerily quiet,

sandals discarded by running

children littering its paths.

The scene is chillingly

similar to the aftermath

of the kidnapping of the schoolgirls

in Chibok in 2014.

It was three years before most

of them were released,

and over 100 of them

are still missing.

The parents of Dapchi are afraid

that they will also wait years

to see their children again.

Italians head to the polls

this Sunday to elect

a new president, and the race

is between three main parties.

Let's take a closer look.

Firstly, the centre-right

Forza Italia, headed

by a very familiar face -

former Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi.

The 81-year-old billionaire

was forced to resign in 2011

at the height of the debt crisis.

Next, the 5 Star Movement, started

by comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009,

and now one of Europe's

biggest populist movements.

And finally, the ruling

Democratic Party, led by former

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Now the elections have also seen

a resurgence of extreme parties.

Karin Giannone is in Rome and spoke

to leaders of the main fascist

and communist parties.

What does it represent?

For

Italians, it represents the last

alternative against traditional

politics. Both on a national and

European level.

What does power to

the people represent?

Power to the

people is a new project. It started

in November and is made up of

associations, social centres, who

pushed for new policies on

employment, women's rights and of

element in the south. It is about

rebuilding Italy.

What is it the's

biggest problem at the moment?

We

have multiple problems, both

internally and externally. Regarding

security, we have a huge problem

with immigration that adds up to a

deeply rooted corruption in the

public administration in Italy.

Italy's problem is jobs, especially

for young people, but not just about

them, it is about workers in the

south, the fact that jobs are in

extremely unstable. They have had

their rights taken away from us and

we are forced to work on ridiculous

situations. We could be filed with

no protection whatsoever so this is

where we need to start from.

Is

there any kind of immigration that

is acceptable?

Yes, it believes that

refugees who are really escaping war

should be welcomed. We have

legislation in place for people from

Libya, Eritrea and Somalia. What

about the rest? Adders need to go

back home and contribute to the

development of the nation, like we

did in our country in the past.

Many

people say immigration is an issue,

not just the far right. It is easy

to use immigration as a scapegoat.

The real issue is that the reception

of migrants in Italy is badly

planned. We are constantly in a

state of emergency.

Do you condemn

the use of violence in politics,

given the recent attacks?

Violence

is never acceptable, above all in

politics, but we have to bear in

mind that the party is a victim of

attacks from antifascist groups and

we need to defend ourselves.

It is

ridiculous. It's tradition has aways

been to attack political opponents

as well as the LGBT community and

migrants. It is absurd, what they

say.

So you condemn violence?

I

think we need to put things into

context. If a black person slaps a

member of the KKK, what is the

problem? It is not the existence of

the KKK in the first place? I

believe it is the existence of

fascist organisations that are legal

in Italy and should be banned.

Italian politics is

extremely polarising.

Here's Karin Giannone's take on it.

We heard that the left saying that

the neofascist group should not

actually be allowed to exist

legally. The Italian constitution

outlaws fascist parties but the

party has taken advantage of a

loophole. They openly saying the

media they support Mussolini, they

admire him and are in favour of

fascism, they have not written it

down anywhere in the manifesto

therefore they have not been

outlawed as the left say they should

be. There is also the theme that

many of the things the far right are

saying are not just coming from the

far right. We heard Silvio

Berlusconi recently from the

centre-right coalition allied with

for the right parties saying 600,000

migrants without documents needed to

be deported. So many ideas, not just

from the mainstream, filtering

further to the centre of Italian

politics and the mainstream. And

Karen will be following the story of

the Italian elections through the

weekend for us on BBC News.

Oscar-nominated films

with a woman in the starring

role are more profitable

than their male-led counterparts.

BBC analysis has found that

female-led films earn higher

box office returns -

they usually have lower

production budgets.

On average, every dollar

invested in a female-led

film earns back $2.12.

For male-led films,

this figure is $1.59.

In fact, Oscar-nominated films

with a clearly definable female lead

were 33% more profitable

than male-led films

when comparing US box office take

and production budget.

Clara Guibourg from the BBC's

Data Journalism team can tell us

more about where these

figures came from.

We collected the information from

the movie website IMDB. We looked at

production budgets and US box office

figures for all the films nominated

for an Oscar in the last five years.

Stripping out things like

documentaries and short films. That

left us with 155 films to look

closer at. What we found was that

actually Oscar-nominated films that

have a woman in the lead role are

quite a lot cheaper to make and also

earn back a little bit more at the

box office compared to films with

the male lead role. When you put

those two things together, it means

that films with a female lead role

are actually quite a bit more

profitable.

Despite that,

there still seems to be a perception

in Hollywood that women won't bring

in the same amount of money as men.

For every dollar invested

into Oscar-nominated films

during the last five years,

76 cents went to films

with a male lead.

Clara's been looking

at those figures too.

When we crunched the numbers on

this, we also found that, actually,

just 28% of films nominated for an

Oscar in this time period have

female leads, just over a quarter of

the total. Actually, if you look

behind the camera, if you look at

directors and producers and writers,

the gender split is even more skewed

and people I have spoken to in the

industry have said that basically

the perception in Hollywood that

women are bad box office is hard to

change. Sometimes this can have

consequences that are almost absurd.

The Geena Davis Institute has done

research in the crowd scenes and

found that, even here, the gender

breakdown is often very skewed. They

found that the average crowd scene

in a film usually consists of less

than one in five women. So it does

not really reflect real life at all,

the way things look now. In time to

bring in one more tweaked from the

editor in chief of media post. Ahead

of the week and's Oscars, Time

magazine examines the new era in

Hollywood, you know, the female one.