0:00:15 > 0:00:17Welcome to Reporters, I'm Philippa Thomas.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20From here in the world's newsroom we send out correspondemts to bring
0:00:20 > 0:00:22you the best stories from across the globe.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27In this week's programme...
0:00:27 > 0:00:29The Philippines' deadly war on drugs.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Jonathan Head joins a police prison raid and finds drug addicts
0:00:32 > 0:00:36and dealers filling the cells to escape the death squads.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40The focus at the moment, as with so much of this campaign,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42is people at the very bottom of the trade,
0:00:42 > 0:00:48not the people running it.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50On the front line in Libya's war against the so-called Islamic State.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Feras Kilani joins pro-government forces besieging the strategic city
0:00:53 > 0:00:56of Sirte, seized by IS a year ago.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The anti-government forces have mobilised all their ability, really.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01To retake the last two districts still under Isis control.
0:01:01 > 0:01:08Closer to extinction.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23And the secret life of birds.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Victoria Gill gets exclusive access to the scientists shedding new light
0:01:26 > 0:01:35on the mysteries of flight.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43There has been an unprecedented rise in the murder rate in
0:01:43 > 0:01:46the Philippines after the country's new president won power promising
0:01:46 > 0:01:48tough action in the war on drugs.
0:01:48 > 0:01:49But Rodrigo Duterte's critics say his hard-line tactics
0:01:49 > 0:01:51include turning a blind eye to extrajudicial killings.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54One campaign promise included a pledge to kill 100,000 criminals
0:01:54 > 0:01:57in his first six months in office, while nearly 2000 people have
0:01:57 > 0:01:59died in the seven weeks since the crackdown began.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Police say hundreds of thousands of dealers and drug users have
0:02:01 > 0:02:02turned themselves in.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05The war on drugs is reaching all corners of the Philippines.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10Even here, in the jails.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Many of these men are already serving long sentences for drug use
0:02:14 > 0:02:19in cells so packed with bodies it is hard to breathe.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22It says something about the extent of the drug problem here
0:02:22 > 0:02:26in the Philippines that the police have had to come here and raid one
0:02:26 > 0:02:31of the biggest prisons around Manila.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35There are clearly concerns about real drug problems
0:02:35 > 0:02:39here but the focus at the moment, as with so much of this campaign,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41is people at the very bottom of the trade,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43not the people running it.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46At least here they can stay alive.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48But not here.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51The bodies of dealers and addicts are discovered every night
0:02:51 > 0:02:53in the slums of Manila, killed either by the police
0:02:53 > 0:02:58or by shadowy hit squads.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00It started when this man, Rodrigo Duterte, an outspoken
0:03:00 > 0:03:06crime-fighting Mayor, was elected president in May.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12When he said he would kill drug dealers, he meant it.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Does the lives of ten criminals really matter to me?
0:03:16 > 0:03:26If I am the one facing the grief, would 100 lives mean anything to me?
0:03:29 > 0:03:33The president is still wildly popular for this kind of talk.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Drug addiction has blighted neighbourhoods already
0:03:35 > 0:03:40burdened by poverty.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44But his campaign has forced Roger - not his real name - into hiding.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47He has been a minor drug dealer for years.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49Now he is on the run.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55TRANSLATION: I have done some awful things, I know.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57I have wronged a lot of people because they have
0:03:57 > 0:03:59become addicted to drugs.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Because I am one of the many who sells the drugs.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Not everyone who uses drugs commits crimes.
0:04:05 > 0:04:06Me?
0:04:06 > 0:04:10I am an addict but I don't kill.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12This chilling security camera video shows why those targeted
0:04:12 > 0:04:15by the anti-drug campaign have so much to fear.
0:04:15 > 0:04:22A motorbike slows down for a moment.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28The passenger firing at point-blank range.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32It might easily have been Maria, a young mother and a hired assassin.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35She says she has killed five people since President Duterte
0:04:35 > 0:04:38won the election.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Like Roger, she says it was poverty that drove her into the job.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46TRANSLATION: I tell my husband that we cannot keep
0:04:46 > 0:04:47doing this forever.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50We have children.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52We don't want our children to know what we do.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56I do not want them to come back at us and say that they got to live
0:04:56 > 0:04:58because we killed for money.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00Nearly 700,000 terrified drug addicts have already surrendered
0:05:00 > 0:05:03to the Philippines police to save their lives.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08They must somehow now be accommodated in these
0:05:08 > 0:05:15teeming, overcrowded cells.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19It is a strategic Libyan city on the Mediterranean coast.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Seen as a gateway from North Africa to Europe.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Sirte was seized by so-called Islamic State forces last year
0:05:28 > 0:05:31and there were fears that IS would use the port as a base
0:05:31 > 0:05:34to attack European targets.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38But this week, pro-government forces said they had retaken most
0:05:38 > 0:05:42of the city and were flushing out the last of the fighters.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Militia groups aligned to the so-called Libyan Government
0:05:44 > 0:05:46of National Accord have been supported by US air strikes.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50Feras Kilani and cameraman Jamie Bowles are among the few
0:05:50 > 0:05:53international teams to have reached the front line and they
0:05:53 > 0:05:56sent us this report.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04The tanks begin to advance.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09The militants of so-called Islamic State are cornered.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14Forces loyal to the unity government are now pounding their positions.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20And close to regaining control of Sirte.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23The anti-government forces have mobilised all of their ability
0:06:23 > 0:06:28to retake the last two districts still under Isis control.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Islamic State hoped their headquarters in Sirte would provide
0:06:31 > 0:06:33a base to launch attacks into Europe.
