19/07/2014 Reporters

More on those stories at the top of the hour. Now on BBC News,

Reporters. Welcome to Reporters. From here in

the world's newsroom, we send correspondents to bring you the best

or is from across the globe. This week, separated at birth, we meet

the unmarried mothers in Ireland forced to give up their babies to

the church. His life was stolen. He was never away from me. We

investigate modern`day slavery in India's construction industry.

Change for China, we report on the railway revolution. The new

generation of bullet trains. 12,000 kilometres of high speed track and

double that in a decade. We take a giant step towards space tourism in

Wales. And, a hero 's welcome. We join

German fans celebrating a united Germany's first World Cup victory.

This nation was gripped by football fever. Now, it is gripped by the

victory. A story of shocking allegations of

decades of appalling cruelty at the heart of Ireland's Catholic Church.

The government announces an investigation into the mother and

baby homes for unmarried mothers and their children. At least 23,000

babies were born at these homes run by nuns in the 1920s`1990s. Death

rates were higher, nearly 800 children died at one institution.

Nearly 2000 babies were sent abroad for adoption, often against the

mother's will. Fergal Keane goes to one of the homes likely to be

examined. He will speak with some of the people who live there.

Stand above Cork, and you sent a religion that has dominated Irish

life from cradle to grave. Education, criminal justice,

health, a nation's welfare, subcontracted to the church. Like

here at Bessborough House, where nuns of the Sacred Heart Order kept

a home for unmarried pregnant women. Terri Harrison came here in 1973,

aged 18, one of thousands sent to such homes by their families. You

know, the one thing that got to me the most was the times when they'd

say to you, "you're here because nobody wants you. You're here

because nobody cares about you. You're here because you have

sinned." Terri gave birth in another church`run home, and claims her baby

was then adopted without her permission. It's like... It's like

his life was stolen, and mine. He was never... He was never away from

me. His birthday is every October, on the 15th. He was born at 6:30am

in the morning. He weighed 6lbs 6oz. He was beautiful. He was beautiful.

From the state's beginnings, there was public piety and puritanical

morality. Those seen as sexual sinners were cast into moral, and

often physical, exile. Thousands of babies were given up for adoption,

hundreds sent to America from the church`run homes. Even women who

signed legal papers often had little, if any, choice. Helen Murphy

grew up in Cork, not knowing her birth mother was walking the city's

streets searching for her. There was this yearning in her to find her

child. So I suppose she always knew that she wasn't going to find me,

somewhere deep inside. She was looking for somebody who looked like

the baby that she had given up. I don't know, because I've never been

able to ask her ` did you really believe that you'd see me? She died

three weeks before... She died three weeks before I found her. Yeah.

Campaigners also want the inquiry to examine the use of hundreds of

children in drug trials in the homes. Christopher Kerwin, born in

Bessborough, believes marks on his body were caused by injections, but

he can't find any record of what they were. They have to find out

what is going on. I'm very upset, to be honest with you, because I think

I'm the same as everybody else. No other person I know has marks like

these on their bodies, so why should I be treated any differently? These

are stories from a very different Ireland. The inquiry has been

promised full co`operation by the nuns, and by GlaxoSmithKline, whose

predecessors ran the trials. But one senior figure from Bessborough

insists no babies were adopted or vaccinated without the mother's

permission. We had good staff. Some of them are still with us. I think

it's sad that it has come to this. We gave our lives to looking after

the girls, and we're certainly not appreciated for doing it. The

inquiry has searching questions for church and state. The high mortality

rates in the homes, the location of dead infants' graves, are two of the

most poignant questions awaiting explanation. In Bessborough, as in

other homes, only a small number of those who died have a marked grave.

Both church and state will find themselves in the dock during the

commission of inquiry. But for the Irish nation, there are also larger

questions ` for those who worked in institutions or in state bodies and

didn't speak out. For the Irish media, now so vigorous in its

reporting of clerical abuse, but which, for decades, failed to hold

power to account. There are questions for all who grew up in

that Ireland, about the kind of society we tolerated for so long.

India's economy is the 10th largest in the world. Millions of the

country's workers are thought to be held in conditions little better

than slavery. Men, women and children are made to work against

their will every day under what the UN calls bonded labour for little or

no pay. Our correspondent goes to India to hear the story of a

teenager who tried to escape from his employer but was met with

horrific violence. A warning, you might find his report disturbing.

