:00:00. > :00:16.carried out the attack. I'm back at 5pm. Now Reporters.
:00:17. > :00:23.Hello. Welcome to Reporters. In this special edition of the programme,
:00:24. > :00:28.we're looking back at some of the best reports from this year from our
:00:29. > :00:33.network of correspondents around the world. Coming up: I'm a heroin
:00:34. > :00:41.addict. Yoo I've overdozed four times -- I've overdosed four times.
:00:42. > :00:45.We report on the epidemic of heroin and pain killers creating a
:00:46. > :00:52.generation of users and killing tens of thousands of people The drug they
:00:53. > :00:57.call the devil has hit hardest in small town America, already ravaged
:00:58. > :01:01.by years of economic decline. We're hearing outgoing fire. The troops
:01:02. > :01:09.are trying to gauge how much resistance is in these villages. We
:01:10. > :01:12.join the Kurdish forces on the frontline, as Mosul awaits from
:01:13. > :01:22.deliverance from so-called Islamic State. Also before and after - the
:01:23. > :01:31.pioneering surgery withoutical pals that cured -- without scalpels. And
:01:32. > :01:35.a year in the life of the penguin caught on cam ra. Victoria Gill
:01:36. > :01:42.joins scientists as they track how the birds are apt thatting --
:01:43. > :01:47.adapting to climate change. America is in the grip of a heroin and
:01:48. > :01:53.prescription pain killer epidemic. More Americans as many as 50,000 a
:01:54. > :01:58.year, are dying from drug overdoses than from car crashes or being shot.
:01:59. > :02:01.Increasingly, the victims are young, white and middle-class people.
:02:02. > :02:05.They've become hooked on the deadly drugs. Over the past year, Ian
:02:06. > :02:09.Pannell and his cameraman have followed a number of addicts as they
:02:10. > :02:16.try to kick the habit. You may find some of the scenes in their report
:02:17. > :02:23.difficult to watch. A darkness has descended across
:02:24. > :02:28.America. 40-ish-year-old female possibly not breathing OD. A plague
:02:29. > :02:33.of drug addiction and death greater than there's ever been. Opioid pain
:02:34. > :02:39.killers and heroin are killing more Americans than ever before. Oh, my
:02:40. > :02:46.God. What's wrong with her? Get out of the way. We were just here for a
:02:47. > :02:50.female in her 40s who wasn't breathing. It was apparent drug
:02:51. > :02:56.overdose. How common is this? Every day. Every day? Sometimes more than
:02:57. > :03:01.once a day. We have a dry spell where we'll go a day or two, but
:03:02. > :03:06.mostly every day. Started when I was 17 years old. I was at a party, high
:03:07. > :03:12.school. I started doing the pills. When I was 13 I started using pain
:03:13. > :03:18.pills. Five, six people I known died last year. All my values and morals,
:03:19. > :03:22.they went out the window. It will take everything you v, all the money
:03:23. > :03:26.you have, everything's you've worked for, everyone you love. There was
:03:27. > :03:30.nothing, almost nothing that I wouldn't do for it. I'm a heroin
:03:31. > :03:35.addict. My brother is also an addict. I know I will die if I go
:03:36. > :03:40.back home. I've overdosed four times. My own sister had to save me.
:03:41. > :03:45.I know that a lot of words are overused in our lexicon, historic
:03:46. > :03:52.and unprecedented and unique. We fall back on those words all the
:03:53. > :03:57.time in. This case, this is an epidemic. That's precisely the right
:03:58. > :04:00.word. This crisis has spread across America, created by masses
:04:01. > :04:06.overprescription of morphine-like pain killers. It gave birth to a
:04:07. > :04:09.nation of addicts. A heroin epidemic is sweeping across America. It
:04:10. > :04:13.respects no man or woman whoever their creed, colour or class.
:04:14. > :04:17.Friends, families, whole communities have been left to bury the dead and
:04:18. > :04:21.deal with the devastation addiction brings. But the drug they call the
:04:22. > :04:25.devil has hit hardest in small town America. Taking hold in areas like
:04:26. > :04:31.this, that have already been RAFFaged by years of -- ravaged by
:04:32. > :04:39.years of economic decline. For so many people, the future looks bleak.
