:00:00. > :00:00.minutes to five. You are watching BBC News. We will have more stories
:00:00. > :00:00.for you, including reaction to Nicola Sturgeon's speech, at the top
:00:00. > :00:20.of the hour. Now it is time for Reporters.
:00:21. > :00:27.Hello, welcome to Reporters. I am David Eads. We send our
:00:28. > :00:32.correspondence to bring you the best stories from across the globe. In
:00:33. > :00:37.this week's programme... On the front line in the battle for Mosul.
:00:38. > :00:42.Orla Guerin joins Iraqi army forces as they make more games against
:00:43. > :00:47.so-called Islamic State. We have heard three car bombs going off in
:00:48. > :00:51.the distance. We have had a lot of incoming mortar fire. You can hear
:00:52. > :00:56.the sounds of battle. As millions face famine in parts of Africa and
:00:57. > :00:59.the Middle East, Clive Myrie reports from northern Nigeria, where tens of
:01:00. > :01:05.thousands of children are at risk of starving to death. For those
:01:06. > :01:13.children, the end is inevitable. Innocent victims of a man-made
:01:14. > :01:15.tragedy. Sleeping on the job - Sally Conway meets the foreign truck
:01:16. > :01:24.drivers who cannot afford to live where they work. He only ever works
:01:25. > :01:30.in Western Europe, sometimes Germany or Norway. He is being paid as if he
:01:31. > :01:35.were driving in Slovakia. After millions of views online, we catch
:01:36. > :01:44.up with the reluctant global Internet star, the BBC interviewee
:01:45. > :01:50.whose children stole the show. My wife deserves a medal for taking
:01:51. > :01:55.care of our family. And seeing things through the eyes
:01:56. > :02:02.of Jane Austen. Ben Moore investigates new claims that Jane
:02:03. > :02:06.Austen was as blind as a bat. The Iraqi city of Mosul has become
:02:07. > :02:12.the scene of the biggest battle on earth. Around 100,000 soldiers,
:02:13. > :02:15.police and militia, backed by Western air power, have been bearing
:02:16. > :02:22.down on this ancient city. The mission, to drive out so-called
:02:23. > :02:27.Islamic State, who've occupied Mosul since 2014. After more than 100 days
:02:28. > :02:31.of fighting, they recaptured the east of the city in January. Now
:02:32. > :02:36.they say a third of the West has been completely be taken. Order
:02:37. > :02:40.Ciaran -- Orla Guerin husband travelling with the Iraqi forces.
:02:41. > :02:41.You may find part of this board -- you may find parts of the reports
:02:42. > :02:53.distressing. A rare glimpse of Western Mosul.
:02:54. > :03:00.Urban warfare on a momentous scale. Caught below, hundreds of thousands
:03:01. > :03:06.of civilians. This is the place where IS proclaimed its caliphate.
:03:07. > :03:11.Here it was born and here, Iraqi forces say, it will die. On the
:03:12. > :03:24.ground, they are advancing, but struggling to hold what they
:03:25. > :03:33.capture. They pound IS positions. Then frantic gunfire towards a
:03:34. > :03:40.threat overhead. And IS drone may be carrying explosives. They managed to
:03:41. > :03:44.shoot it down. This is as far as we can go for now. There is a lot of
:03:45. > :03:50.gunfire in the area. There are snipers in position on this street.
:03:51. > :03:54.We have covered here, so we won't be moving from this position. But
:03:55. > :03:59.within the last half an hour, we have heard three car bombs going off
:04:00. > :04:04.in the distance. We have also had a lot of incoming mortar fire. You can
:04:05. > :04:12.hear the sounds of battle. The IS fighters in this area are putting up
:04:13. > :04:19.Frias resistance. -- fierce resistance. Then the conflict came
:04:20. > :04:23.closer. The man who didn't flinch is a major in the Iraqi army. Hours
:04:24. > :04:31.later, he was wounded. He is now recovering in hospital. Troops using
:04:32. > :04:43.every weapon, even home-made rockets. Then the rush to retrieve a
:04:44. > :04:51.casualty. We can't say how many have paid with their lives. The Iraqi
:04:52. > :04:55.forces don't reveal their losses. But they have the extremists
:04:56. > :05:02.outgunned and encircled. They believe victory is guaranteed in
:05:03. > :05:09.Mosul, in time. But ending the caliphate may not end IS. This
:05:10. > :05:15.general is in the thick of the battle.
