15/03/2014 Reporters

Two car bombs were defused nearby. Now it is time for Reporters.

From here in the world 's newsroom we send correspondence to bring you

the best stories from across the globe. Inside Iran as Persian New

Year and easing of sanctions bring hope for a better life for Iran. We

ask how bright is the country 's future? Fixing problems here is

difficult because it means resolving the decades long strains in

relations with the West. Fukushima 's second silent disaster. We return

to find out that it is no anxiety that is killing people. Is the fear

of radiation now actually turning out to be much more lethal than the

radiation itself? Gavin Hewitt assesses the first year in office of

the Pope. Can he change the Catholic Church? The one thing you notice is

how he works a crowd, almost like a politician. He likes shaking hands

and Smalltalk and as a human touch. Britain's crumbling cliffs. After

the wettest winter on record, Duncan Kennedy asks if the CN storms can be

stopped. And we investigate whether the latest new skiing apps make

people ski too fast. It will tell you where you have been and how far

and, more to the point, how fast you have gone. Prices in Iran of basic

goods have tripled. There is now hoped that, thanks to a landmark

deal reached last November between Western powers and Tehran, though

sanctions may be eased. The BBC does not have these is to report from

Iran. But these two sets in this report from the uranium capital. --

Lyse Doucet. The markets are full for the Persian New Year. But most

Iranians it is hard to make ends meet. Prices have tripled in some

places. This whole is also a showcase for Iran 's finest products

-the carpets it has always traded with the world. This man's family

has been in the business for nearly 40 years and business has never been

so bad. TRANSLATION: Exports have dropped in recent years, mainly

because of problems with bank and transactions because of sanctions.

We also do not have enough tourists because of recession in Europe

itself. Iranians are facing problems experienced by people in many places

-high prices, low employment. Fixing the problems here is harder because

they are rooted in something much more fundamental and it means

resolving the decades long strains in relations with the West. But

things are starting to change. Even tourists are beginning to return.

Were you worried about coming? After the elections and the new president

we think it is safer to come here. They say welcome to Iran and have a

nice day and things like that. In wealthy north Tehran, there are all

the symbols that the city is not completely cut off. Western labels

can be found here. Some Iranians even got richer under sanctions.

There is a growing confidence that Iran is open for business. We have

prime ministers coming every week, followed by trade delegations. This

is what the business community looks for -they want to see that the

country is taking the man is seriously. The US embassy here is a

museum, a monument to the decades of hostility. Iran is accused of trying

to export its revolution to other parts of the Middle East and

beyond. But it sees itself differently. The sense of itself

will not change but Iran is now trying to find its rightful place in

the world, not against it. It was one of the world 's worst

man-made disasters. But three years after the Fukushima nuclear leak,

doctors are warning of a second, silent calamity. The number of

people who have died since the disaster now exceeds the total

killed in the initial earthquake and tsunami. Nobody has died from the

radiation itself. Many deaths have been linked to suicide, depression,

and illness. Some have simply lost the will to live.

This is the dead zone. In the little towns around Fukushima, time stands

still. The destruction brought by the earthquake is unprepared. -- not

repaired. What has happened to the people who once lived here? Forced

to flee the radiation, forced to abandon all they own. Three years

after the disaster, there are serious questions about its

aftermath that need to be answered. Has the the threat to health been

overstated? Is the fear of radiation turning out to be more lethal than

the radiation itself? At a private clinic 60 kilometres from the plant,

this ploy is having his thyroid examined. His mother is scared.

Since the disaster, 33 children here have been found with thyroid cancer.

She worries that he could be next. TRANSLATION: At Chernobyl children

were diagnosed many years after the disaster. Children here may be fine

now, but if there is risk I want to find out as soon as I can. Child

cancer experts say that Fukushima cannot be compared with Chernobyl.

The 33 cases discovered so far are not connected to the disaster.

