07/03/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

On yesterday plasma programme we

heard Donald Trump say he would tow

truck -- he would do trade was the

loving way. We will get a look of

what that might be like. The EU says

it has a long list of American

imports that would be hit by Terence

if its steel and aluminium are

targeted by America. The White House

says announcement that just that

will happen will come later in the

week.

The president is being sued by a

pawn star over hush money. You

pay...

You heard that read. British police

say a nerve agent was used in that

attempt to murder a former Russian

spy in the UK. We will have the

latest developments.

Lyse Doucet on the Saudi Crown

Prince's visit to the UK and an

American academic who looked into

so-called sonic attacks on US

diplomats in Cuba.

Things are getting a little tense

between the EU and America. If you

watched yesterday, you might

remember this.

The European Union has been...

Particularly tough with the United

States. They make it almost

impossible for us to do business

with them.

Well the EU's responded.

This is Trade Commissioner

Cecilia Malstrom earlier.

She gave us detail on what will

happen if America imposes tariffs

on steel and aluminium.

There are a long list

of American products that

can expect tariffs too.

Blue jeans, motorbikes,

whisky, peanut butter -

also cranberries, orange juice,

- on and on it goes.

Not long after President Trump

tweeted - not a direct response -

but on this issue.

"From Bush 1 to present,

our country has lost more

than 55,000 factories,

6 million manufacturing jobs

and accumulated trade deficits

of more than $12 trillion.

Bad policies and leadership.

Must win again!"

Big theme of Mr Trump -

it's not other countries' fault -

it's America's for letting it

happen.

A White House spokesperson has

confirmed these tariffs are coming

by the end of this week.

One interested observer of that

will be whoever replaced Gary Cohen,

who was the President's

chief economic advisor.

He's left the White House -

that may not be unrelated

to the fact that he's

very pro-free trade.

He is not a big enthusiastic

Terence. Rash enthusiast of tariffs.

Here's Jane O'Brien with what we can

expect next from the White House.

We understand Donald Trump is

drawing up a memo which will push

these forward. In practical terms

these things take longer and there

is a question on whether tariffs

will be confirmed and go ahead in

any meaningful fashion. They could

be overturned by the World Trade

Organisation, which happened before

when George W Bush, the president

then, tried to introduce something

similar. There is still a lot of

uncertainty but I think the bigger

issue is the political fallout. You

have a president of the United

States going up against his own

party, for whom free-trade runs in

their lifeblood, saying he will

completely overrides their very

stern advice against this and plough

on regardless. And he is upsetting

his allies around the world.

But

probably pleasing quite a lot of the

people voting for him?

There are

some states that say they will

benefit from this. The fact remains

that more people are employed in

jobs in companies that make things

from steel than are employed in

producing steel. There is even a

domestic imbalance in this. How that

will play out, we will probably see

in the mid-term elections when lots

of Republicans are going up for real

action, as well as Democrats, some

of whom support this.

We will be covering those midterms

and 25 minutes live from Texas.

As well is threatening to introduce

terror the White House seems

deceptively be trying to renegotiate

its Nafta agreement with these

tariffs factored in. Mexico and

Canada are part of this North

American Free Trade Agreement.

President Trump's spokesperson says

these countries might be exempt from

these tariffs. That matters because

Canada is the biggest importer of

steel to the US.

Let me show you the announcement.

We

expect the president will sign

something from the end of the week,

there are potential car Reds for

Canada and Mexico based on national

security, possibly other countries

as well based on that protest.

It's a measure of the Trump

presidency, that when we learn

the President is being sued

by a porn star - it's just

one of many stories.

It's alleged that Mr Trump had

an affair with Stormy Daniels -

and she was paid to sign

a non-disclosure agreement.

That is not new.

But now Stormy Daniels says Mr Trump

never signed it, so it's void.

This is the lawsuit.

You can find it online if you would

like to read the whole thing.

It says the contract was drawn up

during the 2016 election campaign.

It also alleges that the affair

was in 2006, shortly

after Melania Trump gave birth

to Barron Trump.

We know how much this deal cost.

Mr Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen

confirmed he privately paid

Stormy Daniels $130,000.

We also now know that breaking

the terms exposes her to $1 million

in costs for each violation.

Here's her lawyer on why

she's taking action.

She wants to tell her story, because

there is so much misinformation out

there, so much misinformation that

has been spread by Mr Cohn and

others over the last few weeks on

what happened, the circumstances of

the agreement and the payment, she

wants to set the record straight,

she wants to be heard and she wants

to tell the public the true facts of

what happened.

Various things to note here.

One - Mr Trump's lawyer

has previously denied

any affair happened.

