tv Our World BBC News October 1, 2017 9:30pm-10:00pm BST
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this is bbc world news. that then violent clashes in catalonia during a police operation to hold an independence referendum that spain's constitutional court has suspended. reports say that people had been injured. the ballots have apparently been counted in a secret location. the spanish by minister mariano rajoy said the referendum did not ta ke rajoy said the referendum did not take place, he said the board was illegal and against democracy. donald trump has told his secretary of state not to waste time tried to negotiate with the leader of north korea. he said, save your energy, rex, we will do what has to be done. a suspected militant islamist has killed two women with a knife at the main railway station in the french port of marseille. soldiers shot the male attacker dead. those are the headlines. now it's time for our world. a handful of raw sapphires.
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beautiful and valuable. but they also pose a threat to this, the indri lemur, one of the rarest animals on earth. poor people in their thousands have invaded the animal's home, seeking their fortune in the remote forests of madagascar. are you rich? no, not yet. not yet? laughs. not yet rich! they mine the land, but for little reward. very hard, the life here. in the rush for sapphires, there's a price to be paid. less than a year ago
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in eastern madagascar, there was a chance discovery of sapphires, sparking a gem rush. tens of thousands of people flocked to the area. and we are now following the route they carved out. when the road ends, we walk. about one hour in, six to go, and i'm carrying half the weight these guys are. but in these hills there are hidden dangers. disease, bandits. and everyjourney to the mine has its risks.
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time to visit the vatto mesina, sacred stones. an offering to ancestors ensures safe passage and good fortune. after this the going gets tougher. a once narrow forest path churned to mud by thousands of feet. as we walk, the trees close in on us. and then we hear them. lemurs calling. indri, right above us. the mining trail leads directly through their territory. naturally timid, we have to go to a national park to get this close.
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the indris live on the fourth—biggest island on the planet, 500km off the coast of east africa. the wildlife is spectacular and rare. many species live here and only here. it is a privilege to see them in their natural habitat, but for how much longer? this has taken more than nine hours of walking, but we are finally here. we are right at the centre of what is the latest sapphire rush, the biggest sapphire rush. for at least 20 years, and still they come, men, women and children. building homes of wood and plastic, creating a makeshift town in the heart of the forest. there are shops, and bars...
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moved here to clear the land and dig for gemstones. this was once virgin rainforest. but now look. mineshafts and spoil heaps scar the landscape. there are thousands of men right across this valley working all day, every day, down these pits, digging out hundreds of bags of sand, and all of them are looking for something no bigger than the size of my fingernail. and this is what they are after. a handful of stones. it took bruno and his team many days to dig them out. he comes from the other side of the island, more than 1000km away.
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he has invested all his money on this. every morning, the work takes him down into the dark. the pit is deep. very deep. the job is cramped, backbreaking and dangerous. none of these men are locals. they have travelled from all over the island, because there isn't any work at home. so they come here, hoping to find
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a sapphire that makes their fortune. this one took days to find, but is worth only about $200, split between a team of four. what does it feel like when you find a sapphire? but it's always a gamble. stephane has been here for months and has nothing to show for it. university—educated, now he works these pits to support his family. the future, i don't know. do you want to be here? for this moment... i am here.
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but when i don't have money to live here, maybe i will go back to my home. do you have family, children, a wife? yeah, i have a wife, one daughter, and three sons. yeah. and you come all the way here to help them? yeah, that's why i came here. what do you want for them, your children? i want them to have a good life. it is not greed which drives men here, but poverty. madagascar is one of the poorest countries on earth. 80% of the population lives on less than $1 a day. there are fewjobs for men like these. keen eyes sieve and search, a
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promise of wealth in every handful. have you found any sapphires? many, but not very good. so are you rich? no, not yet, not yet rich. but the wealth they seek comes at a cost. the mines eat away at the forest. the villages that spring up pollute the water, and threaten the habitat of the indri lemur. lemurs calling. can you hear that? that's the sound of indris singing. they are on that side of the valley and are singing
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to the indris on this side. they are critically endangered and they only live in a very small area of madagascar. they cannot survive in captivity. so when they're gone from here, they're gone for good. we travelled to mitsinjo, a conservation project where the indri are able to thrive. the biggest of all the lemurs, they spend most of their lives in the trees, eating and sleeping in the branches. they produce few young, only breeding every two or three years. this is extraordinary. these indris come down from the forest canopy. they live in small family groups. this is a group of five, two adults and three juveniles. they eat nothing but leaves and seeds. they need a big range,
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a large territory to live in. so as the forests are cut around them, they have to retreat to smaller and smaller areas. but when those forests are gone, they will die out. in this park, our guide is one of the world's most foremost authorities on lemurs. that's really sad. he's horrified by what we show him. you can see the scale. yeah. it's huge area. and make no mistake, this is all illegal. on paper, the land is protected.
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but the authorities seem unwilling or unable to stop it. here in madagascar, there are fortunes to be won or lost. the miners who dig up sapphires sell them on to dealers. they call this man ‘the president'. he holds court, waiting for the sapphires to be brought to him so he can inspect them and offer a price. notice the torch — every dealer needs one — and the rings — you'd have thought business was good. but far from it. but getting a good price for sapphires means keeping them safe first.
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this man stores them in his mouth because, he says, he has no pockets. translation: it's calm here but beneath the surface, there's fear too. he said they need security because when you walk from the city, from town to here, there are some people who attack you. bandits? yeah, bandit. is he scared? "yes, yes, we are afraid of that." sapphires are sold in england, in france, for rings... yeah. ..necklaces. uh-huh. do you think those rich people understand your life here? i think they, yeah, they understand the life here but they don't care, maybe. when i talk about the government, the government in madagascar, you know, they don't care about us.
