31/01/2016 Reporters

Now on BBC News, reporters -- Reporters.

Welcome to Reporters. From here in the world's newsroom, we spend out

correspondents to bring you the best stories from across the globe. This

week, the new front in the so-called Islamic State's war of terror. We

report from eastern Afghanistan, where the group has reportedly been

building a new base for its attacks across the world. The Pentagon

analysis is clear. It says ISIS is openly fighting the Taliban to

create a safe haven in the mountains of the east of the country.

Cracking Europe's human trafficking brings. We get exclusive access to a

Spanish raid on a major people smuggling network. The investigation

into this criminal network began the year and a half ago.

South America's fight against the Zika virus. We meet the Brazilian

scientist using the mosquitoes that spread the disease to try to stop

it. Now they produce about 2 million male mosquitoes here every week and

they are released into the general population to help fight against the

viruses like Zika and dainty. -- the dainty virus.

And a year in the life of a penguin, caught on camera. We joined

researchers in the Antarctic as they track out the birds are adapting to

climate change. The so-called Islamic State has

claimed it as a new province of its caliphate. But this is not Syria or

Iraq, it is Afghanistan. In recent months IS has captured territories

on the eastern border with Pakistan. The Afghan president has

called on the international community for help. But one year

after the end of Nato's combat mission, the Afghan authorities are

now struggling to cope with threats from both the Taliban and IS. Justin

Roberts has been the eastern Afghanistan to find out more.

Refugees put up rough shelters on a patch of wasteland outside the city

of the other bad, Afghanistan. These are the victims of the so-called

Taliban but of Islamic State. The Islamist militants have seized

territory in a remote eastern province -- to promote eastern

provinces of Afghanistan. The refugees tell stories of horrific

violence. She says, IS, Daesh as they call it here, attacked her

village. This girl says they took her house. I don't know where my

father is, she tells us. This man's rubber was one of more than 100 men

IS abducted from the village. -- brother. TRANSLATION: At first we

had no idea what happened to him, but the three men were released.

They said everyone was being held in a small room and IS was torturing

and killing them. Then we heard about the video. He recognised his

brother in an ISIS propaganda video. The video showed him being led, with

nine other villages, to wear a row of bombs had been buried. Each man

was forced to sit on a bomb. The bombs were then detonated. IS has

struck within one hour of carpel. The police say it is only a matter

of time before it attacks the Afghan capital. -- Kabul. And the threat is

just here in Afghanistan. A Pentagon analysis says ISIS is openly

fighting the Taliban to create a safe haven in the mountains in the

east of the country, potentially a second stronghold from which to

launch attacks across the world. So, how serious a threat is IS and

Afghanistan? To answer that you need to leave Kabul. And IS commander has

agreed to talk to an Afghan colleague. He needs a ragtag bunch

of fighters. -- he meets. This man struggles to assemble his AK-47. But

they talk the talk. TRANSLATION: You must fight to the

bitter end. These are disaffected former Taliban who know -- now want

to fight a global jihad under the black flag of IS. The commander says

they are planning more attacks. TRANSLATION: At the moment we exist

in three provinces but we only fight in one. In the others we are waiting

for orders from our leader. Then we will fight. IS is reckoned to have

hundreds, not thousands, of fighters. Not a huge force, but

enough to bring mayhem and misery. The Afghan army has struck back

against IS. It says IS has little support from locals because it's so

barbaric. But the defence minister warns eliminating IS in Afghanistan

will require an international response. The key question is from

where they are getting the funding and how they are transferring these

funds and how the movement of goods and everything else is happening.

That is why Afghanistan alone cannot deal with all of these challenges,

because it is coming from outside. It is pushed to us from outside.

This isn't the first foreign terrorist organisation to try to

establish a base in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. The Tora Bora

cave complexes in the province where IS now operates and Tora Bora is of

course where Osama Bin Laden had his stronghold. Human trafficking gangs

are now increasingly using UK airports as a gateway into Europe.

That's according to Spanish police, who have given the BBC exclusive

access to raids on one of the biggest people smuggling rings in

Europe. The organised crime group from Nigeria has trafficked hundreds

of women into prostitution. The group is still being investigated

and, as all Aquarian reports from Barcelona, the BBC was asked to

delay broadcasting this story to ensure the safety of the women

getting out. -- Orla Guerin. Sunrise in Barcelona. The city of

dreams. Standing proud with its rich heritage and architectural jewels.

But after nightfall in the backstreets, a different scene. This

is where undercover police have been monitoring trafficking ring and its

victims. Watching every move. We joined the assault teams as they

prepared to strike at locations in Barcelona and several cities nearby.

