03/09/2016 Reporters

Welcome to Reporters, I'm Philippa Thomas.

From here in the world's newsroom we send out correspondents to bring

you the best stories from across the globe.

In this week's programme...

The Philippines' deadly war on drugs.

Jonathan Head joins a police prison raid and finds drug addicts

and dealers filling the cells to escape the death squads.

The focus at the moment, as with so much of this campaign,

is people at the very bottom of the trade,

not the people running it.

On the front line in Libya's war against the so-called Islamic State.

Feras Kilani joins pro-government forces besieging the strategic city

of Sirte, seized by IS a year ago.

The anti-government forces have mobilised all their ability, really.

To retake the last two districts still under Isis control.

Closer to extinction.

As Africa's elephant population falls, Alistair Leithead joins

the mammoth operation to carry out the first ever aerial census

and finds the poachers are still a big problem.

We have been flying along this flood plain that divides Namibia

and Botswana and all the way along here we have been seeing

carcasses of elephants.

I am a Romany Gypsy.

I am fiercely proud of my identity.

Jeremy Cooke meets Britain's Romany Gypsies fighting

to save their traditional way of life.

And the secret life of birds.

Victoria Gill gets exclusive access to the scientists shedding new light

on the mysteries of flight.

Wind tunnels have been used for a long time to study bird flight

but the new thing about this one is that with this device, they can

manipulate the airflow to recreate any environment on Earth.

There has been an unprecedented rise in the murder rate in

the Philippines after the country's new president won power promising

tough action in the war on drugs.

But Rodrigo Duterte's critics say his hard-line tactics

include turning a blind eye to extrajudicial killings.

One campaign promise included a pledge to kill 100,000 criminals

in his first six months in office, while nearly 2000 people have

died in the seven weeks since the crackdown began.

Police say hundreds of thousands of dealers and drug users have

turned themselves in.

Jonathan Head joined the police as they raided one

of the biggest prisons in Manila.

The war on drugs is reaching all corners of the Philippines.

Even here, in the jails.

Many of these men are already serving long sentences for drug use

in cells so packed with bodies it is hard to breathe.

It says something about the extent of the drug problem here

in the Philippines that the police have had to come here and raid one

of the biggest prisons around Manila.

There are clearly concerns about real drug problems

here but the focus at the moment, as with so much of this campaign,

is people at the very bottom of the trade,

not the people running it.

At least here they can stay alive.

But not here.

The bodies of dealers and addicts are discovered every night

in the slums of Manila, killed either by the police

or by shadowy hit squads.

It started when this man, Rodrigo Duterte, an outspoken

crime-fighting Mayor, was elected president in May.

When he said he would kill drug dealers, he meant it.

Does the lives of ten criminals really matter to me?

If I am the one facing the grief, would 100 lives mean anything to me?

The president is still wildly popular for this kind of talk.

Drug addiction has blighted neighbourhoods already

burdened by poverty.

But his campaign has forced Roger - not his real name - into hiding.

He has been a minor drug dealer for years.

Now he is on the run.

TRANSLATION: I have done some awful things, I know.

I have wronged a lot of people because they have

become addicted to drugs.

Because I am one of the many who sells the drugs.

Not everyone who uses drugs commits crimes.

Me? I am an addict but I don't kill.

This chilling security camera video shows why those targeted

by the anti-drug campaign have so much to fear.

A motorbike slows down for a moment.

The passenger firing at point-blank range.

It might easily have been Maria, a young mother and a hired assassin.

She says she has killed five people since President Duterte

won the election.

Like Roger, she says it was poverty that drove her into the job.

TRANSLATION: I tell my husband that we cannot keep

doing this forever.

We have children.

We don't want our children to know what we do.

I do not want them to come back at us and say that they got to live

because we killed for money.

Nearly 700,000 terrified drug addicts have already surrendered

to the Philippines police to save their lives.

They must somehow now be accommodated in these

teeming, overcrowded cells.

It is a strategic Libyan city on the Mediterranean coast.

Seen as a gateway from North Africa to Europe.