There are also questions

over whether the payment

to Stormy Daniels broke federal law.

Here's Jane again on where the law

falls into this story.

-- here is Californian Democrat

fares. More evidence that candidate

Donald Trump and Michael current

Dutchman who conspired for this. He

says he has been asking the FBI to

investigate.

Here it is Jane O'Brien again on

where the law fits into this story.

If the payment was made in

coordination with the Trump

campaign, that is against the law.

There is also an issue over whether

or not it may come to the attention

of special Counsel Robert Muller,

who is investigating any possible

collusion with Russia. Although this

is separate, if the situation arises

where somebody lies to Mr Mole, that

could land Mr Trimble, conceivably,

in legal jeopardy. There is an irony

to all this because every indication

is that had this been a

straightforward six scandal, Donald

Trump could probably have weathered

it. But by getting into murky legal

grounds, this could put him on far

more shaky territory, which could be

far more politically dangerous for

him than any alleged affair with a

porn star.

UK Police say a nerve agent

was used to poison a Russian

spy and his daughter.

This afternoon they said they

believe Sergei and Yulia Skripal

were targeted deliberately.

Here's a clip from

the police briefing.

This is being treated as a major

incident involving attempted murder

by administration of a nerve agent.

As you know, this two people remain

critically ill in hospital. Sadly,

in addition, a police officer who

was one of the first to attend the

scene and respond to the incident is

now also in a serious condition in

hospital.

Scientists at the Porton Down

military research facility have been

examining the nerve agent

that was used.

Police would not confirm the exact

substance they've identified.

Here's chemical weapons expert

Professor Alastair Hay.

It is a fascinating clip from an

interview he did on the BBC.

I think the doctors probably had

some guidance, given the signs the

individuals would have displayed,

the laboratory saying it was a nerve

agent allows the doctors to

administer some very specific

treatment. There are treatment

protocols for this type of chemical.

Nerve agents belong to a family of

chemicals called organophosphates,

which vary enormously in how toxic

they are. The nerve agents are at an

extreme end of the organophosphate

family. They only have one purpose,

that is to kill people. That is what

they were designed to do. They were

designed to be used in warfare.

This CCTV footage has

just been released.

It shows Sergei Skripal buying

a bottle of milk in a corner shop

in the city where he lived.

We think this is from February

but it's the clearest

recent image we have.

Tom Symonds is at the scene where

the pair were found in Salisbury.

This is his latest update.

As we

heard from the statement, it is not

just the two people who are in

hospital, a police officer is in

hospital, we understand in a serious

condition. And before that several

of emergency service workers had to

be admitted to be looked at. This

all took place in the area behind

me. The tent covers the bench on

which the couple, the pair, were

sitting when this attempt on their

lives, as the police now believe it

was, took place. It will be a very

complicated investigation. There are

plenty of conflicting accounts of

what the Skripals were doing on

Sunday afternoon. They had lunch in

a pizza restaurant not far away,

which is cordoned off tonight and

has been the centre of its own

emergency scare today. It is thought

they had a drink at a bar not far

away in that direction. Police will

be gathering CCTV, talking to the

staff in those two locations and

trying to piece together what they

were doing and who might have been

watching, following them and

attempting to use this fairly

terrifying weapon against them.

Next, the latest Brexit update.

We have the EU's draft guidelines

for negotiating its relationship

with the UK after Brexit.

Here they are - six pages

of them, if you're keen.

You can find them online.

Donald Tusk is one of the most

senior figures in the EU -

he said the EU "does not

want to build a wall,"

but that Brexit means

"we will be drifting apart".

Here's more of what we heard.

Our agreement will not make trade

between the UK and the EU

frictionless or smoother.

It will make it more complicated

and costly for all of us.

This is the essence of Brexit.

A pick and mix approach

for a non-member state

is out of the question.

We are not going to sacrifice these

principles, it's simply

not in our interest.

The words have changed.

The message is the same.

There Mr Tusk talked

about a pick and mix approach -

just another way of saying no cherry

picking, no having your

cake and eating it.

It has been the same message since

the day the UK voted out of the EU.

Either way, the UK continues

to stress it wants what it

calls a bespoke deal.

Today the Chancellor,

Philip Hammond, made the case that

financial services need to be

in a free trade agreement.

That is not Philip Hammond, but this

is!

It's an important sector for the UK.

Let's listen to Chris Morris from

BBC Reality Check.

