03/08/2014 Reporters

France. Now on BBC News, it's time for

Reporters. Welcome to Reporters. I'm Tim Wilcox. From here in the world's

newsroom, we send our correspondents to bring you the best stories from

across the globe. In this week's programme, fighting an invisible

killer. Tulip Mazumdar travels to the source of the West African Ebola

outbreak that is killing hundreds. A few days ago, health workers

couldn't even get into this village, but they have made a breakthrough

here today. People are bringing out their sick relatives, and they're

agreeing to be checked over for symptoms of Ebola. Back in the USSR.

Stephen Sackur visits the enclave in Moldova which wants to be part of

Russia. Do you see your future more in Europe or with Russia? The gay

cure. Chinese clinics that claim they can eradicate homosexuality.

And we get a closer look at a dating website. And the real life Billy

Elliot. Rebecca Jones meets the Yorkshire lad turned ballet star.

Billy had it a lot harder than I did, to be honest. I didn't go down

in a coal mine. It is West Africa's invisible killer. Ebola is one of

the world's deadliest diseases. Nine out of ten cases are fatal, and it's

spreading. Nearly 700 people have died from the virus. Some airlines

have now stopped flights into Liberia and Sierra Leone as concerns

grow about the outbreak. But there is hope. Health officials say early

diagnosis and treatment is key to survival, and they're travelling to

infected areas to teach people how to spot the symptoms of the disease.

Tulip Mazumdar went to one of those remote infected areas, Gueckadou in

Southeast Guinea. She sent this report.

The latest and one of the youngest victims of Ebola. Wrapped in layers

of plastic bags is the tiny body of this four`month`old boy. His family

are too scared to attend his burial. So he is carefully laid to rest by

strangers. The virus spreads through contact with a patient's body

fluids, so health workers seal themselves in suits, where

temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius. In anonymous grave in the middle of

the forest for this little boy. As one victim is buried, another

suspected case is driven to a treatment centre. `` an. It's

relentless and harrowing work. This woman looked after him in his final

moments. TRANSLATION: I was there with him just before he died. I had

been feeding him milk. I stepped away for a short break. Then I was

called back and he was dead. I was totally devastated. At times I just

go outside and cry. In remote villages devastated by Ebola, the

fear is everywhere. That fear is helping spread the virus. Some

people believe medics are actually bringing Ebola here and harvesting

organs from the dead. But after yet another death, community leaders

here agreed to hear the truth about Ebola and, crucially, how to stop it

spreading. A few days ago, health workers could not even get into this

village. But they have made a breakthrough here today. People are

bringing in their sick relatives and are agreeing for them to be checked

for the symptoms of Ebola. This man convinced his sick mother to get

help. She had a high fever and had been vomiting for days. There have

been seven deaths in this small village so far, but medics say many

more could be infected. Samples from affected villages come to this

makeshift diagnostics laboratory. British scientists are among those

testing for the virus. When you see a negative case coming through from

a patient who was previously positive, it is a celebration

because you know they have been treated and they might be released

soon. Sometimes you're also seeing patients who are brought in and are

very young, and they're testing positive and it's very sad. It's

visiting time back at the treatment centre, and 13`year`old Alphonse,

himself an Ebola survivor after getting treatment early, has come to

see his little sister. It is good news. Initial tests have come back

negative. But Ebola is a cruel and indiscriminate virus. Their mother

also has the illness and may not survive. As this crisis rages on,

there are likely to be many more stories like hers. Infected,

isolated and fighting an invisible killer. Tulip Mazumdar, BBC News,

Gueckadou. Visitors say it's like being back in

the USSR. The hammer and sickle symbol stand high, statues of Soviet

heroes stand tall, but this is Europe, far from Russia. We're

talking about Transnistria, a breakaway mini`state in Moldova,

whose leader wants to follow the path taken by Crimea in Ukraine:

integration inside the Russian Federation. It has led to Moldova

being caught up in a trial of strength between Russia and the

European Union. Stephen Sackur has been given rare access to the

pro`Russian enclave. One of the most tense border

crossings in all of Europe, yet, it doesn't appear on any map. This is

the road into Transnistria, a breakaway mini`state inside Moldova.

