:00:00. > :00:18.Now on BBC News it's time for Reporters.
:00:19. > :00:23.Welcome to Reporters, I'm Phillipa Thomas, from here in the world's
:00:24. > :00:28.newsroom, we send our correspondents to bring you the best stories from
:00:29. > :00:38.around the globe. In this week's programme, a scar on India. Naomi
:00:39. > :00:41.Grimley reports on the women who're victims of acid attacks. After
:00:42. > :00:48.seeing the mirror, I howled and screamed so much. I said things like
:00:49. > :00:54."my face has been ruined" and "it would have been better if I died".
:00:55. > :00:58.Hard times for Russia. Steve Rosenberg reports from Siberia on
:00:59. > :01:05.the economic crisis. He's hounded by pro-Kremlin media who blame the West
:01:06. > :01:09.and the BBC for the country's woes. By now it's clear that we are being
:01:10. > :01:12.followed. Everywhere we seem to go, local television comes along with
:01:13. > :01:20.us. The camera suits her...
:01:21. > :01:25.Sex and the disabled. Comedian Romina Puma talks frankly to people
:01:26. > :01:31.about disabilities about how they feel their sexuality needs are
:01:32. > :01:35.ignored. I would have people saying nasty things, parents pulling
:01:36. > :01:38.children away from me. If you have no confidence, how are you ever
:01:39. > :01:45.going to have a sexual relationship? They say we get the leaders we
:01:46. > :01:49.deserve. And, murder, back stabbing and corruption in the American
:01:50. > :01:55.presidential election, but it's not the real thing. We meet Kevin Spacey
:01:56. > :01:58.as he's honoured at the National Portrait Gallery. The most
:01:59. > :02:03.satisfying aspect is when people talk to me about the character I
:02:04. > :02:08.played as if it's a three dimensional person.
:02:09. > :02:15.It's the ultimate act of malice committed by a man on a woman, every
:02:16. > :02:19.year hundreds of Indian women are victims of acid attacks, and its use
:02:20. > :02:24.as a weapon against women seems to be getting worse. It's often a
:02:25. > :02:28.vicious response to rejection of marriage offers or sexual advances
:02:29. > :02:32.and it destroys the women's lives. Victims are frequently shunned by
:02:33. > :02:37.their own communities, even their own families. But one charity is
:02:38. > :02:41.trying to help acid attack victims to get back their confidence and
:02:42. > :02:45.their lives. Naomi Grimley has been to visit the project and meet some
:02:46. > :02:52.of the women. You may find some images in her report distressing.
:02:53. > :02:58.Faces scarred irreversibly. Lives changed for ever by acid attacks.
:02:59. > :03:03.But these women are very much survivors, not victims. And part of
:03:04. > :03:12.their recovery process is to tell their stories to the outside world.
:03:13. > :03:17.In the shadow of the Taj Mahal, they've found a sanctuary of
:03:18. > :03:22.normality in this cafe set up by a local charity.
:03:23. > :03:29.Like any other waitresses, they take orders from tables and chat to the
:03:30. > :03:36.steady stream of back-packers who pass through town.
:03:37. > :03:43.Rani is the newest arrival and the story of her attack which left her
:03:44. > :03:47.blind is all too familiar. TRANSLATION: There was a boy. He
:03:48. > :03:52.loved me. It was one-sided love and he used to follow me around. One day
:03:53. > :03:56.he accosted me in the street and tried to force himself on me. I
:03:57. > :04:01.slapped him. That made him angry. So after a few days, he attacked me
:04:02. > :04:05.with acid. My family blamed me. They wanted me
:04:06. > :04:08.to agree to that man and let him do as he pleased.
:04:09. > :04:13.But I didn't want to be involved in the trappings of love or marriage, I
:04:14. > :04:17.wanted to study. Rani says the women at the cafe have
:04:18. > :04:24.given her the strength and support she didn't get from her own family.
:04:25. > :04:28.Working here isn't just about earning a living, it's also about
:04:29. > :04:33.regaining a life and because many of the women here were scarred when
:04:34. > :04:39.they were very, very young, rediscovering their confidence is
:04:40. > :04:42.part of the key to survival. These women have already become
:04:43. > :04:47.local celebrities. Here, they're filming a video for the cafe
:04:48. > :04:52.website. Dolly was just 12 when she was
:04:53. > :04:58.attacked, yet another case of a rejected suitor. She recalls the
:04:59. > :05:03.moment she first saw her face. TRANSLATION: After seeing the
:05:04. > :05:10.mirror, I cried and howled and screamed so much. I said things like
:05:11. > :05:15."my face has been ruined. And "it would have been better if I died,
:05:16. > :05:19.why did you save me? " But my mother told me that I'm still beautiful, I
:05:20. > :05:26.don't cover my face any more, I live my life my way. I like that I have a
:05:27. > :05:29.job here. I like that my parents feel proud of my work and in the
:05:30. > :05:35.fact that I'm standing on my own feet.
