:00:00. > :00:00.macro `` that was The Papers. Coming up next, more on the race in which
:00:00. > :00:21.three people were killed in the Scottish Borders.
:00:22. > :00:31.Welcome to Reporters. From here, in the world's newsroom, we send out
:00:32. > :00:47.reporters across the world. Tonight, Fergal Keane reports on child brides
:00:48. > :00:53.in Niger. TRANSLATION: One night he locked me in the bedroom, it was as
:00:54. > :00:58.if he raped me. Jeremy Bowen accompanies the Pope as
:00:59. > :01:06.he tries to mediate with Israelis and Palestinians.
:01:07. > :01:09.And we find out why the Japanese are turning their backs on sumo
:01:10. > :01:15.wrestling. Sumo wrestling has existed for well
:01:16. > :01:17.over a thousand years but now Japan's iconic sport is in deep
:01:18. > :01:27.trouble. It is a country where many girls see
:01:28. > :01:34.little of their childhood. Niger has one of the highest rates of child
:01:35. > :01:38.marriage in the world. It is a phenomenon rooted in poverty and
:01:39. > :01:44.also highlights the overall low picture of women in one of the
:01:45. > :01:51.world's least developed nations. The UN has tried to provide more help
:01:52. > :01:57.the girls but they face religious opposition.
:01:58. > :02:03.In this land all choice is defined by the demand for survival. Niger is
:02:04. > :02:08.the world's least developed nation with a highest birth rate and the
:02:09. > :02:12.price fetched by a young bride can transform the life of her family.
:02:13. > :02:20.The bride price is part of African custom. These nomads said that as
:02:21. > :02:25.well as locals wealthy Nigerians were now offering big money for
:02:26. > :02:32.beautiful girls. TRANSLATION: In our view it is not a
:02:33. > :02:38.good thing. It is like a business. A girl can fetch thousands of pounds
:02:39. > :02:44.depending on her beauty. Mina has no job, is separated from her husband
:02:45. > :02:49.and has a 15`year`old boat. She says it is her daughter's choice but she
:02:50. > :02:57.would welcome a wealthy husband. Many families do not have the
:02:58. > :03:06.choice. If somebody wants to marry her by giving millions, even if she
:03:07. > :03:10.is young. The legal age of marriage is 15 and nearly a quarter of girls
:03:11. > :03:17.are married by then. Childhood vanishes. For this girl there was
:03:18. > :03:24.the trauma of having to have `` have sex at age 13. TRANSLATION: I did
:03:25. > :03:29.not think it was about marrying someone I would be happy with. I was
:03:30. > :03:35.very young and did not have anybody to whom I could go for advice. He
:03:36. > :03:41.was always trying to make it clear that it was as if he had bought me,
:03:42. > :03:47.it was not because I wanted him but because I had bought `` he had
:03:48. > :03:55.bought me. He mistreated me at home. One day he locked me in the bedroom.
:03:56. > :04:02.He... It is as if he raped me. For child brides there can also be
:04:03. > :04:05.traumatic medical consequences, young bodies damaged because they
:04:06. > :04:15.are not ready to give birth. This is a treatment centre for fistula. This
:04:16. > :04:24.girl was married at 14, this girl at 12. This girl at 15. Economic
:04:25. > :04:28.desperation is driving the decisions of many families but there is in
:04:29. > :04:32.this society a long tradition of such marriages. There is not the
:04:33. > :04:39.taboo that exists nowadays in the West. Or so, religious leaders here
:04:40. > :04:44.are giving explicit encouragement to child marriage. `` also. The
:04:45. > :04:49.government, encouraged by the UN, have tried to provide more
:04:50. > :04:53.protection but face religious opposition. At this Koranic school
:04:54. > :05:00.the sheik insists that Islam allows child marriage.
:05:01. > :05:06.TRANSLATION: It depends on the body of the girl and the man's body. If
:05:07. > :05:10.the two are mature the marriage can be OK because in the Islamic
:05:11. > :05:16.tradition even at nine girl can get married. I don't doubt your
:05:17. > :05:22.religious views but to a great many people it sounds like you are making
:05:23. > :05:27.excuses for child abuse. This is not what I mean. I told you, there are
:05:28. > :05:31.rules to follow. If you followed the Islamic rules we will never have
:05:32. > :05:36.this kind of problem. Such hope as there is comes from
:05:37. > :05:42.education and the example set by individuals, like this girl,
:05:43. > :05:47.followed into marriage `` forced into marriage and sex at just 13.
