:00:00. > :00:21.before the ship hit an iceberg and sank. Time for Reporters.
:00:22. > :00:32.Welcome to Reporters. I'm Tim Willcox. In this week's programme:
:00:33. > :00:38.Strengthening ties and comforting allies. We are in Tokyo as Barack
:00:39. > :00:41.Obama begins his Asian tour. The American president wants closer
:00:42. > :00:47.trade and is offering to help balance the rise of China. No other
:00:48. > :00:52.nation in the world has anything like this. American naval power is
:00:53. > :00:55.still supreme for now stop and as the president promotes economic
:00:56. > :01:04.security, Beijing Fletcher is its own military muscle `` flexors. We
:01:05. > :01:09.have the view from the biggest regional power. President Obama is
:01:10. > :01:15.visiting allies in Asia. Not on his list but on everyone's mind is China
:01:16. > :01:20.and its growing strength at the. Trading in terror. Investigating
:01:21. > :01:24.claims that Nigeria's Islamist militants are paying to recruit
:01:25. > :01:29.fighters from across the border. Plus, why the long face? It's
:01:30. > :01:35.because horse`drawn carriages could soon be off the streets of New York
:01:36. > :01:45.City. Almost overnight, the debate has shifted from tighter regulation
:01:46. > :01:50.to an outright ban. 2.5 years after promising a pivot to
:01:51. > :01:54.Asia, President Obama is back in the region to implement his plan. His
:01:55. > :01:57.message to political leaders in the region has been one of American
:01:58. > :02:02.reassurance that the visit focusing on security and trade is the thing
:02:03. > :02:08.on the country. `` however, the visit. That is despite the fact that
:02:09. > :02:11.Beijing's fatuous relations with its neighbours has been dominating the
:02:12. > :02:22.visit of top the US president began his tour in Japan.
:02:23. > :02:26.It's Sunday night in Tokyo and the California low riders are out in
:02:27. > :02:32.force. President Obama is arriving in a country some still described as
:02:33. > :02:37.a sort of American colony. Nothing symbolises American power in Japan
:02:38. > :02:43.more than the seventh Fleet. Out in the Sea of Japan, the huge USS Ponce
:02:44. > :02:55.Mashhad is about to begin a mock invasion. No other Navy in the world
:02:56. > :03:00.has anything like this. American naval power is still supreme for
:03:01. > :03:08.now. But just a few hundred miles over there is China. Right now,
:03:09. > :03:12.China is making Japan very nervous. This Chinese boat is deep inside a
:03:13. > :03:16.Japanese waters and is refusing to stop. China is aggressively
:03:17. > :03:21.asserting its claims to Japanese controlled islands in the East China
:03:22. > :03:28.Sea. Japan wants know what President Obama will do if there is a
:03:29. > :03:32.confrontation. There was a real possibility that the Americans might
:03:33. > :03:38.be entangled into an actual combat simply because of those... This
:03:39. > :03:45.confrontation between China and Japan about a certain few islands.
:03:46. > :03:48.The Americans backed off. It's not about the size of the military
:03:49. > :03:53.capability, which is immense of course, it is the will of the
:03:54. > :03:59.Americans. But with 27,000 US Marines based in Japan, US
:04:00. > :04:05.commanders say they have the will and the means.
:04:06. > :04:10.The message is that the US sticks by its allies. I landed on this page 30
:04:11. > :04:14.years ago as a younger talent. This shows our stay in power, the
:04:15. > :04:17.strength of this alliance. President Obama may have a few questions of
:04:18. > :04:22.his own for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Why, for example, did he go out
:04:23. > :04:26.of his way to provoke China with this visit to the Yasukuni Shrine?
:04:27. > :04:31.Home to the spirit of Japan's most notorious war criminals. Shinzo
:04:32. > :04:36.Abe's reluctance to accept what Japan did during World War II is not
:04:37. > :04:45.only sabotaging relations with China and South Korea but with his most
:04:46. > :04:50.important ally as well. Staying with the President Obama's
:04:51. > :04:54.Asian tour, which comes at a time when regional security in Asia is a
:04:55. > :04:58.particularly hot topic, one common theme in many of the countries he is
:04:59. > :05:02.visiting is a growing concern over China's expansionist moves. China is
:05:03. > :05:06.not on the president's itinerary this time around but we can be sure
:05:07. > :05:15.his trip will be watched very closely in Beijing.