Sirte was seized by so-called Islamic State forces last year

and there were fears that IS would use the port as a base

to attack European targets.

But this week, pro-government forces said they had retaken most

of the city and were flushing out the last of the fighters.

Militia groups aligned to the so-called Libyan Government

of National Accord have been supported by US air strikes.

Feras Kilani and cameraman Jamie Bowles are among the few

international teams to have reached the front line and they

sent us this report.

The tanks begin to advance.

The militants of so-called Islamic State are cornered.

Forces loyal to the unity government are now pounding their positions.

And close to regaining control of Sirte.

The anti-government forces have mobilised all of their ability

to retake the last two districts still under Isis control.

Islamic State hoped their headquarters in Sirte would provide

a base to launch attacks into Europe.

But now the extremists are about to be pushed out.

The commander here tells me that IS no longer have the manpower

to hold the city.

TRANSLATION: All the area in front of us is under IS control.

You can see them from here.

It is districts number one and three.

Within a few days we will take over all this area, by the help of God.

But the fight isn't over yet.

IS militants quickly reply with sniper fire and suicide bombs.

Stopping the advance.

The military spokesman told us that they had

expected these attacks.

And he is confident with his men's progress.

TRANSLATION: We are now in control of 75% of district three

and IS fighters have retreated towards the coast.

The fighting in district one is still intense but we will not

struggle to get the job done.

But the gains here have come at a price.

On the day we visited this hospital, over 30 fighters were killed.

And we watch as medical staff battle to treat almost 200 men.

Even if IS are forced out of Sirte, their threat continues.

There is a strong feeling that IS will regroup and return,

causing more devastation in a struggling country with two

governments and hundreds of militias competing for power.

The number of elephants living in the wild in Africa

has fallen drastically over the past decade.

Ivory poachers are mainly responsible.

A new Africa-wide survey that extends from Mali to Ethiopia

and South Africa suggests numbers have fallen by a third

in the past decade.

Botswana is home to more than 40% of the continent's elephants,

but as Alastair Leithead reports, poachers are now active there.

Some viewers might find some of these images distressing.

What other way to count a whole continent of elephants

but from the air?

For two years they have been flying just 300 feet above Africa's

savanna grasslands.

It takes a keen eye or a camera to count each

of the animals below.

And, sadly, their findings paint a depressing picture.

What's that?

Is that another one?

In country after country, they have counted the carcasses.

This one is fresh.

This is the cost of the poachers and traffickers serving Asia's

insatiable appetite for ivory.

We have been flying along this flood plain that divides Namibia

and Botswana and all the way along here we have been seeing

carcasses of elephants.

Some four months old, some less than a week old.

And there is one just down here.

Clearly poaching.

The face has been hacked away to get to the tasks.

Mike Chase led the census research.

He found the worst hotspots of poaching are in Tanzania,

Mozambique and Angola.

Each year we are losing nearly 30,000 elephants and if this current

rate continues, within nine years Africa could be left with half

of the current estimate of African elephants.

Botswana has 40% of Africa's elephants, but amid the worst

drought in decades, they are under increasing pressure.

The only way to protect them is to know how many

there are and where they go.

And that means tranquillising some to fit satellite tracking collars.

It takes just a few minutes for the drugs to take effect.

You have to be careful the trunk is not blocked.

This elephant is about 50 years old, given his size.

And the fact that the collar has to be really big to get that GPS

tracker around his neck.

They are trying to work as quickly as they can so they can get him

round as soon as possible.

But he will be fine.

The quicker the whole process is done, the better.

Then, inject the antidote and retreat to a safe distance.

OK, get out of here.

There is one foot that has been underneath him.

You can do it.

Go on, you can do it.

This map illustrates the movements of five

satellite collared elephants.

The tracking data shows how elephants, the dots, used to travel

across five countries.

But now they stop at the border.

They know it is too dangerous.

Elephants clearly have a cognitive ability to understand

where they are threatened and where they are safe and in this

case they are seeking refuge and sanctuary in Botswana.

Where they are well protected.

And is there room for them?

SIGHS.

No.

