06/03/2018 Outside Source

This is Outside Source, welcome to

those watching in the UK on the BBC

News Channel and on BBC World News,

this is a live press conference with

the Swedish Prime Minister and

Donald Trump.

Believe me, every body

wants to work in the White House,

they all want a piece about oval

office, of the West Wing. Not only

into and looks great on the errors

made but a great place to work. It

has tremendous energy, it's tough, I

like Tom clicked and people with two

different points of view and I have

that and I make the decision. I like

watching it and stealing it and I

think it's the best way to go. I

like different points of view. The

White House has to minus energy and

talent. There will be people who

change, they always change.

Sometimes they want to go out and do

something else but they all want to

be in the White House. So many

people want to come and I have a

choice of anybody, I could take any

position in the White House and I

would have a choice of the ten top

people having to do that position,

everybody wanted to be there. And

they love this White House because

we have energy like rarely before.

Thank you very much.

Mr pro

Minister, last you criticise the

president for drawing a link between

immigrant crime in the recent

arrival of refugees. -- Mr Prime

Minister. One of our flagship papers

provoked a link between handmade

violence and immigrant gangs in your

country. Do you stand by your

criticism?

First, in Sweden we have

our share of domestic challenges, no

doubt about that. We inherited a

legislation that was not

sustainable, legislation on

migration. Which meant that in 2015

we received 163,000 refugees seeking

refuge. They're in line we are a

country of 10 million inhabitants so

that was a lot. 70% from September

to December so a dramatic increase.

We changed the legislation so now we

have decreased the number of

refugees entering Sweden and we are

also putting pressure on other EU

countries to take their share of the

responsibility, this is not a

responsibility for a few countries,

it is a shared responsible at the

and we're working with the EU. We

also have problems with crime,

organised crime in Sweden,

shootings, it's not like you have

these no-go zones. We have dealt

with it, I'm dealing with it every

day, allocating more resources to

the police, more policemen being

trained, Mort 's -- more resources

to be secure the police, tougher

laws on crime and terrorism and we

do a lot to combat it. And we can

see some results now in our three

major cities, decreased shootings

because we are attacking the

organised crime very tough and we

will keep doing that because there

is no space in Sweden for order

organised crime. They decrease

freedom for ordinary people. At the

same time Sweden has a high-growth.

Unemployment is going down.

Employment is going up. We have high

in investment rates. We are

allocating resources to welfare. We

have a strong economy with a huge

surplus that we are not using --

that we are now using to develop our

society with, for example, the

welfare we want. The picture of

Sweden, it is two pictures,. Yes, we

have our share of domestic problems

and challenges, no doubt about it,

but we're dealing with them and we

also have a good foundation for

dealing with them, not least with

the strong economy and shrinking

unemployment.

Swedish radio.

Thank you. This is an

election year for both of our

countries and I want to ask you, Mr

Trump, what do you think Sweden from

learn from how the Russian influence

campaign effectively presidential

election in the US?

The Russians had

no impact on our throats whatsoever.

Certainly there was meddling and

probably from other countries -- on

our votes. I think you have to be

watching very closely, you don't

want your system of votes to become

the most in any way and we will not

allow that to happen. We are doing a

very deep study and come out with

some very strong suggestions on the

18th election and I think we're

going to do very well in it although

historically those in the White

House have a bit of a dip but I

think we're going to do well because

the economy is so good and because

we are protecting our jobs, finally,

with what we're doing with the

tariffs. The big thing would be the

tax cut and the regulation cuts and

also the judges. We have outstanding

judges. Judge Gogic and the Supreme

Court and many going onto the bench

all over the country. I think we

will do very well and it will be a

tremendous surprise to people how

well will stop the economy is so

good, jobs are so good, black

unemployment, Hispanic unemployment

at all-time lows, we are really

doing well. Based on that I guess we

should do pretty well and I hope so

but we have to be very vigilant. One

of the things we are learning it is

always good, it is old-fashioned,

but it is always good to have a

paper back-up system of voting will

stop its called paper, not highly

compact computers, paper. A lot of

states are doing that, going to a

paper back-up and I think it's a

great idea. We are studying it

closely, various agencies including

Homeland security are studying it

carefully.

Are you worried about

Russia trying to meddle in the

mid-term elections?

No because we

will counteract whatever they do

very strongly and we have strong

back-up systems and we have been

working actually we have not been

given credit for this but we have

been working very hard on the 18th

election and 20 election coming up.

Thank you very much.