:05:16. > :05:22.He told us the narrow streets and civilian presence are complicating
:05:23. > :05:28.the advance. It is very hard because we need to
:05:29. > :05:36.take care of the citizens and be aggressive against IS guys. We need
:05:37. > :05:42.to put it very clear plan to clear all the area. That means we need to
:05:43. > :05:46.put a plan to survive our citizens. And as the fighting rages, more
:05:47. > :05:51.weary civilians leave scarred neighbourhoods. Where they have been
:05:52. > :06:03.caught between the militants and the army. Few may have enjoyed more than
:06:04. > :06:08.this man. IS pod and anti-aircraft gun near his house. An air strike
:06:09. > :06:21.targeting the extremists brought the roof down on his family.
:06:22. > :06:30.TRANSLATION: Three of my daughters are dead. They buried my heart. My
:06:31. > :06:41.daughters were under the concrete of the house. They didn't let me see
:06:42. > :06:47.them before they were buried. As well as losing his daughters and
:06:48. > :06:52.his home, he lost his leg. He prays God will destroy IS as they have
:06:53. > :07:01.destroyed Iraq. Orla Guerin, BBC News, Western
:07:02. > :07:04.Mosul. Away from Iraq, the world is facing its largest humanitarian
:07:05. > :07:07.crisis since the end of the Second World War. 20 million people in
:07:08. > :07:10.parts of Africa and the Middle East are at risk of famine and
:07:11. > :07:15.starvation. The United Nations has issued a plea for help to avoid a
:07:16. > :07:22.catastrophe in the four affected countries. South Sudan, Somalia,
:07:23. > :07:27.Yemen and Nigeria. Clive Myrie reports from northern Nigeria, where
:07:28. > :07:32.the conflict against Boko Haram is deepened the humanitarian crisis.
:07:33. > :07:43.His report contains flashing images. They begin queueing at Sunrise. You
:07:44. > :07:45.can't afford not to get in. And through the daily stream of anxious
:07:46. > :07:57.women and their children gets bigger and bigger. Is my child
:07:58. > :08:00.malnourished? Could my child die due --? This treatment feeding centre
:08:01. > :08:06.has been working flat out recently, and NVQ we found this woman and her
:08:07. > :08:14.ten-month-old baby, born into a cruel world. -- and in the queue.
:08:15. > :08:20.We have had to beg for food. Sometimes going to sleep without
:08:21. > :08:27.eating. We had to leave our village. I pray things will get better.
:08:28. > :08:31.Her story is so typical. All these people were driven from their homes
:08:32. > :08:37.by the Islamist group Boko Haram, whose fighters burned villages for
:08:38. > :08:40.seven years, killed thousands and left 2.5 million people homeless,
:08:41. > :08:45.all in the name of strict Sharia Law. Farmers couldn't attend their
:08:46. > :09:00.fields because of the fighting. Now people starve. A nurse... She is
:09:01. > :09:05.painfully thin and her weight is confirmation. Does that mean the
:09:06. > :09:12.child is malnourished? Yes, it's malnourished. But her chances of
:09:13. > :09:19.survival are better than Muhammad's. For years old, he is severely
:09:20. > :09:25.malnourished and weakened by TB. Or This Boy, aged five, whose mother
:09:26. > :09:28.sits helpless nearby. TRANSLATION: Seeing my daughter
:09:29. > :09:33.lying sick like this has been unbearable. There was little food
:09:34. > :09:38.around when we escaped Boko Haram. I can't count the number of days we
:09:39. > :09:44.have had to go hungry. It's been so difficult. I just want my child to
:09:45. > :09:50.leave. -- live. Seconds later, there is a new
:09:51. > :09:55.arrival at the centre. Doctors struggle to help Mustafi, 20 months
:09:56. > :10:02.old, to breathe. Cradled in his mother's arms, his life is ebbing
:10:03. > :10:10.away. We met him yesterday. Last night he died. But what about those
:10:11. > :10:17.children who don't make it to a treatment centre like this, from
:10:18. > :10:21.areas inaccessible to eight? Where there are no doctors or clinics,
:10:22. > :10:27.where food and water polluted by Boko Haram fighters. For those
:10:28. > :10:32.children, the end is inevitable. Innocent victims of a man-made
:10:33. > :10:35.tragedy. And with the aid stocks running low, the call for more
:10:36. > :10:42.international help is loud and clear. Without more Humanitarian aid
:10:43. > :10:48.in terms of food, we don't expect the situation to get better. In fact
:10:49. > :10:56.it could get worse? If we don't get more help. This ten-month-old girl
:10:57. > :11:01.should make it. She has an appetite and can begin to recover. But while
:11:02. > :11:04.the Islamists of Boko Haram have been driven from most areas of the
:11:05. > :11:11.country, their legacy of pain and starvation injuries.
