28/10/2012 Reporters

Tuesday, coinciding with next week's presidential elections.

We report on the Heysham quake victims who died of cholera,

apparently sped by peacekeepers from the United Nations.

The contrary in the Kremlin. We look at how President Vladimir

Putin is making the legacy of Dmitry Medvedev disappear.

And we look at an orchestra of light and hope overcoming

disability to make beautiful music. Welcome to Reporters.

It had long been suspected, but new evidence indicates that the

outbreak of cholera that started in Haiti two years ago was most likely

started by a United Nations peacekeepers. Research has found

the strain of the disease is identical to that in Nepal, where

the UN troops were from. The UN now faces massive compensation claims

from victims and their families. This woman needs help. She needs it

fast. Cholera can kill within hours. Today this single mother who

scrapes a living as a cleaner is saved. She made it to a hospital

run by a charity called doctors Without borders in the Asian

capital. -- Asian capital. One of more than 200 cases they see at a

justice clinic. The suffering we see from our patience is quite bad.

It has impacted on our national and international staff. We see about

250 patients who are ill from cholera. A disease that is easily

treatable. We strongly hope and advocate that in the future this

does not happen. The epidemic may well have started here. At the time,

this United Nations camp was home to soldiers from a pole. Cholera is

widespread there. The disease is spread by water. The base is next

to a river. A UN report last year said sanitary conditions but the

report said that nobody was to blame for the outbreak. But now one

of the authors, a scientists specialising in the disease, says

there is new evidence that changes that. I spoke to her at her lap in

Boston. We now know that the strain of cholera in Haiti is the exact

match to the one from the poll. It is extremely unlikely that could

have happened in any other manner. The most likely source of the

introduction of cholera in Haiti was someone infected with the No

poll strain of cholera who was associated with United Nations.

Haiti's poverty and filth caused the disease to explode across the

country. Now this a lawyer is preparing to sue the when for

compensation. Claims could total billions of dollars.

He insists that the cholera was brought here by Nepalese soldiers.

In the face of compensation claims, how does the UN answer the charge?

The UN has to answer that allegation. It has got to go

through the legal proceeding. What I can tell you is that we are

responding. We have seen a significant decline in cases over

the past year. We should take encouragement from that. It is

probably difficult being the person the UN puts up to answer these

questions. I cannot give you answers. It is out of my hands.

because you feel guilty? The issue is out of my hand because it is

part of the legal domain. My job is to work with my humanitarian

colleagues to respond to the epidemic and find alternatives for

the people in camps. To work with people who are suffering. That is

my role. To the people of Haiti, it looks like the UN does not want to

do. It is perhaps because the United Nations is facing an

unprecedented moral, legal and even financial crisis. The organisation

was set up to do good in the world. But they may have caused the deaths

of many thousands of people. This doctor was one of the first medics

to identify the sickness killing her patience. She was overwhelmed

and shocked, because until this epidemic Haiti had not registered a

single case of the disease for a century. She is coping now. But

sometimes it is hard. People are suffering a lot. Last year I saw a

woman who lost her husband. It is not easy.

It is barely six months since Dmitry Medvedev left the Kremlin as

President. He has seen his power and influence significantly reduced.

President Vladimir Putin has been getting rid of many of the liberal

policies and reforms that Dmitry Medvedev promoted when he was head

of state. He is gradually disappearing from Russia's

political stage. The world of magic is strangely

similar to the world of Russian politics. Behind the Kremlin walls,

it is all smoke and mirrors. To succeed you need it cool header,

sleight-of-hand and something else - making people disappear. And

Vladimir Putin is the consummate Kremlin conjuror. Since becoming

president again, he has Manjit away the memory of Dmitry Medvedev's

presidency. Even without a magic wand. He has made many of his

predecessor's reforms disappear. There are plenty of examples. He

had decriminalised certain substances. He had worked with

America. Even his decision to keep Russian clocks and how were head is

now under review. It makes him look weak. His liking no longer exists

in Russian politics. Vladimir Putin would like this to be written in

marble. Nobody pertain. -- but him. Dmitry Medvedev has not been

disappeared completely. He is still Russia's prime minister and leader

of the ruling party. But it is his record as President that is being

erased. And with it, his reputation as a political player. When he was

president, he portrayed himself as a more moderate Russian leader.

Westernising, democrat. His decision not to run for a second

term led to his liberal supporters feeling tricked. It now seemed like

he had been little more than a stop gap Until Vladimir Putin's return.

People feel like they have been misled and lied to so many times

after Vladimir Putin. There never really was much trust in change.

That kind of heritage his simply wrong to believe that people are

going to start believing in anything. When you believe and you

are fooled, it hurts. He is still the most second burst powerful man

on Russia. But today, he cut a lonely figure. Quite a contrast

from his days as head of state. But perhaps that is not too surprising.

After all, if you take part in spells and sorcery, there is always

the risk you will never be quite the same again.

There is not long to go before America chooses its next president.

As the race gets close to between Barack Obama and his Republican

challenger Mitt Romney, the battle is on for women voters. The key

demographic will be the so-called Wal-Mart mums. That is women on a

budget that shop at a giant retailer.

