After this update I'm Debbie rests with the b.b.c. News. North Korea says it has no intention of using the Winter Olympics in South Korea as an opportunity to hold talks with officials from the United States a senior foreign ministry official was quoted by the state news agency as saying that Pyongyang had never begged for dialogue with the us the north is holding a military parade on Thursday on the eve of the Olympics in a speech to u.s. Troops in Japan the American vice president might pence so America stood with its ally South Korea to see 8 years ago this year North Korea sent its soldiers to advance against the free people of South Korea but because of the American armed forces they failed in their war of conquest and today America stands strong with the proud and free people of South Korea and we always will I The Venezuelan electoral authorities say presidential elections will take place on the 22nd of April the date set in a compromise between the government and opposition in negotiations in the Dominican Republic Katie Watson reports there's been a great deal of uncertainty over these elections including doubt over whether they'd happen at all the opposition had hoped the vote would be held in the 2nd half of this year giving parties more time to decide on a candidate with talks between the 2 sides now stalled because of disagreements over electoral conditions the political battle continues as does the uncertainty as to how the opposition will participate in the upcoming vote. A large number of troops have been deployed in the Banda Desha capital Dhaka and around the country ahead of the verdict in a corruption trial against the opposition leader begun Kalidas Zia the former prime minister and has son Tarik Rahman who lives in London face charges involving international funds donated to a charitable children's trust if found guilty and sentenced to more than 2 years she will not be able to contest parliamentary polls said you for the end of this year the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will deliver and national apology to victims of child sexual abuse later this year if I was an inquiry into the treatment of thousands of children abused in the care of churches schools and homes across Australia how will Griffith is in Sydney the 4 year Royal Commission inquiry and how doing evidence of abuse from survivors who say they've been denied justice for decades the final report called The abuse a national tragedy now the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says they'll be a national apology later this year the announcement adds pressure on those state governments and religious institutions who so far haven't signed up to a redress scheme which would entitle abuse survivors to tens of thousands of dollars in compensation Well the news from the b.b.c. . Rescue workers in Taiwan braving precarious conditions to search an apartment building leaning at a 45 degree angle after an earthquake struck the tour city of Holly and on Tuesday aftershocks are threatening to totally collapse the 12 story block when most of the 60 people are still missing thought to be traps. France has announced an end 2 years of felt tightening on military spending it's produced a bill that will see the annual outlay on the armed forces increase by 40 percent to $61000000000.00 by 2025 President Trump has complained that most European members of NATO are not pulling their financial weight. A pioneering American activist for Internet freedom John Perry Barlow has died at the age of 70 in 1990 he helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation which campaigns for civil liberties in the digital world 6 years later he issued a declaration of the independence of cyberspace one of the defining documents of the Internet age but it was also a poet and wrote lyrics for the psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead. A 4 week experiment by Austrian researches to simulate exploring the surface of muskets under way in the deserts of Oman later on Thursday that seem of 6 will use robotic rovers a drone and an inflatable greenhouse in a series of experiments that I found does it was chosen for its extreme heat and rigidity so to come in coulda is one of those taking pot it's very more like here it's actually what I look out of the window in beer we live in containers I actually see it for something very more seem like after today we're actually going to be in isolation face nothing in nothing out so all the water that we have at the moment we have to ration that and also the food we have and strict nutrition plan about what to eat which meals were definitely based on that but we have energy you know water and food here with b.b.c. Nice. Hello you're listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service with me Jonathan Blake the 1st day of competition in alpine skiing and curling is underway at the Winter Olympics in South Korea before the official start on Friday the games in p. On Chang are being seen as a rare opportunity of engagement between north and south the u.s. Vice president Mike Pence who arrives in South Korea in a few hours time has warned against North Korea's charm offensive at the games and we'll have more on that in a moment but 1st let's hear from Tokyo where our correspondent Rupert Wingfield Hayes's been speaking to the Japanese foreign minister about whether sanctions on North Korea are working and the likelihood of any military action. This is the sound of a huge batch 8 b. 2 stealth bombers coming into land on the u.s. Pacific island of. These aircraft are designed to penetrate deep into enemy territory and destroy key military targets their arrival here last month intensified speculation that the trumpet ministration is preparing a military strike against North Korea. But in Tokyo Japan's foreign minister Taro Kono told me such a military strike is unthinkable South career capital Seoul is situated just a ferry kilometers from the border here for any military actions taken the repercussion. Outrageous so I don't think anyone seriously considering taking I mean a tree method you know order to get to North Korea come to the dialogue I think we need to increase the pressure on them new sanctions imposed on North Korea last year are much tougher than any before they banned the export of coal and seafood they ordered all North Korean labor is working overseas to be sent home and crucially they cut the amount of oil North Korea can import. Something when I need to see it in his New Year message North Korea's dictator Kim Jong un described these latest sanctions as life threatening Japan's foreign minister says this is a clear sign the sanctions are starting to work what some sanctions biting Now we have a lot indication that sanction is actually biting and eventually there's no other way but for them to come to the table what do you think there is is going on with this this sudden repression all over the north of the Winter Olympics that's one of the indications a sanction is working they wanted to. Sort of charm offensive to South Korea but are I don't think international community ready to give them anything Taro Kono wants the world not to be taken in by Pyongyang's charm offensive or intimidated by North Korea's growing missile threat if they use their missile or nuclear capability they're going to be no more North Korea and they know so they're just making threat. They're just sitting in the middle of the sanction and eventually they're right they run out of their resources rippling filled haze with that report from Tokyo when the u.s. Vice president Mike Pence arrives in South Korea shortly he'll be accompanied by Fred won't be a the father of the American student auto won't be a he died after he was released from a North