Are you guys on

the same page when it comes to

evaluating the threat from Russia

when it comes to meddling in

elections do you think?

We both

agreed that the election in the

country should be the result of the

election and it should be decided by

nobody asked by the voters in the

country and that is also our clear

stance. That is why our intelligence

agencies are increasing their own

capacity to detect and counter

whether it is hacker attacks or

financing or producing or spreading

propaganda, whatever it is. We are

increasing our capacity to handle

that and cooperating with other

European Union countries and also

some with American counterparts and

this will continue. Any foreign

power that believes they can

interfere with our election, we will

find out and we will call them out

very clearly and loud.

... First

time that YouTube meet, -- you two

meet, where did you find the most

common ground and where did you

differ most on political issues?

Almost everything!

At first we... We

both come from outside politics into

politics. I have spent 30 years in

industry, as a welder but also as a

trade unionist, a trade union

leader, spending 80% of my time

cooperating with the company

leaders, employers organisations in

an effort to strengthen our industry

so that is perhaps a similar

background. Not similar because it's

different but from outside politics.

But of course also friend differ

from time to time. The Paris

agreement, the importance of that,

we stand by it and we think it is

important we implement and fulfil

the Paris agreement because of the

climate issue. And on that we might

differ, tariffs as well. But having

said that, still we note that the

relationship is so good that we can

take it that we differ as well. The

values are there and we cooperate

very good on economic issues and

making sure we create jobs and

growth and also on security issues,

both when it comes to combating

terrorism but also when it comes to

defending ourselves.

And finally a

follow up for Mr Trump, do you think

that trade is where Sweden and the

US differ most right now?

I think

we're very good on trade. We have

had and we are constantly in touch.

On the military we have great

cooperation, including design of

various components of aircraft etc

and we were discussing that. We have

some of the great makers of these

components in the room with us

today. We have a very good

relationship on trade and we always

will have false

sun. Sweden is a great country. It's

small but it is very sharp, I'll

tell you.

At the goodbye, Presidents

Club and the Swedish by Mr wrapped

up that joint press conference and

is always there was a lot to take in

-- President Trump and the Swedish

Prime Minister for the he said about

trade that the US had been taken

advantage of for years, he said he

did not blame the countries that

mistreated them but previous

American leaders. On the EU he said

it had been tough, impossible to do

business with the EU, they have not

treated us well also be went on to

say that trade wars are not so bad

and said that if there was a trade

war, America would do it in a loving

way. Make of that what you will. To

Sweden he said you do have a problem

with immigration, I was one of the

people to identify that. I'm talking

about inside the White House, he

says I Love conflicts, people not

agreeing with each other for the

people love working in this White

House and I can employ just about

anybody I want. Another thing to

tell you, on the issue of alleged

Russian meddling in the US election,

he said there was no impact. The did

then seemed to suggest that the

Russians had meddle in the election,

something in the past yet

questioned, he also said there was

meddling by other countries in the

20 team election but did not expand

on that. -- 2018. Let's get some

help on this with Barbara live in

Washington. I hope you were taking

notes because there was a lot coming

at us from Donald Trump. Starting

with trade, he was stronger than

ever on tariffs.

Yes, he clearly was

not backing down and if anything he

dug in. He repeated his mantra which

he seemed to do every time he talks

about trade, that other countries

have been taking advantage of the US

for decades. He talked about the

$800 billion deficit per year which

he talked about before and he gave

the EU are hard time, saying it had

been particularly tough, it was

almost impossible to do business

with them, suggesting he would be

ready to impose 25% tariff on

European made cars if they did not

reduce some of their only trade

barriers. Also the statement you

mention, heated trade wars was not

necessarily a bad thing which will

strike fear and concern into the

heart of much of the Amber Hill --

he said trade wars. It's

administration are worried about the

possible consequences of that.

And

presumably the calculation is that

this message might not go down with

Republican politicians but very well

with his traditional working-class

support base.

That was interesting.

He said at one stage, I was elected

at least partially on this idea, his

view that he is protecting American

jobs in certain industries with the

use of tariffs. Later when he was

asked about mid-term elections he

rambled on a bit about how the

Republicans were going to do very

well and one of the things he said

that would help them do well was

protecting jobs through tariffs. He

does seem to be making that

connection.

Stay with us, for those

just joining us on outside sources,

I want to play you sum up what was

an extraordinary first answer -- sum

of.