The breathtaking splendour of the Rocky Mountains. Its foothills are

home to the Mile High City. Denver, the beating heart of a critical

swing state. A state where women voters outnumber men by more than

100,000. My Name Is Rebecca. I am a single mother with three teenage

children. I am Catherine. My husband is working two jobs.

Rebecca and Catherine are called Wal-Mart mums. Women on a budget to

come to this giant retailer for cost at a no-frills convenience.

make a list. I used to have a corporate job. Then I was laid off.

We do not have much money. Over the years, suburban women with children

have been hotly pursued group of voters. Bill Clinton famously

targeted soccer mums. Sarah Palin rallied hockey mums. In 2012, this

latest variation could decide the outcome. That is because in

elections, they tended to make up their minds late. Rebecca has a lot

more than politics to think about. She has a job as a classroom

assistant and a recent divorce. As she cut back on spending she wants

a President to do the same. We have to look at our budget and how we

fix it. how do we get it back on the right track? It is a mess.

Catherine's house it is breakfast time. There is a helping of

negative political ads. I get exhausted from hearing both sides

tell me, vote for me just because the other side is so bad. There are

so rotten and awful. Nobody says, here is what I can do for you.

they share is a sense of frustration with the campaigns. The

time has come to make a decision. Who are you leaning towards? I am

leaning towards Barack Obama again. With Mitt Romney I do not know what

we are going to get. I know what we are going to get from Obama. I do

not like it. I want something new. So the weekly shop is over. But not

this election. The polls suggest the President's lead among women is

In India there is growing alarm over a series of brutal gang rapes

in the northern state of Haryana. 11 such attacks have been reported

in the last month alone. Women campaigners say the situation is

made worse by the attitude of the traditional village councils. That

right is a typical Haryana village. -- Dabra. Not many outsiders visit

the modest times of this poor farming community. For the past six

weeks the police have been here. They have been ordered to protect

this 15-year-old girl. She was abducted by 12 men when she was

walking on the road. They threw me in the back of a car and

blindfolded me. I was taken to the side of a river. Seven of the men

raped me. Then they left me there. I walked home. Rate is a social

stain that hangs heavy in this deeply conservative society. The

men also filmed the assault on their mobile phones. They

speculated the images. On the wall of the family home, a photo of the

girl's father, humiliated, he killed himself. There are two rapes

a day in Haryana, must go and reported. Sexual violence against

women takes place all over India. What stands out is the social

mindset. The attitude towards women. We are only a few hours from Delhi,

socially, we could be several hundred years away. Men make the

rules. Meeting as they always have in traditional village councils.

Not a single woman among them. They pass judgement on social norms,

women and on rape. The main reason they are taking place, look at

newspapers, television, they are full of topless women. Now there is

a backlash across India. Women are outraged and are calling for action

against the council's. The problem comes when they begin acting like a

kangaroo court. They make judgements over people's lives.

Should they say, this couple should be killed. Out in the countryside

modern India and its liberal ideas are a distant dream. Life is hard

and for women it can be unbelievably cruel.

Think of Afghanistan and you think about war and conflict. It is not

at the top of many people's lists of holiday destinations.

Afghanistan has opened its first ever national park and is preparing

for the day when interests may come and visit. -- tourists. A few of

Afghanistan you hardly ever see. -- view. The high mountain lakes of

its first ever national park. The biggest threat is not from the

Taliban, but drought and over use of the land. Climate change is

making things worse. We have come with the Afghan government and the

yen for the launch of the first environmental protection programme.

-- the United Nations. Going green it is essential for its future.

is life. When you know how beautiful this mountain and this

air, think about it. To encourage them local people are being offered

cleaner fuel stoves that do not use wood for fuel. People tell me they

can see the long-term benefits. hope the government will help us.

Protecting the environment will also help to bring to -- tourists

here. It is hoped this could be one of the major attractions, the

ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan. Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The lakes are the other jewel in this the future to arrest Crown. If

peace can return, the pristine waters could attract visitors from

all around. -- tourist ground. 20 years ago no-one would have

believed Cambodia would have become a tourist destination. That is what

is being planned here. This is also a country of incredible sights,

such as here in its first ever national park. It may sound

optimistic now but the plan is to create many more. For a Afghans

this is a sacred place. They believe the waters have healing

properties. Perhaps one day these lakes could help heal Afghanistan

as well. The Orchestra of light and hope is

made up of blind women based in Cairo. They have been inspiring

audiences around the world for years with their ability to play

without seeing the conductor or reading the music.

We have been to watch them. In perfect time, in perfect harmony.

The only difference, all the players in this orchestra are

completely blind. All determined to prove that is no handicap at all.

We are blind, we try to prove to all the world that we have some

abilities. If you search only for disabilities, no, you have to look

at our abilities and what can we do. Another violinist, Basma Saad,

shows me how she learns a new work. She reads the music on Braille. She

then commits the piece to memory. Hard work, but she says intensely

satisfying. When I'm playing in the orchestra, I feel like a queen.

Then it is the turn of the only sighted person there, in rehearsal

the conductor, Ali Osman, literally beats time. To make them play

louder he taps harder. To play softer, more gently. By the time of

the performance all this will be completely memorised. All he has to

do is start them off. When they are ready and... You go off and have a