I Think Generally

If You Talk To People In The City

They Think The Bigger changer is

that jobs would move to the Far East

or New York, you're talking about

the global financial capitals. I

think everyone in the EU knows the

only global financial capital in

Europe is London. I think London

will survive, come what may. The

deregulation was going to destroy

the city, the fire of London was

going to destroy the city! London

survives, I think London will

survive Brexit but I think the

sobering point for Philip Hammond

but he was making the argument that

financial services can and should be

part of a future free-trade

agreement. The document put out by

the EU does not mention financial

services at all. It is considered

ladylike, a nonstarter. If the

French finance minister was in

London yesterday, I went to a speech

she gave coming he met Philip

Hammond and his message was similar

to that of Donald Tusk, financial

services, no. It is a starting

position, but pretty firm.

All the information on Brexit you

want is available online BBC News.

Any few moments we will turn our

attention to a new theory as to why

diplomats at the US Embassy in Cuba

were saying that when they were at

home they were suffering with

problems with eight years. All to do

with alleged sonic attacks. --

suffering with with thy ears.

The leading deputy leader of far

right group Britain first have been

jailed after being found guilty of

religiously aggravated harassment.

Paul Golding Jayda Fransen were

sentenced for an apartment moments

respectively after targeting Muslims

they believe are part of a gang rape

trial taking place last May.

The court heard that the pair posted

offensive leaflets through the doors

of Muslims in Kent and filmed

themselves confronting people in

public. Both were jailed Folkestone

Magistrates' Court today.

The fashion chain New Look is the

latest British high street name to

fall into trouble. It will cut

around 1000 jobs as part of a rescue

plan and says it is planning to

close 60 stores and reduce the rent

on 400 others as part of a deal to

balance the books. New Look says the

cuts are necessary to restore

profitability. Toys "R" Us and map

the last month announced they would

go into administration, putting

around 5500 jobs at risk. -- Toys

"R" Us and Maplin.

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is the EU says it has

a long list of American imports

that will be hit by tariffs

if its steel and aluminium

are targeted by the US.

The White House says that's

going to happen this week.

Some of the main stories from BBC

World Service...

The last rebel-held enclave close

to the Syrian capital Damascus has

come under heavy bombardment

amid fresh efforts at the UN

to stop the fighting.

At least 20 people are said

to have been killed

in the bombardment in Eastern

Ghouta.

Cape Town will not have to turn off

water supplies and should avoid

a looming day of completely running

out of water.

The city is in the middle

of drought and was facing

what was called Day Zero.

Due to water saving efforts,

that day has been pushed back

from April to 27th August.

Lots of you have been watching this

video of an orangutan

in an Indonesia zoo smoking.

A visitor flicked a cigarette

into the enclosure.

That video was on the BBC news up.

As you've heard already,

Donald Trump's top economic advisor

-- the drug administration is

confirmed by Canada and Mexico might

be given exemptions from planned

tariffs on steel and aluminium. Joe

Miller is in New York. This has

become part of the broader

negotiations between Canada, Mexico

and the US?

It has indeed. There was

a real surprise in Wall Street when

Donald Trump appeared to connect

these tariffs with the Nafta

negotiations and talk about how

there would not be any exemption for

Canada or Mexico unless the Nafta

negotiations went the right way. By

donor whether the howls of anguish

from Wall Street reached the press

briefing room that we have heard

press secretary Sarah Sanders say

there might be exemptions after all,

which has come as a huge relief in

New York. Investors were worried

that with Gary Cohen, one of the

President's so-called globalist

advisers, departing the White House.

-- departing the waiters, we would

see the harshest version of these

tariffs across the board. Now there

was some relief, perhaps, and

exemptions for some of the US

because my closest trading partners.

But Mr Trump is still lining up with

tariffs that the EU, China, other

major players?

Yes, and the reason

for that is the original, I suppose,

instinct for imposing these tariffs

has not gone away. Donald Trump's

base, lots of whom were in former

industrial heartlands, they really

called for these tariffs and in the

short term they will seize on

benefit from them. We have seen an

announcement by US steel, one of the

last remaining big US steel

companies, that it will reopen a

plant in Illinois and bring back 500

employees that it laid off last

year. The good news will come to the

places that Donald Trump wants to

please most, that is why he will

stick to these tariffs. The question

is in what form, when we finally see

what the tariffs look like in

detail, will it be the blanket

across-the-board tariffs or will it

be what's on Wall Street call

sensible exceptions for countries

that perhaps the US does not want to

start a trade war with, like Canada

and Mexico?

All will be revealed,

the White House says it will give a

statement later on that -- later in

the week.

The world's youngest self-made

billionaire has told the BBC

that he believes that

President Trump's anti-immigration

rhetoric is deterring software

developers from going to the US.

John Collison, the 27-year-old Irish

co-founder of the payments platform

Stripe, told us in an exclusive

interview that the same may prove

true for the UK because of Brexit.

