Transcripts For BBCNEWS 100 Days 20170627

Sits down with the bbc to talk about his latest work in Washington A Sprawling tribute to those who fight for freedom. I am katty kay in washington Christian Fraser is in london. The pentagon says the intelligence is compelling it has identified planes and also the hangar in which it says the Syrian Government may be preparing another Chemical Attack. The white house said to President Assad he will pay a heavy price if the weapons are used. In april, a Sarin Gas Attack on the rebel held town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 87 people, many of them were children. The attack was launched from this same base. Today the syrian president Bashar Al Assad denied any new preparations were under way. And perhaps in defiance of that us threat, he paid a visit to a russian airbase in the west of the country even climbing into the cockpit of this sukhoi fighter jet. Not the image of a man cowed by american threats. A short while ago the Us Ambassador to the un, nikki haley issued this statement about what the white house has learned. They have seen activities that are similarto they have seen activities that are similar to preparations of a chemical weapons attack, much like we saw in april. I believe the goal is at this point, notjust to send assad a message but to send russia and iran a message that if this happens again, we are putting you on notice, and my hope is that the president s warning will certainly get russia and iran to take a second look, and i hope it will caution assad we dont want to see innocent men, women and children hurt again. Mrtrump has had mr trump has had a conversation today with the french president , emmanuel macron, who apparently agreed tojoin the us in taking action against syria in the event of Chemical Attack. Joining us in the studio is general mark kimmitt who served as Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for george w bush. General kimmitt, what is the white house strategy here . Why have they issued this warning to the syrians . I think they have made it clear they will not accept another attack like there was on april four. This is a clear declaration from the United States that they are prepared to respond the way they did before. After the attack in april and the 59 tomahawks said, the criticism of the white house is that there was not a follow up strategy. Do you think there has been a more conference of strategy designed beyond just taking action against one Air Force Base . Frankly i dont think there has been an overall strategy for syria. From either the United States or its Coalition Partners such as the united kingdom. That has to be part of any solution. The solution cannot simply be military. It has to be diplomatic and im glad to see that the french have started pushing very ha rd to the french have started pushing very hard to try to put this back on the table. General kimmitt, President Trump obviously wants to look like he is the strong man on the world stage, and i suppose that upshot of this is you can head it off, but the flip side is that if they use these weapons you have to follow it through . We have already demonstrated we will follow through andi demonstrated we will follow through and i think the most encouraging news today is that President Assad denied he was preparing for a Chemical Attack and that demonstrates to me that President Trumps words have had deterrent effect, not only for Bashar Al Assad, but also his supporters in iraq and iran. The problem is, though, of course, if there was a second attack, the russians might not be as tolerant as they were lasting . That is a choice the russians have to make. Clearly they are the Puppet Masters behind Bashar Al Assad, as are the iranians. The only reason Bashar Al Assad is in power today is due to his support from those two countries, so they have to make a decision, to keep corrupt murderer in power, or move towards a diplomatic solution. The Military Situation has been getting more tense. We have seen russian and americanjets flying more tense. We have seen russian and american jets flying very close to each other, The Americans have downed a syrian planes. The russians did not like that. What other risks at the moment of some kind of miscalculation in syria . At the moment of some kind of miscalculation in syria . That is my greatest worry as well because the russians have turned off that channel. We had a Strong Communications channel between ourselves, the coalition nations, and the russians, to make sure there was not any kind of accidental shutdown, accidental problem, inside the ear, but that can only be done if they Deconstruction Channel remains open, so it is up to the russians in my mind to open to reopen the channel so that we do not have the skin of things youre suggesting. Thank you for coming in tojoin us. The interesting thing, katty, we are focusing a lot on mosul and the fire that is now underway in raqqa, but we dont talk in the media a lot about the endgame, what may, after raqqa. Is there any discussion of that . Yes, i think the general was right. There is not a political strategy here in the United States and nor is there with the coalition, post punk mac, if there is to be opposed assad. We seem to be in post assad if there is to be opposed assad. I spoke to a politician today and said there is 110 politician today and said there is no appetite for the United States to get more involved militarily in syria, either from democrats or republicans. The president , whilst issuing this threat on the