19/01/2014 Reporters

Welcome to Reporters. We send out correspondence to bring you the best

stories from across the globe. In this week's programme: an epidemic

of child abuse, online and to order. We uncover an international

cyber sex network in the Philippines. One recent survey

showed that 80 houses were involved here in the family selling their

children for sex online. Syria's on her voices. We talk to the pianist

at the Damascus Opera House about what it is like to live in the midst

of civil war. People say this is not the time for concerts. My opinion is

that the concerts matter. A new scientific superpower - a report on

China's efforts to become the world leader in technology. We can make it

like a clothing factory here. That cloning. We test out the ultimate

hands-free experience, the driverless car.

And the fast and freezing. A formal vice key gaining new fans in Africa.

It is hard to imagine that just a few months ago, they were as YouTube

is I am. Another shocking story, this time of the sexual abuse of

children. It is carried out by British men on vulnerable young

children, thousands of kilometres away in the Philippines. Tens of

thousands of boys and girls are forced into the sex trade. Our

investigation shows the story of one Briton who pay their family to abuse

at five of their children. Our correspondent has more. This street

holds a secret. A house where children are sexually abused and

raped by their own family. The room where police say the abuse was

broadcast by WebCam to foreign paedophiles. This man director that

abuse from his home in the UK. A police raid in the Philippines last

year sparked by what was found on his computer. He was sent to prison

for 8.5 years, 12 children, the youngest just five, were taken into

care. Some of the children are now back in the community. Her parents

are still in jail. He is a British man who was sent to prison...

He plans to buy a house and open Internet cafe here. We have

discovered that he is just one of thousands. They call it cybersex. We

travelled across the Philippines and found some neighbourhoods have been

virtually taken over by it. The abuse of children online has become

an industry driven by poverty. The families are engaged in cyber sex

business. Some fathers and mothers bring their children here to show

and get paid from the owner of the South. This is the south of the

country, it has become notorious for this kind of crime. This is in

effect, the epicentre of the cybersex industry. It takes place in

rooms and houses under cover. No one talks about it. All they need is a

laptop and a USP. 80 houses were involved here in the family selling

their children for sex online. This kind of abuse has become rooted in

the culture here. Local charities find it difficult to convince

families of the harm it causes. The client from the other part of the

globe gives the instruction to touch this and touch that, kiss this, kiss

that. They even send sex toys to the children so that they can use them.

It is a myth that there is no contact. Some of the parents and

relatives are the ones touching their children. A couple of streets

away, another home raided. A two-year-old was rescued here. It is

something no one wants a kookaburra. How can I know when they houses

close. I do not go inside their houses and see what they are doing.

Some children to escape the abuse. Here at a shelter where they can

start to recover. They feel small, they feel dirty about themselves.

Many are deeply traumatised. Some talk of seeing the foreigner who

paid to watch. This is a new crime fuelled by rising demand in the

West. It is a growing problem in the Philippines. In some of the poorest

areas, whole communities have been taken over by the trade. Families

forced children to perform sex acts in front of web cams for foreigners

who are prepared to pay. One recent case involved a three-month-old

baby. This trade is driven by poverty. This girl was 15 when she

was forced by her aunt to work in what she called a cybersex down.

The authorities are starting to crack down the straight. Charities

say police need to do even more to protect the tens of thousands of

children who remain at risk. Nearly three years into the conflict

in Syria, aid officials are calling it one of the worst humanitarian

crises ever seen. The situation is so intense that the UN is launching

its biggest ever appeal. Even in the capital of Damascus, there is barely

a single family that has not been affected by the conflict. We have

been hearing from different voices in Damascus on what it is like to

live in a war zone. A sonata. Played by Syria's most renowned pianist. In

the Damascus Opera House, it is an elegy for another time. TRANSLATION:

Day after day, the situation is worse. We have more casualties, we

are more stressed. You cannot imagine how hard I have to work to

focus on art and this atmosphere. Some people do not come to the upper

house because of explosions, mortars. The timing of the concerts

has changed from the evening to the afternoon. Some people are saying

that this is not the time for concerts. My opinion is that the

concerts matter. The role of art is to help citizens. When the uprising

began nearly three years ago, some Syrians felt they could change a lot

by peaceful protest, including this woman. They call her the woman in

the red dress. When we interviewed her then, she still had hoped the

killing would stop. Now she is no longer taking to the streets. This

was the one that became famous. Yes. They stood on the Parliament in

Damascus. I carried a banner that said to stop the killing. That was

more than one year ago. Yes, around 1.5 years. That was when there were

10,000 dead, sadly, now it is 120,000. TRANSLATION: Our first

mistake was that we thought it was going to be fast, a quick change. We

are paying for this mistake now. To make a change, you need to be

patient, you need to look deeply, take a long breath, and start

working. There are no quick changes here. I do not think we will see any

change before five years. No one expected Syria's conflict

would last so long, cost so much, these are brutal. Few expected

President Assad would still be in power, except, perhaps, those who

support him. This man is a wealthy industrialist with ties to the

President. He suggested we meet in the Shakespeare cafe. You are put in

the Western sanctions list. What you say to those countries now?

Personal, a tall as countries that I am not urging them to lift me from a

sentient list, but I tell them, in order for their politicians to

protect the interests of there own people, the Western people, really,

you have to side with the Syrian government in fighting terrorism.