:04:40. > :04:44.Increasingly addicts are young, white kids from the suburbs and
:04:45. > :04:49.rural areas. They've moved from pills to heroin, because it's
:04:50. > :04:53.cheaper and easier to get. But it's far more deadly and it's no
:04:54. > :05:02.exaggeration to say this generation's under threat.
:05:03. > :05:09.# I hurt myself today # To see if I still feel#
:05:10. > :05:15.Dr Huckerbee is the medical director here. He's an expert on pain
:05:16. > :05:18.medication and what it does. He's also a recovering addict, who became
:05:19. > :05:24.hooked after getting pain pills for a broken foot.
:05:25. > :05:31.# The needle tears a hole # The old familiar sting#
:05:32. > :05:34.I was given the oxycodone. It was like pulling the trigger. I could
:05:35. > :05:40.not turn it loose. It tickled my brain in such profound ways that it
:05:41. > :05:44.totally blind sided me to the point that I eventually was injecting
:05:45. > :05:47.myself in the operating room and was fortunate to have partners
:05:48. > :05:59.intervened. You were injecting yourself? Yes. Powerless. Powerless
:06:00. > :06:08.over it. I promised myself all the time, "We're not going to do this
:06:09. > :06:14.again." We're not going to do this again today. And by the end of the
:06:15. > :06:21.day, you know, just couldn't control it. It's a real hopeless feeling. I
:06:22. > :06:30.remember feeling it one time that, you know, this is my fate in life.
:06:31. > :06:41.I'm just going to die from this. I'm addicted to heroin. I've about died
:06:42. > :06:48.six times. All I can think about is when am I going to get some more. To
:06:49. > :07:00.feel better, but I'm never feeling better. I'm tired of this. I
:07:01. > :07:03.remember the first time I OD'ed. My boyfriend was filming me. He brought
:07:04. > :07:10.me back. Right after that he went and did a shot. It was kind of like,
:07:11. > :07:17.wow, I just almost died. It is absolutely everywhere, in every town
:07:18. > :07:21.around here at least. There's somebody that sells drugs. It's
:07:22. > :07:29.predominantly heroin, because that's the big thing around here. In the
:07:30. > :07:32.streets and strip malls of western Pennsylvania heroin's taken root.
:07:33. > :07:36.The journey through addiction is a long, dark one for so many. Steve
:07:37. > :07:45.has been trying to get clean for years. But shaking it without
:07:46. > :07:49.serious, long-term help is rare. I can get it, but it's right in the
:07:50. > :07:53.middle of the hood. I don't like going over there period, let alone
:07:54. > :07:57.at midnight. Steve's trapped in an endless hunt for a high that will
:07:58. > :08:03.never be enough. For something his body craves, that he knows he
:08:04. > :08:05.shouldn't do. Because there's no way to know what's in each packet and
:08:06. > :08:35.whether or not it will kill you. This stuff's gotten hold of me. I
:08:36. > :08:41.just... I'm obsessed with it. It runs my life. Heroin's addictive
:08:42. > :08:49.like no other drug. For many there are only two ways out. Rehab or
:08:50. > :08:55.death. Today the victim is just as likely to be your friend, your
:08:56. > :09:01.neighbour or even your child. Miss you so much. I miss you so much. I
:09:02. > :09:10.held him first on February 11th, 1994. Then I held him last on August
:09:11. > :09:14.22, 2015. I never want a parent to ever have to do that. It's the hard
:09:15. > :09:20.est thing that you'll ever do. There's nothing else you can do that
:09:21. > :09:29.will hurt like this. Oh, that should never be. This epidemic is only
:09:30. > :09:37.getting worse. There'll be more families devastated and more lives
:09:38. > :09:40.lost. One country which really got tough
:09:41. > :09:46.on drugs this year was the Philippines. Its hard line new
:09:47. > :09:51.president campaigned for his election by promising to kill
:09:52. > :09:56.100,000 drug dealers and criminals in his first six months in office.
