:00:00. > 3:59:59deep has opened in a road in Hertfordshire. 17 homes have had to
:00:00. > :00:26.be evacuated. Time for Reporters. Welcome to Reporters. From here in
:00:27. > :00:30.the world's newsroom, we send out correspondence to bring you the best
:00:31. > :00:35.story from across the globe. In this week's programme, America's desert
:00:36. > :00:41.war against Al-Qaeda. We join US forces combating extremist is in the
:00:42. > :00:45.Horn of Africa. This long-range air to air refuelling is one tiny part
:00:46. > :00:50.of the huge build-up in US and coalition military operations here
:00:51. > :00:54.in the Horn of Africa. Afghanistan's one-time obey. A rare
:00:55. > :01:01.look inside Bagram high security jail, which America says houses some
:01:02. > :01:06.of the world's most dangerous men. Saving Kenya's elephants. We report
:01:07. > :01:15.from Sabah National Park on how the Rangers are fighting back against
:01:16. > :01:23.the ivory poachers. -- Tsavo. An elephant is killed by poachers every
:01:24. > :01:28.15 minutes. We uncover suspected fraud at the heart of Britain's
:01:29. > :01:34.student visa system. At the secret filming which shows a tutor giving
:01:35. > :01:38.the answers for an English test. And is this the most exotic ski
:01:39. > :01:46.destination on earth? We investigate North Korea's new fascination with
:01:47. > :01:49.skiing. America is dramatically increasing
:01:50. > :01:54.its military operations in the Horn of Africa. It's part of its efforts
:01:55. > :02:00.to tackle violent extremism in the wake of last year's Westgate attack
:02:01. > :02:05.in Nairobi. America's base in the tiny state of Djibouti is the focus
:02:06. > :02:07.for counterterrorism operations against Al-Shabab in neighbouring
:02:08. > :02:17.Somalia and Al-Qaeda in southern Yemen. Our correspondent has this
:02:18. > :02:22.exclusive report from Djibouti. In the deserts of Djibouti, the US
:02:23. > :02:27.military is stepping up operations. It is flying long-range missions all
:02:28. > :02:31.over East Africa, determined to counter what it calls violent
:02:32. > :02:36.extremism. These are special forces rescue paratroopers, trained to
:02:37. > :02:40.retrieve commanders or others from deep inside Somalia. From its base
:02:41. > :02:48.in Djibouti, America is extending its reach across this region. It's
:02:49. > :02:54.not alone. This is a French helicopter refuelling from a US tank
:02:55. > :02:58.in Djibouti airspace. This long-range air to air refuelling is
:02:59. > :03:03.just one tiny part of the huge build-up in US and coalition
:03:04. > :03:10.military operations in the Horn of Africa and Djibouti is the nerve
:03:11. > :03:13.centre. This former French colony has thrown in its lot with the
:03:14. > :03:18.West. Its Foreign Minister told me that makes it a target for
:03:19. > :03:23.Al-Shabab, so he supports controversial US drone strikes
:03:24. > :03:29.launched from his country. These people are very dangerous, Al-Shabab
:03:30. > :03:34.and Al-Qaeda. Whatever it takes. If we can contain them, OK. If we can
:03:35. > :03:39.get rid of them, it's better. But we don't have to waste time in asking
:03:40. > :03:45.each and every time ourselves if we should or should not use drones. The
:03:46. > :03:49.US base year has fallen to over 4000 people. From here, trainers go out
:03:50. > :03:54.to African nations, sending soldiers to fight Al-Shabab, seen by
:03:55. > :03:59.Washington as the main threat in the region. The real reason why we are
:04:00. > :04:04.here is to neutralise Al-Shabab in Somalia. That is why I'm here so I
:04:05. > :04:10.can assist the other nations to neutralise Al-Shabab in Somalia so
:04:11. > :04:21.that it will not leave Somalia or threaten US interests or the US as a
:04:22. > :04:28.whole. In the harbour, the US. Navy is a tempting target. Security is
:04:29. > :04:31.tight. These are US Navy sea arks, fast patrol boats that keep suspect
:04:32. > :04:36.vessels away from US warships. For American sailors, memories of what
:04:37. > :04:45.happened in aid and 14 years ago are still raw. -- Navy sea arks.