Korean jail Mr Pen said he wanted to highlight North Korea's human rights abuses while in the neighboring South our correspondent Steve McDonell is in your Limpert resort of Pyongyang and he's been talking to me about North Korea's participation in the games we know there's quite a lot of debate about this in Japan the u.s. And also South Korea regarding the mix if you like of isolation versus engagement with North Korea where I'm standing on the side of a mountain in Pyongyang and probably hear people is not a bill coming powerfully right now people are hoping that the Winter Olympics would bring some sort of contact with North Korea now it's not to say that they're under any illusions that this is going to be the end of problems of the North Korea's going to give up its nuclear weapons I think that in South Korea at least given how frosty relations of Bain in recent times it's just nice to have something different at least the to stop talking about obliterating one another that there is this theme that's coming from North Korea that Kim Jong un is sending his sister the 1st member of that ruling family to have ever visited South Korea and so you know this is what the it's all about now it's not to say that in South Korea as well that everybody is welcoming them in the public opinion is really divided here regarding the extent to which North Korea should be rewarded if you like Christmas is a patient and a guy and all that they should be back to that extreme pressure that some would rather have on North Korea following its nuclear weapons program you touched on it there Steve with the game. Answering fully on Friday how much of a sense is there of this occasion as a political one as well as the big sporting spectacle that you mentioned a lot of people in South Korea very much looking forward. It's an amazing propaganda showdown here really between the u.s. And North Korea with Winter Olympics as a backdrop and then we have the innings thermally starting here tomorrow with the u.s. Vice President you mentioned we heard it mentioned earlier the author warmly is Father's going to be there on the North Korean side we've got the sister of him in there they all are mean imagine the possibility of my parents and you know that one of the leading members of the Kim dynasty bumping into one another buying a coffee inside the stadium or something like that and both sides really buoying to have the the upper hand when it comes to propaganda at the guy and being able to show who's on the right path I think for South Koreans that it would be a mistake to assume that the spot all of this that they're somehow again being I think by all this just because North Korea is here that problem is that they're going to go why Steve McDonell in Pyongyang with his thoughts on one potential photo opportunity at the Winter Olympic Games You're listening to the newsroom from the b.b.c. World Service and the deadline to avoid another shutdown of the u.s. Government is looming midnight on Thursday Washington time is when things could grind to a halt again to avoid that a budget deal agreed by politicians from both Republican and Democratic parties in the Senate must pass the Lower House of Representatives and the risk of opposition on both sides from Washington take it Willis reports such a deal would provide a welcome relief to the sort of budget brinkmanship Washington has become all too used to in recent years and has already been hailed as a mini each of achievement for both parties in a deeply divided Congress. Was not enough in itself to avert a 2nd government shutdown in as many months it is a step forward this was the view of the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell this bill is the product of extensive negotiations among their rightful leaders and the White House of no one would suggest it is perfect but we work hard to find common ground stay focused on serving the American people such bipartisanship might not extend to the House of Representatives However their fiscal conservatives riposte to the fact that the bill adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt was Democrats argue it fails to address the issue which sparked the last government shutdown namely immigration the House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who made history today by delivering the longest speech there in more than 100 years 8 hours 7 minutes in total once a commitment to the plight of the so-called dreamers young people brought to this country illegally in exchange for her party's support for the budget deal every day courageous patriotic dreamers lose their status every day the American dreams that are there out of reach as members of Congress we have a moral responsibility act now to protect dreamers who are the pride of our nation and our American in every way but on paper the Senate budget deal has been criticized for the impact it will have on the federal deficit along with President Trump's tax cuts the new round of spending could boost the deficit considerably Meanwhile funding for the federal government runs out at midnight on Thursday David Willis in Washington in Bangladesh a verdict is expected soon in the trial of the opposition leader and former prime minister begun. Together with her son who lives in London she's facing charges of corruption relating to the alleged transfer of international funds to a charitable Children's Trust Just before we came on air I spoke to our correspondent and. Hussein who's outside the court in Dhaka this is a correction charge and it happened it started in 1993 when Khalid as you know was the prime minister of Bangladesh in one shouldn't get 3. She received $1200000.00 from Kuwait for charity but thing is that the main allegation is that the cupboard is the didn't spend those money for charity rather those money how hold the money it was transferred to another charity organization which was set up by his ill or some Parikrama and this is a mentally geisha and that when should receive the money being the prime minister she didn't the used the money for its orders or original are a straw that the money was false but private accounts and the kind of business is that this is a politically motivated charges and the government is using the judiciary in an attempt he put away from the next general election which is sure to be her on the end of this and she says she is ready to face any kind of situation whether she lands in jail or she's free it doesn't matter and she would actually think that if the judiciary is free then that she will get exemption from the charges so the verdict when it comes could will be politically sensitive What impact might it have there in Bangladesh definitely this is very politically sensitive because what it does here says that the government actually wanted to keep her away from the elections and many analysts say that if that is he is convicted and our party was not going to take part in the next general election it will put a big question mark will abolish democracy process by Hussein speaking to us from Dhaka. In Venezuela OS Mel Souza is known as the beauty czar a man credited with molding his country's beauty queens to win more major crowns than any other nation in the world is obsession with image leaves no stone or fingernail unturned. Pulling us into the more frail nails this is very ugly of white is too strong. These feet done really horrible I'll tell all of you you always need to be like queens from head to toe. That was Mr Sousa on his t.v. Series our Latin beauty Well now after nearly 4 decades working for the Miss Venezuela organization the 71 year old has announced he's stepping down from its presidency writing I gave joy to a nation or Americas editor Candace Pierre told me more about the legacy