TRANSLATION: The radiation release from Fukushima was much less than

Chernobyl. Children here got a much smaller dose. But once you start

using sensitive equipment to check for thyroid cancer, you will find

more cases. That is why we are seeing an increase, not because of

the disaster. But the Fukushima disaster is taking lives. This woman

has come to pray at her father 's grave. His health collapsed after he

was forced to abandon his farm and his animals. Within two years, he

was dead. TRANSLATION: I blame the power company for his death. They

took his dreams, his hope, his land and scattered his family. Nothing

will bring those back. Nobody has died from radiation in Fukushima.

But, unable to return home and rebuild, a growing number of people

are dying from anxiety, suicide, and losing the will to live.

You will not have heard of this condition but it affects 2 million

women around the world, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia it is

called obstetric fistula. It is widespread, after childbirth, but

easy to treat. Here in rural Uganda, the nearest

hospital is around two hours away. That is why most women in this

community give birth at home and some lose their babies as a result.

Like this woman, she was 16 when she went into labour here. After three

days she was taken to hospital. She gave birth to a little girl who died

soon after delivery. She tells me that she was cursed and that is why

her baby died. The delivery caused a rupture in her bladder, making her

leaky Europe constantly. The condition is as obstetric fistula.

2000 women in Uganda suffer with the condition. For some of their bowels

are affected too, making them doubly affected. Now a rare opportunity to

repair the damage. Doctors from Britain are providing free surgery

at this hospital. It usually costs $700. TRANSLATION: I was very lively

before. Now I cannot mix with people. When I pass somebody, they

tell me that I stink. Even when I take a bath, the smell does not

leave. I stay at home. To raise awareness, the missionaries who run

the hospital travelled to villages and talk about family planning and

giving birth safely. Most of the women here will have given birth at

home. There helped by older women with little or no medical experience

but the doctor is telling people to save money to get the woman to

hospital so she can give birth safely. She says that could be the

difference between life and death for the woman and her unborn child.

The morning of the surgery, and she is nervous. This is complex surgery.

The hope is that Doctor Duffy and his team will train Uganda doctors

here so they can eventually take over. We do for camps per year and

we have a local surgeon here who can do the simple surgery. She is

starting to take them on but not as much surgery happens after we have

gone as we like. The operation was a success. After a short recovery

time, the mother hopes she can go back to school and get a life back.

Many more women are left waiting, facing a lifetime of rejection,

shame, and humiliation. Please pray for me, the message from

Pope Francis this week. He did not mark the occasion officially, in

fact, he went on a spiritual retreat. Italian polls give him the

highest popularity rating of any recent pontiff. But, among his

conservative cardinals, his plans to reform the Church have ruffled

feathers. Our correspondent reports on a year of what has been called

the front is a fact. -- Francis. The freeze that moves above the crowd,

is the face that magazines want on the front cover. -- of the face. A

visit to an Italian coastal town, the Pope arrives in a modest Ford

Focus. It has become his trademark, the easy smile. A man comfortable

with ordinary people. One thing you noticed about him is how he works

the crowd, almost like a politician. He enjoys shaking hands

and he likes Smalltalk. The human touch. He says the trading the Pope

as a Superman seems offensive. He says he is a normal --small talk.

Person but visitors to roam talk of a Francis affect. -- Rome. We

connect because he is at one with the people, not quite the person

that we don't connect with. And yet, surveys show a huge gap between what

the Church teaches and what many Catholics practice. Life is

different from hundreds of years ago. It does not mean that you

shouldn't be allowed your faith, just because of issues like that. At

the weekly audiences, crowds are three times what they were. Pope

Francis has hinted at greater tolerance over homosexuality.

Question, he said, who am I to judge? Doctrine has not changed, but

there are ripples of a knees across Bishopton cardinals. These are men

who believe the Church is they think they have all the answers from God.

-- the Church is the one true Church and they think. On the issue of

child abuse, Pope Francis drew criticism when he said of the Church

that no one had done more to fight it. But senior figures insist he is

a reformer. What he does in a blatant way is challenge everyone

who says they are Catholic, a follower of Christ, to leave it. He

has seemed at times a radical leader. When he attached huge

salaries as a symptom of greed. -- attack. He says there are too many

small-minded rules. How far will he go to reform Vatican bureaucracy?