:05:16. > :05:20.Naval power is a Chinese obsession. The country's aircraft carrier is
:05:21. > :05:24.based in this man's hometown but he cannot get close enough to see the
:05:25. > :05:28.real thing, so he made this model and hopes that even if he does not,
:05:29. > :05:33.his grandson will live to see China all the waves. TRANSLATION: On
:05:34. > :05:40.aircraft carrier is not enough. Ten is not enough. Japan is bullying
:05:41. > :05:46.China and sees that China is not strong enough and there is nothing
:05:47. > :05:49.we can do about it. A music video from the top guns of the People's
:05:50. > :05:54.Liberation Army on the eve of President Obama's Asian tour. Out on
:05:55. > :05:59.exercise to make the Chinese public proud, to teach the neighbours
:06:00. > :06:04.respect, and to focus American minds on what it might cost in future to
:06:05. > :06:09.Dominic to the seas. TRANSLATION: It is like Napoleon says. When China
:06:10. > :06:13.wakes, it will shake the world. The Americans cannot bear it. We have
:06:14. > :06:20.woken up and we are recovering our might. President Barack Obama is
:06:21. > :06:23.coming back to Asia and he is conspicuously not visiting China.
:06:24. > :06:30.Future diplomats in a Beijing classroom. They have grown up with a
:06:31. > :06:34.map of Asia dominated by US power. Now, there is more talk of the old
:06:35. > :06:38.map, with China in the centre, circled by deferential neighbours.
:06:39. > :06:42.Chinese people might think that now we have money, we should be
:06:43. > :06:48.perceived in a more respectful way and they should respect our
:06:49. > :06:55.sovereignty. This ferry only goes across the bay but sale east from
:06:56. > :07:00.here and soon you will be in waters controlled by the US. Navy.
:07:01. > :07:04.Americans often say that China should be grateful to the US fleet
:07:05. > :07:08.for keeping the peace in Asia for the past 40 years but it has allowed
:07:09. > :07:12.China the space to grow rich and grow strong. But that is not how the
:07:13. > :07:19.Chinese government sees it, nor the Chinese public. Here, they will be
:07:20. > :07:22.watching President Obama's tore across the water, alert for signs
:07:23. > :07:26.that he is encouraging the territorial claims of others, and
:07:27. > :07:33.dreaming of the day when China is strong enough to enforce its own
:07:34. > :07:39.claims in the seas. This week, Myanmar laid to rest one
:07:40. > :07:43.of the country's longest serving political prisoners and a pioneer of
:07:44. > :07:48.the country's largest opposition party. Not that long ago, there were
:07:49. > :07:53.more than 5000 political part `` political prisoners like him in
:07:54. > :07:57.Burmese jails. Now after a series of political reforms, all but a handful
:07:58. > :08:02.have been released. But adjusting to normal life has not been easy. This
:08:03. > :08:07.long walk to freedom led all the way to a rubbish dump. This man was a
:08:08. > :08:13.teacher when he took part in the 1988 student of rising but after 16
:08:14. > :08:18.years in jail, he has found it impossible to get his old job back,
:08:19. > :08:23.so his family now squat illegally on government land, selling vegetables
:08:24. > :08:29.at the market. Their father's commitment to democracy means no
:08:30. > :08:35.money for the children's school and only a makeshift roof over their
:08:36. > :08:41.heads. He tells me that he has no regrets and tearfully, his wife
:08:42. > :08:47.agrees. She is proud of him, she says, for trying to change the
:08:48. > :08:51.system. At one point, there were more than 5000 Burmese political
:08:52. > :08:57.prisoners. Now, thanks to reforms, there are just a handful. But there
:08:58. > :09:01.has been no rush to make amends. They get no official help as the
:09:02. > :09:06.state considers them released criminals and treat them
:09:07. > :09:09.accordingly. Why is nobody talking about compensation for the political
:09:10. > :09:14.prisoners? Some of them spent a large chunk of their life locked up
:09:15. > :09:20.for their political beliefs. It's very weird talking about our
:09:21. > :09:25.policies out loud but we are trying to document cases. Why, for example,
:09:26. > :09:31.is unsung Suu Kyi, the most famous political prisoner of them all here,
:09:32. > :09:35.not raising the case more about the thousands of less high profile
:09:36. > :09:42.political prisoners? Actually, I feel very sorry for her now that...