People are less willing to move to

the United States, they don't even

want to enter the bees are processed

because of what they perceive to be

the political climate and how

welcoming the country is towards

immigrants, so I think the

perception will make recruitment

harder and might be more difficult

to get people to move.

Have you seen

evidence about?

We are seeing the

early stages in the US, we worry

about seeing it in the UK.

If

recruitment gets harder, people are

less willing to move to the UK, for

example, what is the penalty? What

happens?

The ultimate risk we are

talking about is does the UK have a

vibrant tech sector and Star club --

start-up ecosystem? I think the UK

will have a tech sector and started

the ecosystem, but how successful

will it be? There are degrees of

success we can't talk about. If we

do it wrong, we might be looking at

a lower degree of success.

Simon

Jack was asking the questions.

Amazon has been forced to admit that

it's smart assistant Alexa

has been playing up -

and freaking out its users.

Here's what's been happening.

@GavinHightower said "Lying in bed

about to fall asleep when Alexa

on my Amazon Echo Dot lets out

a very loud and creepy laugh."

@Taylorkatelynne said

"So my mum and I are just

sitting in the living room,

neither of us said a word

and our Alexa lit up

and laughed for no reason.

She didn't even say

anything, just laughed.

We unplugged her."

A user by the name of

CaptHandlebar even filmed it.

Another guy says Sir Alex decided to

laugh randomly when I was in the

kitchen. One user filmed this

happening.

LX LAUGHS. -- ALEXA Laughs. You

might remember this story.

Do you remember a row over alleged

sonic attacks on US diplomatic

staff living in Havana?

They said they heard strange

noises - they developed

symptoms like dizziness,

headaches, hearing loss, nosebleeds,

they even had trouble walking.

This happened in one of Cuba's most

iconic hotels, the Hotel Nacional.

You can see it on the satellite

here.

The same thing happened a block

away at the Hotel Capri.

I was going to show you that, it is

coming up.

It also happened inside homes these

diplomats were given

by the Cuban government.

But there was one place it didn't

happen - the US embassy,

which is seen as secure.

The map will not let me show you it

but it is just across town.

Well, the US brought

some of the staff home -

it said they've been victims

of health attacks.

There was even speculation some kind

of sonic weapon had been used -

even though it's not clear

if sonic weapons exist.

Basically, it was a mystery.

This though may be an explanation.

Recordings were made of the sounds.

Then a team at the University

of Michigan did this -

they set up an experiment to try

and recreate the sounds.

Working on a hunch that listening

devices, bugs to you and me, might

have been partly to blame.

Have a listen - and, don't worry,

it's not going to do you any harm.

SONIC FEEDBACK.

Not very pleasant, is it?

Imagine hearing that,

all the time - not very nice.

Kevin Fu is the computer scientist

who did the research.

Here he is telling me exactly what

causes those sounds.

Well, we don't

know exactly what causes the sounds,

but what we do believe is if there

is ultrasound, the ultrasound in the

air can combine to create these

audible sensations.

In terms of what

could have happened inside these

hotels in Cuba, what is your theory?

Our working theory is there may have

been multiple ultrasonic signals

that would unintentionally combine

in the air and produce what we call

these audible by-products. You can

hear things that don't really exist.

In terms of what would be needed to

recreate that, can you explain the

different elements?

Sure, at least

one ultrasonic transmitter,

transducer. This is an example of

one. Really, really tiny. It needs

to produce a couple of tones. They

produce in the air to create an

audible sensation make humans can

hear.

That would be consistent with

the symptoms of these Americans

experience?

It is consistent with

what we saw in the news in terms of

the video and audio. It does not

rule out other possibility is that

make sense to us because it is so

simple.

Given the Americans were

pulled out in quite significant

numbers, I wonder if they have been

in touch to talk through your

theory?

We have provided our results

of State in the United States, I am

sure they are chipping away at some

of the maths and we will see what

they do.

Isn't quite uncommon for

listening devices of one type or

another to emit sounds that we're

not aware of or to interfere other

issues in the environment?

I do not

know the answer to that question but

I know that one of our graduate

students and about five minutes was

able to create this proof of concept

eavesdropper that would spirit away

information over and ultrasonic

inaudible channel, but when this

channel would have interference from

a second ultrasonic tone, you would

hear noises like you played earlier.

Thanks to Kevin Fu. After the break,

we will hear about a letter that the

North Koreans have given the South

Koreans, and they want it delivered

to the White House. See you in a

minute.

Welcome to a look at the weather

away from the UK. Making headlines,

the storm that we had across the USA

and Canada late last week, this is a

picture sent from Massachusetts. We

were inundated with the rainfall

amounts comic huge, crashing waves

due to the strength of the wind. And

hot on the hills, the next storm.