The United States has been taken

advantage of by other countries,

both friendly and not so friendly,

for many decades. And we have a

trade deficit of $800 billion a

year. That's not going to happen

with me. We have been mistreated by

many, sometimes fairly but there are

very few instances where that has

taken place and I don't blame the

countries. I blame our leadership

for allowing it to happen. When I

was with President Xi in China, we

have a deficit of approximately $500

billion a year with China on trade

and we are doing things with them

which are very strong. When we are

behind on every single country,

trade wars are not so bad. You

understand what I mean by that? When

we are down by 30 billion, 40

billion, 60 billion, 100 billion,

the trade war hurts them, it does

not hurt us. We will see what

happens. You can also take it in

some cases we lose on trade and we

give them military where we are

subsidising them tremendously. Not

only do we lose on trade but on

military. And hence we have these

massive deficit numbers in our

country also we are going to

straighten it out and we will do it

in a very loving way, in a loving

way, they will like us better and

they will respect us much more.

A

briefing from one of my colleagues

in the BBC business unit, this issue

of the deficit, he quoted that 800

billion figure for 2017. That is a

reference to the US trade deficit

but according to my colleagues that

is not a seasonally adjusted figure,

traditionally when Alice looked at

the Big Arbab deal in the seasonally

adjusted figure which is much lower,

566 billion -- they looked at the

seasonally adjusted figure. If you

think the president is not using the

same figure as analysts, that is the

reason. Coming back to the

practicalities of these tariffs, if

you can help me on the EU issue, if

Donald Trump said, we will put 25%

on imports coming from the EU, would

that break a current trade deal that

the Americans and the EU have in

place?

I don't know the specifics

but I think what you have the

potential for here, I think the

World Trade Organisation could be

very busy if they see the kind of

thing that is going to happen. The

EU has brought up its own list of

American products it is going to

target with tariffs if Donald Trump

goes through with these steel and

aluminium tariffs on things like

Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levi

jeans, Kentucky bourbon, that sort

of thing. Question is whether it can

be challenged at the WTO it might

be. The reason that Donald Trump

says he can do this, impose these

tariffs, is because his commerce

Department has determined that steel

and aluminium imports are a national

security issues are according to

American law he can do it but when

it comes to the general

international scene where under the

World Trade Organisation you are

supposed to treat other members

equally, there is plenty of scope

for challenges.

And last thing to

ask, we have had indications in the

last day from Seoul that the leaders

of South Korea and North Korea might

meet in April. Donald Trump was

asked about it and this is what he

said.

Willing to go either way,

hopefully it will be the proper way

which is the way that everybody

knows everybody wants. But we are

prepared to go either way. I think

that their statement and the

statements coming from South Korea

and North Korea have been very

positive. It would be a great thing

for the world. We will see how it

all comes about.

It can often feel

like two steps forward and two sets

back with North Korea but what is

your assessment of what we have seen

today?

If this is confirmed that Kim

Jong-un has said, as the South

Koreans claim, that he is ready to

talk to the Americans to discuss the

possibility of getting rid of his

nuclear weapons and he is really to

put a freeze on his bizarre and

nuclear tests while he does that and

he is ready to consider

denuclearisation in exchange for

security guarantees, that would be

quite a development. He has never

said something like that before and

it would meet the main American

conditions for entering talks which

is why they are looking with

interest. Having said that, although

this would be the first time he had

said those things it would be the

first time the North Korean leaders

have done so and in the past when it

have done that they have used talks

to buy time, taking concessions on

aid and then when egging on

commitments. They have tried to use

talks to divide South Korea from its

allies -- and then reneging on

commitments. It was interesting that

although Mr Trump sound quite

hopeful his national intelligence

officials are quite sceptical, one

Saint he doubted this was a

breakthrough, reminding us of the

history. What the administration is

waiting for is a delegation from

South Korea to compare Washington to

be able to brief them fully in a

secure environment to get a real

sense of what is actually happening

here. The South Koreans have now

only for the first met Kim Jong-un

first face-to-face experience and

their own impressions of what he is

about and the Americans will be

waiting to get that briefing.

Thank

you, Barbara. More on that north and

South Korea story later in Outside

Source. I want to remind you of one

phrase Donald Trump used talking

about the idea of tariffs saying

that it is not about economic some

if you take the issue of steel, he

said some people say no steel and

you have no country. It gave us an

inside that his economic policies

are very much about the symbolism he

wants to project to his supporters.

In a few minutes we are going to get

you more on the latest edition of

the Forbes rich list. Best are

trending in different sections, Jeff

Bezos on the right, the creator of

Amazon but the President's ranking

has not gone down well in the White

House.