:04:46. > :04:51.Djibouti maybe a sovereign nation, independent from France. But they do
:04:52. > :04:58.not take their chances. American forces are concerned about a repeat
:04:59. > :05:04.of the USS Cole in 2000, when Al-Qaeda operatives blew up a ship
:05:05. > :05:10.alongside the vessel, killing hundreds of sailors. The French also
:05:11. > :05:16.mount their own security around their ships but I asked the US. Navy
:05:17. > :05:21.- how they respond if a suspicious vessel comes too close. We elevate
:05:22. > :05:25.our threat posture. We shoot flares across the bow to grab their
:05:26. > :05:28.attention. If they disregard that, we have weapons that would use
:05:29. > :05:36.warning shots. If it gets to the point where they ignore our warning
:05:37. > :05:39.shots, we would use deadly force. America certainly has the tools in
:05:40. > :05:44.its armoury but does it have the patience? 20 years ago, it rushed to
:05:45. > :05:49.leave this region after getting embroiled in Somalia's clan wars.
:05:50. > :05:59.Now it's trying a different approach but defeating extremism here could
:06:00. > :06:02.still take years. It is being called Afghanistan's one-time obey. America
:06:03. > :06:09.says it houses some of the most dangerous men in the world and
:06:10. > :06:17.President Hamid Karzai has described Bagram jail as a "Taliban-making
:06:18. > :06:21.factory". But he was the one who gave the order to free 65 suspected
:06:22. > :06:25.militants from the prison, further straining relations between the US
:06:26. > :06:29.and Afghanistan. Our correspondent was given exclusive access to the
:06:30. > :06:35.facility and met some of the prisoners just before they were set
:06:36. > :06:40.free. Bagram jail on the outskirts of Kabul. Often described as
:06:41. > :06:44.Afghanistan's one-time obey, US military says the men held here are
:06:45. > :06:53.some of the most dangerous on a. After two years of negotiating, I
:06:54. > :06:58.finally obtained exclusive access. On a visit, the general, the man in
:06:59. > :07:01.charge here, shows me their medical facilities full dog although they
:07:02. > :07:10.are monitored, the prisoners are allowed to make phone calls. The
:07:11. > :07:13.guards proudly show me the quality of food the prisoners are served.
:07:14. > :07:17.Compared to other prisons I have seen in Afghanistan, it's a
:07:18. > :07:21.state-of-the-art facility. It may look comfortable, but it's still a
:07:22. > :07:25.prison. With their hands and feet shackled, movement is difficult.
:07:26. > :07:29.Families have travelled many days to see their relatives. Some of these
:07:30. > :07:35.men have been held here for years without trial. This man has been
:07:36. > :07:38.accused by the Americans of being a Taliban facilitator and
:07:39. > :07:43.co-ordinating and conduct attacks on Afghan and NATO forces. He tells me
:07:44. > :07:46.that he is just an innocent 16 -year-old farmer from Helmand
:07:47. > :07:52.province and presents the Americans for his incarceration. I hate them
:07:53. > :07:57.because I'm here for no reason. Of course I hate them. I want to ask
:07:58. > :08:01.them what is my crime. If they tell me what evidence they have against
:08:02. > :08:05.me, I won't mind if I'm in prison for ten years but no one has asked.