:11:12. > :11:14.Clive Myrie, BBC News, Nigeria. Truck drivers moving goods for IKEA
:11:15. > :11:19.and other retailers in western Europe are camping out in their
:11:20. > :11:24.trucks for Monsanto time because they simply can't afford to live in
:11:25. > :11:29.the countries they are working in. -- for months at a time. They are
:11:30. > :11:33.being paid as they would in their own countries. A judge has described
:11:34. > :11:41.as inhumane practice companies can exploit loopholes in European law.
:11:42. > :11:45.Zoe Conway reports from Denmark. IKEA says it doesn't just care about
:11:46. > :11:54.furniture, it cares about values. But just how valued to the people
:11:55. > :11:59.transporting IKEA goods feel? In a trailer on the edge of Copenhagen in
:12:00. > :12:04.Denmark, these to men have created their own pop up kitchen, cooking
:12:05. > :12:09.from scratch saves them money. Is this how you want to have your
:12:10. > :12:15.breakfast? No, I don't want to live like this but this is the condition.
:12:16. > :12:20.He is moving goods for IKEA but they don't employ him. His actual
:12:21. > :12:32.employer is a Slovakian firm. He is paid Slovakian wages. European Union
:12:33. > :12:35.employment rules state: a driver temporarily posted away from home
:12:36. > :12:39.should be granted the home nation's pay and conditions.
:12:40. > :12:44.Companies are exploiting loopholes in the law. A Danish driver can
:12:45. > :12:53.expect to take on 2200 euros a month in salary. But he has been taking
:12:54. > :13:00.home an average monthly salary of 477 euros, or ?418 per month. This
:13:01. > :13:08.is my home. This is how I live. This is my bed. Danish drivers go home
:13:09. > :13:15.every couple of weeks. But he spends up to for months on the road. The
:13:16. > :13:21.company says he is responsible for taking his rest breaks and that he
:13:22. > :13:26.can go home when every likes. He has just driven some IKEA stock from
:13:27. > :13:30.Denmark and Sweden. He only ever works in Western Europe. Sometimes
:13:31. > :13:34.it might be Germany or Norway. Yet he is being paid as if he was
:13:35. > :13:40.driving in Slovakia. Yet he never works there. He is not alone. This
:13:41. > :13:46.truck park turned campsite is right outside the biggest IKEA warehouse
:13:47. > :13:50.in the world. Drivers are making stew and drying their clothes. Many
:13:51. > :13:58.of the East European drivers we spoke to said they are on a similar
:13:59. > :14:02.deal. This Bulgarian driver is fed up, and not just because he is
:14:03. > :14:08.making his mash on top of a fuel tank. His salary is 250 euros a
:14:09. > :14:15.month, plus some expenses. Catastrophic. Why it is is
:14:16. > :14:20.catastrophic? Look at the conditions. In many cases there are
:14:21. > :14:25.no -- in many places there is no parking. We live like primitive
:14:26. > :14:28.people. But this is work at least. There is no workable Guerioua. This
:14:29. > :14:34.is not a good life. It is a catastrophe. -- work in Bulgaria.
:14:35. > :14:41.This way of treating drivers is widespread, not just within the IKEA
:14:42. > :14:53.chambered among other companies. In a statement, IKEA said:
:14:54. > :14:58.it's not just IKEA and the big retailers that are in the firing
:14:59. > :15:03.line. Euro's politicians are also under
:15:04. > :15:06.pressure to act, to stop any further deterioration in the working
:15:07. > :15:14.conditions of Europe's drivers. Sally Conway, BBC News. After
:15:15. > :15:18.Obamacare, America's health system is facing trumped care. More details
:15:19. > :15:24.of the new health plan were released this week. If it goes ahead, around
:15:25. > :15:26.14 million people will become uninsured by next year, rising to 24
:15:27. > :15:33.million people over the coming decade. Republicans say the proposal
:15:34. > :15:40.would save $337 billion over the next ten years. We have been looking
:15:41. > :15:46.at what health care under Donald Trump could mean.