This linking back into an area of

low pressure. That has already been

giving considerable problems through

the day, dumping snow fall quite

widely. Snow is more an issue on the

system, 12 to 18 inches forecast

before it clears. Though the winds

are not as strong they are strong

enough to blow the snow around.

Still some severe storms for parts

of Florida, and virtually feel

continues to the end of the working

week. Some respite from the rain.

Not for Orlando, potentially.

Another weather system is moving

further west. Things have moved on

but they are bringing in rain, hail

snow, strong winds and we might see

rates for LA. Potential flash

flooding. Heading into Asia, rather

wet weather across southern parts of

China, into Hong Kong and Taiwan. A

really nasty area of low pressure

blooming across the Korean

peninsular and into Japan. --

low-pressure brewing. Snowfall

across the Korean peninsular as that

system brings northerly air into

parts of Japan. After soaking rains,

expect a real drop in temperature

and snow to set in. Tokyo largely

escaped the snow but it stays

unsettled until midweek. Some

showers around, initially in

Beijing. This is the Tropical

Cyclone Joyce talked about, it is

around Vanuatu, it is intensifying.

At the weekend it promises to bring

wet and windy weather to parts of

New Zealand. A tropical low across

the Northern Territories and in the

desert states, here it could bring

some very wet weather indeed, up to

100 millimetres, causing flash

flooding here. Watch for a tropical

site and in the coming few weeks.

A very showery picture. Across

Europe we have lost the bitter

easterly winds that there are still

warnings avalanches towards the

north, heavy rains across parts of

Turkey and the Balkans and we are

watching this massive rain

approaching the Bay of Biscay, which

looks set to be quite a nasty storm

for Iberia into fronts, pushing

weather fronts northwards towards

the UK, bringing milder weather with

it but nevertheless some quite nasty

stormy weather through the Bay of

Biscay. As for here in the UK, we

will see our fair share of sunshine

and showers. A little bit of snow

over the hills, Ben will have much

more in around half an hour.

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

These are the main stories

here in the BBC Newsroom.

The EU says it has a long list

of American imports that will be hit

by tariffs if its steel

and aluminium are

targeted by the US.

The White House says that's

going to happen this week.

British police say a nerve agent was

used in attempted murder a former

Russian spy in the UK. If you want

to get in touch...

#BBCOS is the hashtag.

OK, deep breath.

Let's start out coverage

of the US mid-term elections.

Not for a few months...

Texas has held the first primaries

of the midterm election season.

In the coming months

across the US, voters will vote

on candidates for this election.

The mid-terms will decide

who controls Congress,

state legislatures and a number

of key governorships.

If you want detailed analysis,

The Washington Post has a good break

down of today's results.

A few takeaways...

A lot more women won

in primaries here.

The turnout of Democratic

voters has surged.

And high-profile Republican Ted Cruz

might have a fight on his hands.

Let's go live to Austin, Texas.

Anthony is there for us. You have

gone home and working!

A good

combination! Working out quite well!

A very interesting primary in Texas,

Ted Cruz is going to have a

legitimate opponent, a Democratic

member of Congress from El Paso,

campaigning throughout the state and

beat Ted Cruz in fundraising. He is

no slouch himself. He will be his

opponent. It would take a big wave,

this is a conservative state, but

lots of people on a national level

say this could be the upset, if

Democrats are doing as well as

people think they are, with

conventional wisdom at this point.

I

think of Texas being a huge sea of

Republicans with a small island of

Democrats in Austin.

What is going

on across the state? It is not just

Austin, Texas. Lots of big cities

have become increasingly blue,

Dallas, San Antonio always

democratic, Houston and key

Congressional races, the House of

Representatives races that could

decide who controls the House of

Representatives in November, some of

the key races are in Texas, there

was a district in San Antonio, will

herd, second term Republican,

Hillary Clinton was carried by eight

percentage points and several

Democrats think they have a good

chance. There is a race in Dallas,

and in Houston, and a Democratic

race in Houston is interesting

because it highlights some of the

divides within the Democratic party,

several establishment Democrats

running for that seat to go against

Culbertson, he is at risk, the

incumbent Republican, but the person

in the top two, Lauren Mozer,

supported by the grassroots Bernie

Sanders weighing and the

Congressional Democrats dropped

information harmful to her before

the election, thinking they could

not provide because they think she

is too liberal to win but she

finished in the run-off and could be

the nominee. That is assorted divide

in the Democrats people are worried

about, are those progressives going

to cause trouble in some of these

races?

Congress, as you have

explained, the Republicans hold both

houses of Congress, that makes

Donald Trump's life easier but is

there any possibility in the

mid-terms but one of the houses

could flip?