:08:06. > :08:11.I have spent a year far from a mother and father. Why? What is the
:08:12. > :08:15.reason? The men filmed in this room have all just been released but the
:08:16. > :08:19.Americans say they are dangerous and have blood on their hands. They say
:08:20. > :08:24.there is forensic evidence to prove it. Many of these people were caught
:08:25. > :08:31.red-handed and the test on their fingers recorded explosives. It's
:08:32. > :08:37.not as if this is questionable. These are the hard-core of literally
:08:38. > :08:41.maybe over 1000 that we have already released. But Afghan authorities
:08:42. > :08:46.disputed this and say that because of the lack of evidence, they can no
:08:47. > :08:50.longer hold them. It's an affair that is damaging political relations
:08:51. > :08:54.at a critical moment when US forces are drawing down their military
:08:55. > :08:57.presence in Afghanistan. The Afghan president has described Bagram jail
:08:58. > :09:04.as a "Taliban-making factory" . Exactly. The words I used, a
:09:05. > :09:08."Taliban-making factory". The people who have come out of that prison
:09:09. > :09:14.have been released out of that prison. There is no denying that
:09:15. > :09:18.there are elements of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban still in that prison. No
:09:19. > :09:24.doubt but the number of those people that are criminals, real criminals,
:09:25. > :09:29.are a minority. The Afghan decision to release these detainees in the
:09:30. > :09:31.face of strong American objections reflects how the relationship
:09:32. > :09:46.between the supposed allies is unravelling. One of Africa's
:09:47. > :09:53.greatest treasures is under threat. Across the continent, it is
:09:54. > :09:57.estimated that 22,000 elephants were killed by poachers for their ivory.
:09:58. > :10:02.In ten to 15 years time, elephants could be completely wiped out. Our
:10:03. > :10:06.correspondent has been to Tsavo National Park in Kenya to see how
:10:07. > :10:14.the range is there are fighting back against the poachers. Africa's
:10:15. > :10:24.treasurer under threat, hunted by poachers. 30 years ago, Kenya had
:10:25. > :10:29.almost 170,000 elephants. Today, around 37 -- 37,000 remain. A
:10:30. > :10:31.devastating ivory trade led by China has reached devastating levels. As
:10:32. > :10:37.dawn breaks over Tsavo National Park, a week-long aerial census
:10:38. > :10:40.begins to gauge the poaching impact. It's a vital tool for the Rangers
:10:41. > :10:47.who believe they are winning the fight. We are obviously beating the
:10:48. > :10:51.poachers. We are beating them, they are not beating. Our men are dealing
:10:52. > :10:57.with them effectively. The census will be an indication that we have
:10:58. > :11:03.been successful. The plane circle over the Savannah. Teams counting
:11:04. > :11:09.the elephants to see if new births are outweighing those poached. There
:11:10. > :11:13.is a shocking statistic in Africa, that an elephant is killed by
:11:14. > :11:17.poachers every 15 minutes. The hope of this census is it will show a
:11:18. > :11:21.resilient elephant population but also indicate where they are and if
:11:22. > :11:27.they are straying into territory to vulnerable to the poachers. But then
:11:28. > :11:32.the hard reality. Our cameraman is allowed to join a small team that he
:11:33. > :11:35.is of a newly targeted elephant. It's a huge ball with prize tusks,
:11:36. > :11:41.it's by poachers for the fourth time. The gun saves him. An
:11:42. > :11:47.anaesthetic darts to give the team time to work. As he is walking under
:11:48. > :11:53.a tree, whatever has gone in has gone in here like this. It's likely
:11:54. > :11:57.a spear. What he does is either set an automatic spear in a tree with a
:11:58. > :12:00.weight on it that the elephant trips and the spear falls or a man's in
:12:01. > :12:06.the tree and spears the elephant from the top. A special clay sucks
:12:07. > :12:11.out the poison and heals the wounds. Two more weeks and he would have
:12:12. > :12:17.been dead. He has to be pulled up. A new lease of life until the poachers
:12:18. > :12:22.strike again. How old is this one? He is about three years old, now.