:15:47. > :15:50.Carroll has made it on her own in the world of work. Her and her
:15:51. > :15:54.husband on a small jewellery business. But being self-employed
:15:55. > :15:57.means they don't have a boss to cover their health care insurance.
:15:58. > :16:05.For years they have struggled to pay medical bills. Until President Obama
:16:06. > :16:09.introduced his health care law. When the Affordable Care Act was passed,
:16:10. > :16:19.we could get reasonable insurance that covered a lot more. The
:16:20. > :16:23.deductible went from 10,000 to 3000. Now they are concerned their bills
:16:24. > :16:28.will rise as President Trump repeals Obamacare. The Republican
:16:29. > :16:35.replacement with a cut from subsidies and instead offer a year's
:16:36. > :16:40.rent tax credit. We couldn't afford the monthly costs that we can cover
:16:41. > :16:46.now. And we have had good coverage now. We just have to stay healthy.
:16:47. > :16:51.And educated about the programme. Others are glad to see the back of
:16:52. > :16:56.Obamacare. I need health insurance but I didn't want to be forced to
:16:57. > :17:01.buy it or be fined. Frank have to pay hundreds of dollars for not
:17:02. > :17:06.having health insurance. When he retired a few years ago, his company
:17:07. > :17:11.policy stopped. He voted for Donald Trump and bikes is health care plan,
:17:12. > :17:14.even though millions may lose cover. What they dropped 20 million people
:17:15. > :17:19.of the insurance plan? They still actually have health care, because
:17:20. > :17:24.if they go into an emergency room, they will get cover. The debate over
:17:25. > :17:28.health care in America is complex. It fundamentally comes down to one
:17:29. > :17:31.key thing. Cost. How much should people pay for themselves and how
:17:32. > :17:36.much should they bear the cost for others? The new plan could cut the
:17:37. > :17:40.federal deficit by hundreds of billions, is some doctors are -- but
:17:41. > :17:47.some doctors are unsure how it will affect patients. I think the new
:17:48. > :17:50.proposal, much like Obamacare, may change the winners and may change
:17:51. > :17:54.the losers, but it will not eliminate the losers. It is gone to
:17:55. > :17:59.change the problems people are encountering. Not address the
:18:00. > :18:01.problems. That has been a dilemma in American health care for decades.
:18:02. > :18:04.The system divides patient as patient as much as it does
:18:05. > :18:09.politicians. You are doing well. We will see you
:18:10. > :18:12.in six months. Your best protection against this health care system is
:18:13. > :18:20.not to get sick. Thanks, Doc. If you haven't seen
:18:21. > :18:24.this BBC interview, you are one of very few, I suspect. Professor
:18:25. > :18:29.Robert Cowell came World News to talk about South Korean politics
:18:30. > :18:33.last week to my colleague, James Menendez. He had no idea his
:18:34. > :18:37.children would steal the show and his family would become global
:18:38. > :18:40.stars. He hasn't talking to James again about the video that's gone
:18:41. > :18:46.viral. Let's discuss this further with
:18:47. > :18:50.Robert Kelly... It began as Sony BBC interviews do,
:18:51. > :18:56.and international news story, a presenter and an expert to explain
:18:57. > :19:02.what was going on. What happened next, nobody could have predicted
:19:03. > :19:06.that. This is Professor Robert Kelly. Last
:19:07. > :19:12.Thursday was an expert on South Korean politics. By Friday, an
:19:13. > :19:15.Internet superstar. During his live interview on the impeachment of the
:19:16. > :19:23.South Korean president, his wife and two young children moved into steal
:19:24. > :19:28.the show. But what was an innocent TV blooper quickly turned into a
:19:29. > :19:32.social media sensation. People raced to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to
:19:33. > :19:36.share the moment. Speaking to me for the first time since the incident, I
:19:37. > :19:42.asked Professor Kelly and his family what life had been like since they
:19:43. > :19:47.went viral. It has been pretty unreal. We didn't expect attention
:19:48. > :19:51.like this at all. We never had anything like this in our life
:19:52. > :19:57.before. We have had to turn off the phones and Facebook and Twitter. His