:09:57. > :10:01.His controversial, tough tactics, which critics say turning a blind
:10:02. > :10:04.eye to extra judicial killings, led to an unprecedented rise in the
:10:05. > :10:08.murder rate. Around 2,000 people were killed in just the first two
:10:09. > :10:16.months of the crackdown. Jonathan Head reports on the Philippines'
:10:17. > :10:20.deadly war on drugs. The war on drugs is reaching all
:10:21. > :10:26.corners of the Philippines. Even here, in the jails. Many of these
:10:27. > :10:30.men are already serving long sentences for drug use. In cells, so
:10:31. > :10:36.packed with bodies, it's hard to breathe. It says something about the
:10:37. > :10:42.extent of the drug problem here in the Philippines that the police have
:10:43. > :10:46.had to come here and raid one of the biggest prisons around Manila. There
:10:47. > :10:51.are clearly concerns about real drug problems here. The focus, as with so
:10:52. > :10:56.much of this campaign, are the people at the very bottom of the
:10:57. > :11:02.trade, not the people running it. At least here they can stay alive. But
:11:03. > :11:05.not here. The bodies of dealers and addicts are discovered every night
:11:06. > :11:14.in the slums of Manila, killed either by the police or by shadowy
:11:15. > :11:20.hit squads. It started when this man, an outspoken crime fighting
:11:21. > :11:26.mayor was located president in May. When he said he would kill drug
:11:27. > :11:34.dealers, he meant it. That's the lives of ten criminals really matter
:11:35. > :11:43.to me? If I am the one facing the grief, would 100 lives of this idiot
:11:44. > :11:48.would mean anything to me? The president is still wildly popular
:11:49. > :11:52.for this kind of talk. Drug addiction has blighted
:11:53. > :11:57.neighbourhoods, already burdened by poverty. But his campaign has forced
:11:58. > :12:05.Roger, not his real name, into hiding. He's been a minor drug
:12:06. > :12:08.dealer for years. Now he's on the run.
:12:09. > :12:12.TRANSLATION: I've done some awful things I know. I've wronged a lot of
:12:13. > :12:15.people because they've become addicted to drugs because I'm one of
:12:16. > :12:19.the many who sells them drugs. Not everyone who uses drugs commits
:12:20. > :12:25.crimes. Me, I'm an addict. But I don't kill. This chilling security
:12:26. > :12:31.camera video shows why those targeted by the antidrug campaign
:12:32. > :12:35.have so much to fear. A motorbike slows down for a moment. The
:12:36. > :12:43.passenger firing at point blank range. It might easily have been
:12:44. > :12:48.Maria, a young mother and a hired assassin. She says she's killed five
:12:49. > :12:54.people since the president won the election. Like Roger, she says it
:12:55. > :12:57.was poverty that drove her into the job.
:12:58. > :13:01.TRANSLATION: I tell my husband that we can't keep doing this forever. We
:13:02. > :13:06.have children. I would not want our children to know what we do. I do
:13:07. > :13:12.not want them to come back at us and say that they got to live because we
:13:13. > :13:15.killed for money. Nearly 700,000 terrified drug addicts have already
:13:16. > :13:22.surrendered to the Philippines police to save their lives. They
:13:23. > :13:31.must somehow now be accommodated in these teeming, overcrowded cells.
:13:32. > :13:36.The Iraqi city of Mosul waited for deliverance as Iraqi and Kurdish
:13:37. > :13:38.forces battled for two months to liberate the last strong hold of
:13:39. > :13:43.so-called Islamic State in the country. As the troops continued
:13:44. > :13:47.their drive towards the city, the militants fought back using suicide
:13:48. > :13:52.bombers. At the start of the siege, Orla Guerin and her cameraman were
:13:53. > :13:55.among the first journalists to get into the village on the outskirts of
:13:56. > :14:04.Mosul as it was being liberated from IS.
:14:05. > :14:10.A harbinger of terror. We entered hostile territory, taking the battle
:14:11. > :14:14.to IS, with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. This was their second
:14:15. > :14:21.attempt to free this village. Last week they faced heavy resistance.
:14:22. > :14:29.Along the way, tension building, as we start to come under fire and to
:14:30. > :14:33.respond. We're moving forward now very slowly and carefully. We're
:14:34. > :14:38.hearing quite a bit of outgoing fire. The troops are trying to gauge
:14:39. > :14:48.how much resistance is in these villages. This was the answer. A
:14:49. > :14:59.massive roadside bomb just ahead. It was one of four on our route. Then
:15:00. > :15:05.the Peshmerga moved to confront a suspected suicide bomber. They have
:15:06. > :15:16.to check him for explosives with their bare hands. This time they
:15:17. > :15:24.were lucky, just a civilian. We arrive in what looks like a deserted
:15:25. > :15:33.village. Locals start to emerge, tentatively to offer thanks, but
:15:34. > :15:44.soon, this... GUNFIRE Warning shots from weary troops. At
:15:45. > :15:51.last, freedom and relief. There's nothing to worry about, he says.