:05:36. > :05:41.Back in the cafe, I meet mother and daughter Gita and Nitu. Gita's
:05:42. > :05:46.husband ang ray that he had no heir threw acid on both of them when Nitu
:05:47. > :05:51.was three. In some communes they might have been kept out of sight.
:05:52. > :05:54.Not here. TRANSLATION: I just think victims
:05:55. > :06:00.and survivors should not sit at home. They should shoe the attacker
:06:01. > :06:03.that you think you have ruined my life but my life is not ruined.
:06:04. > :06:05.Whatever your dreams are, you should keep at fulfilling them. Don't hide
:06:06. > :06:16.because you have done nothing wrong. TRANSLATION: What I feel because of
:06:17. > :06:21.working here is that people now love us. Even the people that wouldn't
:06:22. > :06:24.speak to us earlier now do. I feel that we are finally respected. I
:06:25. > :06:26.felt earlier like I didn't have a family and now I have such a big
:06:27. > :06:36.family. As evening falls, Dolly and her
:06:37. > :06:40.colleague chat and laugh about the maces they would like to go and the
:06:41. > :06:47.things they want to do. Their advice to other women who've been scarred
:06:48. > :06:48.is, try and look forward, not back. Disfigured once yes, but empowered
:06:49. > :06:58.now too. Through its military operation in
:06:59. > :07:03.Syria, Moscow has been projecting the image of a Russia reborn, a
:07:04. > :07:07.global power to rival America. Back home though, problems are mounting
:07:08. > :07:14.for President Putin. The economy has been hit by a falling oil price and
:07:15. > :07:17.western sanctions. For now, Mr Putin himself remains popular, but falling
:07:18. > :07:22.living standards are fuelling criticism of the authorities. Steve
:07:23. > :07:26.Rosenberg travelled to Siberia and found some of the pro-Kremlin media
:07:27. > :07:38.blaming the West for Russia's economic woes.
:07:39. > :07:46.Dawn in the icy heart of Russia. Sleely, almost imperceptibly,
:07:47. > :07:51.Siberia stares. Falling oil prices and Western sanctions have made life
:07:52. > :08:00.tougher here. Russia's economic crisis is biting like the cold.
:08:01. > :08:07.For this family, crisis means cutting back on the weekly shop. We
:08:08. > :08:13.used to buy quite a lot. Now only sometimes I can buy just one, only
:08:14. > :08:20.one piece, not a kilo. We used to buy three packets of
:08:21. > :08:23.milk, now we take one. Well, cheese, I don't buy it because it's
:08:24. > :08:29.expensive for me. We have a lot of oil, we are a very
:08:30. > :08:35.rich country. We have a lot of mineral resources, yes, but we live
:08:36. > :08:42.poor. Really poor. Economic problems are fuelling
:08:43. > :08:48.frustration. We find the local Communist Party
:08:49. > :08:53.out on Lenin sqhair. They're demanding bigger pensions and better
:08:54. > :08:56.government -- Lenin Square. TRANSLATION: I like our President,
:08:57. > :09:02.but he doesn't show his people enough attention. He's too busy with
:09:03. > :09:06.Foreign Affairs. Russians are a famously patient
:09:07. > :09:11.society. They also traditionally trust the man at top, whether that's
:09:12. > :09:15.the czar or the President. But protests like this one are a warning
:09:16. > :09:18.to the Kremlin, that with the economy getting worse, people's
:09:19. > :09:27.patience is running thin. And how do the authorities react to
:09:28. > :09:33.this criticism? By blaming the West. We are hounded by pro-Kremlin TV
:09:34. > :09:40.channels here. This one accuses the BBC of telling lies, of discrediting
:09:41. > :09:44.rush Russia and its President. Next day, we arrange to meet the head of
:09:45. > :09:50.a local Internet company who's been hit by the economic crisis. Business
:09:51. > :09:56.is shrinking. Unfortunately, I have to say that a lot of companies is
:09:57. > :10:02.closing today. Then look who turns up, and barges
:10:03. > :10:09.in. He demands to know what our report is about. Well by now it's
:10:10. > :10:14.clear we have been followed. Everywhere we seem toe go, local
:10:15. > :10:17.television comes along with us. On TV that evening, we are headline
:10:18. > :10:39.news. Back home from the supermarket,
:10:40. > :10:45.Marina tells me she doesn't blame the West for Russia's problems.