The UK's coastline has taken a battering from one storm after

another. Some areas have suffered the equivalent of seven years of

erosion in just two months. The National trust has called for a

rethink of how Britain defends its coastline. It argues that some

places may have to be sacrificed because the sea can no longer be

stopped. -- Trust. Our correspondent has been to Sussex to find out more.

It was only a matter of time before all this, and this, lead to this. --

led. Birling Gap in Sussex, just one of the places where the gap just got

bigger. Those pictures are spectacular. To give you an idea of

what has gone on here this winter, the National Trust tells us they

have had seven years worth of erosion. In only two months. The

cliff collapse has made the spot even more popular with visitors. It

is good for a photo, less good for safety. The BBC has been shown this

map, revealing it is just one of 70 sites around Britain identified as

in critical danger of erosion. They range from Cayton Bay and Orford

Ness in the east, to Birling Gap and win brewery in the south, to form be

in the west and we look in. This is places where sea defences may no

longer be an option. Woolacoombe. Canon Britain cope with this

erosion? -- Canon. We need to work with nature. We need to assure that

we can adapt to change, rather than think about fighting it. -- can. The

National Trust says that winter has been a wake-up call. Whether it is

here in Hastings, or here in Bournemouth, Britain's cliffs have

been crumbling. It is not just through rave and wind power.

Brand-new research at Southampton University has revealed

unprecedented amounts of water has searched off the land, damaging our

coast and histories. -- Coasts. In the last few weeks we have seen

three times the amount of water coming into the Astra that we would

normally see in a wet area. It is not a question of whether it is wet,

it is abnormally wet. It is unprecedented. -- into the estuary.

Old photos show erosion to a live not new. Here is Sussex 100 years

ago. The same spot 20 years later. Finally, now. This winter has

quickened the pace. But you can't put a concrete wall around Britain,

so what do you do? From the cliffs of England to the

French Alps. That was where the racing driver Michael Schumacher hit

his head in December while skiing. He has been in a coma ever since.

His accident provoked debate about the dangers of skiing and a new

craze, ski apps on smart phones measuring how fast we can go. Do

they engage people to ski to fast? Our correspondent has taken to the

slopes to find out. Ski conditions don't get much better than this, but

ski technology is improving all the time. Like the apps for smart

phones, measuring your top speed. Give a competitive edge to a

holidays, but do they encourage us to take too many risks's -- risks?

--our. It works like a GPS in your car, you hit record, put it in your

pocket, and, at the end of the day, it will tell you when, where, and

how fast you have gone. What ever the weather, everyone here is using

them. -- whatever. We share it on Facebook every day. We have been

skiing for eight days and everyday I have posted it on Facebook. Speed

may give a head rush to holidaymakers, but to the ski safety

patrols, it just means headaches. Doctors warned that over the last

ten years, there has been a hike in serious injuries on the slopes, with

more collisions at high-speed. I ask people how fast they are going where

they fall and hurt themselves, and I have noticed over the past month or

so that some people can tell me the exact speed they were going because

they were using the app. We asked one company to respond to the

concerns. They told us: No one understands the thrill of

downhill skiing better than speed world record holder Savio Crusoe. On

the secluded piste, he encourages holidaymakers to bomb down the

slopes, where he crossed the speed, but gives them a warning. -- clocks

the speed. 98.6 kilometres per hour. It is good to do that. But do not do

that anywhere else. Some people say that with the app they've worked

hitting 120 kilometres per hour. But, going that fast on a normal

slope is very dangerous, because if you can't control your skis or if

you hurt someone, you could kill yourself or kill other people.

Perhaps our ski apps will give us a wake-up call. They might make a

slowdown and skied more responsibly. That is all from Reporters for this

week. From me and the reporters, goodbye.

Many of us had a nice day on Saturday. There was quite a bit of

sunshine around, across southern areas particularly, including the

Midlands. Wales was nice. Eastern parts of Scotland, here are some of

the temperatures we have