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deep in the forest, a day's walk from the nearest road, the authorities can seem remote, indifferent, and powerless. vibrant, polluted, and poor — antananarivo, madagascar‘s capital city. from here, the country's elite monitor the sapphire rush with great interest. the sapphire trade is a sensitive issue here. the government really doesn't like to talk about it, and somejournalists have been arrested for trying to expose the nepotism and corruption at its heart. the authorities claim they are trying to regulate the industry. but still, the illegal mining goes on. in recent months, ministers have talked of reform, to tighten the law and control small—scale mining. but ngos working in conservation say
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what really stops effective policing is a lack of money. officials on the ground can't even buy fuel for their vehicles. these are in national parks, often, where it's happening. the authorities seem powerless. yes. u nfortu nately, most of the sapphires, gems, even gold rushes that we've had have been in protected areas, sometimes national parks. and it's all illegal, of course, but then, there is very little capacity to enforce legislation generally in madagascar — especially in very, also remote areas, because you have, i mean, they are usually remote areas so it's even more difficult to enforce the law in this case.
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do you think the government wants to enforce the law? i wouldn't dismiss also that there is maybe a lack of willingness to act. which means gems from illegal mines continue to flow to the capital and on into backstreet workshops. here, skilled hands and sharp eyes work to unlock the value of the gems. stones will go through several pairs of hands before they reach the capital antananarivo and a place like this, where they're cut and polished for export. a stone sold by a miner for £25 will be sold by a dealer like this for £250, and when it is in the us or in bangkok or in dubai, will go for more than £5,000. shaolin is happy to show this stock. the mining may be against the law
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but the trade isn't. this is his favourite, sold in the us for more than $2 million. some sapphires are mined legally in madagascar but how can a buyer know? the truth is, they probably cannot. most big dealers come from sri lanka or thailand. in shaolin‘s view, they buy up malagash sapphires to pass off as their own. but now, there are calls for greater transparency, demands that each gem be traceable to the mine it came from — a worldwide agreement to reform the trade.
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there could be some kind of international regulations on the trustability of gems. so that, at the retailer's side, you can know where this came from and how it was produced, whether it was in a sustainable way. so you would call for some kind of international accord, rather like that which regulates the trade in diamonds? yes, yes — and we have started this discussion with the malagasy authorities. it has just started, so i think that with also international support and pressure, this discussion could move forward more quickly. how urgent is that need? that would be urgent because we are not protected from the next rush.
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it can happen anytime, anywhere in madagascar. and so, it would be urgent to act, it would also help us in the future. that sounds like a good place to start. but for jonah ratsimbazafy, the lemur expert, real change can't wait. we're almost out of time. there are valuable gems beneath this red soil.
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october and away, and centre of this area is passing by northern scotland, containing energy from what was once a hurricane. the southern flank of this low—pressure system, look at the isobars, the wind is the main feature going through monday. gales in some places, perhaps severe gales and parts of scotland, northern england and northern ireland with gusts of up and northern ireland with gusts of up to 60 mph, perhaps more in some places around the central belt on monday morning. there could be travel disruption with bridges and
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things closed, so check the situation. along with those strong winds that will be showers in scotland, parts of northern ireland, west of england. rain pushing into south wales and south—west england later in the day. it is a mighty weekend, feeling fresher and colder across the uk for the next few days. still windy through monday evening especially in northern scotland. the rainfora time especially in northern scotland. the rain for a time in southern england is what's left of hurricane maria, but not particularly heavy or monday and it is gone by tuesday. 0n tuesday a ridge of high pressure moves into the uk, initially very windy at the winds easing. showers and in northern scotland and northern ireland, but few and far between. a fine day for most but enough of a breeze to make it feel chilly. into wednesday, a ridge of high pressure gets squeezed southward by weather fronts coming in from the atlantic. initially on
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wednesday targeting western scotland but as the date was on outbreaks developing elsewhere in scotland, moving into northern ireland and parts of northern england. in the south it will be mainly dry, but the wind will pick up across the uk. it windy and wet scene for some on wednesday night into thursday. some uncertainty over the timing of this clea ra nce uncertainty over the timing of this clearance leaving, it may drag its heels. showers in the north—west but for many a fine day. the wind from the chilly north west and the risk of guilt force winds on thursday. for northern and eastern parts may be severe gales in the far north—east and that will be a chilly wind despite sunshine. by the time we get a friday, another ridge of high pressure trying to build on. it may delay this weather pressure coming in. this weather pattern which is changeable continues through the weekend and into next week, with jet stream which is wavy.
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areas of low pressure mainly affecting northern parts of the uk. all moving through fairly quickly, so all moving through fairly quickly, so nothing lasts too long. an area of low— pressure so nothing lasts too long. an area of low—pressure brings most of its wet and windy weather, then high—pressure coming in and briefly settling things down but not long before another area of low pressure moves on. that's the pattern into next week. because northern parts of the uk are close to the low—pressure, that's scotland, northern ireland and northern england, but through the week low— pressure england, but through the week low—pressure systems may affect more of the uk, bringing the wet and windy weather across more of the uk, not just windy weather across more of the uk, notjust in windy weather across more of the uk, not just in northern windy weather across more of the uk, notjust in northern parts. windy now, more strong winds forecast, awesome proper is finally here. —— the autumn is finally here. a day of violence in catalonia as police try to stop the voting in a referendum on independence from spain. hundreds of people were injured
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