he's left under his management Venezuela one more international competitions than any other country in the world he made it into a huge industry already was it's very much part of the Venezuelan cutting the social scene they do love beauty pageants but $50000000.00 people would watch this contest across Latin America and he turned this competition into a reality show with him the heart of it and he would choose all the girls himself and advise them on clothes and makeup and hair and even what plastic surgery to have his beauty fact she became the top academy in the whole country with girls vying for places at this Beauty Academy from all over the country a controversial figure. In many ways to to succeed a girl under his wing had to undergo a transformation that was often quite radical and beauty is cruel and he was a great enthusiasm for example of plastic surgery what he wanted to see was a beautiful girl being made absolutely perfect a kind of Barbie doll representation of beauty and so he had a lot of plastic surgery he would take the t.v. Cameras into the surgery with him to watch the process he encouraged girls to undertake quite dangerous procedures they also had to starve themselves to look great they had to wear tight corsets to get the right waistline they had to file their teeth down they had to add to their bus line so he was encouraging girls to do quite dodgy things are America's editor Candace p.s. On the life and work of the man known as Venezuela's beauties are all smelt Souza Afghanistan is a country that knows more than most the cost of war its people have lived with conflict for nearly 40 years and to consider the cost of that on the mental health of Afghans we need only look at the statistics according to the World Health Organization 3 quarters of Afghan women and more than half the men suffer from mental health issues the b.b.c. Said than has had unprecedented access to Afghanistan's only high security psychiatric institute inherits in the west of the country. Was this. A cold small core chart surrounded by tall cracked walls covered up like this is the only secure psychiatric institute in a country that's been at war for almost 40 years. This is where 300 of the most dangerous Afghan men and women are kept many of them with serious mental health problems among them are fighters from both sides of the Civil War I salute. Confronted by an extraordinary sight I find myself standing no more than a few steps away from 2 former enemies chained together to form a Taliban fighter and his opponent a former freedom fighter and I'm just taking a leisure Lee walk in the crowded courtyard the 2 arch enemies take care for synchronized steps to avoid tripping over their chain that connects them with a little bit. Of the list almost not covered other than the Taliban are very good people they are the man obviously that's rubbish they are right because in far as the universe is an officer I want people you guys are people why you were so inclined people for doing the same thing you are crazy or don't know what you're talking about no I'm not crazy I am perfectly fine and the face of it the 2 men would appear complete opposites but the actually connected by more than just the chain they're both victims of trauma from war which has led to serious and long term psychological illness. Some of our patients are routinely by their families more others were from and collected from the streets and if you have a lead in difficulties some of them can't even communicate to even tell us where they're from or who they are. This is Dr Saltz you'll be visiting psychiatry to my surprise the unit does not have a full time psychiatry so it relies on his help. The facilities here are basic There are only 15 members of staff to take care of all the patients none of them medically trained dressed in black from head to toe Dr Sandra Lee qualified as a psychiatry only 3 years ago. Jeff at 22 patients here helps out in the kitchen and gentle and shy young man it's hard to believe that not long ago depression and schizophrenia had led to him becoming violent. That was 3 years ago when he last saw his family before they brought him here in Germany there were the moon when I 1st arrived here I didn't know where I all why it took about a month for it to sink in but I'm actually in the mind house. It's a good day for traffic today he's finally going home. This is a full review of the what it was because I'm so happy and I'm looking forward to getting back to my life and finding the job. You got when I got Jeff our takes his 1st steps outside his father has come to get him. He's lucky that he has someone to pick him up he has a war has meant that many of the patients families have either died or left for neighboring countries and cannot be contacted. Much like Dr Saad Juki the unit psychiatry's tells me more realistic and in the 1st than we actually have a few patients were treated and are reviewed to be discharged but when they have no one who can I hand them over to some of my patients would not be here. That report. From Afghanistan's only high security psychiatric institute for the B.B.C.'s. Debbie now has some of the stories from our news to us South Korean police have named the chairman of the electronics giant Samsung as a tax evasion suspect according to the local young happen use agency it says detectives believe legal he may have controlled bank accounts in someone else's name containing more than a 3rd of a 1000000000 dollars Mr Lee has been in hospital since suffering a heart attack 4 years ago. President of France has said he will not recognize Corsican as an official language on his 1st visit to the French Mediterranean island the president also rejected another demand by Corsican nationalists for special residency status to prevent property speculation by outsiders and employees of a German company have donated almost 3300 hours in overtime sell a colleague could look after his son with leukemia single dad and Rask gruff has taken almost a year of being an assembly worker at a design company and Hess after his 4 year old son cancer diagnosis more than $700.00 colleagues responded to a man at his appeal. Now to claim that some major international sports events are at risk because of climate change a pressure group called the Climate Coalition has released a report with more his Jonathan savage Montrose golf course lies on the east coast of Scotland it's the 5th oldest in the world and it's under threat we've had to move because constantly moving because inland we've now we're now to room the problem for the town is we have the last a barrier between the sea and the town so we felt last June is gone with a kind of the time is up to the city that's Chris Kern and the courses director he's hoping for help from government to shore up the Junes while there's still time the Climate Coalition says this is a symptom of climate change and even more prestigious venue risk since Andrews and Royal Troon are 2 of the most famous golf courses in the world and host of The Open Championship this report predicts that they could be under water by the end of the century Don Goggins is one of the authors the combination of sea level rises and high frequency and high intensity of stardom the combination of those 3 things leads to tomorrow's in and you know all the time this is going to have an impact and actually like in the case of Montrose for example which is quite stark stark example you know nearly 500 years of golf in history there that's already moved 3 holes they've got make some big decisions about the future now another sport under threat is cricket England host some of the biggest matches with teams travelling from across the world every year and of course the big Ashes series between England