chemical weapons level, is very aware that lack of engagement. Talking of that lack of engagement. Talking of that lack of engagement. Talking of that lack of support, republican senators are running away from their own plans to change American Health care. It looks like they are cancelling a vote on the bill this week and all republican senators have now been invited to the white house. The it is not popular, not with the voters, the health care industry, or even with the president , who said it is means, so the chances of fulfilling that Key Campaign Promise to immediately replace 0bamacare appears to be slipping away. We are joined by our North American reporter anthony zurcher. Things are moving very fast. We expected a vote on health care in the next couple of days and that is now changing. Exactly, and that is the bottom line. The votes were not there for the republicans to pass this. Remember, they needed 50 of the senators to get this over the finish line. We had heard from republican ce ntre line. We had heard from Republican Centre senators, moderates and conservatives with misgivings about the bill, some of them, such as Susan Collins of maine, who was pretty definitive in her opposition, and it looks more like they will not be able to pull it together so it has been delayed, consideration of, until after this 4th ofjuly recess, which begins on friday. Senators have gone back to their Home Districts for a week and they come back to dc for three weeks injuly then after that they are gone for all of august. During that july period they will have to talk about raising the debt ceiling, passing a budget, they have a very crowded legislative calendar, and this is just one more thing put on their plate. Anthony zurcher, thank you very much forjoining us. It will be odd, christian, watching the sight of 52 republican senators going down to the white house when they dont actually have something to vote about. Just before we heard about this vote being delayed, i discuss the Health Care Battle with republican congresswoman from tennessee, a big supporter of donald trumps, andi tennessee, a big supporter of donald trumps, and i asked her what she would tell her constituents who now face the prospect of losing their Health Care Insurance under this republican plan. The people of tennessee have already been hurt. You have to go back in and look at what the placement of the affordable ca re what the placement of the Affordable Care act in the marketplace did, and people in tennessee have seen their premiums go up by 176 , across the board, since the Affordable Care act we nt board, since the Affordable Care act went on the books. Congresswoman, you were a big supporter of President Trumps and he called this bill mean. I assume you would see that and the president is wrong . think on this the president and i would have a disagreement. When you see the increase in medicaid spending at 20 over the next ten years, i think that is generous dart mac any time you see. Generous dart mac any time you see. The president will say what he is going to say but i know that out he is going to say but i know that our goal has been to make health ca re our goal has been to make health care more affordable and more accessible. You seen medicaid spending rise 20 . Katty, i have to tell you, for some of the democrats, they wanted to visit100 , but they wa nt they wanted to visit100 , but they want a Single Payer System and the American People do not want a system. They want patient Centred Health care where they, the individual, can make those decisions with their physicians. Congresswoman, the public and have had seven years to come up with a plan to repeal the bill. They have been speaking about it for that long. Why is it that difficult for you . Why did you not have the plan ready to go . We had any part of that plan ready to go. Indeed, we had over 100 bills that were available. We had amended the Affordable Care act 54 times, and you get to a point where they Health Care Marketplace is imploding, so you do have to, in order to work within the budget, within the constraints, you have to go in and tweak the provisions you have to. They are the same provisions we have been talking about since we were at the president S Health Care summit back in 2010, so you have to adjust it so that if it is within the Budget Framework and, yes, it takes a long time. Congresswoman marsha blackburn, thank you forjoining us. Good to be with you. Thank you. That is the point that she made there, isnt it, katty, that if they cant get this through after seven years, seeing this would be the first thing they would do, this is what we want above all else, there are good to be huge political repercussions . Yes, and remember during the campaign this was the thing that would happen on the first day, replacing and repealing 0bamacare. President trump during the campaign sold himself as the Master Of The Art of the deal, he was the guy who would fix this, andi he was the guy who would fix this, and i think you said at one point during the campaign it would be relatively simple for him to fix this because he would be able to get republicans to do the deal in a way nobody else had got them to do it. I think we would call this the learning curve, that the president is realising health care is very complicated, that individual members have very conjugated political calculations, and frankly if he calls the bill mean, it probably doesnt win himself very many supporters because all of those senators no wavering on signing, they will think, who will