0:06:33 > 0:06:39But now the extremists are about to be pushed out.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44The commander here tells me that IS no longer have the manpower
0:06:44 > 0:06:47to hold the city.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00TRANSLATION: All the area in front of us is under IS control.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03You can see them from here.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06It is districts number one and three.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Within a few days we will take over all this area, by the help of God.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15But the fight isn't over yet.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19IS militants quickly reply with sniper fire and suicide bombs.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24Stopping the advance.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29The military spokesman told us that they had
0:07:29 > 0:07:33expected these attacks.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35But the gains here have come at a price.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38On the day we visited this hospital, over 30 fighters were killed.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41And we watch as medical staff battle to treat almost 200 men.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46Even if IS are forced out of Sirte, their threat continues.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49There is a strong feeling that IS will regroup and return,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53causing more devastation in a struggling country with two
0:07:53 > 0:07:58governments and hundreds of militias competing for power.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Have you ever wondered how even the tiniest birds manage to fly
0:08:10 > 0:08:11in strong, gusty winds?
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Well, scientists at Stanford University in California have now
0:08:13 > 0:08:16designed a bird wind tunnel to try to find out.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Victoria Gill has had exclusive access to the flight lab
0:08:18 > 0:08:22revealing new details about the secret life of birds.
0:08:25 > 0:08:26The wonder of flight.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Only in very slow motion can we see the minuscule adjustments this
0:08:31 > 0:08:33lovebird constantly makes to its flapping wings.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Its tiny body has evolved perfectly to fly.
0:08:37 > 0:08:43Human engineers haven't come close to recreating that.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Here it is.
0:08:44 > 0:08:45It is pretty big.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46It's huge!
0:08:46 > 0:08:49That is something that researchers in this lab hope to change.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51They have dedicated an entire room at Stanford University in California
0:08:51 > 0:08:55to building this wind tunnel.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57The only one of its kind in the world.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59OK, so this is where you fly the birds?
0:08:59 > 0:09:00Yes.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Basically, you can go in here...
0:09:02 > 0:09:05It is starting to help them discover some of the birds' crucial secrets.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10Wind tunnels have been used for a long time to study bird flight
0:09:10 > 0:09:15but the new thing about this one is that with this device they can
0:09:15 > 0:09:19manipulate the airflow to recreate any environment on Earth,
0:09:19 > 0:09:25from a gusty city to the top of a mountain.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29When you see a bird fly by in a city you see all of these
0:09:29 > 0:09:32small motions in the wing and that is all that it is doing
0:09:32 > 0:09:33to adjust to the turbulence.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36And so it is really these tiny motions where they adapt quickly
0:09:36 > 0:09:37that make the difference.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40And we have no idea how they make these in response to
0:09:40 > 0:09:44which wind flow patterns.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52In the moving air the bird remains in one place so exactly how it
0:09:52 > 0:09:56shifts as the airflow changes can be seen in unprecedented detail.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59But the team, with their specially clicker-trained birds,
0:09:59 > 0:10:06have also measured invisible characteristics of short hopping
0:10:06 > 0:10:07flights like this one.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10This setup is unique because it allows us to capture all the forces
0:10:10 > 0:10:12that a bird generates from the moment it takes off
0:10:12 > 0:10:19to when it lands during one of these fights.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22So what can be done with all of this flight insight?
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The next generation of small-scale flying robots, or drones,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28will need to cope in unstable environments if they are to be
0:10:28 > 0:10:30useful in military or search and rescue applications.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Currently they simply cannot manage as smoothly as birds.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36So these scientists will aim to create robotic copies
0:10:36 > 0:10:41of what nature has perfected over millions of years.
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Fascinating stuff.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47And that's all from Reporters for this week.
0:10:47 > 0:10:53From me, Philippa Thomas, goodbye for now.