:09:43. > :09:47.I want her to raise the issue before the parliament but I have not heard
:09:48. > :09:53.anything from her. I'm really disappointed. Where some have
:09:54. > :09:56.struggled, others have thrived. This man runs a company servicing cars
:09:57. > :10:02.and is about to expand into a new branch. He says his time behind bars
:10:03. > :10:08.taught him that nothing matters more than family. And with that in mind,
:10:09. > :10:13.he has a girlfriend. She is a former political prisoner, of course. As we
:10:14. > :10:17.both are political activist and spent time in prison, we know all
:10:18. > :10:22.about each other's experiences, she says. Others think they cannot
:10:23. > :10:27.understand. They are getting married this year, another small sign of
:10:28. > :10:35.hope in a country that has suffered so much.
:10:36. > :10:39.The reach of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram appears to be
:10:40. > :10:42.spreading beyond Nigeria. This week, the BBC revealed the insurgents may
:10:43. > :10:47.be paying to recruit fighters from across the border in the share.
:10:48. > :10:52.Nigeria's neighbours have feared for some time that the Boko Haram
:10:53. > :10:54.insurgency could spread. Our correspondent took up the
:10:55. > :11:02.investigation in south`eastern Nigeria, which is along the border
:11:03. > :11:07.with Nigeria. There is little to take from a sandstorm. At least it
:11:08. > :11:12.feels safer here. These Nigerian refugees were pushed across the into
:11:13. > :11:21.Niger after Islamist militants from Boko Boko Haram invaded their
:11:22. > :11:27.village. They are fleeing by boat. The UN estimates that 500 cross into
:11:28. > :11:34.Niger every week. This man arrived last month, with his two wives and
:11:35. > :11:39.six children. TRANSLATION: I was going to bed when we heard the first
:11:40. > :11:44.gunshots, when we run to escape, little girl was shot as she fled her
:11:45. > :11:48.burning house. He counted 50 dead in the streets. It is a growing refugee
:11:49. > :11:55.crisis, but without camps. The authorities argued that they could
:11:56. > :11:59.become new targets, or worse, recruitment centres for Boko Haram.
:12:00. > :12:04.Boko Haram has said they can hit the Nigerian state in different ways,
:12:05. > :12:07.bomb attacks, raiding villages, attacking schools and abducting
:12:08. > :12:11.children. For now, their neighbours are dealing with the consequences of
:12:12. > :12:16.the violence. The prospect of this violence pulling over is becoming
:12:17. > :12:22.more of a question of not if but when they could strike here. Niger
:12:23. > :12:25.macro security forces patrol the border. Several attacks have been
:12:26. > :12:28.foiled over the last few months. Dozens of men suspected to have
:12:29. > :12:35.links with Boko Haram have been arrested. We have made contact with
:12:36. > :12:38.a local gang whose members claim they are collaborating with Boko
:12:39. > :12:42.Haram. They have agreed to talk to us but we cannot show their faces.
:12:43. > :12:47.The gang members are all in their early 20s, and have told us that
:12:48. > :12:55.five of the group have joined the Nigerian militants, and to have
:12:56. > :12:58.already been killed operations. TRANSLATION: Some of us are with
:12:59. > :13:03.them now. We give them information about what is going on now. They
:13:04. > :13:06.come to us and we involve them. If they tell you to launch an attack
:13:07. > :13:15.here, would you be ready to do that? Yes, we are ready, we have no job so
:13:16. > :13:20.ready. That is what we are here for. Boko Haram, they say, have paid them
:13:21. > :13:24.?2000 to join their insurgency. It is the cash that they want, they
:13:25. > :13:30.have no interest in defending Sharia law. Drought and hunger have made
:13:31. > :13:34.communities that are vulnerable. Kuzin rebellions have made it on
:13:35. > :13:38.stable. This fragile state is threatened by the crisis next door
:13:39. > :13:47.which is fuelled by poverty and neglect. Both conditions exist here.