:15:52. > :16:02.It's all over. But there's a legacy of torment. "They destroyed us,"
:16:03. > :16:10.says Mohammed. "They completely destroyed us." There was a sense of
:16:11. > :16:20.a community coming back to life, of old friends reuniting, freed from
:16:21. > :16:27.the tyranny of IS. A moment of victory for the Peshmerga. And for
:16:28. > :16:35.some here, of rebirth. "I can't find words to express how happy I am," He
:16:36. > :16:39.said. It feels like I have been born again.
:16:40. > :16:41.Nearby locals attacked an IS sign that had loomed over them,
:16:42. > :16:50.instructing women to cover themselves from head to toe. Amar
:16:51. > :16:55.was happy to be wearing her best and not wearing a hijab. As this woman
:16:56. > :17:10.thanks the Peshmerga, IS make their presence felt, not far away. GUNFIRE
:17:11. > :17:14.Helping to secure the village, a volunteer sniper from Scotland. He's
:17:15. > :17:20.fought with the Peshmerga since 2014 and has been part of the recent push
:17:21. > :17:24.against IS or Daesh. It's kind of funny because places that are weak,
:17:25. > :17:28.places they'll stand and fight. They're very up and down. You're
:17:29. > :17:31.talking a lot of these people cheering now would probably Daesh.
:17:32. > :17:38.They've just gone back into their community. So they haven't gone
:17:39. > :17:43.away. Even as they celebrate, the troops know their enemy could soon
:17:44. > :17:46.re-emerge. The Peshmerga are moving through the village. They're
:17:47. > :17:50.securing the area street by street and more and more civilians are
:17:51. > :17:54.appearing. They can speak freely for the first time in over two years,
:17:55. > :17:59.but there is still some tension here. The fighters are concerned
:18:00. > :18:05.that among those coming out onto the streets there could be suicide
:18:06. > :18:10.bombers. But there were no threats concealed among the villagers. They
:18:11. > :18:16.were savouring the chance to reclaim old pleasures, banned by the
:18:17. > :18:22.jihadis. The black flag of IS has been pulled down from the mosque.
:18:23. > :18:32.The Peshmerga vowing never again will it be allowed to fly here.
:18:33. > :18:36.Here's a thought, imagine surgery but without knives or scalpels, just
:18:37. > :18:41.sound waves. That's what doctors at a hospital in London have used to
:18:42. > :18:46.operate deep inside the human brain. The pioneering treatment was
:18:47. > :18:51.performed on a patient who suffered from uncontrollable trembling in his
:18:52. > :18:54.right hand. It could also be used to control the tremors caused by
:18:55. > :18:57.conditions such as parkin sons disease.
:18:58. > :19:06.Over the past something years it's got worse and worse. Selwyn is a
:19:07. > :19:10.painter and decorator. His job is made increasingly difficult by this,
:19:11. > :19:15.an uncontrollable tremor in his right hand. The shaking is caused by
:19:16. > :19:20.a mistiming of the electrical signals, the commands sent from the
:19:21. > :19:28.brain to the muscles in the hand. One million people in the UK suffer
:19:29. > :19:32.from tremors. The last 15 years it's gradually got worse to the extent I
:19:33. > :19:38.can't use it. I've got to use my left hand. Early morning at St
:19:39. > :19:43.Mary's Hospital in London. And Selwyn is being prepared for deep
:19:44. > :19:50.brain surgery. But this razor is the only blade that will be used today.
:19:51. > :19:55.This frame will ensure his head is kept completely still during
:19:56. > :20:01.surgery. Once it is placed inside this machine, the first of its kind
:20:02. > :20:08.in the UK, which operates using sound waves. It works like this: The
:20:09. > :20:13.device has more than a thousand ultrasound beams. When focussed on a
:20:14. > :20:18.single point, they generate enough heat to destroy tissue. The target
:20:19. > :20:27.is a tiny point at the base of the brain, which is causing the faulty
:20:28. > :20:33.signals, which trigger the tremors. 697 watt, 13 seconds. This is
:20:34. > :20:37.precision medicine. The team constantly monitor MRI scans and
:20:38. > :20:43.gradually increase the energy of the sound beams. Selwyn's wife is there
:20:44. > :20:48.to re-assure him. I've witnessed quite a lot of brain surgery and it
:20:49. > :20:53.is brutal and bloody, drilling through the skull and cutting
:20:54. > :20:59.through tissue. The contrast here is astonishing. There are no scalpels,
:21:00. > :21:05.it's all done with sound waves and the patient is awake throughout. And
:21:06. > :21:13.the result - remarkable. The tremors have gone. His right hand is steady
:21:14. > :21:18.and this is a permanent fix. Doctors believe ultrasound surgery could
:21:19. > :21:23.treat other conditions. It could help involuntary movements in
:21:24. > :21:26.Parkinson's and help tremor in multiple sclerosis as well as other
:21:27. > :21:32.neurological conditions emanating from the brain. It has a big future?