We were granted rare access to this pro`Russian enclave where the hammer

and sickle flies high, Soviet heroes stand tall, and it feels for all the

world, like you're back in the USSR. The Transnistrians put on a show of

their special forces but they didn't want us to see the 2000 Russian

troops permanently stationed here. The Transnistrian economy is a

basket case, propped up by Moscow. When it comes to the conflict in

neighbouring Ukraine and the showdown between Russia and the

West, they have predictable loyalties. Do your see your future

more in Europe or with Russia? The leader of Transnistria, Yevgeny

Shevchuk, wants to follow the path taken by Crimea. Integration inside

the Russian Federation, never mind the fact this is sovereign Moldovan

territory. Mr President, do you feel here that your land is Russian?

Moldova's capital is just an hours drive west of Transnistria. In

Chisinau, they have just celebrated a new partnership deal with the EU.

These Moldovans, Romanian speakers, not Russian, see Europe as their

path to prosperity but, as in Ukraine, they fear Moscow will

intervene. And Russia has already made its first move. Moldova's wine

industry has been hit hard by a Russian import ban imposed as

punishment for Moldova's cozying up to the EU. The sales at this winery

are down by a third. Suddenly, Moldova feels vulnerable. Well, the

tragic developments in Ukraine, which is just in our neighbourhood,

are is very dangerous for the region and fpr the continent. We see the

entire, very fragile security architecture which was in the

process of being built and it is now basically destroyed. Moldova's

capital has a European vibe but this is still Russia's backyard. It would

be easy for Mr Putin to flex his muscle here and as the standoff with

the West intensifies, he just might. Stephen Sackur, BBC News, Chisinau.

It is more than ten years since the Chinese authorities stopped

regarding homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder but some

clinics still offer treatment claiming that they can cure Accra to

patients. But if a landmark case heard this week succeeds, it would

be outlawed. `` gay. Downy gloomy corridor lies proof of

the prejudice that lurks at the heart of the Chinese medical

professional. China declassified homosexuality as a mental illness

well over a decade ago. But, clinics like this one... Are easy to find.

This doctor tells me he kills up to 70% of his gay patients, using

counselling alone. He can describe the so`called "aversion therapy" ,

offered elsewhere. One common method is electric shock, he says, when the

patient has a gay thought, we electrocute them. China's gay

community has begun to fight back. Being gay is not an illness, this

protest banner at a Beijing medical conference reads. But the delegates

respond. We cannot support homosexuality, these doctors so,

although we do try to understand it. `` doctors say. Now, for the first

time, China has allowed gay conversion therapy to be challenged

in the courts. TRANSLATION: I had electric shock therapy only once.

Imagine those who have had it many times. He put himself through it to

gather the evidence, and now wants the courts to ban it. It is a battle

that is being fought elsewhere. This video is of a gay pride march in

London in 1979. More than 30 years on, the notion of the gay cure in

Europe and America has not gone away. The medical consensus in the

West today, of course, is that there is no good evidence that sexual

orientation can be changed. Some people suggest that attitudes in

China have been slower to evolve, because of the one child policy, and

the heavy confusion and pressure on people to get married and produce a

family here. Attitudes in China are changing fast. Shanghai now holds an

annual gay pride event, and `` which is proof of that. The court case, it

is hoped, will be a step forward, saying that the enduring medical

prejudice has to stop. `` showing. The war in Syria has cost thousands

of lives, but is also threatening the country 's heritage. Known as

the cradle of civilisation, Syria boasts thousands of historical and

religious sites but many have been damaged, some completely destroyed.

In a skirt has established an observatory to monitor the state of

the cultural heritage and stop the smuggling of artefacts. Our

correspondent has been to Aleppo to investigate.

This is a castle in Syria, one of the most important preserved

mediaeval castles of the world, dating back to the 11th Central. ``

11th century. It hasn't been spared the scars of war. The Syrian

government has attacked it, as rebels were hiding there. But it is

not the only historical site that was under fire. This synagogue dates

back to 720 BC, and was destroyed in May by government shelling on the

eastern suburb of Damascus. The damages have extended to other

cities, like Aleppo. Aleppo is Syria's largest city and has been

hugely damaged by the war, and I am standing in one of the main squares

here. Over the last two days I have been here, and I've seen a lot of

damage across the country. To my left here, there is a mosque that

has been hugely damaged, it's a historical site. And just behind me,

the old city of Aleppo. The old bazaar was hugely damaged. It is a

UNESCO listed city and has paid a high price during the war. Syria 's

heritage is not only destroyed, but also stolen, and many pieces may

never return. These photos, obtained by the Lebanese director of

archaeology, show monuments that have been struggled out of Syria by

traffickers, but were luckily found. Authorities in Lebanon have managed

to stop many attempts of illicit trafficking of artefacts. We are

seizing the objects, with the help of Interpol and the Lebanese forces,

and we are investigating whether these objects are archaeological

objects of `` or whether they are fake. These books have just been

found and being verified. Most artefacts they find are being sent

back to Syria. The war in Syria is unlikely to stop any time soon. With

the level of human losses mounting every day, the 1000 `year`old

heritage could well remain on protectable.