and Australia Dungog and says they've looked at weather records for English cricket since the turn of the century increase and difference of cricket since then pretty much aligns with the climatic trends and you can see that for example in an international cricket since 2000 I think England had 1081 day internationals 50 of games at home 29 of those have been lost overs because of rain and not raise almost double since 2011 this week the Winter Olympics begin into. South Korea but a study released last month suggested that of the 21 cities to have hosted the games or our shared will to more than a 3rd maybe too warm by 2070 a European research team is beginning a realistic simulation of Martian living conditions in one of the least comfortable places on this planet this report from Richard Hamilton. I am an aging mission to simulate. Se mission on. A promotional video for the am an 18 mission it's directed from a support center in Austria involved scientists from 20 different countries and draws on the experiences of 11 previous simulation missions the field crew will conduct experiments in the dough far desert in Amman a vast area of stony plains rocks and sand dunes in order to prepare for a manned mission to Mars in the future astronauts from 5 European countries will spend around 4 weeks there in complete isolation they will conduct 19 experiments working with robotic rovers a drone and an inflatable greenhouse Reinhart stars whose one of the flight directors with the Austrian space for him says it's a way of carrying out tests on both the astronauts and the landscape we have human factor experiments that focus on physical and psychological factors we also look at how isolation affect our crew but on the other hand we also have a lot of 2 physical experiments that look at the properties of the landscape there and then compare this also to what we would find on Mars it is very similar that we know but we would also like to try out different experiments that look for life Richard Hamilton reporting on the potential for life form loss. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the u.s. Is made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor of award winning public radio content a.p.m. American Public Media with support from crows with cloud based workforce management solutions designed for organizations to maximize their most valued asset their workforce Kronos dot com workforce innovation that workers. Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from a just living a family owned assisted living in memory care company learn more about the 7 key signs that a parent may need more care at 8 e.g. a Living dot com and from digital foundry software consulting partnering with world class design teams to actualize digital innovation more online and to diddle foundry. It's $930.00. No I'm nice to set and you're listening to the b.b.c. World Service in the next 5 weeks you're going to hear some remarkable stories about women who made history in their countries today were northern ardent to meet Monica McWilliams Monica was one of the few women at the table with many men during negotiations which led to the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1900 here how her story made history with midi still sacked after the news b.b.c. News with Debbie Ross North Korea has said it will not use the Winter Olympics in South Korea as an opportunity to hold talks with the United States a foreign ministry official said that Pyongyang had never begged for dialogue with the u.s. And this would not change the u.s. Vice president Mike Pence who'll be attending the opening ceremony has stressed that all options are on the table in dealing with threats from North Korea. The Venezuelan electoral authorities say presidential elections will take place on the 22nd of April the date was set after the breakdown of talks between the Government and Opposition 2 leading opponents of President Maduro has been banned from standing intense security is in place in Bangladesh ahead of the verdict in a corruption trial against the opposition leader Khaled asea if she's found guilty and sentenced to more than 2 years she will not be able to contest elections should yield for the end of this year the u.s. Led coalition fighting in Syria says it has conducted air strikes against pro-government forces after what it called an unprovoked attack on the u.s. Backed Syrian democratic forces the coalition said some of its troops were present as an s.d.s. Headquarters that was attacked east of the Euphrates River which is considered a de confliction line the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will deliver a national apology to victims of child sexual abuse later this year it follows an inquiry into the treatment of thousands of children who were abused in the care of churches schools and homes across Australia. Research has shown that suicide rates in the United States biked by 10 percent in the 5 months after the Oscar winning actor Robin Williams killed himself in 2014 the findings reinforce other studies that indicate that more people kill themselves in the aftermath of a high profile suicide. And that's the latest Well news from the b.b.c. . The March of the women. They called this song a him a call to battle Dame Ethel Smyth composed in 19000 and Cicely Hamilton wrote the lyrics both women were part of Britain's women's suffrage movement and this song became the anthem. In the early 20th century women across the United Kingdom went to battle to fight for their right to vote and some even gave their lives and really wiling Davison was fatally injured during the famous Darby horse race some say she was trying to attach a flag to the king's horse to highlight the women's cause and then in 1918 the battle was won some although not all prettiest women got their right to vote to mark their campaign and others by women the world over in the past century I can speaking with some remarkable women whose own stories made history I'm nice to set and in the next 5 weeks on the b.b.c. World Service you'll hear stories from Iceland Afghanistan Saudi Arabia and Liberia but we start in Belfast in Northern Ireland to meet Monica McWilliams one of them was one of the few women at the table with many men during the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 it finally put an end to the conflict which had raged for 30 years over demands for Northern Ireland to leave the u.k. And join the Irish Republic. So after 30 years of troubles 2 years of negotiations $3200.00 violent deaths the parties in Northern Ireland have reached an agreement which they all say they hope will stick to bring peace to the province I was 14 years of age when the troubles broke going to and as a very young woman. I became involved in the civil rights movement so I would describe myself but they and as a civil rights activist then became much more conscious of women's rights became a women's rights activist and eventually became a human rights activist So if 40 years of activism was an accidental activist I fell into every one of those and I ended up being a peace negotiator in a member of the Legislative Assembly which if somebody had asked me back then I would have said no to told all never happened well let's go back to where it all began and it was called the troubles beginning in the late 1960 s. In Northern Ireland and how did that shape your life as a young girl in Northern Ireland Oh it had a massive effect but you know what became extraordinary became terribly ordinary my own home was bombed 3 times I tell the story that my aunt came to stay once and as Irish Catholics we were always taught to be frightened of thunder as one of the superstitious things that the devil was out of work. And so she was very