Deep in the Indian countryside, these people recently released from

slavery, have stories of beatings, rape and murder. They are now safe

in charities helping them to recover. One was forced to make a

terrible choice. TRANSLATION: They laughed and said, did I want to lose

my life, my leg or my hand. I said, my hand. They cut it off with an

axe, just like a chicken's head. How did it happen? He tells the other is

how he was offered work with upfront payment. Instead, like many, he was

paid no money and was trafficked hundreds of miles away to make

bricks. This is the type of work he was destined for, where we recently

filmed. Trade union activists said India's brick industry relies on an

illegal system of bonded labour. They call them blood bricks. On his

way there, he tried to escape. As a punishment, he lost his hand. He was

recruited directly from his home village. He never went to school and

work from early childhood. The family business making rope, so

difficult with just one hand now, does not bring in enough. That is

why he needed the job. TRANSLATION: If they are jailed for ten years, it

isn't enough. They should be hanged. White it turns out that the man who

approached him for work comes from a nearby village. `` it turns out. We

are going off to find him. The man we are looking for has already been

charged, along with others, with human trafficking. He is on bail. He

wasn't there when the hand was severed. Then, we find him.

TRANSLATION: I want to say sorry, so we can live together as neighbours.

The kidnapping, the torture, the beating of people, you were involved

in all of that. No, sir, I wasn't involved in the violence. I know

nothing about it. Most don't get caught, like those who trafficked

these victims. They feel as if they have been bought, sold and traded

like property. With an ownership mentality comes all kinds of abuse.

If you are big you own someone, we see rape,

torture, all kinds of sexual violence, even murder. The recovery

programme, rescued brick workers carry official certificates. This

boy is only seven. He watches as the children show the work they were

once forced to do. They have been free for just a few weeks. Millions

remain trapped in this life. It cast a dark shadow over modern India.

Three months ago, hearts and minds across the world were captivated by

the plight of more than 200 schoolgirls, abducted by Islamist

militants in Nigeria. Today they are out of the headlines but most of the

girls are still missing. One person who probably understand their plight

more than most is Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl and

campaigner who survived being shot by the Taliban two years ago. She

has been to Nigeria to meet the president, to press authorities to

do more to free the girls. John Simpson has been to talk to her.

They were an unlikely match ` she a third of his age, and physically

tiny, here in the hat which is his political trademark. President

Jonathan clearly had not expected that she would be so tough and

focused. He promised to do his best to get the missing girls back, and

to meet their parents, something he has not yet done. This whole

business has been a profound embarrassment for President

Jonathan, which is why journalists like me were not allowed into the

meeting, in case we might have called up questions to him about why

there does not seem to have been any progress on getting the girls freed.

Afterwards, I pointed out to Malala that the President had promised to

meet the parents and free the girls before. Do you think this is going

to be different now? He said that the promise I make is to make sure

these girls are released as soon as possible. Before this, she met

several of the parent herself. Her own suffering is a powerful link

between them, as her father found when he spoke. She was attacked.

His emotion ought to mind their own experiences. `` brought to mind. The

parents believe the government simply doesn't care about them.

TRANSLATION: Suppose our daughters were the children of someone

important, this man asks. Would they still be prisoners in the forest

after 90 days? The authorities insist they are working hard to free

the girls. The fact is that with the level of deployment we are putting

into this search, with the manpower, the level of patrol and surveillance

we have been putting into it, and the level of collaboration we are

enjoying with our partners worldwide, we believe we are doing

the best we can in the circumstances. But Malala told me

that a great deal more needed to be done. The President should take it

serious, he should think about his own daughters. And this country has

called the President their father, and a father has a responsibility to

take care of his children. And these girls are the future generation.

When you ignore these girls, you are not thinking about the future of the

country. Malala met a small group of girls that had been kidnapped with

the others, but had succeeded in escaping. The depressing fact is

that after three long months, the only kidnapped girls who are free

now are the ones that managed to get away themselves.

China is in the middle of a railway revolution. It now has a larger

railway network than the entire European Union or the United States

and it is still growing fast, on track to double in size by 2020. The

expansion is part of China's economic strategy to build direct

trade links with central Asia and Europe. Our reporter travelled to

investigate China's railway dream. Asia's biggest rail cargo base, in

Chengdu, south`west China. Each of these containers is filled with

computers, clothes and even cars. Until recently, everything went east

to Shanghai, and then to Europe by sea. But now, this train heads west

to Poland, cutting the journey time from six weeks down to two weeks.

