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tv   Our World  BBC News  January 7, 2017 4:30am-5:01am GMT

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the alleged gunman, named as 26—year—old esteban santiago and believed to be an iraq war veteran, is now in police custody. us intelligence officials have released a report saying russian president vladimir putin ordered a comprehensive cyber campaign to help donald trump win the presidential election. the president—elect insists hacking had absolutely no effect on the poll. michelle obama has delivered her final speech as first lady of the united states, with an impassioned call on young people to have hope and fight for their rights. in a tearful speech at the white house, she said the role of first lady had been the greatest honour of her life. britain's triple tour de france winner chris froome has been speaking about allegations of doping in cycling. he says they have been bad for sport, and that in 2015 he refused on moral grounds to take a substance usually banned but allowed for medical reasons, unlike his former teammate bradley
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wiggins. he has been speaking to our sports correspondent natalie pirks, in monaco. olympic bronze and his third tour de france victory in four years. 2016 might have been a year to forget for some, but not for chris froome. but, whilst british cycling enjoys a golden age, off the road and track it is mired in controversy, with doping's blurred lines at the heart of it. a tue, or therapeutic use exemption, allows athletes to take a banned substance for genuine medical reasons. the issue is whether some have exploited the system for competitive gain. just the fact that we're having that debate about authenticity of tues, i think there's a problem with the system. i think wada, the anti—doping authorities, need to tighten their regulations around tues, so that they're not something that we question. in those leaks by russian hackers, it was revealed that froome‘s former team—mate sir bradley wiggins had
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received three tue injections before three major races in the space of three years. it is perfectly legal, but froome revealed to me he refused one in 2015 on moral grounds. i didn't feel as if having a tue in the last week of the tour de france was something i was prepared to... itjust didn't sit well morally with me, that that was something i was going to do. do you think, therefore, it is right we are asking questions, for example, why bradley wiggins had three corticosteroids in the lead up to the races? sure, i mean, i think it's only healthy to ask those questions. froome‘s team, team sky, is currently the subject of a uk anti—doping investigation over an incident involving a mystery package delivered to wiggins in 2011. both parties deny any wrongdoing. i mean, it's not good for sport in general, the fact that we're discussing the validity of results, and... and, as i said, that brings it back to the authorities and something that they hopefully
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need to tighten up on. as he attempts to win his fourth tour this summer, the doping questions will again come thick and fast. froome‘s biggest desire is to leave a cycling legacy no—one will be left doubting. natalie pirks, bbc news, monaco. now on bbc news, our world with yalda hakim. ghana's biggest fishing ground, lake volta, holds a dark secret. tens of thousands of children who work on its waters have been trafficked into a life of forced labour. given up by poorfamilies on the promise of a better life. many face violence, and some even die on the job. he's a child, but he's
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no longer a child. he's been through things us as adults haven't been through. the government has pledged to eradicate this illegal practice. there's so many children who could be rescued and could be put into this facility, but at the moment there's no—one in here. with the numbers dramatically on the rise, why are so many children still taken and forced to work like slaves? yeji, a small town on the banks of lake volta, in the centre of ghana. around 35,000 people live here and the main source of income is fishing. it's one of ghana's biggest industries, but the trade relies on an army of children —
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some as young as four or five. dampson was ten when he was brought to work on the lake. his mother was tricked into giving him up to a trafficker. what were they making you do? there are 21,000 like dampson on lake volta alone, doing dangerous work, like diving to untangle nets, and fishing alone. buying and selling children is big business here. they're trafficked into forced labour — or what charities would describe as slavery.
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it's early morning here in yeji and we're on our way to the river bank. we have very little idea what to expect when we get out there. today, i'm joining a rescue team from the charity challenging heights. hello, nice to meet you. they've been notified about some children who are being held. can you talk us through where we're going today. we're rescuing two boys today and one is in this community. we'll manoeuvre our way through the tree stumps to get to the community where the victim is. the team can only afford two trips to the lake a year, so they target specific children for rescue. they get tip—offs from the community and many parents ask
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for help to bring their children home. it takes a lot of resources to rescue a kid. we don't give up, we get so muchjoy from one less kid suffering on lake volta. but their task is huge. last year, ghana was put on an international watch list after a dramatic rise in trafficking. we keep seeing these boats, as we're going past, with children in them. we're not quite sure if these kids are with their parents, or they've actually been taken away by the fishermen. it's not uncommon for children to work for their families. even when they're meant to be at school. the team give advice to a passing fisherman. tell me what you're doing here today. how will they help you today?