A woman has been found dead with

stab wounds in London and hour after

the bodies of her husband and two

sons were discovered at the foot of

cliffs in East Sussex. We can get

some more.

Police were first called here just

before 6pm yesterday

evening after concerns were raised

about the family who live

in the property set back behind me.

They forced their way

into the property and discovered

a woman in her 40s dead.

She had suffered stab wounds.

Meanwhile, an hour before this,

Sussex Police had been called

by a member of the public

to the discovery of a man's body

and two boys' bodies in Eastbourne.

They then contacted the Metropolitan

Police about the discovery

and that is when the link was made.

While there is no formal

identification as yet, as I say,

police believe they are the deceased

woman's immediate family.

A postmortem examination

is due on all four bodies.

At this early stage police say

they are not looking for anyone else

in connection with what has happened

here but they are treating

This is Outside Source. The lead

story is that Donald Trump has just

held a joint press conference with

the Swedish Prime Minister. He said

he was not worried about the

prospect of a trade war and said

America would do it in a loving way.

Some of the main stores from the

World Service, in through anger

there is a state of a tizzy declared

after several attacks against

mosques and Muslim owned businesses.

There is a curfew in place -- a

state of emergency. A family has

discovered the world's oldest known

message in a bottle of the beach in

Western Australia which was written

in German and dates back to 1886. It

appears to have been thrown from a

German ship.

Turning to business and we will go

back to trade and America because

motorbikes, whiskey and T-shirt on a

list of 100 US goods worth over $3

billion that be hit by European

Union taxes if and only if,

Presidents Club goes ahead with the

tariffs on steel and aluminium we

have been discussing in the last few

minutes. Speaking to BBC business,

the boss of the French car giant

Peugeot said any tariffs would hurt

all sides.

It would present a

roadblock for sure but it would

represent a roadblock for many other

things. Our competitors and also the

ability for the US to export its own

goods because of course there will

be a response from the other

countries. I'm not sure that the US

industry is going to win. Again, I

think it is better that we step back

and keep cool and make a difference

between the negotiation position and

the final decision but I think good

sense will prevail.

It is clear that

the vast majority of Europeans do

not want these tariffs also we heard

it in the joint press conference

earlier. Let's get an American

perspective now. Live from New York

is our business correspondence.

Presumably American businesses are

also not too keen?

It is hard to

figure out who is on board with

this. We have heard members of the

Republican party coming out and

saying they were not sure this was

the best way to fix the trade

deficit issue you were mentioning

that President Trump has just cited

in the aluminium Association. The

alimony Association said they don't

think this is the best way to

address an unfair market and they

say that China, this might not be

the best way to address their

concerns with that foreign

competitor.

And a few minutes ago I

was reading the briefing note you

send about the figure he quoted. Can

you explain why the number he is

using is higher than the one we

normally see?

This get into the

nuances and it in the weeds of how

we measure international trade. It

happens over time and we take a

snapshot of what is happening in a

period and measure it on a monthly

basis here in the US and try to

adjust it for seasonal factors,

things like Christmas when we spend

a lot dumber and in January we feel

guilty and hopefully spend less! --

that we spend a lot. We try to

address the those fluctuations. The

bigger he is using is not seasonally

adjusted, the $800 billion. If you

take out the seasonal fluctuations

we get something like a deficit of

2017 of $566 billion.

Thank you for

now. Turning to a story I mentioned,

the latest annual list of the world

billionaires from Forbes and top of

the list is the man who founded

Amazon who is worth $112 billion.

But for once one of the most

interesting listings was not at the

top but the bottom. This is Forbes

magazine.

Donald Trump has fallen

222 places, his fortune is down 400

million and is primarily down to

retail market in New York City being

down but also in part to his

polarising personality. We have

definitely seen some of his lantern

thing -- licensing and merchandising

businesses take a hit and you your

scenes of businesses taking down the

Trump name, it is losing a bit of

its lustre.

I will be back in a

couple of minutes.

Hello. It is the time of night when

we look at some of the big global

weather stories. First to North

America, this cloud is another

winter storm in the northern USA,

now moving across the great Lakes

and into the Northeast. If you know

anybody in Boston or New York they

could see some snow in the next

couple of days. This cold front is

sinking south-eastward and that will

bring some rain across Florida.