:12:23. > :12:26.For one of the world's most renowned elephant experts, the extent of
:12:27. > :12:36.poaching is hard to bear. Terrible. Really terrible. In this day and
:12:37. > :12:40.age, it's an indictment on mankind. We are looking at ten, 15 years
:12:41. > :12:46.before elephants in the wild disappear. Kenya is trying higher
:12:47. > :13:00.fines for smugglers but saving this precious species is more critical
:13:01. > :13:05.than ever. The unprecedented surge in ivory poaching is fuelled by
:13:06. > :13:10.China's hunger for what they call white gold. Speaking at a conference
:13:11. > :13:14.in London, Prince Charles said that taking away the man from China for
:13:15. > :13:17.ivory was as important as in forging the -- enforcing laws to protect the
:13:18. > :13:34.element elephants themselves. 5000 miles from Africa, China with
:13:35. > :13:41.its new drive to consume and new taste for luxury. Ivory sought after
:13:42. > :13:46.here, sold openly and legally. Behind the illegal trade is an
:13:47. > :13:51.illegal one, and critics say that this is what allows it to continue.
:13:52. > :13:59.To show you, we need a hidden camera. Each piece must be sold with
:14:00. > :14:01.a credit card sized photo ID. It proves that the ivories from
:14:02. > :14:08.government stockpiles and not smuggled. But look closely, and the
:14:09. > :14:14.picture does not match the carving. Nearby we find more IDs that did not
:14:15. > :14:21.match. As soon as we ask about them, the seller shuts up shop. China is
:14:22. > :14:26.now tackling the illegal trade. Ivory seized by Customs has been
:14:27. > :14:31.crushed, and smugglers arrested. Chinese buyers want ivory. Some
:14:32. > :14:35.believe it brings good luck and others see it as a safe investment,
:14:36. > :14:40.sure to appreciate as elephants get rarer. 30,000 are being poached in
:14:41. > :14:47.Africa each year. To avoid the crackdown, traders are turning to
:14:48. > :14:52.the Internet. Online sales are illegal but not hard to find. We
:14:53. > :14:59.made contact with a dealer and set up a camera. He produced a carved
:15:00. > :15:05.task. Illegal African ivory, with an asking price of ?7,000. Other
:15:06. > :15:08.dealers have been put in jail and it is been getting harder to smuggle
:15:09. > :15:18.tasks. The price is therefore going up. TRANSLATION: There are lots of
:15:19. > :15:24.ivory collectors but there is less ivory now so the price is shooting
:15:25. > :15:30.up. Bother buying goes on, so too does the killing. Demand for ivory
:15:31. > :15:38.here fuels slaughter in Africa. African elephants are facing
:15:39. > :15:41.extinction. Here in Britain, the government has been trying to cut
:15:42. > :15:47.back on the number of migrants by taking a tough line on what it calls
:15:48. > :15:50.bogus student visas. Non- EU students have to pass an accredited
:15:51. > :15:54.English exam if they want to get a visa to stay in the country will
:15:55. > :15:59.stop for some it has been a bit too easy. A BBC investigation has
:16:00. > :16:06.exposed a wide range of abuses, including cheating. Our undercover
:16:07. > :16:09.filming has led the government to suspend exams run by DTS, one of the
:16:10. > :16:18.largest language testing companies in the world. E TS. It is the sort
:16:19. > :16:27.of multiple-choice test that students dream of.
:16:28. > :16:42.Unbelievably, the examiner is simply reading out the answers.