have my back . Will the president have my back . Will the president have my back if i see numbers, or will he just call it mean again . Which doesnt help me. Health care. And 2018 is just around the doesnt help me. Health care. And 2018 isjust around the corner. Yes, it is complicated. The Nuclear Disaster site at chernobyl in ukraine is undergoing manual Radiation Checks after a wave of Cyber Attacks in the country hit its operating systems. The country appears to be the victim of a widespread hack thats spread through russia and europe. Government ministries, power companies, banks and airports all reporting major problems with their Computer Systems. And as we know by now so interconnected is the world that very often it quickly spreads elsewhere. We are now getting reports that Major Companies in the us, netherlands, france, norway and the uk are reporting that they have been affected. Lets im joined now by our security correspondent, gordon corera. I saw you in the corridor earlier furtively watching twitter to see where it was going. What do we know . Laughter every minute you are seeing new reports about it. This one particularly seems to be spreading fast. It started in the ukraine and at first looked like something pretty serious but pretty localised in ukraine, where energy, banks, systems to do with the metro and the airport, had been hit, but it looked like something within ukraine largely, but then quite largely we started to get reports further afield, the Big Russian Oil producing firm got hit, then we heard the Port Of Rotterdam was hit, and wpp, a large Global Advertising firm based in the uk, was hit, us pharmaceutical firm, firm based in the uk, was hit, us pharmaceuticalfirm, big firm based in the uk, was hit, us pharmaceutical firm, Big Companies getting hit, and it was moving pretty fast. It is not yet clear, you know, quite how far and how global it will go, but certainly the speed is worrying people. Global it will go, but certainly the speed is worrying peoplem global it will go, but certainly the speed is worrying people. It is surprising then, because when you talk about Big Companies, they usually a pretty Good Software systems that are being updated. What is the tricky thing about this . Is that this ransom were again where they demand payment . Exactly. So for people affected, their Computer Screen gets locked and they get a message saying we will not unlock and decrypt your data unless you pay and decrypt your data unless you pay a ransom. In this case, 300 in bitcoins into an account, bitcoins being the anonymous way of paying, supposedly. This is similar but not the same as the run somewhere attack about a month ago. This is similar but it actually looks in some ways faster and more upgraded. It is not yet clear, though, how much damage it will do, but i think we havent got a handle yet on how Many Companies and countries will be affected, and how much damage it will do to them. Whether they will be able to recover quickly. It is possible this could be more serious, but it is still early days. But, gordon, is there a risk that because some of these Cyber Attacks do seem to be contained, like you said not a huge amount of damage apparently from this one or the run somewhere attack last time either, is there a risk people start getting complacent or from the risk people start getting complacent orfrom the run risk people start getting complacent or from the run somewhere attack la st or from the run somewhere attack last time either. It depends really on your organisation and how dependent you are on your Computer Systems. Do you have the back ups to be able to deal with this. We saw in the uk in may when an number of nhs, National Health service, trusts were hit, and were having to cancel patient operations. That is a kind of real world consequences for a cyber attack, where they couldnt get the patient records in time for an operation and they could not schedule and properly, so you can see that when you start getting real world consequences, notjust that you cant use your Computer System for an hour or your website is down, that is the kind of thing which really affect companies and institutions, so i think it will depend on how serious this is and how many are hit, but i think is another company is hit it has an impact, see, you know, ceos and others saying, why did we get hit and others did not get hit . Sometimes it is because they have not invested enough in it security so those questions start to cascade through and around organisations, why some are getting hit and not others. Interesting. Gordon, for the moment, thank you. Christian, we are in the wrong business. We need to be in the wrong business. We need to be in the Cyber Security business yes, mass of money. Massive growth industry. If you type google and competition law into your browser this evening, you will see the American Tech Company has been hit with a record 2. 