frightened of thunder and she came in a bomb went off a 1000 pine bomb and it blew in the windows in the roof and I find her under the bed in my bedroom and I said Mary you can come right now and she said What was that and I said it was a bomb she said thanks be to God I thought it was thunder which gives you an idea of the ridiculousness of what people were frightened of and what they should have been frightened of and then my boyfriend was murdered in 1984 by a loyalist armed group and I thought it's time to get out of here so I kind of run away I got a scholarship to the United States to study as postgraduate and I didn't couldn't they are sitting watching the police burning down at home rind and being so far away and I thought as soon as I get my graduation through I'm going back and that's when everything from a changed and I got really stopped and then really got involved mostly in women's movement with women's even domestic violence and that's a long time ago so when the man said where did these women come from it was as if we had only fallen out of the sky when the peace talks were declared we've been around for 30 years sitting in Monica's living room I can see through to her kitchen and on the wall there is a big poster of Martin Luther King Monica tells me she got goose pimples when she heard his soaring speeches for civil rights in the United States in the 1960 s. Decades on with her short blonde bob her self-deprecating warmth she still radiates that spirit but did she March then for women's rights that Lee Not that had not crossed the Atlantic from the United States in fact I carried a slogan on a poster saying one man one vote having no idea that I wasn't included what should have been one person one vote but that came many years later by 10 years when we realize. Domini is that that movement actually was even though it was the women who were sending out all the notices to gather and have a great photograph and Yury the week after Bloody Sunday when all of the sims but a $100000.00 people not March and the woman had organised it and they were somewhere in the back rolling to and suddenly they all said let's link arms and go to the front and it's the only photograph that severed been taken of those women leaders many of them some of them were assassinated some of them with a sense and nobody knows their names and how often does that happen in terms of the political activism that women get involved in they couldn't have been a civil rights movement without those women and the man stood in the next rope every one of them became famous. Famous too was the violence of that time including the day Monica mentions Bloody Sunday 1972. There are 2 managing at the end of this problem. At least very close to their dad there's 130 others up there I'm told that there are some more in these last years I haven't seen yet I would say there are probably about 4 depositional I don't know but those are the late. British soldiers shot 28 civilians during a peaceful protest 14 of them died it had a profound impact on the conflict but when it came to women's rights it took 20 years before Monica and other women in Northern Ireland moved from grassroots activism to mainstream politics and that move was helped unexpectedly by leading men in the conservative party in London and Belfast as well as some determined women. Started many people don't believe this under John Major and we had surpassed that Mayhew here and his wife Lady Jean Mayhew was a bit of a feminist as was Parness don't know what those titles lady and Baroness you wouldn't actually think that these 2 women would be calling all women in Northern Ireland to a conference to ask where are women's voices and so they kick started it to conservative women and they asked me to organize a conference in a rural peoples called each are held in the country because I wanted both urban and rural women to get the chance to raise their voices and hundreds turned up and we asked the question if there's ever peace talks in this country should women be at the table of course there was a diversity of views but the overwhelming view was high could we be locked I eat when we have been trumping. Streets in the communities for 30 years and then not to have any voice so it actually started just after the cease fires the 1st cease fires in $94.00 and all of us wanted a different future of course for our children so if there was a window that was going to open up we were going to jump through it in this was the formation of what became known as the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and I don't you see well it became the seeds of it we actually had no idea that we would form it so what we didn't was all stealth us was that we should write to all the political parties. If they were putting delegates at the table who would be women in their parties and they never bothered answering our letters to parties to the communist party workers party but we figured they wouldn't be at the table so they were more serious question most of the big parties who just probably tore the letter up and put it in the bone in fact they told us later that women could wait it wasn't an important issue and that more important was you know the constitutional issue of either a United Ireland or union with Britain and we said no we've watched and waited for too long it's time for us to build and we deserve to be there so we never dreamed of forming a coalition ourselves so for pure badness we just said Ok we'll put it up to them hoping not to get elected I should say in wa well we all have lives we all could see that we were being a fact of a community level and then the work we were doing and we always saw politicians as just talking and never getting out they were they all had lives some women were working full time most had children to care for and homes to keep running but a coalition was born they had no office not even a telephone but they did have a slogan that said we have goodbye to dinosaurs How did you come up with that. It was one of the women who said I've had enough of these dinosaurs and somebody else in the group that night show that it's time to we have them goodbye and we put the 2 together. So what was the reaction among the men to that slogan Just to say to all of us hi there you called me a dinosaur and I would look at the posters and say Where's your name I'm not poster and they would say that's not there and I would say why are you so for them to flying as a dinosaur. Of conversation. Getting votes mattered if women wanted to sit at the table to negotiate a way out of the troubles they needed to win more than one percent of the vote that was the system designed to include smaller parties in the peace talks so women took to the campaign trail 6 weeks of hard slog that's what women are good oh they were so supportive everybody was building teams all over the country giving people the fs in cars getting the vote. And we figured we wouldn't come to high up a but there was only temperate is and we worked it out that if we came in one 3rd time thought was a success the night before I went to bed I prayed that we wouldn't get elected that we'd done everything to put the fact that there were women available women could do this and then I thought else you yourself did not want to be absolutely not and then the other prayer that night was a commitment that's got elected. And on the day I went on to the client in my 1st constituency to come in this is where the me I had been born in a small village known as East London there is still very and the journalists all turned to me and said That's an unbelievable thought that has just come in and I said Yeah I've 96 1st cousins and their cousins and every partner in person that I could think of as the night