13/02/2016 Reporters

From here in the BBC Newsroom we send out correspondents to bring

you the best stories from across the globe.

Ukraine's second winter of war. Fergal Keane returns to the village

where the fighting is still going on and it is the villagers who are

determined to stay. Conditions are much harder than we last visited.

France strikes back against IS, Jonathan Beale joins a French

carrier in the Gulf after it intensifies its response following

the Paris attacks. This started is after the attacks in Paris and that

is what makes this mission so personal for the crew here. A new

dawn for South Africa's education system. We ask whether starting

early is the key to the country's success. Japan and the whale as

Tokyo defies a ban on whaling, we find out whether the Japanese love

will need is really ending. -- of whale meat. Initially it feels like

you are eating steak but much stronger flavour, very much like

game. We look back on a secret special relationship. 75 years after

the US and Britain joined forces to crack codes in World War II, their

modern-day spy chiefs returned. There is no force a relationship and

it is the rock of our security. It is a years in a deal was signed to

bring peace to Ukraine, the Minsk agreement was meant to end the war

between Ukrainian government and Russian backed rebels in which 9000

people were killed and 2 million people fled their homes but these

fire monitors in the east of the country say they have seen an

increase in the level of violence in some areas, Fergal Keane has been

reporting on the conflict since it began 18 months ago. He has returned

to the battle area around done yet airport. -- Donetsk airport and the

village abandoned by all but a handful of its residents.

The war was always a story of disposition. On the front nine,

Ukrainians hope to reconquer lost territory. And a handful of

civilians on the dangerous lanes behind the shoulders -- soldiers.

These are the winter lines, one of the most fought over villages in the

world. And when we came last May in a remarkable couple, Anatoly, the

beekeeper and his wife Svetlana, the refused to abandon their home and

precious garden. We have come back to find out how they are coping. The

second winter of the war has brought despondency.

You seem much angrier and much sadder about the situation in

Ukraine. There are only 18 people left ear

out of the prewar population of 2000. Conditions are much harder

than when we last visited, fire you staying?

Neighbour Sonia has moved on one abandoned house to another after her

phone was destroyed. She cares for her 53-year-old mentally and

physically disabled. In June is this not have it, it is what is left when

there is no other choice. Fence over first visit newly two

years ago, the demonstrations and civil disorder gave way to all-out

war. More than 9000 people have been killed, more than 2 million

displaced. The front line is dividing communities and families.

Every night in Donetsk, the sounds of battle echo. And it is here we

met Tatiana, the daughter of Svetlana and Anatoly her job as an

engineer vanished with the war, now she makes and sells dolls for a

living. You must worry a lot about your parents.

This is what passes for peace in the belief that tones of the East. --

the leader. These are the survivors of the Soviet empire's collapse. The

war reaches into the mind of the old and the young. Elena and their son

who has a muscle wasting disease and six-year-old Sonia survived the

shelling of their home. Before that they try to hide the reality of war

from her daughter. What do you do when it is shooting

and bombing? Everybody waits for the next move

from Moscow or Kiev. Nobody believes this war is over.

When the Paris attacks took those, France's on the aircraft carrier,

the Charles de Gaulle was on a training mission at home. Note it is

on patrol in the Persian Gulf at the heart of the bombing campaign

against IS targets in Iraq and Syria as France steps up its response. The

carrier's involvement has triple France's firepower on the commander

of the veggie air campaign has told the BBC he thinks IS is on the

defensive and no longer able to win battles. -- the commander of

France's air campaign. We flew to the Charles de Gaulle via

US Navy helicopter, Americans rely on its closest ally in the Gulf, not

Britain but France. From this carrier, French warplanes have been

targeting so-called Islamic State, also known

this is the choreography. And cacophony before every sortie. Jets

loaded with weapons followed by the return, often with not much left.

