31/12/2016 Reporters

carried out the attack. I'm back at 5pm. Now Reporters.

Hello. Welcome to Reporters. In this special edition of the programme,

we're looking back at some of the best reports from this year from our

network of correspondents around the world. Coming up: I'm a heroin

addict. Yoo I've overdozed four times -- I've overdosed four times.

We report on the epidemic of heroin and pain killers creating a

generation of users and killing tens of thousands of people The drug they

call the devil has hit hardest in small town America, already ravaged

by years of economic decline. We're hearing outgoing fire. The troops

are trying to gauge how much resistance is in these villages. We

join the Kurdish forces on the frontline, as Mosul awaits from

deliverance from so-called Islamic State. Also before and after - the

pioneering surgery withoutical pals that cured -- without scalpels. And

a year in the life of the penguin caught on cam ra. Victoria Gill

joins scientists as they track how the birds are apt thatting --

adapting to climate change. America is in the grip of a heroin and

prescription pain killer epidemic. More Americans as many as 50,000 a

year, are dying from drug overdoses than from car crashes or being shot.

Increasingly, the victims are young, white and middle-class people.

They've become hooked on the deadly drugs. Over the past year, Ian

Pannell and his cameraman have followed a number of addicts as they

try to kick the habit. You may find some of the scenes in their report

difficult to watch. A darkness has descended across

America. 40-ish-year-old female possibly not breathing OD. A plague

of drug addiction and death greater than there's ever been. Opioid pain

killers and heroin are killing more Americans than ever before. Oh, my

God. What's wrong with her? Get out of the way. We were just here for a

female in her 40s who wasn't breathing. It was apparent drug

overdose. How common is this? Every day. Every day? Sometimes more than

once a day. We have a dry spell where we'll go a day or two, but

mostly every day. Started when I was 17 years old. I was at a party, high

school. I started doing the pills. When I was 13 I started using pain

pills. Five, six people I known died last year. All my values and morals,

they went out the window. It will take everything you v, all the money

you have, everything's you've worked for, everyone you love. There was

nothing, almost nothing that I wouldn't do for it. I'm a heroin

addict. My brother is also an addict. I know I will die if I go

back home. I've overdosed four times. My own sister had to save me.

I know that a lot of words are overused in our lexicon, historic

and unprecedented and unique. We fall back on those words all the

time in. This case, this is an epidemic. That's precisely the right

word. This crisis has spread across America, created by masses

overprescription of morphine-like pain killers. It gave birth to a

nation of addicts. A heroin epidemic is sweeping across America. It

respects no man or woman whoever their creed, colour or class.

Friends, families, whole communities have been left to bury the dead and

deal with the devastation addiction brings. But the drug they call the

devil has hit hardest in small town America. Taking hold in areas like

this, that have already been RAFFaged by years of -- ravaged by

years of economic decline. For so many people, the future looks bleak.

Increasingly addicts are young, white kids from the suburbs and

rural areas. They've moved from pills to heroin, because it's

cheaper and easier to get. But it's far more deadly and it's no

exaggeration to say this generation's under threat.

# I hurt myself today # To see if I still feel#

Dr Huckerbee is the medical director here. He's an expert on pain

medication and what it does. He's also a recovering addict, who became

hooked after getting pain pills for a broken foot.

# The needle tears a hole # The old familiar sting#

I was given the oxycodone. It was like pulling the trigger. I could

not turn it loose. It tickled my brain in such profound ways that it

totally blind sided me to the point that I eventually was injecting

myself in the operating room and was fortunate to have partners

intervened. You were injecting yourself? Yes. Powerless. Powerless

over it. I promised myself all the time, "We're not going to do this

again." We're not going to do this again today. And by the end of the

day, you know, just couldn't control it. It's a real hopeless feeling. I

remember feeling it one time that, you know, this is my fate in life.

I'm just going to die from this. I'm addicted to heroin. I've about died

six times. All I can think about is when am I going to get some more. To

feel better, but I'm never feeling better. I'm tired of this. I

remember the first time I OD'ed. My boyfriend was filming me. He brought

me back. Right after that he went and did a shot. It was kind of like,

wow, I just almost died. It is absolutely everywhere, in every town

around here at least. There's somebody that sells drugs. It's

predominantly heroin, because that's the big thing around here. In the

streets and strip malls of western Pennsylvania heroin's taken root.