There is a possibility,

people look at the House of

Representatives as the easier task

because of the lay of the map in the

Senate, only a third of Senate seats

are up in this year's collections

and a lot of those are Democrats

trying to defend states that Donald

Trump carried. There are lots of

seats were Democrats get eight,

nine, 10% bump over past years, they

could win. Hear in Texas, suburban

districts, California, Florida, some

of the midwest seats are filled to

Republicans over the past few years,

everybody is looking at the House of

Representatives, the Democrats would

have to pick up about 20 seats to

make this happen but in a wave

election like 2006 with the

Democrats, and in those elections

you can see 30 or 40 seat swings.

Thank you very much. Live from

Austin with that incredible blue sky

early afternoon in Texas!

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince,

Mohammed bin Salman,

is meeting Queen Elizabeth today

at Buckingham Palace.

He's in the UK for three days.

He met Theresa May, there they are

at the front of Number 10.

We've just see this statement

from Downing Street that they've

agreed an ambition for around

£65 billion of mutual trade.

Significant announcement, that will

go down well with both parties and

you may have noticed in London there

has been a big PR push.

These billboards have

appeared around London.

Telling us about Saudi Arabia and

Mohammed bin Salman, he is the

central figure at the moment.

Now Mohammed bin Salman

is behind a major push

to liberalise the country.

to be honest, it would have been

hard to go in the other direction,

given how the country's been run.

He has made significant

announcements.

Women have been allowed to go

to football matches,

they will soon be able to drive

and cinemas are opening after a 35

year ban was lifted in December.

There's also a huge effort

to stop the Saudi economy

being so oil dependent.

Let's remember, Mohammed bin Salman

is also Defence Minister.

He's overseeing a foreign policy

that includes a significant

involvement in the conflict

in Yemen, both with its use of air

strikes and a blockade.

To understand the importance

of Saudi Arabia, I spoke

with our chief international

correspondent Lyse Doucet.

In the Middle East Riyadh is the

capital of Capitals, one of the most

important players in the region and

are very close strategic partnership

with President Trump's

administration and very much taking

the lead whether it comes to

intelligence cooperation, but will

be high on the agenda in talks with

Theresa May, but in terms of trying

to chart a strategy which says Iran

is the main risk in the region and

that plays out in neighbouring

Yemen.

I would imagine Theresa May's

priority, what is the one parity for

the Saudis?

For both it is to say

this is an important strategic

relationship with economic benefits

for both, the Saudi kingdom has

money to invest and they want to

continue to buy arms from the UK and

the UK was to sell arms, were one of

the biggest arm sellers to the Saudi

kingdom and Theresa May has this

idea of becoming more global with

Brexit and Mohammed bin Salman helps

Selma agenda and Britain was to say,

we are good friends and because of

that we can be very frank. Britain

has been putting pressure on Saudi

Arabia for some time to say, you

have to bring an end to this war,

the reputational risk is too big and

yes, the Houthis are causing

civilian casualties by

indiscriminate bombing but the Saudi

led coalition bombing is causing the

greatest amount of casualties.

That

is why we have protests in London.

This big PR push, saying we have

changed and we are changing and

Saudi Arabia is exciting. You meet a

lot of the senior figures, you buy

this?

Undeniably, I have been going

there every six months and every

time I go something is different,

when it comes to social reform,

opening up the economy, undeniably

it is changing and it is the

32-year-old Crown Prince doing this

along with his allies and friends,

trying to drag the kingdom into the

21st century. It seems so banal to

us that women can drive and you have

cinemas and women can go to sports

stadiums and they can work. But that

has been denied to Saudi women for

so long and that is changing so on

social reform he is a reformer and

the Kingdom needs him. Politically,

any suggestion of dissent is quickly

suppressed. They have to do more

when it comes to that front and on

the economy he is trying to

diversified the kingdom away from

what he has described as this

addiction to oil. It is a mixed

picture which is why it is important

for countries like Britain to talk

to the young prince because he is

going to be there for a long time

and he says he wants to reform, his

kingdom is waiting.

Thank you very

much.

Don't forget, you can get much

more detail on our top

stories on our website.

One of our colleagues

from the BBC Russian Service -

Farida Rustamova -

has accused a senior

Russian politician -

of sexual harassment.

She is the third journalist

to openly make allegations

against Leonid Slutsky,

who has denied the accusations.

This is Farida.

who has denied the accusations.

She says that last year,

during an interview in his office,

Slutsky suggested they sleep

together.

He also allegedly

stroked her groin area.

BBC Russian's Nina

Nazarova has more.