Around 250 officers taking part in the biggest operation get against

Nigerian crime bosses who call themselves 'the air lords'. Around

8am they close in on an apartment block.

In seconds ARN site, hunting for the targets on their list. -- they're

inside. A find him still in bed. -- they find him. The police are in

sight now questioning suspects. While they were carrying out the

raid here, more than 20 other buildings were being hit

simultaneously. This has been a long time in the planning. The

investigation into this criminal network again year and a half ago.

The lengthy buildup got results. Police detained the group's main

leaders and gathered evidence of their lucrative slave trade. More

than 80 women were freed. Some with young children. The gang charges its

victims about ?28,000 to get to Spain. Then forces them into

prostitution to pay off the debt. Police say those arrested are part

of a sophisticated criminal enterprise that spans the globe,

with representatives in cities in the Middle East, Africa, the US and

EU. The head of the antitrafficking unit told us a key figure is based

in London, ringing women into the UK on fake Nigerian passports. He said

the gang is looking more and more to Britain as its gateway to Europe.

One of the main new ways to enter victims is through the airports of

Great Britain. It is a different system to trafficking people and it

needs always forgeries and is more expensive, but is more secure. We

have detected that this is growing. Here, in downtown Barcelona, the

Nigerians are believed to have made millions from women working the

streets in the shadows. They are kept in mind by threats to their

families back home and buy physical abuse from those who act as

enforcers. We met young one woman who was trafficked from Nigeria with

her three-year-old daughter. She says she and her child were

brutalised. TRANSLATION: I have scars all over my body. He hit my

face and my eyes and beat me until blood came from eight years. One day

when she came for the money I couldn't pay. She hit me on the head

with a bottle. I child was hit many times. She promised to kill her.

Police hope more women will be able to escape the streets here, now the

Nigerian traffickers have been rounded up. But they say their

barbaric trade in human beings will continue elsewhere, including

Britain. Last week a public enquiry here in

Britain found the Russian president Vladimir Putin was probably linked

to the assassination of a former Russian spy in London. Now a BBC

investigation has been looking at Vista Putin's private finances and

hearing from those who say they have inside knowledge of his secret

fortune. -- Mr Putin's. The US treasury has told Panorama that it

considers Mr Putin to be corrupt. Vladimir Putin's secrets can be

found below -- beyond Russia's borders. This man fled Russia after

falling out with Kremlin insiders. He says he helped Putin collect

money from Russia's super rich. They thought it was for the nation's

healthcare. Were these oligarchs effectively just paying tribute to

Vladimir Putin? TRANSLATION: I think this is exactly what they thought.

He says some of the cash was diverted and ended up with Putin.

This is a recording of him talking to a Kremlin insider. They are

discussing $440 million of investment, belonging to Putin. They

refer to him using a nickname, Mikail it on a beach. -- Ivanovic.

Then buries Britain's most famous Russian. -- then there is. He

allegedly gave booted a $35 million yacht like this one. -- Putin. Nice

to meet you. This man told us he helped manage the yacht. He says it

was transferred to an offshore company, but the real owner was

President Putin. This yacht was maintained and paid for from the

state budget. Why would it be kept secret? Because it belongs

personally to Putin, not to the state. We asked him about the yacht,

but his lawyers dismissed claims about him as speculation and

rumours. The US treasury has gone public with its view. The Russian

leader is corrupt. He supposedly draws a state salary of something

like $110,000 a year. That's not an accurate statement of a man's well.

And he has warned time training and practices, in terms of how to mask

his actual wealth. Is Vladimir Putin corrupt? In our view, yes. President

Putin denies all the allegations of corruption. His spokesman said the

issues we had raised were pure fiction. But one of the world's most

powerful men already linked to murder is accused of corruption on

an extraordinary scale. It has been blamed for thousands of

birth defects in Brazil and is likely to spread through America,

including the US. The Zika virus has no vaccine. It is spread by

mosquitoes and targets pregnant women. It is thought to cause

microcephaly, leading to abnormally small head in infants. There have

been more than 4000 suspected cases since the start of the year. --

heads. We have met the scientist in Rio who are using genetically

engineered mosquitoes to stop the spread. Releasing hundreds of

thousands of fertile mosquitoes into the suburbs of Brazil's against city

in the middle of a mosquito driven health crisis. It might seem

perverse, but these are genetically modified mosquitoes, these beasties

responsible for the Zika virus and dengue fever. They will pass on the

self-limiting gene when they make. The offspring will die before they

become adults. -- mate. That stops disease transmission. They will

die. We have freshly hatched eggs here. This British owned lab says it

has reduced 90% of the mosquitoes in some areas. Said on a smelly mixture

of fish food and she'd blood, it is in overdrive. -- sheep. All of these

mosquitoes are developed from the first eggs brought over from Oxford

in 2002. Now be produced 2 million here every week and they are

released into the general population to stop viruses. -- they produce.