4 billion euro fine by the european union. Theres also a good chance, you will be viewing that story through google search, perhaps on a google browser, maybe even on a phone or computer that is running googles own operating system. And that is the point. Google is a global giant. It photographs our streets, its building ourfuture cars, it has extraordinary access to our personal information and our consumer habits. And the European Commission believes the company is rigging Online Shopping searches by promoting its own shopping comparison service. Rory cellan jones has the story. Its the giant which dominates online search, and now its been hit with a record fine, over £2 billion, after rivals claimed that google had trampled on their business. The fine was imposed by europes competition commissioner, gaining a reputation for taking an powerful American Technology firms. Google has abused its Market Dominance as a Search Engine by giving illegal advantages to other google products, its shopping comparison service. The charges that it uses Search Engine might to favour its own Shopping Services above rivals. Lets put toaster into the box. Right at the top appears the google box with a series of adverts. If i click on these, google earns money. What you are not seeing prominently in fact, way down, out of sight are rival Price Comparison sites. They are not getting the clicks and not earning the money. One of those rivals says that todays fine is good news for shoppers. One of those rivals, kelkoo, says that todays fine is good news for shoppers. Without competition, google can charge merchants what they like for advertising. With competition, you end up with lots of people like ourselves, companies, competing on prices which brings the price down. But google says big rivals like amazon provide plenty of competition when it comes to choosing products, and brussels doesnt understand the modern consumer. The search firm said get your products on google, other sites, and with mobile shoppers. And there is wider concern in the United States at what some see as interference in a Ground Breaking company. A former adviser to three president s says consumers wont benefit. This could lead to, essentially, too big to innovate. If you are so big, you be careful about innovating, because you could bring down the raft of the European Commission on you and pay large amounts of money to the european treasury. Why do you want to risk that now . For more than a decade the European Commission has been taking on the American Technology giants and today it makes clear that its battle against what it sees as unfair competition will continue. Rory cellan jones, bbc news. Were joined here in the studio by Ana Rita Rego who is the london Managing Editor of Market Insight publication mlex. Welcome to the studio. Thanks for coming. This is a company that can move it servers, regional officers, wherever it wants, so perhaps the most pressing argument here is that there are few governments in the world, and perhaps the eu is only sort of body, who could do it . So good we in this case. The uk is very well positioned because google has operations in several of those countries and they have oversight and competition matters. People are saying, good people just and competition matters. People are saying, good peoplejust move and competition matters. People are saying, good people just move away from the eu . It cant because it has services here and wants to sell its services here and wants to sell its services in europe and for that reason has to comply with the European Competition laws. Anarita, it is katty in washington. I have to say sitting on this side of the atla ntic say sitting on this side of the atlantic it looks increasingly like european jealousy on american innovation. The europeans have not managed to come up with big Search Engines themselves and theyre taking about an European Companies . There are several us companies behind these complaint and that have welcomed the European Commissions decision, so it is not. Itsjust an opinion, like any other. At the same time the European Commission has fined European Companies billions of euros as well. Recently there was a decision in the trucking industry, so many would contest that bias against us firms. Something we we re bias against us firms. Something we were seeing this morning in our meeting here, actually when you go surfing on google for a product, you do also, if you are a smart online shopper, you look at amazon, or you might look at ebay, so you dont confine yourself to google, do you . That is part of googles argument, look at amazon, ebay, they are doing very well on this Shopping Sector of the market. They are my competitors as well. So google is trying to dissolve its position in that Market Andjoin to dissolve its position in that market and join to the commission that its conduct is not hampering any rivals. And perhaps more from the others, because there may be a President Set Location . That remains to be seen. Companies are a bit tetchy about involving themselves in theirs fears, but we will see. 0k, anarita r fears, but we will see. 0k, anarita , thank you much. Katty, the one thing we know about donald trump. He does follow the poll numbers, and i know that because i follow his twitter feed. I am not too sure he is going to like the latest results from the pew research center. They have surveyed people in 37 countries here is what they found. Donald trump travels like an american president and has the powers of an american president. What he does not seem to have is the worlds respect. According to the nonpartisan pew research centre, only 22 of people surveyed in 37 countries have confidence in mr trump will do the right thing for the world. 64 felt the same about president 0bama when he left office. Its not even close. Compare to develop World Leaders mr trump comes last in terms of global confidence. He falls behind germanys angela merkel, the chinese president , and even vladimir putin, a full 5 behind the russian leader. Part of this is personal, and parties policy. Lets start with the politics. Of three of his major initiatives, more than 70 of those surveyed disapproved. Those include withdrawing from International Climate initiatives, and trade deals, and building that famous wall. Then there is the personal. Three quarters of those surveyed found him arrogant. More than 60 think he is intolerant, even dangerous. 