According to Farida Rustamova, in

March last year when she went to

check a comment from Leonid Slutsky,

according to her words, Mr Slutsky

unexpectedly change the conversation

and offered for her to become his

lover. When my colleague refused, he

told her, drop by my office, I miss

you and the unexpectedly approached.

And then with his open palm, he

touched her groin area and she

protested and he told her not to

worry because he was ready to help

her.

Mr Slutsky was recorded...

Mr Slutsky was recorded saying,

"I don't feel people up".

"Well, OK, just a little".

The story is on BBCRussian.com.

It reports that the incident

was recorded on a dictaphone.

The BBC has this, but decided not

to broadcast the audio.

Let's hear more from Nina.

We don't have laws here to cover

sexual harassment, improper touching

and offers other sexual nature. The

law here condemns coercion of others

into acts of a sexual nature,

suggesting threats and blackmail so

for my colleagues and others who

have suffered from harassment, there

is no point in even bothering the

police.

Every day on the programme

we try to take you to different

parts of the world...

In Sierra Leone more than 3 million

people have been voting

for a new president and parliament.

This is President Ernest Bai Koroma

he is standing down after serving

two five-year terms.

There are now 16 candidates

vying for his job.

Some of the key

election issues are...

The economy, after the price of one

of their major exports -

iron ore - collapsed.

Also health, after the ebola

crisis, and education.

The BBC's Umaru Fofana has

been following the day's

developments in Freetown.

Very long queues snaking their way

throughout the capital of free time.

Voters pouring onto the streets,

despite the presence of police and

soldiers and with restrictions on

the movement of vehicles. And some

voters's enthusiasm is reinforced by

the desire for basic services.

I am

very excited, it is very good to

exercise my rights as a citizen.

For

the first time, we don't want the

disappointment from our candidates.

I expect much from the next leader.

They should always try to satisfy

our needs.

Education, social

services. Clean water, these are the

priorities.

From these policies.

There has been no reports of major

incidents and the initial reaction

from observers gives this a clean

bill of health, echoed by the

Observer group.

But we're getting

from some of our people is they are,

we have about 60 observers around

the country. What they are seeing is

encouraging. This is not to say we

don't expect the odd bump or two

along the way but thus far, things

are encouraging.

At this polling

station there are complaints the

process going on inside is pretty

slow. People have been standing in

this queue for more than five hours

waiting to cast their ballot but

they say they will remain patient

until they can do just that. The

results will be announced within one

week and if none of the 16

candidates gets 55% of the vote, the

top two will face off in a run-off,

that second round taking place at

the end of March. A horrific story

from South Africa at... Mendy

iguana, a South African try Alan

sugar triathlete attacked on the way

to his early morning training

session, this happened in Durban. At

the time his training partner said

they were being robbed but the

details are even more disturbing, we

are told he was dragged from the

road and I was sure you the account

of the South African Olympic

triathlete, Henry 's Goodman, who

said...

There are many other ways of

describing this. We are told that

Gwala has been through surgery. This

is Dennis Jackson from South

Africa's elite athletic programme,

with more on his condition.

We have

been waiting all afternoon, there

was quite a long surgery, close to

seven hours, the doctors did say

they were going to be meticulous

about this and give him the best job

possible and it seems they have done

this, they have saved his leg, that

was in the most danger of losing. We

have some good news, which is great.

I think it is too soon to say a

thing about his career prospects.

Journey he has had an amazing last

week, coming to where he is in terms

of determination and strength so I

would not put it past him to come

back, this will take some time, this

has been a massive trauma to him and

the news today, tonight, that he is

coming through the surgery and

everything has gone well, I would

not put it past him for Mhlengi

Gwala to rise past this and come

back.

We wish him well. The head of

recycling governing body is calling

for an investigation into Team Sky

following the damning report by

Members of Parliament earlier this

week. David Lappartient has told the

BBC that the findings of enquiry

into doping in sport were

unacceptable and could affect the

global credibility of cycling. The

report accused Team Sky and Sir

Bradley Wiggins of having crossed an

ethical line by using drugs allowed

under anti-dumping rules to enhance

performance instead of just using

them for medical purposes. From

Switzerland, here is Dan Roan. They

may be the dominant force in cycling

but the pressure is on Team Sky.

Today they tried to focus on their

latest race in Italy. But it is the

way they have one of the past that

is under scrutiny. Team Sky have

admitted mistakes following this

week's damning report by a

Parliamentary committee but today

there was powerful figure in the

sport told me that was not good

enough.

A mistake is something you

have done without attention --

intention to being wrong. The report

is different. It seems like it was

organised. So it is maybe not a

mistake. Which is different. That

could affect the credibility

globally of our support and that is

why I am concerned.

