:00:00. > :00:28.Now on BBC News it is time for Reporters.
:00:29. > :00:31.Hello and. We'll bring you the best stories from across the word. In
:00:32. > :00:35.this week's programme. Syria's child brides. Girls who have escaped the
:00:36. > :00:40.war and face a life of forced marriage. Refugees here tell us
:00:41. > :00:48.there is an organised trade in young girls involving Syrian brokers and
:00:49. > :00:53.men mainly from the Gulf states. On shaky ground. The Californians
:00:54. > :01:00.digging deep for water amid their worst drought in a century. We are
:01:01. > :01:04.standing should be under water. This is just a fraction of its capacity.
:01:05. > :01:13.It is a third lower than it would normally be at this time of year.
:01:14. > :01:18.A test of characters. We ask if new technology is making Chinese people
:01:19. > :01:21.forget how to write. Ron and beauty. We meet the south
:01:22. > :01:29.Korean women turning to the gym rather than plastic surgery. Some
:01:30. > :01:36.people at Miami. Other people might think, what is fact. They are
:01:37. > :01:45.saying, she must be transgender. I had that. And muggy see, muggy do.
:01:46. > :01:57.The mischievous macaques getting too close for comfort. Imagine escaping
:01:58. > :02:02.the horrors of Syria's civil war, only to be thrown into the life of
:02:03. > :02:08.hell as a child bride. According to the UN that is happening to more and
:02:09. > :02:12.more girls from Syria, some as as well. Child marriage rates have
:02:13. > :02:18.doubled since the start of the war. And now nearly a third are being
:02:19. > :02:24.forced into early marriages. The UN says most families marry them off
:02:25. > :02:32.because of poverty. Born into exile. This girl is just a
:02:33. > :02:40.few hours old. A child of a refugee camp. `` boy. His weary mother was
:02:41. > :02:47.married at 16. The war in Syria took her home and her childhood. The
:02:48. > :02:53.midwife gives her a quick lesson in motherhood. She says she would
:02:54. > :02:58.rather be doing lessons in school. But her parents made her get
:02:59. > :03:02.married. This young mother who asked us to conceal her identity was
:03:03. > :03:09.married at 15. She now has a treasure water. `` treasured
:03:10. > :03:14.daughter. It is wrong for a child to raise a child, she tells me. There
:03:15. > :03:20.are so many family and financial problems. Soon she may lose her
:03:21. > :03:27.daughter. Her husband is threatening to take the baby away, because she
:03:28. > :03:31.wants a divorce. The camp is an expanse of the dispossessed, a place
:03:32. > :03:38.of interrupted lives. Families look for ways to safeguard their
:03:39. > :03:45.daughters. Some Syrians have a tradition of early marriage. But for
:03:46. > :03:51.others, war changed the landscape. Like this woman, an orphan learning
:03:52. > :03:56.to be a housewife. She fled Syria with her extended family. When she
:03:57. > :04:00.had to share a cabin with male relatives, she was married off at 13
:04:01. > :04:08.to her 19`year`old cousin. A year later she is pregnant. TRANSLATION:
:04:09. > :04:13.I am scared of having a baby, because I feel I will not be able to
:04:14. > :04:21.look after it. I wish I could have continued my studies and become a
:04:22. > :04:24.and not gotten married so young. Outside the camp in a nearby city,
:04:25. > :04:32.many teenage girls are a fact of lead being sold. Refugees tell us
:04:33. > :04:37.that isn't organised trade in young girls, involving Syria and brokers
:04:38. > :04:46.and men mainly from the cold state. The men make the donation to needy
:04:47. > :04:50.families and then ask, do you have daughters Mark West have an age
:04:51. > :04:56.group in mind. He wants girls who are 14`15, sometimes even 13. This
:04:57. > :05:08.girl, who does not want to be named, was married at 14 to a
:05:09. > :05:12.50`year`old from Kuwait. She is struggling to support her son.
:05:13. > :05:17.TRANSLATION: Usually a girl's wedding day is the happiest day of
:05:18. > :05:22.her life. But for me it was the saddest. Everybody was telling me to
:05:23. > :05:31.smile or laugh. But my feeling was fear. I was very scared. Her mother,
:05:32. > :05:41.a war widow, had seven other amounts to feed. She told me she gave away
:05:42. > :05:45.her daughter in return for more than $14,000 because she was desperate.
:05:46. > :05:54.But said she would not sacrifice another child this way. Back in the
:05:55. > :06:01.camp, a Bright on her wedding day. She is only 13. Because of the
:06:02. > :06:07.conflict in Syria, there were no big celebrations. It looked like she was
:06:08. > :06:15.playing at dressing up. Young as she is, marriage is no longer just a
:06:16. > :06:20.game. California is suffering its worst
:06:21. > :06:23.drought for a century. Apps are running dry, the authorities are
:06:24. > :06:29.drilling deeper and harder to search for groundwater with little success.