Behind it we get into cooler air, 11

degrees in Atlanta. This is the five

day forecast with Boston and New

York both having snow and chilly

conditions, cold in Chicago for a

time with showers coming through

Miami. Denver has tempered is all

the way up to 20 degrees but we will

have some rain in Los Angeles at the

weekend. Talking of rain, they have

had a lot in parts of China. You can

see from the radar that this heavy

rain has been working through

southern and eastern areas

particularly. This comes from

Chinese TV, they showed the

intensity of it with thunder and

lightning and just the wins. --

gusty winds. More rain in the

southern and eastern China and

moving into Thursday it will slide

across the Korean peninsula and into

Japan with things turning very wet

and windy indeed across Japan on

Thursday. But milder temperatures

for the end of the week in Tokyo

come up to 15 degrees. When the

rains clears from Seoul we're left

with hazy sunshine. This tropical

area of low pressure is a cause for

concern in Fiji, and a lot to and

New Caledonia. The north-east

north-east Australia has had a lot

of rain and there is more forecast

for Thursday -- vanuatu.

Further north in Cairns and Darwin

they will have relentless rain in

the coming days, heavy and thundery

downpours continuing into the

weekend. In Europe had has been

unsettled across the Mediterranean.

More rain coming into Italy and more

snow over the Alps. Temperatures

beginning to climb, it has been a

cold spell not just in the UK but a

large part of Europe but milder

weather showing up now. This is

Berlin heading to the weekend, up to

14 degrees on Sunday, they have not

had it that warm for some time.

Unsettled in the Canary Islands were

quieter in the coming days. Back

home in the next few days, a mixed

bag, sunshine and showers, some hill

snow in the North, relatively mild

days and frost at night. More on

that in half an hour.

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source,

and these are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom.

Donald Trump says he is not worried

by the prospect of a trade war.

When

we are down by 100 billion, the

trade will hurt them, not us.

Scientists are testing the substance

but have made a former Russian spy

and his daughter critically ill.

This is CCTV footage shortly before

they slumped on a bench.

Back to our top story.

Let's get more on Sergei Skripal -

the former Russian spy who's

critically ill in hospital.

He remains critically ill with his

daughter. They have been exposed to

what is cold an unknown substance.

There have been a number of

developments today. First, this CCTV

footage. I will show you again. You

can see a man coming into shot and

beside him, a younger woman, Mr

Skripal and his daughter. They were

both found unconscious in peach

macro in the South of England on a

bench at the shopping centre you can

see marked here. On the aerial map

of peach macro. And these are a

couple of eyewitnesses who saw what

happened.

I walked up past here and

on the right-hand side on the bench,

there was a couple. An older guy and

a younger girl. She was sort of Mini

again on him like she has passed out

maybe. He was doing strange hand

movements, looking up to the sky. I

felt anxious, like I should step in,

but they looked so out of it that I

thought even if I did, I was not

sure how I could help.

Her ice were

white, wide-open and frothing at the

mouth. And the man went stiff, his

arms stopped moving and looking dead

straight.

By 2006, Sergei Skripal

was convicted of passing state

secrets to British intelligence. He

served time in prison and was

allowed to travel to the UK as part

of a spy swap. Our correspondent has

bogeyed his family and this is an

update.

Well, first of all, very

much concerned for their well-being

and the well-being of Skripal and

his daughter. Also, they deny the

allegations Skripal worked for the

British secret services. They say he

is the biggest Patriot of Russia

they have ever known. They say that

recently, he cold his mother, they

spoke two weeks ago and he was quite

optimistic and he promised to call

again soon. But he was very vigilant

since 2010 and he did expect that

Russian secret services might come

after him at any time.

That was his

impression. Tell us about these

claims that other members of his

family have died in mysterious

circumstances.

Yes, his relatives

understand that over the past few

years a chain of tragic events

happened in that family. First,

Skripal's wife died and his older

brother died and then his

43-year-old son died last year. And

the family believes at least some of

those cases were quite suspicious.

And also, afterwards, his daughter

was visiting him quite often, but

she would always call back. But

after Sunday, they could not reach

them and that is why they were very

much worried.

Did Mr Skripal have

any particular protection as he went

about his life?

Well, he was never

sort of, relatives say he was never

nervous about it. He just knew this

would come. They told us when he

joined the Russian military

intelligence, he was told there were

only two ways out, as a hero or he

would be shot dead as a traitor. He

just had to bear that in mind

throughout his life, they said.

Parallels have been drawn with the

case of Alexander Litvinenko,

another former Russian agent who was

poisoned with polonium and died of

ten years ago. A public inquiry

concluded the Russian state has

sponsored the assassins responsible

for killing Alexander Litvinenko. We

have heard from the UK Foreign

Secretary today who also referenced

as dad.