:13:48. > :13:51.The South Korean school devastated by the loss of many of its students
:13:52. > :13:58.on a ferry disaster last week have begun classes again. More than 300
:13:59. > :14:03.students from the high school south of Seoul were on board the ferry
:14:04. > :14:06.when it capsized. Memorial services have been held for many of the
:14:07. > :14:11.students were who died in the disaster. Lucy Williamson was there.
:14:12. > :14:16.White Flowers told their story. The purity, and of death. One each from
:14:17. > :14:27.grieving mothers, classmates, and many strangers. A whole nation
:14:28. > :14:30.wanting ritual to take this loss. They were supposed to be
:14:31. > :14:36.schoolchildren and not heroes. Their faces are too young for this. What
:14:37. > :14:42.should I do, she says? What should I do? TRANSLATION: I feel angry when I
:14:43. > :14:48.think of the students who were not rescued. If we had acted sooner,
:14:49. > :14:53.they would have survived. I often imagine what they must have gone
:14:54. > :14:57.through. They must have screamed for help. That thought tortures me. The
:14:58. > :15:04.messages left by mourners spoke of sympathy and guilt. And also pride.
:15:05. > :15:09." My beloved little sister, we heard you saved your friend we are so
:15:10. > :15:13.proud of you. " For some, the hardest day in this story will be
:15:14. > :15:17.tomorrow. The high school at the centre of the tragedy has become a
:15:18. > :15:21.memorial site, a place of funerals and grieving. Tomorrow, with half of
:15:22. > :15:28.the classroom is empty, it will open as a school again. `` classrooms.
:15:29. > :15:36.The desk the knockers will now be empty spaces. School friendships
:15:37. > :15:40.ended, future is gone. `` desks and lockers. They will be missed by so
:15:41. > :15:44.many, and we wish they knew how much.
:15:45. > :15:48.A few weeks from now, hundreds of millions of people will get the
:15:49. > :15:51.chance to vote in the first Europewide elections since the
:15:52. > :15:54.Eurozone crisis. This week, we took a closer look at the EU 's two
:15:55. > :15:58.biggest and most important economies, France and Germany. These
:15:59. > :16:05.two countries at the heart of Europe have had differing fortunes over the
:16:06. > :16:11.past few years. As Matthew Price and Chris Morris found out.
:16:12. > :16:16.They can afford to take it easy here in Germany. This, the economic
:16:17. > :16:20.powerhouse of Europe. Where even when the wind is not really blowing,
:16:21. > :16:25.they are still living a good life. Life is perfect. The season is
:16:26. > :16:33.coming for sailing. Economy wise, I guess, everything is here.
:16:34. > :16:37.Unemployment is low, exports are solid, and people are confident.
:16:38. > :16:42.Unlike an awful lot of the rest of the EU. What is it likely you are,
:16:43. > :16:49.Chris? Here in Marseille, the French know how to enjoy as well. The
:16:50. > :16:54.question is how they are going to pay for it. At this club, you can
:16:55. > :17:00.sense the national mood of economic anxiety. Unemployment here remain
:17:01. > :17:04.stubbornly high. While this is very competitive, you cannot say the same
:17:05. > :17:08.about the French economy. TRANSLATION: They say we do not work
:17:09. > :17:13.as hard as the Germans, maybe that is true in Marseille, we can be a
:17:14. > :17:20.bit lazy. We need reform. I think we can do it. Down at the old port, the
:17:21. > :17:24.morning catches just coming in. Plenty of people in France are
:17:25. > :17:27.working hard to make ends meet. Economic changes often a painful
:17:28. > :17:34.process. When you show your currency with others, it is not entirely in
:17:35. > :17:38.your eye and hands. Everything is more expensive with the euro, prices
:17:39. > :17:42.have trebled, this woman says. With the Frank, you got a good meal on
:17:43. > :17:45.the cheap but not now. Others could see it differently, but there is no
:17:46. > :17:48.doubt that the single currency and its future will be right at the
:17:49. > :17:54.heart of this election campaign. In France, the National front wants to
:17:55. > :17:58.leave the euro. It could even come first. A big protest vote, a little
:17:59. > :18:03.different on your side of the border? That is right, being part of
:18:04. > :18:07.the euro has helped Germany to build up its wealth. Yet, even here, some
:18:08. > :18:12.doubts are beginning to creep in about the single currency. Those
:18:13. > :18:20.concerns do not run that deep. But most here do believe their status as
:18:21. > :18:27.an economic colossus is guaranteed only if the EU is weaker economy is
:18:28. > :18:34.becoming more German. It is our interest to have a strong EU.