:16:43. > :16:54.A two-hour test takes just seven minutes to fake. Panorama has been
:16:55. > :16:56.filming undercover through a network of crooked Immigration Agency help
:16:57. > :17:01.students extend visas through fraud. The rules are crystal clear. Non- EU
:17:02. > :17:04.students have to pass an English exam they do not get a Visa. Early
:17:05. > :17:11.last year, we heard of an immigration agent in West London
:17:12. > :17:16.which could guarantee an exam pass for a price. Our undercover research
:17:17. > :17:27.was told how they fooled the exam board. The agency which arranged our
:17:28. > :17:33.exam denies any wrongdoing. After paying the agency ?500, our
:17:34. > :17:36.undercover reporter was sent to this government approved test centre in
:17:37. > :17:43.east London for the exam. In the exam hall, and invigilator logs are
:17:44. > :17:47.onto a secure terminal. But neither she nor any of the other candidates
:17:48. > :17:51.will have to do the tests themselves. Moments before the exam
:17:52. > :18:02.starts, you people arrive to their places. While the fake sitters start
:18:03. > :18:06.answering the questions, the Visa applicants stand in the aisle,
:18:07. > :18:12.waiting to have their photo taken to prove that they sat the exam here. A
:18:13. > :18:19.few days later, our reporter got the certificate. This college strongly
:18:20. > :18:22.denies any complicity. They said that after conducting the
:18:23. > :18:31.investigation, they had not renew the contracts of three providers.
:18:32. > :18:42.The company which sets the exams, DTS, says that it does everything it
:18:43. > :18:47.can to prevent dishonesty. We showed our footage of the exams to the Home
:18:48. > :18:51.Secretary. We have done a lot of the last few years. We have rooted out
:18:52. > :18:54.abuse and the number of visas has gone down. But it is clear that
:18:55. > :18:59.people are finding ways around the system. Our investigation shows that
:19:00. > :19:06.the Visa system is still an easy target. One tour operator has called
:19:07. > :19:12.it the most exotic ski destination on earth. But it is not the Swiss
:19:13. > :19:16.Alps or Aspen in Colorado. It is a ski slope in North Korea. The
:19:17. > :19:20.country is not known for its winter sports and it is not have an athlete
:19:21. > :19:23.in the Winter Olympics but that has not stopped its opening a new
:19:24. > :19:31.high-end ski resort in the country 's eastern mountains. Lucy
:19:32. > :19:38.Williamson reports. There are not many ways to relax in North Korea.
:19:39. > :19:42.Here at the country 's new ski resort of fun is accessed via a
:19:43. > :19:50.military checkpoint and a creaky crawl up the mountain. There is
:19:51. > :19:57.plenty of room on the slopes. This is a hobby reserved for the elite.
:19:58. > :20:01.But there are high-tech card readers and western alcohol on the slopes.
:20:02. > :20:07.North Korea is hoping to attract Western tourists. This woman used to
:20:08. > :20:13.work as a journalist in North Korea and so she filmed her visit. It is
:20:14. > :20:18.hard to get the locals to talk. But in this situation they were chasing
:20:19. > :20:24.me down. We had skiiers waiting for us at every turn, asking us about
:20:25. > :20:27.how to snowboard. North Korea is young leader has put a lot of money
:20:28. > :20:33.into promoting sports and fined in general. But he also likes to spend
:20:34. > :20:37.the meagre income of the country on nuclear weapons and the huge
:20:38. > :20:41.standing army. The sanctions that are meant to curb that have not
:20:42. > :20:46.stopped high-tech luxuries like foreign ski equipment from turning
:20:47. > :20:51.up here. South Korea has been trying to attract tourists to its ski
:20:52. > :20:56.resorts for years. Selling point for North Korea is that it is unknown
:20:57. > :21:03.and isolated. Will this new kind of sports diplomacy helped open up the
:21:04. > :21:09.there were just to bankroll it? -- or just too. No North Korean
:21:10. > :21:14.athletes are at Sochi, but the country has already expressed a
:21:15. > :21:23.desire to host future tournaments here. It is too late for the 2018
:21:24. > :21:26.Olympics which went to South Korea. That is all from us for this week.
:21:27. > :21:55.Goodbye for now. There is cautious optimism about the
:21:56. > :21:59.weather forecast. It would be a fine day on Sunday. Most places will be
:22:00. > :22:00.dry and clear tonight which