Honourable members will note

the echoes of the death of Alexander

Litvinenko in 2006. And while it

would be wrong to prejudge the

investigation, I can reassure the

house that should evidence emerged

that implies state responsibility,

Her Majesty's government will

respond appropriately Andrea

Barzagli.

This is interesting, in

response to that statement by the

Russian Embassy in London saying...

And this is interesting...

That is what Gordon has to say and

you can get more from him online.

Next, the statement from a former

British Ambassador to Russia.

There

are reasons for suspicion that the

Russian state was involved. If

indeed it turns out to be a crime.

There are also differences and we

need to be very careful to avoid the

automatic instinct in public affairs

now to blame Russia for almost

anything bad that happens in the

world. It is very hard to see

emotive, although we have trouble

working out the motive for the

killing of Litvinenko as well.

Skripal came to the UK eight years

ago as part of a spy swap, why

suddenly do they turn on him? We

need to wait for the results of the

investigation.

And you can get more

on this story on your phone at BBC

News.

This is Sudan.

He is the last remaining male

northern white rhino.

He has a leg infection.

And his health has been

declining in the last week.

This is a tweet today.

from the conservation

park caring for him.

"We are taking it one day at a time

with Sudan and we are cautiously

optimistic that he will respond

favourably to the treatments that

are being administered

by our vet teams."

The park is in Kenya.

It's called the the Ol

Pejeta Conservancy.

And it's where Sudan, along with two

younger females live.

These three are all that stands

between the extinction

of the northern white rhino.

And scientists are

working hard to save it.

A Tinder profile for

Sudan created last year.

He was dubbed "the world's

most eligible bachelor".

These are pictures from Longleat

Safari Park in the UK. Scientists

collecting eggs from a closely

connected species that would be used

for IVF.

I spoke with John Lukas from

the International Rhino Foundation -

and asked if this is the endgame

for these rhinos.

I think this is definitely, all

these animals are non-reproductive,

the two females and the male. There

has been an attempt to save some of

the genetic material, which is the

best option right now. As

technologies abound in the future,

there may be an opportunity to

recreate a subspecies to specialised

techniques in the future, but right

now as a living animal on this

planet, they are not here for very

much longer.

So the IVF process I

was describing in the UK, what might

that help with?

Well, saving the

genetic material is you -- unique

form adapted to Northern and central

Africa, different from the Southern

African subspecies and retaining

those genes for future opportunities

is the best option we have and there

were animals in a San Diego Safari

Park collected when they were alive.

And also a zoo in Czechoslovakia.

There is material that has been

fortunately retained for future use.

There might be some viewers watching

now thinking, how did it ever come

to this?

Well, I actually was at the

International Rhino foundation for

ten years trying to save this

species in the wild and the last

bastions of this range in the

Central African Republic. The animal

just was just destroyed throughout

its reign for its horns.

And you can get more on that story

and others on the BBC News website

and download onto your smartphone or

a tablet the BBC News app. Let's

talk about the Korean peninsula now.

It now seems possible the President

of South Korea is going to meet Kim

Jong-un of North Korea in April.

Leaders of these two countries have

not met for a decade and it is more

evidence that relations of boring.

Coinciding with the Winter Olympics.

These pictures yesterday from

Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un meeting with

a delegation from South Korea. They

spent two days there and they have

come back with news that a meeting

is on the cards. But also, we got

more detail from this from the

delegation.

The North has clearly

confirmed its commitment to the

denuclearisation of the Korean

peninsula and it has no reason to

possess nuclear weapons should

military threats against North Korea

be removed and the safety of its

regime be guaranteed.

North Korea is

also reported to be willing to hold

talks with the youth S and will

pause its weapons testing. Donald

Trump has been responding to that.

These are the cards we were dealt,

we are handling it properly and

again, as I said, hopefully we will

go on a peaceful, beautiful park. We

are prepared to go whichever path is

necessary. I think we are having

very good dialogue and you can

certainly find out pretty soon what

is happening. But we have made

progress, there is no question about

it.

You willing to make -- you

willing to meet Kim Jong-un? We will

see what happens. There has been

optimism before and it usually turns

into disappointment, but delegates

from the South have said Kim Jong-un

said this in yesterday's meeting...

Now, that is the case, this is

extraordinary language. Some people

being more cynical and saying this

is just sanctions taking their toll

and Kim Jong-un is trying to ease

the international pressure. Our BBC

correspondent is in Seoul.