:06:30. > :06:33.We report from the Central Valley, where scientists have predicted that
:06:34. > :06:39.the traditions could become the new rule. Kurds months ago, Olivia's
:06:40. > :06:50.taps just ran dry. `` two. Now only a comes out. She is
:06:51. > :06:53.one of hundreds of households affected, depending on neighbours to
:06:54. > :07:01.share. They cannot afford to keep deeper wells. And it is hard for
:07:02. > :07:10.farmers as well. This rate is digging a well 400 metres deep. It
:07:11. > :07:16.costs nearly $500,000. Without the rain, tapping groundwater is the
:07:17. > :07:21.only way to keep crops alive. But with unregulated drilling, nobody
:07:22. > :07:27.knows how long it will last. And a lot of farmers want wells.
:07:28. > :07:32.California's Central Valley is one of the most of agricultural areas on
:07:33. > :07:40.the planet. Around 80% of the world's Ahmanson and here. But the
:07:41. > :07:44.trees need water. And the farmers say the government must build more
:07:45. > :07:49.reservoirs. They have done a great job of increasing the population of
:07:50. > :07:51.California but have paid no heed to the infrastructure it takes to
:07:52. > :07:56.support the doubling of the population. I cannot tell you if it
:07:57. > :08:04.is climate change or it is just a new normal. I cannot predict it. I
:08:05. > :08:10.will not make any decisions based on guessing what the weather is going
:08:11. > :08:13.to be for the next ten years. NASA satellites are tracking groundwater
:08:14. > :08:19.reserves around the world. The data shows California is in big trouble.
:08:20. > :08:27.It is really bad. We are having a tremendous loss of groundwater in
:08:28. > :08:32.the Central Valley. I expect it will axillary because of the severity of
:08:33. > :08:40.the drought. I absolutely expect this will become the new normal. We
:08:41. > :08:44.are `` where I am standing should be under water. It is just a fraction
:08:45. > :08:48.of its capacity. It is a third lower than it would normally be at this
:08:49. > :08:52.time of year. Until these reservoirs fill up again, the farmers of
:08:53. > :08:56.California's Central Valley will continue to rely on precious
:08:57. > :09:05.groundwater to feed their crops until there is nothing left.
:09:06. > :09:10.It was not many years ago that parts of northern Ireland were known as
:09:11. > :09:13.bandit country, and area with a reputation as an IRA strongholds
:09:14. > :09:20.that the British Army regularly patrolled. For a time that notoriety
:09:21. > :09:24.puts many tourists off. That region is now undergoing an economic
:09:25. > :09:31.reticence. Across the countryside you will see...
:09:32. > :09:35.Of the past. This is an area of outstanding natural beauty. And an
:09:36. > :09:46.area with many links to the legends of Ireland. The place is just
:09:47. > :10:01.bursting with this and legends. But this is not just the place
:10:02. > :10:05.associated with mythology. For decades it
:10:06. > :10:06.It's bizarre to find such hate and violence in a beautiful,
:10:07. > :10:18.active here throughout the Troubles, which gave it the
:10:19. > :10:19.would have been covered with flares, barbed wire, general purpose
:10:20. > :10:36.Andrew Rodding is a Church of Ireland minister but in the early
:10:37. > :10:37.South Armagh. We are in a stunning part of the world, but terrible
:10:38. > :10:45.things have taken place here, done by all sides. It was the 1st of May,
:10:46. > :10:55.1992, a good soldier friend of mine was killed. In fact, it was only in
:10:56. > :10:58.the last couple of months I went to his grave. Some reminders of that
:10:59. > :11:05.time of conflict remain but this is an area trying to build a new
:11:06. > :11:07.reputation. Heritage Lottery Fund has given almost ?1 million for
:11:08. > :11:23.projects to promote and protect the great wilderness. It's
:11:24. > :11:26.natural beauty. To tag it with Bandit Country sours the whole taste
:11:27. > :11:35.of this area. This is where roots of Ireland began. Attempts to
:11:36. > :11:39.attract visitors to this area were badly damaged
:11:40. > :11:42.make the most of its rich history. Traces of past entries can be found
:11:43. > :11:47.everywhere. Vancouver, Canada, is 100 years old. Here, it's thousands.
:11:48. > :11:54.And many who come searching through this area
:11:55. > :12:04.but the roots of their families. People are blown away, they love it.