The journey through addiction is a long, dark one for so many. Steve

has been trying to get clean for years. But shaking it without

serious, long-term help is rare. I can get it, but it's right in the

middle of the hood. I don't like going over there period, let alone

at midnight. Steve's trapped in an endless hunt for a high that will

never be enough. For something his body craves, that he knows he

shouldn't do. Because there's no way to know what's in each packet and

whether or not it will kill you. This stuff's gotten hold of me. I

just... I'm obsessed with it. It runs my life. Heroin's addictive

like no other drug. For many there are only two ways out. Rehab or

death. Today the victim is just as likely to be your friend, your

neighbour or even your child. Miss you so much. I miss you so much. I

held him first on February 11th, 1994. Then I held him last on August

22, 2015. I never want a parent to ever have to do that. It's the hard

est thing that you'll ever do. There's nothing else you can do that

will hurt like this. Oh, that should never be. This epidemic is only

getting worse. There'll be more families devastated and more lives

lost. One country which really got tough

on drugs this year was the Philippines. Its hard line new

president campaigned for his election by promising to kill

100,000 drug dealers and criminals in his first six months in office.

His controversial, tough tactics, which critics say turning a blind

eye to extra judicial killings, led to an unprecedented rise in the

murder rate. Around 2,000 people were killed in just the first two

months of the crackdown. Jonathan Head reports on the Philippines'

deadly war on drugs. 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's 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. The focus, as with so

much of this campaign, are the 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, an outspoken crime fighting

mayor was located president in May. When he said he would kill drug

dealers, he meant it. That's the lives of ten criminals really matter

to me? If I am the one facing the grief, would 100 lives of this idiot

would 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's been a minor drug

dealer for years. Now he's on the run.

TRANSLATION: I've done some awful things I know. I've wronged a lot of

people because they've become addicted to drugs because I'm one of

the many who sells them drugs. Not everyone who uses drugs commits

crimes. Me, I'm an addict. But I don't kill. This chilling security

camera video shows why those targeted by the antidrug 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's killed five

people since the president won the election. Like Roger, she says it

was poverty that drove her into the job.

TRANSLATION: I tell my husband that we can't keep doing this forever. We

have children. I would not 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.

The Iraqi city of Mosul waited for deliverance as Iraqi and Kurdish

forces battled for two months to liberate the last strong hold of

so-called Islamic State in the country. As the troops continued

their drive towards the city, the militants fought back using suicide

bombers. At the start of the siege, Orla Guerin and her cameraman were

among the first journalists to get into the village on the outskirts of

Mosul as it was being liberated from IS.

A harbinger of terror. We entered hostile territory, taking the battle

to IS, with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. This was their second

attempt to free this village. Last week they faced heavy resistance.

Along the way, tension building, as we start to come under fire and to

respond. We're moving forward now very slowly and carefully. We're

hearing quite a bit of outgoing fire. The troops are trying to gauge

how much resistance is in these villages. This was the answer. A

massive roadside bomb just ahead. It was one of four on our route. Then

the Peshmerga moved to confront a suspected suicide bomber. They have

to check him for explosives with their bare hands. This time they

were lucky, just a civilian. We arrive in what looks like a deserted

village. Locals start to emerge, tentatively to offer thanks, but

soon, this... GUNFIRE Warning shots from weary troops. At

last, freedom and relief. There's nothing to worry about, he says.

It's all over. But there's a legacy of torment. "They destroyed us,"

says Mohammed. "They completely destroyed us." There was a sense of

a community coming back to life, of old friends reuniting, freed from

the tyranny of IS. A moment of victory for the Peshmerga. And for

some here, of rebirth. "I can't find words to express how happy I am," He

said. It feels like I have been born again.

Nearby locals attacked an IS sign that had loomed over them,

instructing women to cover themselves from head to toe. Amar

was happy to be wearing her best and not wearing a hijab. As this woman

thanks the Peshmerga, IS make their presence felt, not far away. GUNFIRE

Helping to secure the village, a volunteer sniper from Scotland. He's

fought with the Peshmerga since 2014 and has been part of the recent push

against IS or Daesh. It's kind of funny because places that are weak,

places they'll stand and fight. They're very up and down. You're

talking a lot of these people cheering now would probably Daesh.

They've just gone back into their community. So they haven't gone

away. Even as they celebrate, the troops know their enemy could soon

re-emerge. The Peshmerga are moving through the village. They're

securing the area street by street and more and more civilians are

appearing. They can speak freely for the first time in over two years,

but there is still some tension here. The fighters are concerned

that among those coming out onto the streets there could be suicide

bombers. But there were no threats concealed among the villagers. They

were savouring the chance to reclaim old pleasures, banned by the

jihadis. The black flag of IS has been pulled down from the mosque.