There had

been critics here who feel that

Pyeongchang is deploying its

playbook and playing along, trying

to buy some time, trying to get

international sanctions lifted while

giving these announcements and over

chores of peace. So there is that

worry there that this could be all

fake from North Korea. It has been

seen in the past. They have made of

rituals in the past and got to the

table and walked away again. But in

South Korea at the presidential

Palace, at the blue house, they

believed even if that is the case,

they have to try, because this is

that big chance to denuclearisation

ends you. So while critics still

have reservations and while

certainly President Moon announced

today he would scale up the military

and keeping military resident

against North Korea, they are

continuing this dialogue and

engagement and keeping the pressure

on with sanctions and ensuring that

they have all the security measures

in place should this fall apart.

Now

I want to talk about what the UN has

said today about the number of child

marriages.

The UN says there has

been a significant drop

in the number of child marriages.

There are a number of reasons -

girls' education, government

investment and stronger

public awareness.

Take India, for example.

Ten years ago, 40%

of girls were married

before their 18th birthday.

Now that figure is 27%.

I should add that India

is still the country

with the largest number of women

who were married while underage.

BBC's Naomi Grimley

has been to Rajasthan,

in the North West of India.

This is her report.

Monica is out shopping

for the day's food with her mum.

It's a scene of domestic harmony

but, just a few months ago,

Monica's parents tried

to marry her off aged 13.

At the same time as an elder sister.

The marriage never happened

because on the day of her wedding,

Monica found the courage

to report her own parents

to a children's hotline.

TRNSLATION:

I called up

and I told them everything.

That I'm young, and I don't

want to get married

and I want to study further.

I asked them, can you please do

something that stops my marriage?

If I'd have got married,

nobody would have allowed

me to play or talk.

My in-laws would have

just made me work.

Ganesh, did you know

it was against the law?

We did know that it is a criminal

offence and we did feel bad.

But we are a family of labourers.

Sometimes, I don't get

work for a whole month.

So we thought since we are marrying

off one daughter, we should

marry off Monica too

and save on the expense.

In the end, Ganesh and his wife

promised the police they would not

marry Monica off before

she comes of age.

The authorities in this part

of Rajasthan say they see dozens

of cases of child marriage every

year and many more go unreported.

In the case of Monica,

her eleventh-hour call for help

was answered by a woman ready

to jump into action.

Meet Priti, a guardian

angel on a moped.

Speed is often the

essence of her job.

She's the woman who handles

the local child marriage cases

which come to light via the hotline.

Together with the specialist police

team, Priti burst in on Monica's

wedding at the very last moment.

When Monica called up on the same

day of her wedding, we had a tricky

challenge as we had only three hours

to save a child.

She was in a wedding

dress when we arrived

and she gave us a little smile.

She knew that we had come

to stop her wedding.

She was happy then.

Preeti is part of a broader

fightback against child marriage

in a state where 35% of young women

say they were married

before the age of 18.

"Don't marry me off," sing these

pupils at a girls' boarding school.

They know all about what the law

says and education remains one

of the best defences

in stopping early marriage.

Over in the desert village here,

the wider community is getting

involved as they watch a puppet show

tackling the issue.

Afterwards, the villagers rise

to their feet and pledge

to abandon child marriage.

It's a poignant moment and a sign

that in this part of India,

things are beginning to change,

after years of entrenched custom.

Back at Monica's house,

she chats to her new friend, Preeti,

on the stoop of the family home.

So nearly a childhood lost, now

through an act of teenage rebellion,

it's a childhood regained.

Namely Grimley, BBC News,

Western Rajasthan.

The UN says Myanmar

is continuing the ethnic

cleansing of Rohingya Muslims

in Rakhine state.

That's in spite of the fact it's

negotiating with Bangladesh

for hundreds of thousands

of Rohingya to return.

This is a drone.

Showing the scale of refugee camps

since people fled violence in the

latter half of

Listen to this damning

statement from the UN.

Not only are there still killings,

rapes on a large-scale, not only are

they driving people out with force

and threats, but also, it seems

almost systematic attempt to destroy

their future livelihoods.

The BBC's Anbarasan

Ethirajan has been talking

to the refugees.

Many of these refugees are still

disappointed that no action has been

taken against Myanmar, they are

still very uncertain about their

future.