Even without a drought, Botswana cannot cope

with so many elephants.

Hunting has been banned here, culling is even being discussed.

Currently we're housing a lot of refugee elephants in Botswana.

The biomass of elephants in Botswana is so high per square kilometre

that it puts a lot of pressure on the environment.

And the last true sanctuary for Africa's elephants is,

for the first time, now firmly in the poachers' sights.

There were days on the great elephants census when I thought

the only good I was doing was recording the disappearance

of one of the most remarkable animals that walk this planet.

But we have to be hopeful.

At least, yeah...

The campaign to stop the poachers and the traffickers

across the continent continues.

Now, a traditional way of British life with hundreds of years

of history behind it could be under threat.

Romany Gypsies say government policy is threatening

to destroy their livelihoods.

Changes to planning rules in England introduced a year ago mean those

who stop travelling are unlikely to be granted permission

for a new site.

The government says it wants a fair system which gives

councils more power.

But as Jeremy Cooke reports, gypsies believe they

are victims of racism.

This place is literally sacred to us.

This gives us a sense of place.

A sense of belonging.

A sense of ancestry.

Appleby Fair.

A celebration of a way of life.

I am a Romany Gypsy.

I am fiercely proud of my identity.

My culture.

My language and my traditions.

And my history.

The gypsy community.

Immersed in a culture which has endured for hundreds of years.

Washing the horses in the river, we have been doing that ever

since we arrived in this country 500 years ago.

We have been coming to this fair and ever since we have been washing

the horses in the river in the exact same way.

Today they are enjoying their day in the sun.

But gypsy life is not easy.

Many families have now abandoned their traditional life on the road.

There is a desperate shortage of caravan sites.

That is why 80% of our people are in houses.

Because they got so desperate, it got so difficult for them.

They have been forced into houses.

And they don't want to be in houses, they want to be on a caravan site.

The pressures of modern life mean gypsies often reluctantly move

into houses for work, for school or because of age

or health problems.

But the law changes in England mean that once they come off the road,

even for a short time, they can now find it impossible

to return to caravan life.

Trying to get planning permission for a caravan site as a Gypsy

traveller has become more and more difficult.

It is all down, I have to say, to prejudice.

Prejudice on the part of the general population against

gypsies and travellers.

It is harder and harder and harder for people to find somewhere.

It took Nichola 12 years to win a planning battle in North

Yorkshire.

I have got seven children so it is hard.

We're just trying to settle down and give them the best

in life you can.

And do the best for them.

And so when they get older, they can do that for their family.

Everybody else is up there, the travellers are down there.

And it has been like that for a long time.

No matter how much you shout, people just don't want to know.

Away from the romance of the summer fair, what gypsies want is this.

Purpose-built sites.

This one is in Darlington.

We have got the caravans that we use for bedrooms and living rooms.

We have a smaller caravan for the children.

We have all the conveniences that people have in a house,

but at the same time, we're hanging on to our culture

and our traditions.

These new rules only apply in England.

Ministers say councils now have more power to stop unauthorised camps

and more freedom to decide what sites to provide.

The government insists it treats all communities equally.

But some believe that gypsies, far from being victimised,

are being given unfair advantages.

I think travellers who travel probably do have a strong case.

But travellers who don't travel, who are seeking a permanent

lifestyle on a particular spot in the countryside,

shouldn't have the right to build where no one else can.

It all leaves gypsies fearing they are being forced

still further to the margins.

There is generally people in this world today who think

it is a crime just to be a gypsy.

And they generally think we shouldn't be allowed to exist.

We shouldn't have any rights.

And so, England's gypsies fear an uncertain future.

But the government insists it is up to local communities to decide

what sites to provide for those who choose the travelling life.

The Paralympics begin in Rio in a few days' time, with Britain

hoping to repeat its success in the Olympics two weeks ago.

It is sending a team of more than 260 athletes.

Among them is Joe Townsend from Eastbourne, who will be

competing in the Paratriathlon.

He was injured while serving with the Royal Marines

in Afghanistan.