:10:46. > :10:53.TRANSLATION: I think our country should be rich and it should go
:10:54. > :11:01.another way. I'm not understanding all processes. I feel inside that
:11:02. > :11:06.something is wrong. People here don't want another
:11:07. > :11:08.Russian revolution. All they want is a better life for their families and
:11:09. > :11:21.a secure future. Calais has long been seen as a
:11:22. > :11:25.gateway between France and England. But it's now become a purgatory for
:11:26. > :11:29.thousands of migrants stuck among its sand dunes. The French
:11:30. > :11:34.authorities now want what they see as the squalor of the camp known as
:11:35. > :11:38.the Jungle cleared and they've begun its partial closure. Gabriel gate
:11:39. > :11:41.house visited the camp as hundreds of residents were given a deadline
:11:42. > :11:45.to leave and the bulldozers moved in.
:11:46. > :11:50.They're cold, the mornings in the jungle. The wind whips in off the
:11:51. > :11:54.coast, blowing with it the elusive promise of a new life from the other
:11:55. > :11:59.side of the channel. But the bulldozers are ready and there's the
:12:00. > :12:02.threat of change in the air. Many people spend the nights trying
:12:03. > :12:10.to cross, so mornings are usually quiet.
:12:11. > :12:13.But not this morning. Volunteers are trying to make as much noise as
:12:14. > :12:19.possible. We are here this morning trying to make sure that the maximum
:12:20. > :12:22.number of people are out of their shelters to give an idea of the
:12:23. > :12:27.number of people who 're actually in the southern part of the camp. A
:12:28. > :12:30.magistrate will visit the camp to decide whether to give the go-ahead
:12:31. > :12:35.to the authorities who want to dismantle it. Refugee charities say
:12:36. > :12:41.they have drastically underestimated the numbers. We know there are over
:12:42. > :12:45.300 unaccompanied children in this part of the camp alone. If the
:12:46. > :12:50.bulldozers arrive and the volunteer who is work with the children here
:12:51. > :12:52.every day lose track of them, then they're effectively lost in the
:12:53. > :12:57.system, we don't know what will happen to them.
:12:58. > :13:04.The magistrate arrives and is treated to a chaotic guided Tour of
:13:05. > :13:07.The Jungle. The issue is whether the authorities have the official
:13:08. > :13:11.capacity to accommodate these people. There is a lot of commotion
:13:12. > :13:18.here as the judge has come to visit the camp. Her purpose really is to
:13:19. > :13:23.check for numbers. The authorities want to move the inhabitants of the
:13:24. > :13:26.jungle into this fenced off area. But campaigners have carried out a
:13:27. > :13:30.census in the camp and they say the population is three times the
:13:31. > :13:35.official estimate. Plus, most people don't seem to like
:13:36. > :13:41.the look of these shipping contain. What will you do if they bulldoze
:13:42. > :13:45.this camp? You know, I don't know, but I have to go. They say you could
:13:46. > :13:50.live in these containers, you don't want to do that? If I live in
:13:51. > :13:55.container, that means I'm going to make asylum in France. You don't
:13:56. > :13:59.want to do that? For sure. Why not? Because as I told you, France they
:14:00. > :14:02.do not believe that we are in danger, that we are in war, and they
:14:03. > :14:06.don't believe our cares and problems. And you think that Britain
:14:07. > :14:12.will be more sympathetic. I guess so. I believe in that.
:14:13. > :14:16.Rightly or wrongly, almost everyone here thinks life would be better in
:14:17. > :14:23.Britain than in France. Most have little or no connection to the UK,
:14:24. > :14:25.but some do and they are not encouraged by the magistrates'
:14:26. > :14:33.visit. What do you think will happen now? I think the Jungle will finish.
:14:34. > :14:36.There was no reaction, nothing positive from the magistrate. From
:14:37. > :14:40.her body language you could tell? Yes. What are you going to do now? I
:14:41. > :14:44.don't know, probably be on the street or something. Go on the
:14:45. > :14:48.street? Yes. There are no other choices. Where are you from?
:14:49. > :14:54.Afghanistan. You speak very good English? Yes, I was a translator in
:14:55. > :15:00.Afghanistan. Who for? The The British Army.