0n the upside, more than half described mr trump is a strong leader, and quite a few found him charismatic. But then there is the broader question. Do his american supporters care about any of this . Perhaps it is exactly what America First is all about, not minding what the world thinks of you. For them, this could be a validation that President Trump is getting it exactly right. Studio it is interesting he is behind president putin. I would have thought he would have done better than him. There we are. Your last point is true. It is not about making frans great again, is it . It is about making america great, so probably his base does not care in the slightest it is not about making france great again. Yes, i remember doing the 2004 campaign, when he was running for real action, and there was that big spike in feeling because of iraq, and i remember people in europe saying, surely this will cost President Bush the re election, because of the world does not like america it will affect american voters, but quite the contrary. President bushs supporters felt that if the world and not like him he must not be doing something wrong. So dont underestimate that, if the capacity does not have the liking of other countries, it is not any bad thing. The tricky thing is, though, i suppose, looking from the outside in, there is so much inconsistency, andi in, there is so much inconsistency, and i suppose he and his allies dont know whether he is coming or going, nato, in or out, that kind of inconsistency irritates outside world. We have spoken about this before. Particularly european allies who dont know which member of the administration really speaks for the administration, whether President Trump says one thing about nato, then well see Something Else the next day, and that makes it very ha rd next day, and that makes it very hard for countries to make positives of the factors they have to deal with america, the biggest country, military, mark in the world, they have to deal with President Trump, and so do we. Which is why were here. Youre watching 100 days plus. Still to come. Nicola sturgeons snp lost 21 seats in the general election, and we look at what that means for an Independence Referendum and brexit. Plus. The Royal Household has been given a raise. We look at where the queens money is being spent. All still to come on 100 days plus. Good evening. The weather is a fickle business. We have gone from Summer Scorcher to a cloudy drizzly day over. Some heavy sharp showers developing in the south east corner, some with rumbles of thunder. It is this cloud and outbreaks of Rain Drifting northwards overnight. Keeping a few showers into scotland, but it is a pretty wet picture across england and wales. That is how we stuck our day on wednesday, the best of the weather on wednesday will perhaps be up in the far north through much of scotland, where it will stay dry. Not particularly warm. And breaks of rain into Northern Ireland, the scottish borders, down into england and wales and the south west. Slow improvement into the south east corner. Highest values here 20 degrees, but all changed yet again on thursday as that area of low pressure drifts further north bringing some heavy rain into scotland and Gale Force Gusts of wind further south, somewhat quieterfor at gusts of wind further south, somewhat quieter for at least a day. Take care. Welcome back to one hundred days plus. Im katty kay in washington. Im Christian Fraser in london. Our top stories. The white house puts syrias President Assad on warning it says hell pay a heavy price if he launches another chemical weapons attack. This was a clear declaration from the us that they are prepared to respond to the Syrian Regime the way they responded before. Computer systems around the world have been hit by a huge cyber attack. Its thought to have exploited the same weaknesses used by last months wannacry virus. Per capita qatar is the richest country in the world. But for three weeks it has been treated as a pariah by its closest neighbours and it is feeling the effects. Saudi arabia, the uae and bahrain have all cut off air, land and sea links with qatar, accusing the small gas rich state of supporting regional terrorism and opening up to their arch rival iran. The qatari government received a list of conditions from saudi arabia last week, and included in the list was a demand they close down the tv network aljazeera. The us Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson has called for a diplomatic solution, today he has been Holding Meetings with his qatari counterpart. Our state Department Correspondent Barbara Plett usherjoins now. We are getting mixed signals from the American Administration but President Trump has tweeted that qatar have been financers of terrorism and then Rex Tillerson saying the other gulf countries need to make reasonable demands. Where does qatar stand with regard to america . A good question because you get different signals from the white house and State Department. The white house has seemed to be siding with the saudis on this and the State Department trying to be more neutral and de escalate the situation. So it is Rex Tillerson meeting with Foreign Ministers and discussing quite closely with various parties and trying to get them to come to some kind of solution. He