:12:05. > :12:04.genealogy. It's so old. The money from the Heritage
:12:05. > :12:15.be used to restore and to conserve. It is a decade since the army left
:12:16. > :12:26.these hills. Now the aim is to open them up to everyone.
:12:27. > :12:33.It has 85,000 characters and can take years to learn the basics.
:12:34. > :12:36.Chinese is probably the world's most difficult language. But many Chinese
:12:37. > :12:41.consider the creation of their calligraphy to be one of their
:12:42. > :12:44.primary divisions to civilisation. But if the advent of keyboards and
:12:45. > :12:50.technology threatening to make Chinese writing history? It seems
:12:51. > :12:54.many are forgetting how to write their own language.
:12:55. > :13:01.Millions in China tune into this television game show every week.
:13:02. > :13:06.It's like a spelling bee, but these young contestants must write Chinese
:13:07. > :13:12.characters by hand. Every stroke, every dash, must be in the correct
:13:13. > :13:19.spot. After two tense rounds, this 17`year`old is bumped from the
:13:20. > :13:22.contest. I wanted to compete before I was too old, she told me.
:13:23. > :13:28.Contestants typically spend months studying dictionaries to prepare for
:13:29. > :13:32.the show, but they're an exception. All over the country, Chinese people
:13:33. > :13:37.are forgetting how to write their own language without computerised
:13:38. > :13:44.help. There's no Chinese alphabet, instead each word is represented by
:13:45. > :13:47.a symbol or a character. There's more than 85,000 of them. But the
:13:48. > :13:50.smartphones and computers used every day here have eliminated the need to
:13:51. > :13:56.remember how to write many of those characters. The result? It's
:13:57. > :14:03.possible to recognise characters without remembering how to write
:14:04. > :14:09.them. How serious is China's so`called character amnesia? We
:14:10. > :14:13.conducted a little exam of our own. This man struggled with the
:14:14. > :14:17.character for "thumb". Others had a tough time writing "toad". Easy to
:14:18. > :14:23.spell in English, but tricky to master in Chinese. And no`one could
:14:24. > :14:33.write this famously difficult word: "sneeze". But there's still hope for
:14:34. > :14:35.the humble paintbrush. China's Education Ministry wants childrent
:14:36. > :14:41.to spend more time learning how to write. At this Beijing Public
:14:42. > :14:44.School, students practice their calligraphy every day inside a
:14:45. > :14:49.special classroom. TRANSLATION: Teachers and kids are remembering
:14:50. > :14:54.how to write together. It's common even for teachers like me to forget
:14:55. > :14:58.how to write certain words. On warm days, practice takes place outdoors.
:14:59. > :15:01.A lesson, the schools teachers say, not just in learning how to write,
:15:02. > :15:05.but in this busy, changing China, learning how to slow down.
:15:06. > :15:20.Preserving Chinese traditional culture, before it disappears.
:15:21. > :15:22.From preserving traditional Chinese culture to changing old`fashioned
:15:23. > :15:27.stereotypes in South Korea. Traditional images of how women
:15:28. > :15:31.should look have dominated for centuries but times are changing,
:15:32. > :15:36.with more women turning to the gym to achieve the body beautiful. Lucy
:15:37. > :15:39.Williamson went to meet the beauty queen turned bodybuilder at the
:15:40. > :15:42.forefront of the new groundbreaking trend.
:15:43. > :15:49.Competition is part of South Korea's national DNA. For her challenge,
:15:50. > :15:52.Jeong Yeon Soon chose bodybuilding. A former beauty queen, she was
:15:53. > :15:55.inspired by pictures of the well`toned pop star Madonna and went
:15:56. > :16:01.bodybuilding titles. Some people bodybuilding titles. Some people
:16:02. > :16:08.admire me and then other people might think, "Oh, what is that?" You
:16:09. > :16:17.know? "A woman should be feminine, small," you know? They say, "She
:16:18. > :16:24.must be transgender or..." LAUGHTER. I heard that! Harder than the
:16:25. > :16:28.workouts or other people's attitudes is the diet. Boiled chicken, potato
:16:29. > :16:41.and vegetables five times a day without any salt or flavouring.
:16:42. > :16:46.It is so tasteless that to get it down Jeong Yeon Soon blends it down
:16:47. > :16:51.into a kind of chicken shake and drinks it. How does it taste? Brutal
:16:52. > :16:54.enough by itself, she says, but in a society that prizes group activities
:16:55. > :17:00.and fitting in, it can be even harder to justify never meeting
:17:01. > :17:03.friends for dinner. Men and women traditionally have quite separate
:17:04. > :17:06.roles in Korean society. Women are often viewed as being less driven,
:17:07. > :17:11.more focused on marriage and friendship, and they are often
:17:12. > :17:14.judged on their physical appearance. For women, choosing bodybuilding as
:17:15. > :17:20.a career goes against almost every social norm there is.