:15:01. > :15:05.It might seem perverse for people to be so attached to this mud and
:15:06. > :15:09.tarpaulin settlement on Europe's northern edge, but there is a real
:15:10. > :15:14.sense of community in the jungle. There are English lessons in the
:15:15. > :15:19.warmth of a heated classroom. There's a library called perhaps
:15:20. > :15:23.inevitably Jungle Books where people while away the hours in-between
:15:24. > :15:27.attempts to cross the channel. There are restaurants and barber shops,
:15:28. > :15:32.even a theatre housed in a dome-shaped tent which has become
:15:33. > :15:36.the Jungle's unofficial Town Hall. It's never been our argument that
:15:37. > :15:41.this jungle should remain. We have been here for five months and I've
:15:42. > :15:45.always said the conditions here are not worthy of any human being. The
:15:46. > :15:49.disease and mental illness we are seeing, it's a treacherous place,
:15:50. > :15:53.but at the same time, they are trying to evict so many people with
:15:54. > :15:56.such a short amount of time for them to find somewhere else to go, it's
:15:57. > :16:02.crazy. Most people who live here aware that
:16:03. > :16:06.conditions are far from ideal, but there's a lot of resistance to
:16:07. > :16:10.leaving, not only because of the sense of community that's built up
:16:11. > :16:15.here, but also because doing so would take them one step further
:16:16. > :16:18.away from their goal. They've travelled thousands of miles
:16:19. > :16:21.to get this far, often with great danger and expense, they are not
:16:22. > :16:27.about to give up now. Where are you going? What are you trying to do?
:16:28. > :16:31.Trying to go to London. London? Yes. Day in day out they hide
:16:32. > :16:38.themselveses in the backs of lorries trying to get across. Most of the
:16:39. > :16:44.time they get caught. It's a little over an hour's journey
:16:45. > :16:49.from here to Lord's cricket ground. These people are so close. And yet,
:16:50. > :16:54.the prospect of attaining their goal seems to slip further and further
:16:55. > :16:59.into the distance where the bulldozers are waiting.
:17:00. > :17:04.Being told you're not sexual, that you have to accept you can't have
:17:05. > :17:07.sex, seeing friends visibly recoil when the topic is raised, well
:17:08. > :17:12.that's the kind of thing some disabled people say they face on a
:17:13. > :17:16.regular basis. For many people, sex or the lack of
:17:17. > :17:24.it isn't an issue, but for others it can be, and that leads to feelings
:17:25. > :17:28.of isolation. Romina Puma is a comedian diagnosed with muscular
:17:29. > :17:32.dystrophy ten years ago and has used a wheelchair for the last three
:17:33. > :17:37.years. She's talked to people about disabilities and what for many is a
:17:38. > :17:42.taboo subject. Her film contains frank sexual conversations from the
:17:43. > :17:45.very beginning. Now, I have muscular dystrophy which
:17:46. > :17:52.is Sa rare muscle waste condition. To give you an idea of the effects
:17:53. > :17:55.it has on me is like my facial muscles are falling down, and so is
:17:56. > :17:59.my vagina. Until a few years ago, my life was
:18:00. > :18:04.pretty normal. I used to have a boyfriend, I used to go out on the
:18:05. > :18:07.pull, get with guys, but then my condition got worse and I started to
:18:08. > :18:11.use a wheelchair. Sense s since then, it's been very difficult to
:18:12. > :18:17.have sex. Guys just aren't as interested.
:18:18. > :18:20.I want to know if our society is ignoring disabled people's rights to
:18:21. > :18:25.sex. To learn more, I'm off to Sheffield
:18:26. > :18:42.to meet one couple who lived with their disabilities from birth.
:18:43. > :18:49.When you don't look the same as everybody else, people are afraid of
:18:50. > :18:54.that. I had people around me saying nasty things, I would have parents
:18:55. > :18:58.pulling their children away from me, so that kind of destroys your
:18:59. > :19:02.confidence quite a lot. If you have to confidence, how are you ever
:19:03. > :19:10.going to have a sexual relationship? I pushed it aside, because in my own
:19:11. > :19:18.mind, I was totally undesirable. How was it meeting Shital? We were
:19:19. > :19:23.friends years before we met and Jamie knew who I was and who I am
:19:24. > :19:30.and, as we got together and developed our relationship, we had
:19:31. > :19:36.sexual confidence with each other. And how has this relationship
:19:37. > :19:41.changed you? We've got that stability and you get somebody who
:19:42. > :19:44.is there for you no matter what, that makes you happier and more
:19:45. > :19:47.confident. There is no way I'm ever going to be able to do all the
:19:48. > :19:51.positions in the Kama Sutra, but hey, show me a person that can! I
:19:52. > :19:58.think what's more important is that we are actually happy together. What
:19:59. > :20:03.would you like to say to the people who still don't recognise the fact
:20:04. > :20:08.that even if we are disabled, we still need and want a sex life? We
:20:09. > :20:13.are absolutely no different no anybody else, we are human with the
:20:14. > :20:18.same needs, wants, desires, as anybody else. Until disabled people
:20:19. > :20:28.are seen as that, the rest isn't going to happen.