Our reporter, Kate Gray, herself a former Paralympian,

has been to meet him.

In February in 2008, when I stepped on the improvised explosive device,

I didn't really know what I was doing with my life.

I remember sitting there on the battlefield in Afghanistan,

thinking, what am I going to do now?

Six weeks in intensive care.

Three years in rehabilitation and over 50 operations.

The road to recovery hasn't been easy for Joe.

Even daft things like carrying a cup of tea whilst being in a wheelchair

is a completely different challenge.

For me, it has been a steep learning curve and trying to find

ways around doing just mundane, everyday tasks.

I know a lot of guys really struggle and dwell on the past,

on what has happened to them, and it is fully understandable

if you have been young, fit and active and had something

horrendous happen to you, then it is easy to look

back and think, why me?

Why has this happened to me?

But I could just look forward in life and look to see

what I could strive to achieve and move forwards, really.

Once, when I was maybe six months into my rehabilitation

at Headley Court, I started trying different adapted sports.

You're kind of free and your discipline becomes irrelevant.

I kind of got that competitive edge back and that spark.

Actually, I like this and it gives me the opportunity

to push myself again.

Despite the fact that his sport, the triathlon, was not included

in the London 2012 Paralympics, he still found a way to be involved.

Joe Townsend!

That day there, actually coming into the stadium with thousands

of people cheering, that really set it in my head that I want to be

there in Rio.

Not for a theatrical piece, I want to be there with my sport.

Joe has spent the last four years preparing for Rio.

He believes he is now in the best shape of his life.

Triathlon is one of my sports and anything can happen, really.

If I can deliver my best race on the day and give 100%

of what I know I have been doing in training, then yes.

I definitely have the option of getting on the podium.

I served my country as a Royal Marine in Afghanistan

and being able to fly the GB flag again and represent my country

as an athlete, it has gone from one life to another

but it is a fantastic experience.

I can't wait.

Have you ever wondered how even the tiniest birds manage to fly

in strong, gusty winds?

Well, scientists at Stanford University in California have now

designed a bird wind tunnel to try to find out.

Victoria Gill has had exclusive access to the flight lab

revealing new details about the secret life of birds.

The wonder of flight.

Only in very slow motion can we see the minuscule adjustments this

lovebird constantly makes to its flapping wings.

Its tiny body has evolved perfectly to fly.

Human engineers haven't come close to recreating that.

Here it is.

It is pretty big.

It's huge!

That is something that researchers in this lab hope to change.

They have dedicated an entire room at Stanford University in California

to building this wind tunnel.

The only one of its kind in the world.

OK, so this is where you fly the birds?

Yes.

Basically, you can go in here...

It is starting to help them discover some of the birds' crucial secrets.

Wind tunnels have been used for a long time to study bird flight

but the new thing about this one is that with this device they can

manipulate the airflow to recreate any environment on Earth,

from a gusty city to the top of a mountain.

When you see a bird fly by in a city you see all of these

small motions in the wing and that is all that it is doing

to adjust to the turbulence.

And so it is really these tiny motions where they adapt quickly

that make the difference.

And we have no idea how they make these in response to

which wind flow patterns.

In the moving air the bird remains in one place so exactly how it

shifts as the airflow changes can be seen in unprecedented detail.

But the team, with their specially clicker-trained birds,

have also measured invisible characteristics of short hopping

flights like this one.

This setup is unique because it allows us to capture all the forces

that a bird generates from the moment it takes off

to when it lands during one of these fights.

We have been able to record that actually, most birds when they fly,

they generate twice as much lift during the downstroke to support

the complete body weight and during the upstroke

they are actually in freefall.

So what can be done with all of this flight insight?

The next generation of small-scale flying robots, or drones,

will need to cope in unstable environments if they are to be

useful in military or search and rescue applications.

Currently they simply cannot manage as smoothly as birds.

So these scientists will aim to create robotic copies

of what nature has perfected over millions of years.

Fascinating stuff.

And that's all from Reporters for this week.

From me, Philippa Thomas, goodbye for now.

From me, Philippa Thomas, goodbye for now.