has actually taken some sharp stands on qatar, on their side. He said that the gulf states admitted be reasonable and then he said it would be difficult for qatar but find something that you can talk about. And today in the meeting with the Foreign Minister from about. And today in the meeting with the Foreign Ministerfrom cava, he is going to try to press the us to ta ke is going to try to press the us to take a more active role in backing them in their dispute. The minister latched onto those words that Rex Tillerson used and said the demands we re tillerson used and said the demands were not in fact reasonable. America has quite a stake in this because theyre trying to forge a closer relationship with saudi arabia but also have a big Military Base in doha. So how do the act in the middle of this as an honest broker . What is interesting is the way The Americans are behind the scenes on this. As you said they have a lot at sta ke, this. As you said they have a lot at stake, they key allies in fighting the war on terrorism as each others throats, and they have this big base in caparo which has been isolated by the others. And then last week you have the white house spokesman saying we think it is a family issue that they can sort out by themselves. Without The Americans trying to fix it. You have Rex Tillerson in the background trying to fix it with that meeting today with the Foreign Minister of qatar. We know that the Saudi Foreign minister is in town. My sense is hes going to see how things go through the week, what develops, whether these groups can find some manoeuvrability to find a solution and if by friday, the deadline, they have not, we will see them if he ta kes a have not, we will see them if he takes a more public and active role. Thank you for the moment. Perhaps the only crumb of comfort the british Prime Minister takes from the recent election, is that north of the border it has put the first minister, nichola sturgeon, on the back foot. In scotland the campaign was fought largely on independence. Ms sturgeon was pushing for another referendum by the spring of 2019 before the Brexit Negotiation has been completed. Trouble is, she lost 21 of the snps 56 seats at westminster. So today taking into account Public Opinion ms sturgeon informed the Scottish Parliament she is re setting her timetable she is delaying the legislation for another referendum. At least for now. We will not seek to introduce the legislation for an Independence Referendum immediately. Instead we will in good faith redouble our effo rts will in good faith redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the brexit talks in a way that protects the interests of scotland. Ian blackford is the snp leader in the House Of Commons at westminster. I spoke to him earlier and asked him why Nicola Sturgeon had changed her mind about a referendum. We recognise there is an opportunity now to protect the interests of the people of scotland and all the people of scotland and all the people of scotland and all the people of the rest of the uk, arguing that we must retain access to the Single Market and the customs union. That is going to be an important short term priority. A desire for the Scottish Referendum on independence was based on the probability that scotland was going to be dragged out of europe and the Single Market against its will. What we now have said is we will seek to protect the interests of the people of scotland, we have retained the commitment we have two referendum on Scottish Independence at the end of the Brexit Process. If were not in a position. When would that be, 2021 . Were saying the Brexit Process should be known by 2019. I think is important but the people of Scotla Nd Think is important but the people of scotland will be asked to vote on the deal on the table at that time. It is important that we retain the opportunity to give the people Scotla Nd Opportunity to give the People Scotland their said that point. So when would that be, two years after Brexit Question of what weve said is we will put on hold the process ofa is we will put on hold the process of a bill to the Scottish Parliament that would enable that for now. But when the brexit deal with them we can look at the timetable ben for a referendum on Scottish Independence if required. The important thing is we have a mandate from the people scotla nd we have a mandate from the People Scotland last year from the Scottish Election result and so what we need to make sure is that People Scotland recognise they have that Insurance Policy that if we need to do that, then we can quickly bring forward proposals for a referendum on independence. You said it is an exciting time to be in westminster because you could forge the debate but when you look at what you want from brexit, and where labour and the conservatives stand at the moment, there are not many people on your platform. Obviously we do not know what labour stand for the moment but do you see any way to join hands with them . It is a Fluid Situation and yes i extended the hand of friendship across the house. One of things that is important is not just the parliamentarians one of things that is important is notjust the parliamentarians having their say but also the administration in edinburgh and cardiff and administration in edinburgh and cardiff and i hope there will be one Soonin Cardiff and i hope there will be one soon in belfast as well. The government must listen to the voices around the uk and there is a clear voice from those administrations that they do not want a hard