:17:21. > :17:27.This is what Korean women are meant to look like. Small and slim, with
:17:28. > :17:30.no perceptible lumps or bumps. So powerful is this message that
:17:31. > :17:32.Koreans spend millions of dollars a year on plastic surgery, embracing
:17:33. > :17:36.procedures such as whole`body liposuction or the surgical removal
:17:37. > :17:46.of calf muscle in a bid to slim their legs. But something is
:17:47. > :17:52.changing. In South Korea, calf muscle reduction was very popular.
:17:53. > :18:00.Now, the trend is changing from the very slim body to a very hamonious
:18:01. > :18:03.and healthy beauty. In Korea, healthy beauty is becoming more
:18:04. > :18:08.popular and is becoming more a main theme. Nowadays, he says, more women
:18:09. > :18:10.are heading to the gym to lose weight rather than straight to the
:18:11. > :18:13.plastic surgeon, partly because Korean celebrities are themselves
:18:14. > :18:22.becoming more toned and physically fit.
:18:23. > :18:27.Few are looking for the kind of muscles Jeong Yeon Soon has
:18:28. > :18:33.achieved. Real bodybuilding is still a lonely life for a woman like her,
:18:34. > :18:44.she says. But at least it's a little less lonely in the gym.
:18:45. > :18:48.They are one of Gibraltar's greatest tourist attractions but they are
:18:49. > :18:51.becoming a bit of a nuisance. The monkeys are cute but some say they
:18:52. > :18:55.are causing mayhem and getting too close for comfort. So, the
:18:56. > :18:59.authorities are trying to find some of them and you home. Tom Burridge
:19:00. > :19:03.went on the trail of Gibraltar's cheeky monkeys.
:19:04. > :19:10.They live on top of the rock. Give me five. They know the locals, and
:19:11. > :19:22.amuse the tourists. LAUGHTER. He is looking for food. But in search of a
:19:23. > :19:35.meal, the monkeys are venturing into town. Great if you are visiting. We
:19:36. > :19:38.just came out of our hotel to do some shopping and we didn't think
:19:39. > :19:45.we'd see a monkey perched up on the ledge in the middle of the street.
:19:46. > :19:49.I've heard about them but didn't think we'd see them at all. I'm
:19:50. > :19:57.really happy. But the monkeys have a taste for what humans can provide.
:19:58. > :20:02.Some are getting in the swing of urban life. How often do they appear
:20:03. > :20:06.at the school? At the moment about three times a week. And they have
:20:07. > :20:10.become a nuisance at the school. In the past three months we have had
:20:11. > :20:16.hauled packs of monkeys coming down with a Lido, with a male, and lots
:20:17. > :20:21.of babies. `` poll tax. Some are cute but some are aggressive and
:20:22. > :20:26.threatening. It also's 200 monkeys spent the vast majority of their
:20:27. > :20:30.time up on the rock. But the authorities are working to stop some
:20:31. > :20:33.of them venturing down into town. They are very clever. Just like
:20:34. > :20:38.humans, you can offer them a banana or a Mars Bar. They will go for the
:20:39. > :20:41.Mars Bar. At the moment a lot of resources are being put in to
:20:42. > :20:44.providing sort of more open spaces for them so they can forage in the
:20:45. > :20:51.rock, and prevent them from going down. There is also a large effort
:20:52. > :20:54.in trying to push them from the town, up into the nature reserve.
:20:55. > :21:03.They are also working to control their numbers. 30 monkeys will be
:21:04. > :21:05.exported to a safari park abroad. Gibraltar's monkeys are thought to
:21:06. > :21:21.have travelled here on ships several centuries ago and have become an
:21:22. > :21:24.important national symbol. Their numbers were culled several years
:21:25. > :21:27.ago but that's not part of the solution now. Some of these guys and
:21:28. > :21:31.girls will soon have a new home. From their current home they can see
:21:32. > :21:34.Africa, where their ancestors lived before. Gibraltar's monkeys are an
:21:35. > :21:43.asset but, sometimes, some of them are nuisance neighbours, too.
:21:44. > :22:09.That's all for Reporters this week. From me and the team, goodbye.
:22:10. > :22:17.Welcome to the last day of the three months which meteorologists referred
:22:18. > :22:21.to as summer. Actual weather doesn't take a huge amount of notice of
:22:22. > :22:28.that. August has been cool and wet. In the week ahead, still a hint of
:22:29. > :22:29.sun around. There is a former hurricane bringing stormy conditions
:22:30. > :22:30.for Sunday in