:21:33. > :21:41.An enormous future. This was Selwyn before treatment. And after. It
:21:42. > :21:46.avoids the risks associated with conventional brain surgery. And
:21:47. > :21:52.recovery is immediate. You've got a big smile on your face. Yeah. It's
:21:53. > :21:57.nice isn't it. Brilliant to pick something up with that hand and know
:21:58. > :22:01.it's not going to spill everywhere. Selwyn's treatment is part of an
:22:02. > :22:05.international trial. Once that's completed next year, there's likely
:22:06. > :22:13.to be huge demand for this pioneering surgery.
:22:14. > :22:17.A really fascinating insight into the life of the penguin now.
:22:18. > :22:22.Scientists in Antarctica have been working on a ground breaking project
:22:23. > :22:27.to capture the activity of a colony of penguins on camera. They spent
:22:28. > :22:30.much of the year watching them using remote cameras to see how they're
:22:31. > :22:35.adapting to climate change and of course the threats they now face.
:22:36. > :22:38.Victoria Gill was given exclusive access to their research. Her report
:22:39. > :22:53.contains flashing images. I'm in Antarctica following a team
:22:54. > :23:00.of scientists setting up remote cameras in penguin colonies here.
:23:01. > :23:04.I'm Tom, a scientist at Oxford University. We've probably got 40
:23:05. > :23:10.and they are spread out the length and breadth of the peninsula. The
:23:11. > :23:16.bottom one, that takes photos all year round, every hour. The whole
:23:17. > :23:23.reason we're here is to monitor penguins on a vast level. If we have
:23:24. > :23:29.a constant presence in all these colonies, we can look at how many
:23:30. > :23:35.chicks survive. It's like CCTV. Seeing was going on in winter is
:23:36. > :23:39.something you would never get to see. The partnership with tourism,
:23:40. > :23:46.this access is really important, isn't it? It's vital. We would never
:23:47. > :23:52.have the access without them. Partly we're doing this because there's a
:23:53. > :23:56.potential threat and we want to measure it. Where we've looked,
:23:57. > :24:01.there seems to be very little impact of tourism. We have quite a close
:24:02. > :24:06.partnership and they drop us off where we want to go. In return, we
:24:07. > :24:11.educate their tourists about conservation and hopefully inspire
:24:12. > :24:17.them to conserve penguins. This is the gangway. Before we go ashore, we
:24:18. > :24:22.have to wash our boots. It's a pristine place. We don't want to
:24:23. > :24:29.take anything onto the Antarctic mainland which shouldn't be there.
:24:30. > :24:33.This is The Zodiac, it's a rubber boat. We use this to get around.
:24:34. > :24:38.They're fantastic boats, very fast, very stable. They bounce when you
:24:39. > :24:50.hit them up against a rock. They're wonderful for down here. I work as
:24:51. > :24:53.expedition leader. It's incredible to see how ubiquitously everyone is
:24:54. > :24:58.affected by Antarctica. One of the things that we love about working
:24:59. > :25:02.with the production of scientific knowledge is that we give people the
:25:03. > :25:09.kind of emotional attachment to the place. They provide ground work and
:25:10. > :25:16.relevance for people to put that energy, you know. Then of course, it
:25:17. > :25:23.also brings home a lot of bigger picture questions about human
:25:24. > :25:29.beings' presence on the planet. So this is the last camera of this
:25:30. > :25:33.expedition now? That's it for this year, for this camera any way. Now
:25:34. > :25:42.it's just turn it on and fingers crossed. Back next year. Yeah.
:25:43. > :25:47.And that's it from this special edition of Reporters looking back at
:25:48. > :25:51.some of the very best reports from this year. From me, bye for now.