`` unprotected. If you use the Internet, you are subject to

hundreds of experiments at any given time. That is how dating sites work.

So, said the website OkCupid, in the disclosure that it has been catching

up users who are unsuitable for one another. It comes after news that

Facebook conducted a secret psychology experiment on nearly

700,000 users. Stephen Smith put out a lonely hearts ad to find his

perfect mismatch. I am not Julie God and dashed Julie

garden. She is a hot singer songwriter, he is a dishevelled

record executive. `` I am not Julie Garland. Of course, Kira Knightley

and Mark Rafer low get it together, in this summer 's wrong com, begin

again. `` rom com. `` Mark Ruffalo. What about the rest of us? Some put

the details on dating websites like OkCupid. Hi there, what, these old

threads? Just some sports casual. Subscribers sign up in good faith,

you know the kind of thing. GSOH. All my own teeth, but OkCupid were

deliberately setting them up on bad matches, where, on paper at least,

they only had 30% compatibility, although they were told by the

website it was more like 90% compatibility. Parental advisory, in

match with Nikki Minaj. I didn't see that company. I'm worried about

their manipulating people 's minds, thoughts and emotions. It is a case

of how far they go with these experiments. What seems to be

missing to me is the cage. In another of its so`called

experiments, OkCupid brand profiles with photos, but no text. Daschle

ran. Guess what? People went on looks alone. It was so shallow.

OkCupid said the following. This comes after Facebook was

accused of being unethical, for trying to influence the emotions of

almost 700,000 users, through the newsfeeds that they were exposed

to. What we are now dealing with is commercial organisations, for whom

they do not have a responsibility to protect their customers, their

clients, from harm. Frankly, you've signed your life away as soon as you

tick the box and say, I agree to the terms and conditions. The rules are

being rewritten. Or, as my date says, maybe you all weird is my

normal. `` maybe your weird. Now, do you remember the story of

Billy Elliot? The boy from the mean streets of Yorkshire who became a

ballet star? Life often imitates art and indeed, Xander Parish, from Hull

in Yorkshire has become the first British dancer ever to join the

illustrious Mariinsky Ballet in Russia. Now, he is back in the UK

and Rebecca Jones has been to meet the real life Billy Elliot.

On stage and in the spotlight. Xander Parish is Romeo in Romeo and

Juliet, one of the greatest roles in ballet. It was great to see it being

brought and made more mainstream. I think Billy had it harder than I

did. I didn't have to go down the coal mines! Away from the gilded

grandeur of Covent Garden, is the school of dance and theatre in Hull.

But, it was here, at the age of eight, that he started dancing.

Vanessa Hooper taught him ballet. . She can still picture a small boy

arriving for his first lesson 20 years ago. What do you remember? I

remember this enthusiastic little boy up running into class with his

sister and his black shorts and T`shirt, looking very out of

control, rather like Bambi on ice and then, eventually he started to

understand the technique and I realised he had these beautiful legs

and feet. Now he is in a very different class. From Hull, he

joined the Royal Ballet but no`one took much notice of him and he

became increasingly frustrated. It took a visit from the Mariinsky

Ballet to spot his potential and invite him to join the company in

Russia. He remembers arriving in St. Petersburg. It was about three in

the afternoon and it was already dark. The plane was coming into the

city and all I could see was an orange glow of ice and snow and

steam rising off these rather grim looking buildings and I thought, I

want to go home right now. But I didn't, I stuck it out and I'm glad

because it has been absolutely brilliant. Now he is returning home

a star. Quite a journey for the Yorkshire lad turned Russian

romantic lead. Rebecca Jones, BBC News.

That is all from Reporters for this week. From me, Tim Wilcox, and the

team, goodbye for now. Some of us had a lovely weekend with

a good deal of sunshine,