The MPs alleged

Sir Bradley Wiggins used asthma

drugs to boost performance and not

just from medical need when he rode

for Team Sky, acclaim both they and

he deny. Do you feel an ethical line

was crossed, as the MPs suggest?

In

the report, what I read... When you

can see that substances were used,

not for health problems but to

increase their performance, then,

yes, that is something unacceptable

for me.

If it is not breaking the

rules, can it be cheating?

If you

are using substances to increase

your performance, I think this is

exactly what is cheating.

Despite

the controversy, Sir Dave Brailsford

remains in charge of Team Sky but

the party and told me he wants the

anti-doping division to launch their

own enquiry.

I want them to

investigate and to see if there is

any violation of anti-doping rules.

Britain's top rider, Chris Froome,

continues to compete despite an

adverse drugs test last year and the

Team Sky star who defend his title

in the Tour de France this summer

with the case still unresolved.

What

would be the effect of that? That

would be a disaster for cycling,

from a legal point of view he has a

right to ride but for our sport that

could be a disaster.

The UCL

President once Chris Froome to

withdraw until either he clears his

name or is banned. The road to

reputational recovery could be a

long one. Dan is reporting on this

story and that is essential, if you

are interested on following this on

Twitter for updates, as he chases

further developments...

We keep learning more about the 48

hour visit by a South Korean

delegation to North Korea.

We already knew their two

leaders may now meet.

It's also emerged that

the South Koreans were given

a letter from Kim Jong-Un

to the United States.

That will be delivered

to America when officials go

to Washington next week.

There have already been indications

North Korea may be willing to engage

with the Trump administration.

Up until now, Dennis Rodman,

retired basketball star,

is the highest profile American

to meet Kim Jong-un.

Here's Donald Trump yesterday

on the idea of a meeting.

I think that they are sincere but I

think they are also sincere because

the sanctions and what we are doing

with respect to North Korea,

including the great help we have

been given from China, and they can

do more, but I think they have done

more than they certainly have done

for our country before...

America

has imposed new sections on North

Korea. That is because it concluded

Pyongyang was behind the

assassination of a half-brother of

Kim Jong-nam, you might remember

this, killed last year by a chemical

agent at Kuala Lumpur airport in

Malaysia. The Russians are not keen

on these sanctions. This and...

TRANSLATION:

Other sanctions,

although motivated by the situation

on the Korean peninsula, are being

imposed in addition to the existing

sanctions. Bypassing the UN Security

Council. The sanctions are

illegitimate in our view.

We know

sections are hurting North Korea,

and that is why there is scepticism

about this new approach from Kim

Jong-un. This is the assessment of

the South Korean President...

TRANSLATION:

I think we're at a very

crucial moment regarding the peace

and the neutralisation of the Korean

peninsula. We're only at the

starting line and it is too early to

be optimistic.

That was a President,

he are some other South Koreans.

TRANSLATION:

Until now North Korea

has always sought to negotiate when

facing hard times. Still, there have

been so many cases where they would

then make a slick move from behind.

We really should not fall for this

again, especially this time.

Dialogue is Mrs Rae. They need to

talk and discuss measures, this is a

short cut to unification, even if

not arrived. -- even if not right

away.

I wonder if you have seen this

video already on your phone... It

has been shared a lot already.

This is a video of a British diver

swimming through a sea

of plastic rubbish.

Instead, in this film

you see plastic bags,

straws and other rubbish

floating all around.

And they are a symptom

of Indonesia's plastic problem.

It produces 130,000 tons

of plastic waste every day

and half reaches landfill.

This film is from Nusa Penida

Island in Indonesia -

this is somewhere where you'll also

see manta rays and tropical fish.

Well, the diver is Rich Horner -

he's spoken to the BBC.

You can see the occasional cloud of

this and it comes and go with the

currents that was horrifying, that I

mind. I think all the stuff I have

seen has been from Indonesia but

with the Indonesian Masters current

we have dominating, it could come

from further north, in the north and

South East of Asia.

Every single

bottle just collects, they are not

on the ground for a long and

actively ship them back to the plant

in Bali and they are recycled but

general plastic waste, I don't think

that is collected enough so a lot of

people do with that themselves.

Makes for a grim viewing. A reminder

of the lead story, coming from

Washington, Donald Trump and the

White House telling us by the end of

the week we should have details of

the of tariffs the President was to

introduce on aluminium and steel,

the EU has responded by saying if

you do that, here is a long list of

products imported into the European

Union which can also expect tariffs

to be applied. They will have to see

how that develops. Another story

relating to the President is today

he has been sued by former adult

star claiming they had an affair and

a deal that he signed with her is

void. See you tomorrow...