04/02/2017 Reporters - Short Edition

Welcome to Reporters. I'm Phillipa Thomas.

From here in the world's newsroom we send out correspondents to bring

you the best stories from across the globe.

In this week's programme.

I think God led this country to put Donald Trump in office.

Divided America.

After week two of Donald Trump's unique style of diplomacy,

further splits in opinion.

Nick Bryant travels to the Bible belt of Tennessee and finds

his supporters fully behind their new President.

There are two Americas right now and how you react to Donald Trump

determines which one you inhabit.

I am 12 years old.

12 years old.

The children of LA forced into prostitution.

Angus Crawford gets exclusive access to the US police operation to rescue

them and meets the girls stuck in a life of hell.

What sort of things have happened to you working on the street?

Raped, someone pulled a knife out on me, a gun, tried to rob me.

Shark sighting, of a large shark.

We do advise that nobody enter the water.

And, protecting Australia's beaches.

Hywel Griffiths reports on how shark nets are keeping the swimmers safe

but harming marine life.

It is two weeks since he took the oath of office

and President Trump's administration has already issued dozens

of orders, many of them sharply dividing opinion.

But the President's supporters say he's simply fulfilling the promises

he made on the campaign trail, whether people like them or not.

Nick Bryant has travelled to the southern state of Tennessee

to see how people are taking to their new President.

The hills of eastern Tennessee, a landscape that reminds us that it

wasn't just the rust belt that won Donald Trump the presidency,

but the Bible belt, as well.

Father God, we are so grateful to meet here together...

Chattanooga prides itself on being the buckle of that belt

and at this bible study group this morning, praise for his socially

conservative Supreme Court nominee, and thanks to God for placing him

in the White House.

God has done a work in him. He has changed him.

You can just see it in the people he surrounds himself with.

And I do believe he's brought a seriousness that people just

didn't think were going to come out of Donald Trump.

I think God led this country to put Donald Trump in office.

I was very opposed to him.

Mark West started out as a Never Trump Republican.

He is an evangelical Christian who looked upon the New Yorker

as a philandering playboy but he's become a convert.

Social conservatives and conservatives in general have

been so fed up with Washington for so long, for decades,

that we wanted someone to go to Washington and blow it up.

Whether I was a Trump supporter or not, so many of us are looking

for Trump to do exactly what he has been doing so far, to completely

change the landscape, figuratively blow up Washington

and give us a new American revolution.

It has been the pace of the Trump presidency,

it's felt like a final furlong gallop, that's impressed

Kelly and Todd Floyd.

We are excited to see what he will continue to do.

You think he is making good on his promises?

I think he is, I think the implementation of

the immigration policy showed that he was not a career politician,

but I think that's why he got voted into office,

because we don't want career politicians any more.

There's no sign here of buyer's remorse.

To travel from coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles

into these heartland communities feels like crossing

into a parallel universe.

There are two Americas right now and how you react to Donald Trump

determines which one you inhabit.

The cannons from the American civil war that dot this landscape can be

viewed both as relics of the past and reminders of how conflict

and divisiveness is almost written into this nation's DNA,

and once again, it feels like the people of America

are sharing the same continent but not the same country.

Nick Bryant, BBC News, Tennessee.

It's thought to be the Los Angeles Police Department's biggest ever

operation to find girls, some as young as 11,

and young women who have been forced into a life of sexual exploitation.

Officers made almost 500 arrests and rescued more than 50 people.

Angus Crawford was given exclusive access to

the operation to free them.

Look beyond the handcuffs and the painted nails.

These aren't adults, just girls aged 16 and 17 arrested

on the street for prostitution.

Once inside, no cell, no bars or locks, just a room,

a place of safety where young people can get help and support.

We find minors every day that are out here working.

11 is the youngest we've had.

On the street they call The Blade, in the richest country in the world,

children are bought and sold at any time of day, every day.

A car approached us - she's again moving slowly.