Zika is suspected of spreading microcephaly in Brazil. The

government has announced help for poorer families, but the wider

financial and social impact could. At Sao Paulo's world-renowned

institute, they are looking at pharmaceuticals and finding a

vaccine for the Zika virus and are starting from scratch. We need to

establish the link between the virus and Microsoft Ali, for example. But

we have the hypothesis that it is true. -- microcephaly. But we need

to demonstrate it to guide us for the best vaccine. Trying to keep

calm in the final weeks of pregnancy is not easy for expect and mothers

in Brazil. -- expectant. At the beginning we were very worried. My

husband would put repellent on me every day. I got used to it. It

could take ten years to develop a vaccine. There is so much

uncertainty about the illness. It is a time of real anxiety for many

Brazilians residence in California who say they are being made six idea

stench and fumes of a natural gas leak in a storage facility are

calling for it to be shut down. -- residents. -- made sick by a.

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes. Error Brockers

it is now helping them, saying that failing infrastructure are to blame.

-- Erin Brokovich. I want to be in my home. Jelly is angry. Her target

is the man on the left, an executive from a gas company. -- Kelly. A

company trying to stop a disastrous gas leak. Shut down this decrepit

archaic facility so that all us families can go back to our lives!

Save the ranch! This is what the ranch looks like the state. More

than 10,000 people have left, blaming the invisible gas rolling

down the hills fought nosebleeds and breathing problems. -- these days.

Until October, this person worked from home in this recording studio

one mile from the leak. Not any more. Business has come to a

standstill. I can only work when the air is clear. I can only do that now

and then. But most times it is unbearable. Now, Erin Brokovich,

famous through a Hollywood film, has taken up the case. She says this is

America's worst environmental disaster since the BP oil spill in

Mexico in 2010. This is a BP oil spill in Mexico in 2010 on land.

They are corroded, dilapidated, in need of repair and replacement and

the need to be shut down. We have this issue all over the United

States. The gas can only be seen with an infrared camera. But the

roar from the league can be heard half a mile away. -- leak. It is

just up in the hills. It is swirling in the wind and you can occasionally

smell fumes in the air. But people say it has been much worse than

this. And all this from just one well. There are 115 on this huge

site. People who live here want it shut down. We could have shortages

of natural gas, blackouts, for electricity, that is not something

that we want to happen to the Los Angeles area. They are using this

aeroplane to analyse the extent. But, they have to stay far away so

that they do not risk sparking an explosion. This is a community

living in fear. BBC News, California. Scientists in the

Antarctic have been working on a groundbreaking project to capture

the life of a colony of England's on camera. -- penguins. They are using

remote cameras to find out the impacts of climate change on then.

We have had exclusive access to research. -- them. Her report

contains flashing images. GUITAR MUSIC. I am in Antarctica following

a team of scientists who are setting up remote cameras in penguin

colonies here. I and Tom, a scientist at Oxford University. --

am. We probably have 40 spread out. The bottomline, that takes photos

all year round, every hour. -- bottom one. The whole reason we are

here is to monitor penguins on a vast level. If we have a constant

presence in all these colonies we can look at how many chicks

survived. It is like CCTV. Seeing what happens in winter is something

you would never get to see. The partnership with tourism is really

important, isn't it quite elegant is vital. We would never have the

access without them. Tourism is a potential thing we want to monitor.

So, we measure it. Where we have looked, actually, there seems to be

very little impact of tourism. We have a close partnership. They

dropped us off where we want to go. In return, we educate their tourist

about conservation. Mostly it is to conserve penguins. Before we go

ashore, we wash our boots. We won't be taking anything into the

Antarctic. This is a Zodiac, a fast, rock the boat. We use them to get

around. They are fantastic. -- rubber. They are fast and they don't

break when they hit the rocks. They are wonderful. I work as an

expedition leader. It is incredible to see how everyone is deeply

affected by Antarctica. One of the things we love about working with

the production of scientific knowledge is that we give people the

kind of emotional attachment to the place and they provide the ground

work and relevance for people to put him that energy, you know? And then,

it leads to bigger picture questions about humanity and the planet.

PENGUIN NOISES. This is the last camera? I would say yes, for this

year, for this camera, anyway. Now, it is just turn it on and fingers

crossed. You will be back next year. Victoria hill, BBC News. And that is

all from reporters for this week. -- Hill. Remy, Phillipa Thomas,

goodbye. -- Reporters. -- From me.