These jets have been lunching with after wave of air on Islamic state

targets, starting just days after the attacks on Paris and this is

what makes this mission so personal for the crew on the Charles de

Gaulle. Of us knew somebody was directly touched by the attacks in

Paris, so it is the first time it has a big impact and the crew are

determined. The links to the capital were already close, the decks below

named after Paris streets. Now the Thais have become stronger with

schoolchildren sending in pictures and letters to inspire the crew. Men

like Serbia, who is responsible for maintaining the Jets on board. I am

happy to be on board -- Xavier. I am happy to say that I was part of this

victory against IS. France has twice as many jets flying bombing missions

as Britain but we weren't allowed to interview the pilots, we were given

this view from the cockpit and imagery from strikes. The French

commander is willing to talk. IS is no longer able to win battles more

to gain territory 's, that is a clear effect. What happened in Paris

may have given the crudely belief their cause is just and a strong

desire for victory. In reality, this war is far from over.

Irish police are setting up a permanent armed support unit in

Dublin after the city found itself in the middle of the gang war this

week and it follows two killings including one at a boxing contest

which police believe is the result of a conflict between two of the

city's criminal gangs. Some servers will eat Dublin is on the verge of

the most dangerous duty in Irish history. -- some observers.

The latest to die in Dublin. The body of Eddie Hutch, shot dead in

his own home. This city has seen two murders in four days, police are

investigating a feud train two organised gangs and in the middle,

ordinary people. What is your fear? That it could be anybody, you just

don't know. You don't know who is going to be next. They seem to be

getting away with it. Sandra has lived here all her life and it feels

like the guns and gangs are taking over. They need to tackle the drug

lords because they are destroying this city and the kids of the city.

Who has been caught up in this violence? There is the Hutch family,

Gerry Hutch, a reformed criminal, lost his brother and nephew and as

Ireland's most victorious gangster, multimillionaire who now lives in

Spain. September Gary Hutchinson murdered in Marbella and then hit

men disguised as police with AK-47 stormed the Regency Hotel and killed

David Byrne, a loyal friend. Eddie Hutch was shot nine times in his

home. We were on the verge of the most dangerous feud in Irish

history. Michael Toole has investigated the gangs for decades

and believes they are more powerful now than ever. The pan-European

operation and the target of several European police forces, the Empire

is Wattel round a billion euros, supply most of the drugs to island,

a massive operation. This is a dangerous moment because nobody

knows what will happen next. Killings are being ordered without

fear, a sense that those at the top do not care and believe that they

are untouchable. Irish police said this hotel attack represented a new

low for Dublin's criminal gangs and many fear more violence. Vela people

don't feel safe now. The way things are carrying on. This man was

friends with Eddie Hutch, too scared to show his face, his concern is

that more will be killed. What happens next? It is very dangerous

now. There might be one tomorrow. Might be four murders. Police still

haven't rolled out dissident Irish republicans and say this is now an

international investigation to take on the gangs.

If you have limited resources, which level of education should you invest

in, it is a question that countries are grappling with around the globe,

in poorer nations, preschool education often gets left behind but

with new UN goals seeing teaching the youngest should be a strategic

objective, some countries like South Africa are investing more in nursery

schools stop. In Johannesburg, starting early is seen as the key to

success. The day begins with a prayer and the

National anthem. Increase coolers to be patriotically proud is important

at this school. Early involvement is important to any child because you

managed to develop the child and have the child self-esteem before

going to school. Social values are the basis on which this school was

built in 1963. Across town lies the privately owned Buttercup Riesgo, it

caters mainly for the children of the new middle-class. Start off with

the mourning ring and then produce creative work, they're cutting and

pasting skills, experimenting with colour, shape, form and different

textures. At $3000 per year, these are fees that are ten times higher

than that in Soweto but the curriculum is quite similar. The

Soweto creche is partly funded through government subsidies and

donors. Unemployment in the area is high. They give us ten children who

have paid nothing, just to take a child from the street to be able to

get four meals per day and play with her OS. Poverty is a serious problem

in South Africa so the government has stepped up its welfare

programmes. South Africa's education system has been for the national

catastrophe and even the minister in charge concurs. To try to avert the

problem from a lot of money has been diverted into high school education

but now there is recognition that perhaps the best place to start is

at preschool. Education makes up a sizeable portion of governments

bending, nearly 10% in total. -- government spending. We have to

focus on the quality. We want all our schools to teach the same things

and we want to produce 30,000 by 2030. The government wants to create

a skilled workforce because investors say that poor training and

low productivity are the biggest weaknesses in the South African

economy. As these toddlers play, they are not aware of the challenges

ahead of them. The trust innocently but their future is guaranteed.