during their voting for us and then he laughed and they said also that explains the vote and I thought the bet had a lot because good across all and we did hang in and that night we were the 9th party and we were elected and we were in total shock. And then came the harsh reality of how difficult except in Swiss going to be both on the streets don't go to the other is not even a delegate. You have to speak to someone and representatives of the women's corridors of the truth or here's the telestrator I'm glad I don't feel like in the negotiation over center Schweigen and cheering the talks I might as well discuss whether that flare up bite better terms for they annihilate of jurors them discuss whether Southern Ireland as the way forward for dollars Mr Pearce did not consider that an objectionable remark to compare Hitler and fascism with the government of the Republic of Ireland current on their own 5 circulate not I don't know where they are a believe they have a living and some cuckoo land part all then. We could stick with all of the insults because we were secure enough in their selves to know this was about them and not about us it's the usual it's the foresees it's culture it's cash it's child care and most importantly it was confidence and we just didn't have the confidence maybe in her sales we did believe in ourselves but at the same time we were so nervous about entering a process a by which we knew nothing because remember some of those parties had been at the table of at least 12 previous sets of negotiations. It was a baptism of fire and we literally got thrown in at the deep end and learned to swim as we went along and of course this was an election of a coalition which included women across the divide it was Catholic women like yourself and also Protestant women and Perle Sedar was the other reading woman on the Protestant so I asked her was a very strong working class woman community activist and all the time we insisted that that should be the way I was teaching at the university probably perceived to be from a middle class background but my folks were from a farming rural but growing and we were very much conscious that if we ever went to do meetings that there will always be somebody from one side with somebody from the other side so that we weren't seeing to be just doing meetings for their own site so you in Perl because of the election victory got to sit in what was described as the Northern Ireland forum for political understanding and dialogue Yeah the for in that we renamed the forum for monologue and misunderstanding it was a far cry from dialogue and understanding it was monologue after monologue every day on a Friday remember on a Friday all of the delegates were allowed to come together it was like a therapeutic exercise. Shouldn't Theon weren't allowed to sit at the talks but they could have come to the forum but chose not to s.t.l. The other national party walked out and that left very few of us across community alternatives to the Unionist parties and for some reason those parties decided to bully us not for some reason they had every reason because we were challenging a lot of their thinking and they knew that we were opening up back channels to Sion Feehan who had been affiliated to a previously armed group Iranian We were talking to the loyalists here in this house and they weren't in favor of this they were referring to them as terrorists and criminals and I was standing up saying they should be known by the names of which they've got elected and every Friday they put on a body armor virtually as I went down that road to go into that forum because I knew I was going to be humiliated I was going to be subject to the most derogatory comments and occasionally physically pushed around and this was because of your political views were because of your gender both where in a country you have got Reeses them you'll get sexism where you've got sectarianism you'll get reassess them and sexism the same people who take a prayed and not wanting any form of diversity so what were some of the insults they hurled at you oh well the mood out is when we got up to talk like hours yeah and coldness out. And the public gallery used to be so shocked. A Greek chorus of women go home and have babies if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen get out of it it's the fact that speak up and say Oh yeah and would put in the assembly how the assembly but they would walk up to words and tap me on the back and say Wasn't that great fun this morning Ted I don't know what part of that you thought was humorous he didn't see it is insulting not at all nor did they see it as sexist or anything they just thought that's the nature of politics and if you can't take it you shouldn't be here was it hurtful Oh absolutely all of this was heartfelt but you couldn't somebodies it couldn't that say that they were getting under your skin you have to pretend you're a big strong woman and look at a good team of woman or to something my message to women is don't do this on your own there's cut you off at the pass and there with Sandy and places and yet you had a rather interesting response to it to inject a bit of humor and all I remember what you're talking about and it was go home and Stand By Your Man and Pearl and I got up and started singing Stand By Your Man and the whole place are wrapped up into laughter you're not supposed to do that on the floor of a very formal forum by the way you're supposed to follow protocol but we just had a hard enough. There was insult upon insult so much so they even came up with a contest called insult of the week but the future of Northern Ireland mattered far more than what they believed had to be part of any deal victims and we put the whole issue in the next section called reconciliation on the need to address the issue of victims know when you have armed combatants at the table and the of all the Constitution parties have asked people look sometimes they're thinking about what are the victims and many of our women who were victims that lost their fathers brothers myself lost a very good friend in 74 as I say other than we were thinking higher we can to get over this process of we don't put something into a peace agreement about victims it was only a few sentences but the garden. Mix tosing we were fed up with segregation integrated education so their children could go to school together. The civic forum which was a reflection of us were people could come together to on social economic and cultural issues an advisory body to the Parliamentary Assembly the legislative body and all of that made its way in we were working on the human rights and equality issues the rights of women we managed to keep a close eye on that the role of women in public decision making because we said if this is a transformation which peace agreements and political settlements are supposed to be a boat then it can't just be about design armament demobilization and reintegration of expression or something that's a peace process this has to be about the long term but the education of our children together about how we're going to heal in the society the hearts and harms with done. By clause argument by argument the talks went on and on and then by Easter week. Of 1998 a deal seemed almost done and by now all the main political parties were around the table it was up and down up and down and rollercoaster but holy Thursday we were almost getting there then it went belly up everything generally dollars and these processes we were up all night were all for 3 nights I was standing in the same clothes that I'd left the house and 1st previous 3 days and then the snow Ok I'm going that's my memory of Good Friday morning and some people started join him and started doing public