The Peshmerga vowing never again will it be allowed to fly here.

Here's a thought, imagine surgery but without knives or scalpels, just

sound waves. That's what doctors at a hospital in London have used to

operate deep inside the human brain. The pioneering treatment was

performed on a patient who suffered from uncontrollable trembling in his

right hand. It could also be used to control the tremors caused by

conditions such as parkin sons disease.

Over the past something years it's got worse and worse. Selwyn is a

painter and decorator. His job is made increasingly difficult by this,

an uncontrollable tremor in his right hand. The shaking is caused by

a mistiming of the electrical signals, the commands sent from the

brain to the muscles in the hand. One million people in the UK suffer

from tremors. The last 15 years it's gradually got worse to the extent I

can't use it. I've got to use my left hand. Early morning at St

Mary's Hospital in London. And Selwyn is being prepared for deep

brain surgery. But this razor is the only blade that will be used today.

This frame will ensure his head is kept completely still during

surgery. Once it is placed inside this machine, the first of its kind

in the UK, which operates using sound waves. It works like this: The

device has more than a thousand ultrasound beams. When focussed on a

single point, they generate enough heat to destroy tissue. The target

is a tiny point at the base of the brain, which is causing the faulty

signals, which trigger the tremors. 697 watt, 13 seconds. This is

precision medicine. The team constantly monitor MRI scans and

gradually increase the energy of the sound beams. Selwyn's wife is there

to re-assure him. I've witnessed quite a lot of brain surgery and it

is brutal and bloody, drilling through the skull and cutting

through tissue. The contrast here is astonishing. There are no scalpels,

it's all done with sound waves and the patient is awake throughout. And

the result - remarkable. The tremors have gone. His right hand is steady

and this is a permanent fix. Doctors believe ultrasound surgery could

treat other conditions. It could help involuntary movements in

Parkinson's and help tremor in multiple sclerosis as well as other

neurological conditions emanating from the brain. It has a big future?

An enormous future. This was Selwyn before treatment. And after. It

avoids the risks associated with conventional brain surgery. And

recovery is immediate. You've got a big smile on your face. Yeah. It's

nice isn't it. Brilliant to pick something up with that hand and know

it's not going to spill everywhere. Selwyn's treatment is part of an

international trial. Once that's completed next year, there's likely

to be huge demand for this pioneering surgery.

A really fascinating insight into the life of the penguin now.

Scientists in Antarctica have been working on a ground breaking project

to capture the activity of a colony of penguins on camera. They spent

much of the year watching them using remote cameras to see how they're

adapting to climate change and of course the threats they now face.

Victoria Gill was given exclusive access to their research. Her report

contains flashing images. I'm in Antarctica following a team

of scientists setting up remote cameras in penguin colonies here.

I'm Tom, a scientist at Oxford University. We've probably got 40

and they are spread out the length and breadth of the peninsula. The

bottom one, that takes photos all year round, every hour. The whole

reason we're here is to monitor penguins on a vast level. If we have

a constant presence in all these colonies, we can look at how many

chicks survive. It's like CCTV. Seeing was going on in winter is

something you would never get to see. The partnership with tourism,

this access is really important, isn't it? It's vital. We would never

have the access without them. Partly we're doing this because there's a

potential threat and we want to measure it. Where we've looked,

there seems to be very little impact of tourism. We have quite a close

partnership and they drop us off where we want to go. In return, we

educate their tourists about conservation and hopefully inspire

them to conserve penguins. This is the gangway. Before we go ashore, we

have to wash our boots. It's a pristine place. We don't want to

take anything onto the Antarctic mainland which shouldn't be there.

This is The Zodiac, it's a rubber boat. We use this to get around.

They're fantastic boats, very fast, very stable. They bounce when you

hit them up against a rock. They're wonderful for down here. I work as

expedition leader. It's incredible to see how ubiquitously everyone is

affected by Antarctica. One of the things that we love about working

with the production of scientific knowledge is that we give people the

kind of emotional attachment to the place. They provide ground work and

relevance for people to put that energy, you know. Then of course, it

also brings home a lot of bigger picture questions about human

beings' presence on the planet. So this is the last camera of this

expedition now? That's it for this year, for this camera any way. Now

it's just turn it on and fingers crossed. Back next year. Yeah.

And that's it from this special edition of Reporters looking back at

some of the very best reports from this year. From me, bye for now.