The Bangladeshi government

signed a repatriation agreement with

Myanmar, but nothing has happened so

far. Even when they want to go, even

when they are asked to go, they are

saying, we would like to return with

dignity, security and all human

rights respected. That is what many

refugees are saying and they are not

very hopeful what the international

community can do to Myanmar, given

the fact a number of United Nations

officials and the US described what

happened in Rakhine state is ethnic

cleansing.

A report now from Aleem Maqbool

from the British Virgin Islands -

this is on efforts to recover

from Hurricane Irma.

Six months ago, it brought

devastation and death

to a remote community

in a place called Tortala.

This is Aleem's report.

It is shocking that

so long after the storm,

there are still those

living in shelters.

They are among the thousands whose

homes were torn apart by Irma.

We've been here, like, five,

six months and nothing.

It seems to me that everybody

just gave up on us.

We're just here.

Irma was the most devastating

hurricane ever to be

recorded in this region.

Barely a building on this

island was left untouched,

boats were lifted clean into the air

and dumped on the land.

Tortola now still has the signs

everywhere you look that a massive

storm came this way.

Well, even though it is desperately

needed, tourism here has suffered

immensely over the last six months

and they've suffered a huge

blow just in recent weeks,

with two of the biggest cruise

companies serving this area saying,

for this season, they won't be

bringing their ships

to the British Virgin Islands.

Peak season a couple of years ago,

sometimes, it looks like there's

more boats than water.

You can't see the water

for the yachts.

It's not a good feeling, you know,

back then to compare it to now.

It's not a good feeling.

Bam!

The window went in.

The window went in and went out.

But light has been hard to come

by in the past six months here.

Just ask Rita, whose home was badly

damaged by Irma and who says,

in this UK territory,

that she saw little aid from the UK.

Me have no aid, apart from the six

bottles of water I get.

That was it.

I don't have no aid.

It was a common perception we heard

here, that apart from the work done

by British troops immediately

after the storm, more

could have been done.

When we did need them to show

that we are truly a child

of the United Kingdom,

I think they disappointed us.

So it changed our view,

in terms of the relationship.

The Governor of these islands says

he's proud of the UK's contribution.

We've got the electricity back on.

We've got businesses back open.

We've got all children

getting educated.

So we won't underestimate the scale

of the challenge still ahead of us,

but we've made good progress

after the last six months.

It's been a massive effort by people

here just to get this far,

but they're worried again -

the next hurricane season

is less than 100 days away.

Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, on Tortola,

in the British Virgin Islands.

This is Munroe Bergdorf and last

week she became an LGBT

advisor to the Labour Party

here in the UK.

Today, she resigned in a row

over tweets of hers -

some of which criticised

Suffragettes and gay

male Conservatives.

She put out a lengthy

statement saying...

"This is a decision

that I've had to make due to endless

attacks on my character

by the Conservative right-wing press

and relentless online abuse."

This isn't the first

time she's put out -

on Saturday, Munroe

was apologizing...

"Regarding any offensive

tweets that I've posting the past;

namely those shared playfully

between close friends,

I want to begin this

letter by apologising."

This is Cherry Wilson

from BBC Newsbeat.

She has stepped down after what she

says the attacks and abuse. A

newspaper published a tweet she made

in 2010 in which she makes offensive

comments about lesbian and gay

characters on TV. Munroe apologised

and said they are not reflective of

who she is today. The comments were

made in 2010 before she transitioned

and she says those comments are not

her today, the 31-year-old and she

does sincerely apologise. It has

been rumbling on and she has stepped

down today from this role because

she really does not want it to

detract from the work this LGBT

advisory panel is going to do. A

week ago, she said she was delighted

to take on this role. She posted a

picture with Jeremy Corbyn on

Twitter. But a week later, there has

been a massive backlash and she has

decided it is not right to stay in

this role because what it would do

is detract from the work of this

panel has been setup to do in order

to help the LGBT community.

Just

before I wrap up, if you are not

watching at the beginning, we

brought live coverage of a joint

press conference between the Swedish

Prime Minister and the American

President Donald Trump and there

were a number of things worth

noting. When asked about alleged

Russian meddling in the American

election, Donald Trump acknowledged

it may have occurred but said it had

no impact on the outcome and alluded

to the fact other countries may have

tried to meddle in the election. The

biggest issue, though, was tariffs

because of his threats to put

tariffs on exports from the EU into

America. He said the EU had been

almost impossible to do business

with and it had been very difficult

and had treated America badly. So we

will see how that plays out. Thank

you for watching, we will be back

tomorrow with more of the bigger

stories from around the world, the

by.