Chengdu's logistics boss tells me that west China has always suffered

economically from having terrible transport links with the world.

TRANSLATION: Strengthening the connection to Europe will speed up

our industrial transformation, raise investment, and boost our global

competitiveness. Until recently, China has always relied on

foreigners for railway engineering. Even a decade ago it was European

know`how which started the move into high speed rail. But now, China

builds its own, and denies the technology is stolen from others.

One of China's new generation of bullet trains, China has built

12,000 kilometres of high`speed track, and wants to double it by the

end of the decade. Critics are worried about corruption, safety and

the pricetag. This has already cost $500 billion. But the government is

not listening, and carrying on building at home, and now they want

to exploit the technology abroad for foreign markets. Chinese media call

him The Railway Salesman ` the Prime Minister pushing for contracts

whenever he goes abroad. Here in the UK last month, but China has already

won high`speed business elsewhere in Europe. Ambition does not stop

there. West across China, through Central Asia, a bullet train

straight to Europe ` the ultimate goal for Chinese railway builders.

At home, the bullet trains are averaging 300 kilometres an hour,

and if they match that on the road to Europe, London or Paris could

only be two days away. In a decade, this railway newcomer has been

raised from the back of the pack to undercutting the market leaders on

their own doorsteps. Carrie Gracie, BBC News.

Fancy a holiday with a difference? If you are looking for a destination

that is out of this world, which could be your launchpad in the not

too distant future. Eight places in the UK have been shortlisted as

bases for the first space plane flights. They could be used by

companies taking tourists into space as well is to launch satellites. Our

correspondent visit `` visited one of the site in north Wales. The

tranquil north Wales coastline. In a few years, tourists could flocking

here to go into space. By 2018, this airfield could be the place people

come to go into orbit it seems like the stuff of science fiction but the

government really does want to have a launch site. Spain is somewhere in

the UK. In a few years lots of people could turn up to airports

wearing astronaut suits and being sent into orbit. The plan is to

convert an existing airfield, like this one in north Wales. Spaceplane

is could be taking off from this very runway, carrying people and the

dish made satellites. Isn't working spaceplane yet. `` British made. But

companies are designing them. This one takes of adviser spacecraft with

tourists into space. Here is another idea. A2 seater for a joy ride. And

the spaceplane can take satellite into orbit and then come back to

earth. `` a two seater. The UK has played a major role in space, every

`` ever since we first went to space 50 years ago. We built spacecraft

and satellite that go onboard. But it's probably a bit hard for people

to engage directly with it, so having a spaceport in the UK, where

stuff is launched directly into space from here, will make it much

more real for people. Some believe space tourism is probably a step too

far. The launch site will be chosen next year, after which the UK will

begin the long haul journey into space.

They came, they saw and conquered. Journeys `` Germany celebrated their

first ever World Cup jury this week. The team received their welcome on

the return from Brazil to Berlin. Germany's first World Cup victory

since the unification in 1990 has sparked nationwide euphoria. Stephen

Evans joined fans at Brandenburg Gate as they raised the trophy.

Anticipation was skyhigh. The plane carrying the side that won the World

Cup to pass over Berlin and said the fans into orbit. Then, finally back

on home soil, they got a tumultuous welcome as their cavalcade drove

slowly through the city. This team gave Germany its fourth World Cup

and the first for a united Germany. Jubilation across the country, but

concentrated at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The site was presented to

hundreds of thousands of fans at the same place where they watched the

victory on Sunday. `` the side. Then, the atmosphere was tense but

today it was dubious. The atmosphere, they are going crazy!

They are happy! It's a party! A celebration! It seems like the whole

of Berlin has come out to welcome this site. Sometimes like the whole

of Germany. This nation was gripped by foot or fever, now it's gripped

by the victory. `` football fever. Angela Merkel already celebrated in

the changing room with the team, straight after the final Peter Reid.

And up in the atmosphere, the German at the `` astronaut did his own

celebrating. On planet Earth, in Germany, there has been loud

jubilation among the people. That's all from Reporters this week.

From me and the team, goodbye for now.

A very lively start to the weekend. Pretty hot and humid. Some thundery

downpours