:18:35. > :18:42.Against the United States, and also against Asia. So, Germany, and
:18:43. > :18:49.France, two countries very much at the political and economic heart of
:18:50. > :18:57.Europe. With difficult `` with different commies, they are putting
:18:58. > :19:02.mesh on the rest of the EU. It is bound to put pressure on both sides
:19:03. > :19:10.of the border with how they vote will stop `` putting pressure. Now,
:19:11. > :19:13.the new mayor has bowed to ban them. He says they are inhumane and wants
:19:14. > :19:21.to replace them with a fleet of vintage electric cars.
:19:22. > :19:25.They are treasured by many New Yorkers as living landmarks. They
:19:26. > :19:31.are as much a part of the Manhattan seen as the skyscrapers that Mindy
:19:32. > :19:34.avenues. The entire horse carriage trade faces abolition, because the
:19:35. > :19:39.city 's new mayor believes this urban jungle is far too hostile and
:19:40. > :19:43.environment. The years, animal welfare groups have been lobbying
:19:44. > :19:49.for the ban. Claiming the animals are traumatised by the traffic. They
:19:50. > :19:54.are treated as machines. To be exploited, until they can no longer
:19:55. > :20:04.make a profit. New York City into South 14, has two do better. `` in
:20:05. > :20:08.2014. Animal cruelty is a tourist attraction. The carriages have been
:20:09. > :20:12.part of the tourist trail since the mid`19th century. In the past 30
:20:13. > :20:19.years, they have made 6 million trips. The romance comes with risks.
:20:20. > :20:25.Since 2011, there have been seven reported incidents, with two horses
:20:26. > :20:29.collapsing and one losing its life. Historically speaking, the horse
:20:30. > :20:34.carriage industry has always had very powerful allies, all`star New
:20:35. > :20:38.York politicians who have protected it from animal welfare groups. Now,
:20:39. > :20:41.that has changed, and almost overnight the debate has shifted,
:20:42. > :20:47.from tighter regulation, to an outright ban. This is one of four
:20:48. > :20:51.staples were the horses are housed. `` tables. In the city, they do not
:20:52. > :20:57.get to graze daily, but they get five weeks holiday every year. She
:20:58. > :21:02.has a store where she can turn around and lie down. She comes on
:21:03. > :21:05.cue to say hello. This man says his animals are well cared for, and vets
:21:06. > :21:10.have never found evidence of neglect awkwardly. What is wrong with her?
:21:11. > :21:14.There's nothing wrong with the horse. She is in good health and
:21:15. > :21:17.providing a good service, earning our keeper. She has provided a lot
:21:18. > :21:23.of pleasure to a lot of people in New York City. `` earning our
:21:24. > :21:31.keeper. The ban was supposed to come into effect at the beginning of
:21:32. > :21:34.January. The earning has staged a last`ditch fight. As a central
:21:35. > :21:38.current will not be the same without the carriages. But, this picture
:21:39. > :21:45.postcard could be about to disappear.
:21:46. > :21:47.That is all from the show today, from me and the whole team here in
:21:48. > :22:10.London, goodbye for now. We started the weekend dodging
:22:11. > :22:14.downpours, we are playing the same game with the day ahead, low
:22:15. > :22:21.pressure is so close by, just to the south. We have this weather front
:22:22. > :22:22.bringing in the cloud, to the eastern side of Scotland, north`east