:19:58. > :20:01.wife said she was busy recording Bob Wylie was live on the TV, and that
:20:02. > :20:13.is why the children could make a break for his study and why she flew
:20:14. > :20:16.in with such speed. But the mistaken assumption was made that she was the
:20:17. > :20:26.children's nanny. We were pretty uncomfortable with that. We didn't
:20:27. > :20:34.argue about any of those. I hope people just enjoy it and not argue
:20:35. > :20:39.over this thing. A normal family living a normal life, now turned
:20:40. > :20:44.online legends. I asked Bob if things had calmed down since our
:20:45. > :20:50.last encounter. Yes, I went to work today. That was nice. I don't turn
:20:51. > :20:54.off my phone as much as I used to. There was a suggestion sent to me
:20:55. > :20:59.that you should buy your wife a spa day for everything she did in the
:21:00. > :21:04.video. That is certainly true. My wife deserves a medal for taking
:21:05. > :21:10.care of us and our family. That's absolutely true. Goes to show that
:21:11. > :21:15.anything can happen on live TV. Or perhaps as the saying goes, never
:21:16. > :21:20.work with animals or children. James Menendez, BBC News. New
:21:21. > :21:23.research suggests one of the world's British novelists had such bad
:21:24. > :21:27.vision she would have trouble reading writing. Experts have
:21:28. > :21:31.revealed Jane Austen was virtually blind towards the end of her life,
:21:32. > :21:33.possibly because of poisoning, which may have contributed to her early
:21:34. > :21:41.death. Ben Moore as this. She may have been
:21:42. > :21:44.one of history's greatest writers, but for Jane Austen, just reading
:21:45. > :21:50.her novels would have been very difficult without fees. Her
:21:51. > :21:54.spectacles have been at the British library in a writing desk for 20
:21:55. > :22:00.years, but only now can they bring a particular focus to her life. Back
:22:01. > :22:04.in the early 19th century there were prescriptions similar to today. What
:22:05. > :22:11.we did was have somebody bringing a portable Lens meter so we could
:22:12. > :22:13.carefully have them examined. Jane Austen was long-sighted. The first
:22:14. > :22:19.pair of her glasses are no prescription. With the second we can
:22:20. > :22:22.see her eyes deteriorate. Her final pair revealed she lived in a Blur
:22:23. > :22:28.eWorld. And this could be linked to one of the author's greatest
:22:29. > :22:32.mysteries. Why she died so young. The possibility of her being
:22:33. > :22:38.poisoned accidentally with their heavy metals such as arsenic. We
:22:39. > :22:41.know that arsenic poisoning can cause cataracts. It was often put
:22:42. > :22:46.into medication for other types of illness, potentially for rheumatism,
:22:47. > :22:51.which Jane Austen suffered from. These spectacles are in remarkably
:22:52. > :22:57.good condition. They are more than 200 years old and made from natural
:22:58. > :23:00.materials like real tortoiseshell and glass. We don't know if there
:23:01. > :23:03.were specifically prescribed for Jane Austen or if she bought them
:23:04. > :23:09.from a travelling salesman. Pretty much the same way we do when we
:23:10. > :23:12.abiding -- buying reading glasses. Using modern optometry, we can see
:23:13. > :23:19.what Jane Austen's eyesight would have been like. That is about a plus
:23:20. > :23:31.one? Quite blurred. But you can cope. That is a plus three? Yes.
:23:32. > :23:37.That is getting difficult. I can't see your face. I can only see my
:23:38. > :23:39.hand when it is about there. One of the world's greatest novelists would
:23:40. > :23:46.have had trouble reading and writing. She would have noticed the
:23:47. > :23:50.difference when the lights were poor. As she aged, it would've been
:23:51. > :23:54.more important having the stronger prescription, because your eyes tend
:23:55. > :24:00.to need some help from reading as you age. The British library wants
:24:01. > :24:02.to invite optometrist to get in touch to offer their opinions, a
:24:03. > :24:06.rare chance to see things through the eyes of one of Britain's best
:24:07. > :24:11.loved authors. Ben Moore, BBC News. That is your
:24:12. > :24:14.lot from Reporters for this week. From me, goodbye forever.
:24:15. > :24:20.-- for now.