This is the biggest fight against terrorism in history since Archaean

was initiated and born 30 years ago. -- since Al-Qaeda. President Assad

talked about terrorism before there was terrorism. From day one they use

arms. There were peaceful protests. From day one, they use arms, they

try to create chaos. We made some mistakes in dealing with this. Life

does go on, but Syria has been drawn into the abyss. With every day that

passes, it gets worse. After so much suffering and sacrifice, emotions

are raw. Still too raw for reconciliation or resolution.

It has put a robotic rover on the moon and built the world's fastest

supercomputer. China is emerging as a new scientific superpower. It is

spending a lot of money on research. It is on course to overtake America

to become the global leader in science 30-40 years time. One area

where China is leading the field is genetics. We were given rare access

to the world's largest centre for the cloning of pigs in southern

China. Feeding time in southern China. This

is no ordinary farm. It is at the cutting edge of science. Tucked away

in the hills, this is the largest centre anywhere in the world for the

cloning of pigs. This is one shared holds 90 animals and they are all

pregnant with cloned embryos. Some of them are genetically modified.

The aim is to test new medicines. This company produces an astonishing

500 homes per year. A sour lies under anaesthetic. We are shown how

the work is done. A batch of cloned embryos is about to be implanted. A

delicate process turned into mass production. The technology of

cloning has been around for years and has been used on all kinds of

different animals. What is new in China is that it is being deployed

on an almost industrial scale. In the West, cloning remains

controversial, here it is becoming almost normal. The lab where cloned

embryos are prepared for implantation. There is no new

science about this procedure. They have led the way in speeding it up.

Deploying large teams of young technicians to keep repeating the

same intricate tasks. We are doing cloning in very large scale. 50

people working together so that we can make a cloning factory. Like a

factoring? Exactly. That is an extraordinary idea. The simple thing

is the most powerful thing. This company is not only a global leader

in cloning. Eager young researchers crowd around a machine that

sequences DNA. This place has the world's largest number of these. It

even purchased an American company that makes them. It has global

ambitions to use genetic science to improve everything from healthcare

to food. Forget about all the scientific reasons. To have a direct

reason that can impact people's lives. Teaching people what is in

the genes. A promotional video markets in the company as a global

brand. It is one staggering example of the rise of science in China.

China may eventually overtake America as a scientific power. It is

likely if this continues and if the Chinese can improve their science,

because it is not universally great, I would see China as the

leading country for science in the world three or four decades. A new

generation of clones. DNA modified to help you. Trial new drugs. As

this country emerges as a giant of science, there will be questions

about where the research will lead. Now to technology, which could

forever change the way we act behind the wheel. For most of us, driving

involves turning the key and navigating our way to a destination.

But soon the act of making those tones of parking in a tight spot may

be the work of a car computer system. We have been to try out the

driverless car. Driving across the Golden gate

bridge is a pretty special experience, but most of the time it

looks nothing like an advertisement. Being behind the wheel is often just

a boring and frustration. There has to be a better way. Of course, a

truly autonomous car will not be just one technology. It is a whole

range of different jobs that the car is going to have to take over from

the driver before we can leave them to run for themselves. This is one

of the number of manufacturers that are trying to get cars to park

themselves. I take out my smartphone and the car should start parking

itself. There we go. The car is parked and everybody's paintwork is

intact. All of the big manufacturers are in this race. The prize is

potentially huge. Polling suggests drivers want the technology as well.

It is going to be a lot safer. Computers do not doze off or lose

concentration. We cannot accept that the equivalent of an aeroplane is

crashing down and people are dying in traffic fatalities. Ford is

developing a system where cars can communicate with each other using

Wi-Fi to prevent collision. The ranges up to 250 metres. I could do

Angela Merkel and just do this. That is what she always does. Look at

this. But this is still always way off. This is a piloted trading

system. In slow-moving traffic, the car will take control. But the

driver still has to be ready. This man is the project leader. He says

we need to be realistic about how safe the technologies can make

driving. We have to ask ourselves, we OK with a piece of technology

that is safer than the current status quo? That it is not 100%

safe. How long until everybody can do this, five, ten, 20 years? For

me, it cannot come soon enough. You would not think I spoke it was a

popular sport among Africans. -- ice hockey. It is normally played in

Sweden, Finland and Russia. But there is a new contender in the

World Championships. We have been to Sweden to meet the national team of

Somalia. This is like ice hockey, but it is

played with the ball on a sheet of ice the size of a football pitch.

And this is the Somali National team. Yes, they are from Somalia.

They grew up in the 40 degrees heat of Mogadishu on violence and

bullets. Ice was just something to call your drink. But now the

temperature is less than zero. And ice is everywhere. They have

courage. There have been a part of things that we do not want to dream

about. Going on the ice was nothing for them. A few months ago, none of

these men couldst -- could skate. Everybody here is a volunteer,

including the figure skater who taught them. But there is still a

lot of work to be done. In a few weeks are going to Siberia to

represent Somalia in the World Championship. Temperatures can

plummet to almost -50. And to prepare themselves for this, the

players have even spent time in a giant freezer. I am representing my

country in Siberia. It is crazy. It all started off as a way of trying

to improve relations between Sweden and Somalia. It is hard to imagine

that just a few months ago they were as new to the sport as I am. In a

few weeks time they are going to Siberia to represent Somalia in the

World Championship. They are not going to win, there might not even

score a single goal, but just by being there victory will be those.

-- theirs. That is all from reporters. But by

-- goodbye. It is turning into a rather mixed

weekend. Some rain around on Saturday. But for most of us, Sunday

will be the dry one. Some sunny spells across the UK. There will be

some exceptions. Actually start to the day. Close to freezing in the

towns and cities. We have still got the remnants of the rain