13/02/2016 Reporters

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

you the best stories from across the UK -

France strikes back against IS. This all started just days after the

attacks on Paris and that is what makes this mission is all personal

for the crew. Japan and the whale, as Tokyo defies a ban on whaling, we

find out whether the Japanese love of whale meat is really justifiable.

Initially it feels like you are eating steak. Much stronger flavour.

A new dawn for the South African education system. And we ask whether

starting early as the key to the country's success. When the Paris

attacks took place, France's only aircraft carrier was on a training

mission at home. Now it is on patrol in the Persian Gulf at the heart of

the bombing campaign against IS targets, as France steps up its

response. The carrier's involvement has trebled France's firepower and

the commander of the French air campaign has told the BBC he thinks

IS is on the defensive and no longer able to win battles. We were given

access behind the scenes of the Charles de Gaulle on its mission in

the Gulf. We flew to the Charles de Gaulle by

US Navy helicopter. America is relying on its closest ally in the

Gulf. Not Britain but France. From this carrier, French warplanes have

been targeting so-called Islamic state, aka Daesh. This is the

choreography and cacophony before every sortie. Jets loaded with

weapons. Followed by the return, often with the lighter load. These

French jets have been launching wave after wave of air strikes on Islamic

state targets for the past three months. This all started just days

after the attacks on Paris. That is what makes this mission is all

personal for the crew on the Charles de Gaulle. Everyone of us knew

someone directly touched by the attacks in Paris. It is the first

time it had such a big impact. 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. France has twice as many jets flying bombing missions

as Britain. Though we weren't allowed to interview the pilots we

were given this view from their cockpit, imagery French ear strikes.

The word revenge is never mentioned but the French commander is willing

to make a bold claim. Daesh is on the defensive posture. This

organisation is now more able to win battles, to gain the territory, so

that is a clear effect of the coalition. What happened in Paris

may have given the crew the belief they cause is just, and a strong

desire for a victory, but in reality, this war is far from over.

Hunting whales is irrelevant to feeding the Japanese population,

draws global condemnation and is certainly not economic, so quite as

Japan still do it? The country's whaling fleet began catching Menke

whales in the Antarctic this week despite a ban. Tokyo said the fleet

back saying whaling is an integral part of Japanese culture that has

been carried out for centuries, but as we have been finding out it may

not be as much a part of the Japanese way of life as we have been

led to believe. There is no else like the Tokyo fish

market, by far the biggest in the world. That is because Japan is

still the world's biggest consumer of seafood. The variety is

extraordinary. But I have come to find whale meat and this is my

guide. Today there's very little sale. This is IS we'll meet and this

is from endangered fin whale. -- Minki whale meat. The owner tells me

he sells at all to restaurants. The factors Japanese people do not eat

whale meat any more. It has been falling for years. It gets at most

four dozen tonnes of whale meat a year, but even as the number of

whales caught goes down, the price doesn't go up. The Japanese

government says whale hunting has been part of Japanese culture for

centuries but the truth is Japan only begun large-scale hunting in

the Antarctic after the Second World War when this country was hungry and

they desperately needed animal protein. As soon as Japan became

rich in the 1970s and 80s people lost their appetite, and today only

a tiny percentage of people continue to eat it.

This is all raw. People like my old friend, he grew up in western Japan

and as a child he loved eating this, but he'd never tasted beef or pork.

In my childhood. Every day. Meat means whale meat. It is with some

trepidation that I take my first mouthful of whale steak. Initially,

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

gamy. It is certainly not what I'd call delicious and even he agrees.

The last time he ate whale meat was almost five years ago. I don't need

to catch whales any more because there is no custom to eat the whales

in Japan, the beef is much better taste. 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. If you have limited resources which

level of education should you invest in? It is a question countries are

grappling with around the globe. In poorer countries preschool education

often get left behind but some countries like South Africa and

investing more in nursery schools. We report now from Johannesburg were

starting early is now being seen as the key to success.

The DA begins with player and the national anthem. Teaching

preschoolers to be patriotically vote is important that this school.

Social values are the basis on which this was built in 1963. Across town

lies the privately owned Buttercup preschool. It caters mainly for the

children of a new middle class. They produce their creative work which is

the cutting and pasting skills and they are experimenting with colour

and shape and form an different textures. At $3000 per year, fees at

the Buttercup preschool are ten times higher than those in Soweto

but the curriculum is quite similar, but this is funded by government

subsidies and borders. Unemployment in the area is highly. They give us

ten children who are paying nothing, just take your child the street.

South Africa's National education system has been described as a

national catastrophe and even the minister in charge concurs. In

trying to develop the problem aim of the money has been directed to a

high school education but now there is a recognition that perhaps the

best place to start is at the school. Education makes up a

sizeable portion of government spending, nearly per 10% in total.

What they are doing at the moment is to focus on the quality. We want all

our centres to teach the same thing and eventually we want to produce

30,000. The government's solution is to create a skilled workforce so

that -- because investors said they training of productivity are the

biggest weaknesses in the South African economy. So as the Lord's

play they are not aware of the challenges ahead of them and trust

innocently that their future is guaranteed. And that's all from

reporters for this week, from me, goodbye for now.