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these kids, from what they are saying, they have not been trafficked, but then, they are being forced to work. we just have to advise the parents about the risk the children are going through, being on the lake. there's little the charity can do about children like these. they concentrate on the ones who have been taken from their homes and sold to fishermen. after a couple of hours on the lake, we reach our destination. steven goes ahead to track down the man we're looking for. we have a long walk. the fishermen often live miles from any roads. he was telling us we should spot two isolated houses — 0k.
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in that far corner there. the fisherman has agreed to talk. he says he lives here with his wife and there are several children here. the children we're looking for are here, but the fisherman is reluctant to hand them over. word has spread and more villagers want to get involved. the fisherman has finally given in, but there's an unexpected hitch. the child doesn't want to go?
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eventually, the child obeys his master and we're able to leave with both boys. but it's not the triumphant rescue i was expecting. the fisherman is unlikely to face prosecution and the boys seem bewildered. this must be quite nerve wracking and frightening for these children because they don't know who you are. you've just turned up in their homes and then suddenly you're taking them away. after several years in captivity,
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these boys are on their way to freedom. but they don't know who to trust. straight after being rescued, the children are taken to the charity's temporary shelter, outside yeji. when i come to visit, i'm pleased to see happy faces here. thank you. good to see you. so we've got all of these kids who were rescued. this is the start of the process of finding their families.
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do they know where they've come from and what their names are, who their parents are? while they're here, they'll get smartened up — hair trimmed, nails cut and any injuries treated. hello. i'm not hurting you? he doesn't have a nail. what's happened to your leg? what were you doing when your leg hit the boat?
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how bad can it get when they're doing this job? bye. before they can move the children from yeji, the charity needs authorisation from the police. these are the names we have rescued, so we are taking them back for rehabilitation. after that we need to find their parents. ghana has anti—trafficking legislation for the police to refer to.
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the authorisation is given to take the children. this really is very strange. we've told the police we have these children. they've given us approval to take them away. they're clearly aware this goes on in their communities, but they're not doing anything about it. last year, there were no convictions. a group of rescued children are preparing to start their new life after years of forced labour on lake volta. it was founded in 2007 by james kofi annan.
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definitely nice to see these children playing. if you look at when they were rescued and compare to now, you can see that freedom has come. the shelter is very close to my heart. for seven years, i worked on that lake as a fisher boy. every time i made a mistake, i was badly beaten. so that was a life of seven cumulative years of slavery. i see myself in the eyes of these children. i see these children in my own eyes. so it means a lot to me.
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it takes many months to prepare the children for family life again. some have been away from their homes for years. these are their rooms. do you see something missing here? there's no pillow. there's no pillow, yeah. why is that? deliberately. most of these children, when they go home, they don't even have beds to sleep on. we decided ok, no pillow, so that the experience here is similar to when they go home. 11—year—old boni has been at the shelter for more than six months. his parents are waiting for him to come home. what's his name? i want to know how he feels about returning to his family. do you miss your mum and dad? have you seen them yet?
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what did you say to your mum and dad? i like the way you dance. i even took a video of it. let me show you. look. you're the best dancer in the room. boni's parents live in a poor, rural neighbourhood. hello, nice to see you. they have five children. his father was a fisherman until he became too ill to work. his mother couldn't cope on her own. were you given money
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initially when he was taken? many poor ghanaians send their children away to richer relatives or people offering to teach them a trade. boni's mother thought she was sending him to a better life with her sister. was it very emotional for you when you saw him for the first time? so what will happen to boni when he comes back?
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education is free in ghana up to the age of 15. but many parents still don't send their children, because they can't afford the books and uniforms. we invite one of you to come. dampson was rescued after four years of forced labour on lake volta. he's now back at school. cheering his classmates call him "soldier" because of what he's been through.
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he's been given counselling for the trauma he's suffered. after he was rescued, dampson was taken in by his aunt. his mother had died while he was still in captivity. he wants to show me the room he shared with his mother.