:05:48. > :05:52.Now she is studying, hoping to change her world.
:05:53. > :05:55.Can the Pope build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians where many
:05:56. > :06:00.others have failed? This week he toured the Middle East in an attempt
:06:01. > :06:06.to mediate. He visited some of the most important site for Muslims and
:06:07. > :06:09.Jews and urged people of all faiths to work together. Jeremy Bowen
:06:10. > :06:14.followed the Pope on the final day of his historic visit.
:06:15. > :06:19.Taking shoes on and off when you visit an Islamic building is a
:06:20. > :06:22.conventional signed `` sign of respect but when the Pope does it at
:06:23. > :06:27.the Dome of the Rock it is more than that, and every day of this trip he
:06:28. > :06:32.has made carefully calibrated gestures to deliver messages. At the
:06:33. > :06:40.Western Wall, the holiest place in the world where Jews can pray, he
:06:41. > :06:44.touched the Stones, placing his own prayer between them. 24 hours
:06:45. > :06:52.earlier the Pope chose the same symbolic gesture at the barrier
:06:53. > :06:57.Israel has built to sell `` separate Bethlehem from to Riessle. The
:06:58. > :07:12.Palestinians hope that as what they saw as his silent statement on what
:07:13. > :07:20.they call the apartheid wall. Then he went to a memorial to the
:07:21. > :07:26.Holocaust. We have saved thousands because we
:07:27. > :07:32.have this wall. There is no terrorism any more.
:07:33. > :07:41.The Pope reached out, the same gesture he had used at the other two
:07:42. > :07:47.walls. It did more than most visiting leaders to show the
:07:48. > :07:52.Palestinians that he believes in their case for independence. Now he
:07:53. > :07:56.has to show the Israelis that he takes their concerns equally
:07:57. > :08:02.seriously or his attempt at mediation will have no chance at
:08:03. > :08:06.all. The Pope's invitation to come to Rome to pray for peace has been
:08:07. > :08:10.accepted by the Israeli and Palestinian presidents. Gestures
:08:11. > :08:14.will not end the conflict but they can change the atmosphere, which at
:08:15. > :08:23.the moment would be more than anybody else has managed.
:08:24. > :08:27.Think of sumo and you think of Japan, but if you are Japanese sumo
:08:28. > :08:33.is apparently the last thing on your mind. The traditional art seems to
:08:34. > :08:39.be losing its charm for the Japanese so the sport has gone further afield
:08:40. > :08:51.for talent, as far afield as Mongolia, Hawaii and Russia.
:08:52. > :08:58.Nothing about sumo is modern. These are the same moves they have been
:08:59. > :09:04.doing here for hundreds of years. However, it it may look, this is
:09:05. > :09:16.hard. The temperature is just above freezing but the sweat glistening is
:09:17. > :09:22.of the wrestlers' bodies. `` glistens off. This man has come to
:09:23. > :09:27.train from Hawaii. The man shouting at him is his uncle, once a grand
:09:28. > :09:35.champion and one of the most famous sumo wrestlers in Japan. Sumo has
:09:36. > :09:42.existed for well over 1000 years and now Japan's most iconic sport is in
:09:43. > :09:46.deep trouble, with audiences falling and a lack of young men who want to
:09:47. > :09:55.take on this gruelling existence. After training it is time to cook.
:09:56. > :10:03.This is the rich stew or wrestlers eat to keep their weight up and they
:10:04. > :10:08.have to eat a lot. `` or wrestlers. 20 years ago sumo is dominated
:10:09. > :10:15.Japanese wrestlers but now all of top wrestlers are foreign. There has
:10:16. > :10:27.not been a Japanese champion in over ten years. I think that is a
:10:28. > :10:35.problem. The wrestlers from outside are more hungry than the Japanese
:10:36. > :10:40.wrestlers, that is it. Sumo is not so much a sport as a priesthood but
:10:41. > :10:49.this life requires a level of commitment few Japanese men are
:10:50. > :10:55.willing to make. That is all from Reporters for this
:10:56. > :11:11.week. From me, Tim Willcox, and the team, goodbye for now.
:11:12. > :11:12.Helen Spey in Northern Ireland had today's highest