Sergeant Brian Gallagher heads the area vice unit.

His job tonight - find those girls, get them off the street.

They stop a man they recognise.

He has a passenger. It's cold and she's shivering.

It is 4am and a routine patrol of the vice squad here has pulled

over a car driven by a man they know is a pimp.

When they stopped it, a young woman got out of the car

and they're concerned about her.

She says she's 19.

Her parents have reported her missing.

See her tattoo? It's the name of her pimp.

Here, they call it branding.

A lot of these girls, when we talk to them,

they'll tell us they're out here for 20 hours a day working.

They get a little bit of food.

They get abused physically, sexually.

It's barbaric what's being done to these little kids.

My cousin grabbed me on the way home from school...

America is slowly waking up to reality.

Thousands of children are being sexually exploited for money.

I am 12 years old.

12 years old.

That's why they launched Operation Reclaim and Rebuild,

state-wide, lasting three days.

Prostitutes and customers arrested, processed.

Some are released with a warning.

For others, it's jail.

Just 18, caught for a second time, Treasure.

She started on the street in middle school.

You were a child when you first started doing this?

Yeah.

What sort of things have happened to you working on the street?

Raped, someone pulled a knife out on me, a gun, tried to rob me.

For detective Brian Gallagher, it seems neverending.

Children forced to work the streets turn into women who know only this,

a life of violence and exploitation.

Angus Crawford, BBC News, Los Angeles.

Campaigners in Australia are calling for an end to the use of shark nets

because they're killing too many dolphins and turtles.

A recent spate of shark attacks on the east coast has forced

the authorities to put up more, but some nets have

been cut deliberately by those who oppose them.

As Hywel Griffiths reports from Sydney, there is a fine line

between keeping swimmers safe and protecting marine life.

In a country where catching a wave is a national obsession,

the allure of the ocean is endless.

As is the debate over how best to share these waters

with some of the locals.

Shark nets have been Australia's answer since the 1930s.

Sections are set hundreds of metres out at sea.

They don't create an enclosure, but they do offer reassurance.

I think they're a great idea.

We have got to try to protect our kids.

So, that's what it's all about to me.

Probably against them.

You see creatures in the wildlife getting stuck out there.

You take a risk swimming in the ocean and that's

where sharks belong.

That's what the nets are meant to keep out.

Great whites are one of ten species targeted by the programme

here in New South Wales.

The nets are put in place from September to April, when these

beaches at are at their busiest.

Last year, they trapped over 130 of the targeted,

more dangerous sharks, but they also trapped

another 600 marine animals, including dolphins,

rays and turtles.

This video shows what happens when one becomes entangled.

A group of tourists managed to set this turtle free but 19 others died

in the nets last year.

The nets have whale and dolphin alarms, and they're

checked every three days.

Around half of the animals are set free alive, but some campaigners

have decided to take matters into their own hands.

This is their home, that's where they live.

We can't exclude them from where they live.

They're not coming up into the car parks to get us,

so let's not go into the ocean to kill them.

Diver Dave Thomas admits he's cut shark nets in the past

to free trapped rays.

He argues they don't really protect humans,

only harm the sea life.

The net is a random thing.

It's not based on any science or factual data.

It is out there killing anything and everything and the risk

to people is negliable.

Shark sighting, rather a large shark.

We advise nobody enter the water...

There hasn't been a fatal shark attack on these beaches in 60 years.

The local government says it is a sign the nets do work

and that cutting them is dangerous.

People who have deliberately tampered with the nets,

that have cut the nets, released them from anchors

or floats, obviously very dangerous, not only for the individuals

involved, but creating a real hazard for the swimmers

and surfers at those beaches.

Finding the right balance between protecting humans

and preserving sea life is a challenge and here it

seems as elusive as ever.

Hywel Griffiths, BBC News, Sydney.

Always nice to finish on a sunset.

That's all from Reporters for this week.

From me, Phillipa Thomas, goodbye for now.