interview saying we think we've got an agreement and then next minute seem to be higher than they were unhappy and you need us for a very on helping. And suddenly President Clinton was known to be on everybody's phone encouraging and saying this is that folks and I got word to come and all Senator Mitchell was going to say is I want the leaders of each party to declare in favor of this to agreement verbal because we couldn't stay in that position for another take it to the rod Koryo the so we're known as verbal signatories but it was the most tense moment that you could have ever imagined and I think I was one of the 1st started with you know the Alliance Party and then another small party Labor Party and I was the 3rd declare and I thought well that's got to make its way around the table and the last party was going to Trumbull's and he said I and fear for and that was that. Senator Mitchell stood up and said agreement has been reached the talks are over Irish constitution and in British constitutional law to enshrine the principle that it is the people of Northern Ireland who will decide democratically their own future the agreement deals fairly with such sensitive issues as prisoners policing and decommissioning this agreement is good for the people of Ireland north and south and that was it so the women all stood I have the most beautiful photographs of us all standing hugging each other and I said to the women Don't be crying Don't be crying because that's what they'll expect so all the records are below to cry you know nice get x. Day series The cameras are on us looked around the room and every man was practically crying and I said you can cry you know because they're all crying. 30 years of violence were coming to an end the Good Friday Agreement of April 10th 1998 was signed by the main parties of Northern Ireland and the Irish and British governments and established a new power sharing government Monica McWilliams won a seat again as one of 2 women in the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition the other picture which takes pride of place in her Belfast home is a painting of all the members of parliament sitting in session but by 2006 the Women's Coalition ran out of political steam and Monica was focusing her energies elsewhere and now you travel the world you go to You were part of the peace process in Colombia you go to buy in March to Burma what is your argument for the importance of women in peacemaking negotiations this gender really make that much of a difference absolutely it's not rocket science if you're totally exclude the women and they'll have a male only dominated process then they're not representative of the people that's the 1st thing and the 2nd I think is that women are more participate raise their deliberate if there are things in conflict that only help to them there are certain harms that happen to me that they're not having to my male colleagues as if just mentioned sexual violence in Colombia trafficking a 1000000 more and so they need to bring that to the table in Syria which is the other conflict I was working on with the women do you have any regrets about the choices you made well the one worry I had was the children that they would say mommy was never here but they don't. And they're very proud of the role they played and I think they've benefited from it not being easy to point to yet 2 boys and one of the many years later told me he was bullied as a result of my role which was devastating for me he didn't tell me at the time because he was so worried about reaction so that worried me but no. You know progress really and you know very good way to end confidence absolutely I think what as I said my women have to believe in themselves they have to believe this is possible and believe that start with me I can do this but yourself with good support of team it was lovely to hear from you Monica thank 1000000 for thank you very much very much enjoyed it. A peace maker from Northern Ireland a history often told without the voices of women like Monica McWilliams and yet they did make a difference next week we'll travel to a very different culture to hear about a very different campaign to Riyadh to meet my day. One of the 1st Saudi women to fight for their right to drive we were about 47 girls with about 11 carts and we drove around and around in one of the main streets about 4 o'clock and then suddenly we were stopped by the police the police were really be willed or didn't know what to make out of us at the beginning he thought we were quickly women leading away from Kuwait and we said no we're Saudi women waiting to be arrested. Hear how her story made history next week at the same time on the b.b.c. World Service next on forum with Michael Krasny it's a rebroadcast of this morning's program about the relief effort in Puerto Rico 4 months after Hurricane Maria support for k.q.e.d. Comes from San Francisco State University announcing its new n.b.a. For biotech professional seeking career advancement weeknight classes in South San Francisco biotech m.b.a. That s. F.s.u. Dot edu avoid the hassle of selling your car and support the programs you love by donating your vehicle to k.q.e.d. It's easy and fast with a pick up schedule that is convenient for you for details visit k.q.e.d. Dot org slash cars the announcers and technical staff of k.q.e.d. Radio are affiliated with the National Association of broadcast employees and technicians c w a local 51 a.f.l. C.i.a.o. You're listening to k.q.e.d. F.m. 88.5 San Francisco in k.q. We are f.m. 89.3 North Highlands Sacramento it's 10 pm. From k.q.e.d. Public Radio in San Francisco I'm Michael Krasny It's been more than 4 months since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and nearly one 3rd of the island's 3400000 residents remain without power in a state of the Union address President Trump expressed sympathy for Puerto Rico as he tries to forge a path toward recovery but San Juans Mayor Carmen Yulian Cruz was not impressed here she is on c.n.n. On the one who says he cares and can your paper towels and. His administration with a clear set of goals to help. Coming up near you Lynn Cruz and others will join us to talk about the state a recovery efforts That's next after that. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington Steven's Senate leaders are hoping lawmakers will approve a bipartisan agreement on a 2 year budget deal The measure includes spending increases for both domestic and military programs and up to 90000000000 dollars in disaster aid White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is not saying if President Trump likes it we applaud those steps forward that they've made but we're going to need to see what is in the final bill but we're certainly happy with the direction that it's moving particularly that we're moving away from the crisis budgeting that we've been on in the past Congress needs to pass a new stopgap budget to avert a government shutdown at midnight Thursday when the current temporary spending plan expires Democrats are demanding votes on immigration Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor for 8 hours Wednesday to highlight the urgency of protecting young undocumented immigrants former Vice President Joe Biden has told House Democrats they have a real chance to regain a majority in Congress during November's midterm elections N.P.R.'s Mara Liasson has more on Biden's remarks Wednesday Biden told the Democrats they didn't have to choose between appealing to their liberal multi ethnic base and reaching out to the white working class voters they lost in 2016 you know all these so-called races to voted against the last time I remember a black man in a marriage Catholic kid one moved almost places before Biden