Hunting whales is relevant for the Japanese population and it was

global combination and it is not economic so why do Japan still do

it. The company's whaling fleet began catching Wales and the

Antarctic this week despite a ban against it, they said that whaling

is an integral part of Japanese culture that has been carried out

for centuries. As we have been finding out, it might not be as much

a part of the Japanese way of life as we are led to believe.

There is nowhere else like this, Tokyo's famously chaotic fish market

is by far the biggest in the world. That is because Japan is still the

world's biggest consumer of seafood. The varieties you is extraordinary.

But I have come to find whale meat and this lady is my guide. I need

her, in this past market there are only two small stands but still sell

it. Today there is very little for sale. This is minty quail, this is

from endangered fin whale. The owner tells me he sells about 20

kilograms per day, all to restaurants. TRANSLATION: The fact

is that Japanese people do not eat whale meat any more, it has been

falling for years, Japan get at most 4000 tonnes of whale meat per year

but even as the number whales caught was done, the price of meat does not

go up. The Japanese government says that whale hunting has been part of

Japanese culture for centuries but the truth is that Japan only be can

large-scale hunting of whales in the Antarctic after the Second World War

when this country was hungry and the desperately needed animal protein.

As soon as Japan became rich in the 1970s and 80s, people here lost

their appetite for whale meat and today only a tiny percentage of

people continue to eat it. This is sashimi, this is all. People

like Mike old friend, he grew up in western Japan and as a child he

loved eating this. But he had never tasted beef or pork. In my

childhood, every day. The meat was whale meat. It is with some

trepidation that I take my first mouthful of whale steak.

Initially feels like you are eating steak but much stronger flavour, it

is very much like game. Quite chewy. It is certainly not what I would

call delicious and even my friend agrees. The last 28 whale meat was

more than five years ago. They don't need to catch whales any more

because there is no custom to beat Wales in Japan. The is much better

taste than Wales. You try whale steaks, it is very clear. Beefsteak

is much better. Better taste, better meet. And yet Japan is back in the

Antarctic hunting whales again. This annual hunt costs Japanese taxpayers

tens of millions of dollars. But it has nothing to do with Japanese

culture. It was 75 years ago this week that

the group of Americans travelled to Britain on a top-secret wartime

mission. The destination was a country estate near Oxford Kolb

Bletchley Park. That was led to one of the most important intelligence

relationships in history. The two countries spy chiefs mark the

anniversary with the unique return visit. We joined them as they went

back to Bletchley. Two of the most powerful spy chiefs in the world.

Marking the birth of a special relationship. The head of America's

NSA and Britain's GCHQ arrived at Bletchley Park 75 years on from

another American visit which paved the way for the codebreakers of

today. Four Americans came here on a secret mission in 1941, before

America had even entered the Second World War. The current directors

were shown around the recreated office where they met British

counterparts after a dangerous crossing. We sailed down the East

Coast strafed by German fighter aircraft, driven through bombed out

docs and then through the blackout to country house what would have

seemed like the middle of nowhere to be greeted by a lady carrying a tray

with lots of glasses of sherry. The Americans were here to share their

success against Japanese codes whilst the British reveal their

secret that they had broken the German Enigma machine. We had the

content of expertise, you learn from each other, perhaps the Americans

learned more from the British colleagues but we had strengths

against Japanese targets and the British had not yet had the time of

the manpower to develop. Of course, the British had deep insight into

German cryptology that the Americans had no concept. 75 years ago Britain

and America were here side-by-side breaking codes. And the trust and

close relationship built during those years persisted into the Cold

War and through to the modern day. Building one of the closest

intelligence relationships the world has seen. Today GCHQ's" Britain with

the NSA is controversial in some quarters. The revelations of Edward

Snowden raised questions about the skill and secrecy of their sharing

of data. The two organisations's directors said the alliance was

Michael. You'll there is no doubt, each of us consider the other an

ally and we are facing global challenges. Nobody can face this

alone and it is now closer relationship. 75 years on, this

relationship is one that has lasted but which still remains largely

secret. ? That is all from Reporters. From

me, Alice Baxter, goodbye for now.