:20:29. > :20:40.I was doing some research and I found the Kama Sutra for disabled.
:20:41. > :20:45.Even from my comedy, I'm trying to raise awareness and, you know, I
:20:46. > :20:51.hope that we are going to get to the point where we are going to be
:20:52. > :20:57.considered like any other person and not just, you know, a disabled
:20:58. > :21:02.person. Romina, Puma reporting. The National
:21:03. > :21:09.Portrait Gallery in Washington has a complete painting of US Presidents.
:21:10. > :21:13.Now there's also an impostor on the walls, Frank Underwood, the
:21:14. > :21:18.fictitious President from the House of Cards played by Kevin Spacey. It
:21:19. > :21:21.raises questions about the crossover between popular culture and
:21:22. > :21:26.politics, something many observers of the current presidentern campaign
:21:27. > :21:34.have been pondering. Jane O'Brien went to meet President Underwood.
:21:35. > :21:47.They say we get the leaders we deserve... The political
:21:48. > :21:51.machinations of Frank Underwood have mesmerized audiences for years. Now
:21:52. > :21:57.his character, played by Kevin Spacey, has stepped off the screen
:21:58. > :22:00.and on to canvas at Washington's National Portrait Gallery. I suppose
:22:01. > :22:05.I shalled be pleased that I'm going to be hung in our nation's attic. Of
:22:06. > :22:09.course if they knew what was in my basement, they wouldn't hang me so
:22:10. > :22:13.close to Lincoln, they would hang me next to Booth instead. It was
:22:14. > :22:17.unveiled at a gala with all the razzamatazz of show business. Who is
:22:18. > :22:24.in that portrait, Frank Underwood or Kevin Spacey? Frank Underwood. This
:22:25. > :22:30.to me is the most satisfying aspect of what I'm able to do for a living,
:22:31. > :22:33.is when people talk to me about the character I played, as if it's a
:22:34. > :22:39.three-dimensional person. The painting is the work of one of
:22:40. > :22:42.Britain's leading portrait artists Jonathan Yoe who's painted Spacey in
:22:43. > :22:47.character before. You are trying to find the inner truth of someone,
:22:48. > :22:49.trying to unmask them and get through to who they are, whether
:22:50. > :22:53.it's something they are trying to show you or not. The actors are
:22:54. > :22:57.basically in the deception business, trying to convince you that they are
:22:58. > :23:01.someone else. The better they do their job, the harder it is for me
:23:02. > :23:06.to do mine in a sense. The gallery has a long tradition of showing
:23:07. > :23:09.actors in character, but rarely have the lines between reality, fantasy
:23:10. > :23:15.and contemporary culture been so completely blurred. This whole event
:23:16. > :23:19.is utterly surreal. You have a genuine work of art by a real
:23:20. > :23:23.British artist of an actor pretending to be an American
:23:24. > :23:28.President against the backdrop of an actual race for the White House
:23:29. > :23:33.that's had so many different plots, twists add turns, that frankly, the
:23:34. > :23:38.producers of the House of Cards couldn't have made up. It's a life
:23:39. > :23:41.of imitating art. Season four of House of Cards seeing Frank
:23:42. > :23:47.Underwood campaigning for re-election. I'm Frank Underwood and
:23:48. > :23:51.I approve this message... So what does he or Spacey think of the real
:23:52. > :23:57.thing? Americans generally get it right and we'll probably figure it
:23:58. > :24:04.out. We'll look back on this time and go, wow, that was crazy. There
:24:05. > :24:08.have been times when the presidential rest's felt like
:24:09. > :24:12.episodes of the House of Cards, hopefully though no-one will vote
:24:13. > :24:15.for Frank underwood! That's all from Reporters for this week, from me,
:24:16. > :24:22.Phillipa Thomas, for now goodbye.