also ripped into President Trump accusing him of shredding America's core Democratic values and institutions Mara Liasson n.p.r. News Washington the top White House aide resigned over domestic abuse allegations staff secretary Robert Porter stepped down Wednesday and then claims that he physically abused his 1st and 2nd wives White House chief of staff John Kelly says he was shocked by the new allegations and that there is no place for domestic violence in us society in a statement Porter denies the claim saying the accusations are from nearly 15 years ago and the photos of one bruised act. Doesn't tell the whole story secretary of state Rex Tillerson says the u.s. Will take all possible action to persuade then Ismailis president to restore his nation's constitution N.P.R.'s Michele Kelemen has more tillers and says one of the topics he discussed in his final stop Jamaica is how the region would cope if the u.s. Decides to impose sanctions on Venezuelan oil the former Exxon Mobil c.e.o. Says the u.s. Wants to mitigate any negative impacts of such a move we're going to undertake a very quick study to say are there some things that the u.s. Could easily do with our Richard g. Endowment with the infrastructure that we're already have available what could we do to perhaps soften duty impact of that secretary Tillerson says it's heartbreaking to see a once thriving democracy being dismantled he says he discussed Venezuela at every stop of his trip Michele Kelemen n.p.r. News the State Department punishment stock market shares are mixed down one and a half percent in Shanghai this is n.p.r. News. Some scientists have analyzed d.n.a. From Britain's oldest complete skeleton found in a cave in southwest England nearly 115 years ago as Larry Miller reports what they found is shedding new light on the country's and Sest will complection British scientists drilled into the skull of the 10000 year old so-called chatter man to extract d.n.a. From bone powder after analyzing the genome they found evidence that European skin turned pale some 4000 years later than previously thought they say Cheddar man would have had blue eyes brown skin and dark curly hair Cheddar man shares a genetic profile with similar remains found in Spain Hungary and Luxemburg they would have been 100 gatherers who migrated to you're from the Middle East after the last ice age 12000 years ago scientists compare the genetic information with d.n.a. From 20 living residence of chatter village and found 2 matches for n.p.r. News I'm Larry Miller in London advocates of people with Down Syndrome are applauding Gerber's choice forced $2800.00 spokes baby 18 month old Lucas warren of Georgia is the 1st Gerber baby with Down Syndrome Lucas won the baby food makers annual photo contest out of 140000 entries and will be featured prominently on the company's social media channels Gerber began holding photo contests for its Gerber baby in 2010 before that the company used a drawing of an infant to symbolize its brand on Chez Stephens and p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include a vital projects fund supporting the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan where the exit Bishan tarsier lead to a model inventing Modern Art in Brazil opens February 11th more info at Moema dot org. Welcome to this morning's forum I'm Michael Krasny more than 4 months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico nearly one 3rd of the island's residents lack power and thousands more remain displaced underlying these hurricane related hardships are deep structural problems Puerto Rico's poverty rate exceeds 40 percent and the debt ridden I learned is struggling to navigate its way out of bankruptcy this hour we'll discuss what needs to be done to improve conditions for the residents of Puerto Rico and steer the island toward economic recovery 1st we're going to go to San Juan and welcome our own John Paul that oh who's a host of California report on who has been on the scene there and John welcome good to have you with us thanks Michael and I'm actually just left to the west of it right now and fema recovery center in a lot of which is in the West Coast well how want to get the on the side report from you because you were actually right in the where they either hurricane passed in the West End and describe those as apocalyptic scenes. Yes So even 4 months later there were still seeing blue tarps if people can manage to find blue tarps for their roofs and many of the areas we're seeing trees down. But most importantly we're just seeing a complete collapse of certain buildings and this is really important because the economy is tenuous as it is before the storm even hit and so if you take something away like the local ball field that had maybe perhaps some type of Puerto Rican baseball league like the stadium I'm out right now because there's no electricity during the the winter season that was a really important source of revenue for many people if you take away the surf season because many tourists are coming if you take away the hotels because that keeps many tourists from coming in everyone down from the surf instructor to the person who works at the bar to the hotel is losing money and this is a time when they desperately need capitals so there is the kind of apocalyptic landscape right now I'm still I like right across the street from me I see metal roofs that are just completely down to out of out of shape there's giant lights for the stadiums here that are bent sideways it's almost like the lights are light posts or drunk they're leaning against a wall and that is existing But the biggest part of the financial apocalypse or the biggest part of the apocalypse here in those terms is the finances this is just an absolutely devastating. Financial situation for many people to find themselves and well the 3rd of the people as we said earlier without power and about half the population of $3000000.00 are in informal homes or illegal lousing and there's a disaster on that score and health care I mean we can go through the whole list of things that really need help and need capital and need some economic sustenance but I want to get to really the response not only the immediate response to the disaster in the hurricane but also the longer term respond. I mean New York Times had a story about Fema and it was a shocking story there was a woman who was hired an entrepreneur in Atlanta entrepreneur by the name of Brown Tiffany Brown and they gave her a country about $156000000.00 according to The New York Times she was supposed to feed millions of people in the but $50000.00 mills went there in those mills many of them were self-feeding mills like they were supposed to be I mean this is just been a disaster why I mean that's just one extreme and that is a particularly egregious extreme because Tiffany Brown actually lived in Atlanta Michael for a while and Brown is a well known. Person who of l. Repute if you well she's somebody who just has got in trouble kind of runs for mayor I mean just the fact that somebody a female didn't do a quick Google search of the people who are there to interesting to feed you know 3 and a half 1000000 people although I would say the actual number of meals are much lower at this point because there is electricity in 70 percent. Where to start with the contracts I've heard stories John she had 5 cancel government contracts I just want to get this in at least 5 that we knew of and you could have googled and found and she had. Really no experience in terms of largish large scale disaster relief none none and that's that's not uncommon We're hearing stories from locals about people from Mississippi Alabama basically to southeast Florida who have moved in very quickly bidding on contracts and I.