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but it's too painful to set foot inside. reintegrating rescued children back into their homes is not always successful. they come from poor families who sometimes can't or won't take them back. ghana has earned international praise for its efforts to fight child labour. but the problem is getting worse, not better. there are two government—run shelters to house trafficked children, but when i visit one, it seems deserted. there are kids here at this shelter, but i'm being told that none of them have been trafficked. there's so many children in yeji who could be rescued and could be put into this facility,
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but at the moment, there's no—one in here. we need the government to commit resources into freeing these children. these are not hidden situation. you have an anti—human trafficking unit of ghana police service, which is great. but they don't have resource. they don't even have a boat to rescue children. so why is the government doing so little? hello, how are you? fine, thank you. thanks for having me. you're welcome. you're aware there's this trafficking that goes on in the country, but you don't have any rescue missions or operations to prevent this from taking place. the government is doing a lot. what we do is co—ordinate, what we do is train our district functionaries to monitor whatever is going on and report.
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the police are there. they are doing all that they can to rescue the children. the police are not rescuing the children. they are not? no. the challenge is also the shelters, where to keep the children. they're not well resourced. so, sometimes putting the children in those shelters sometimes even looks worse than if they leave them or give them to ngos. it's left to charities like challenging heights to rescue these children. 14—year—old dampson is doing well. he's no longer living with his aunt and has moved in with his dad. he's a good boy? a good boy. it's still a struggle,
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but now dampson has a place he can call home. where do you sleep? is it nice for you to finally be home? dampson has the chance of a bright future, unlike the thousands of children still trapped in slave
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labour on lake volta. for now, their only hope lies in the small charities prepared to do battle on their behalf. i want to see a ghana where every child has the capacity to dream about his or her future. i want to see justice for every child that was once enslaved. hello there.
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compared with some other parts of europe our weather is very quiet indeed. we had some rain and drizzle pushing southwards during the day yesterday. some breaks in the cloud later, perhaps in scotland, so here it could be a little bit chilly to start the weekend but on the whole, it will be milder. we don't really need to worry about frost. there will be a lot of cloud around and probably not much rain. most of the rain we will be seeing overnight across the southern parts of the uk. that's keeping the temperatures up. it could turn chilly across the glens of scotland where skies are clear. central and eastern scotland will see sunshine and a bit more cloud in the west. a pretty cloudy start and maybe a bit misty too across the northern ireland and for most of england and wales that's the way it will be as well. a lot of low cloud, it's quite low cloud sitting on the hills. there will still be some rain and drizzle left over from overnight along the south coast and into the south—west of england. that's going to dawdle in the south—west corner through much of saturday
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in actualfact. one or two heavy bursts perhaps first thing. away from here a lot of dry weather, a few spots of drizzle around some western hills, maybe getting a bit more sunshine in the north of england, especially over in the east of the pennines, possibly the best of blue skies across central and eastern scotland. pretty cloudy elsewhere but we may get temperatures in double figures. and again, no realfrost problems overnight because there's too much cloud saturday night into sunday morning. again some mist and some hill fog. the odd spot of rain still towards the south—west perhaps and around some of these western coasts and hills. it may mean that sunday is going to be another cloudy sort of day. if you see a glimpse of sunshine that may be it. any more than that and you're doing very well indeed. we could see some more persistent rain coming into the west of scotland later on, otherwise, again, a lot of dry weather and pretty mild too. those temperature in glasgow nine degrees, the same as the temperature in london on sunday afternoon. we've got some milder air here but across eastern parts of europe it's been really, really cold. these are the maximum temperatures on sunday. it's staying very cold right the way
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through the weekend. there have been some blizzards and maybe the worst of the weather heading into the eastern mediterranean. here at home, though, for the start of the new week the weather starts to change. the rain that was in the north—west later sunday moves southwards into england and wales on monday. it's on a weather front of course. there'll be some stronger winds with that too. it sort of signals a change to something a little more mobile, a little more changeable through next week. areas of low pressure getting a bit closer to the uk bringing some rain at times. some stronger winds too and as yet othing particularly cold. goodbye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting at home and around the globe. i'm gavin grey. our top stories. five are killed and eight injured in a gun attack at florida's fort lauderdale airport. the alleged gunman — believed to be an iraq war veteran — is now in police custody. investigators say the motive isn't yet known. we all looking at all avenues. we have not ruled out terrorism and we
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will be pursuing every angle to try to determine the motive behind this attack. russia tried to boost donald trump's election campaign and discredit hillary clinton, according to a report by us intelligence officials. and — tears and cheers as michelle obama gives her final speech as first lady. being your first lady has been the greatest honour
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