brexit. Sol that they do not want a hard brexit. So i think there is unity of purpose that we can develop around the administration in the devolved governments but also i have spoken toa number of governments but also i have spoken to a number of mps across the chamber, plaid cymru, labour, conservatives, wishing to remain within the Single Market. I think there is a broad church can be put together recognising that we must not come off that cliff edge. I think is important that we retain access to the Single Market the Prime Minister spoke about wanting to retain free trade but i would say we can do that by maintaining access to the Single Market. The chinese Artist Ai Weiwei is an outspoken champion of human rights views that led to his own detention in china in 2011. This week hes here in washington promoting one of his most significant works 176 lego brick portraits of people he describes as freedom fighters. The installation is on display at the Hirshhorn Gallery where jane obrien caught up with him. Ai weiwei came up with the idea for trace, a sprawling portrait project, when he was incarcerated by the chinese authorities in 2011. He uses lego bricks to create pixelated images of 176 people he considers to be prisoners of conscience or free activists. They have strong beliefs, they are very brave. In most circumstances they know they could lose their life. They have lost all they have. Most of the people you portray here have been in prison by repressive regimes. But some of your portraits are of people who have been imprisoned in the United States. How do you think visitors will react to that . For many visitors it would be a surprise. Very often we think were living in free world, or a free society. I think this is shallow thinking. So i include chelsea manning, who is so brave, for me. Like most of ai weiweis works, trace was constructed by others following his design. It was first shown on the site of the Notorious Prison Of Alcatraz and it is transferring to washington at the time of heightened debate about the meaning of truth in politics, fake news, and the power of social media. A medium that ai weiwei has mastered. What impact do you think President Donald Trump has when he uses social media . I often heard a lot of criticism, but i also think there is a lot we want to know, how this guy really thinks. Or even the mistakes this guy can make. But the discussion is always on the surface, it is not really in a more profound way. One portrait in particular stands out. The jailed chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Laureate who as the exhibition opened, was moved from prison to Hospital Suffering from terminal cancer. Ai weiwei says he is symbolic of many others who suffer the same fate unnoticed. They can easily make you disappear, your lawyer cannot really defend you or your family even cannot know how you are. In some cases even after you have served your time, you still cannot see your family. Audiences may not sympathise with the motives of every in trace, the broader aim of ai weiweis work is to raise questions about the nature of freedom and how it is protected or violated by governments. Before we came on air catti told me she was speaking to nancy pelosi and tonight youre having dinner with ai weiwei. The circles you mix in the queen is in line for a pay rise over the next two years one which will take her income to more than 82 million pounds, thats around 105 million dollars. Its an eight percent increase to fund her official duties such as travel, salaries for her staff and the upkeep of the palaces. 51m over six year period. The money she receives from the tax purse has increased over the six years by 51 million pounds. Last year it worked out at roughly at 65 pence per taxpayer per year a figure royal aides says is excellent value for money. Imagine people would not begrudge her that because she is still very popular. Around 8096 of britons approve of the royal family but it isa approve of the royal family but it is a difficult time for this to come out. Always controversial when you talk about what we call the sovereign grand, the money used to uphold the royal family. In particular this time when there not aof particular this time when there not a of money extra money being spent on Public Services and of course after the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Some people obviously pick up on some of the things like for instance £17,000 that Prince Charles had spent on flights between his two hands on a private jet. Those spent on flights between his two hands on a privatejet. Those kind of thing standing out. Doors on the orangery. But also what they bring into the country, around £500 million that comes to the uk as a result of the royal family and about one in six foreign visitors owing to a paracel castle. So they bring money in as well. Defence will you stand on the issue. Depends. Hello. This is bbc news. The headlines. A cyber attack has hit Many Companies around the world. Scotlands first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said her government is delaying plans for a second Independence Referendum. Judges at the European Court of human rights have rejected a plea to intervene in the case of baby charlie gard and allow experimental treatment. An update on the Market Numbers for you heres how londons and frankfurt ended the day. And in the United States this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. And the Democratic Unionist Party are talking to other parties in Northern Ireland about re establishing a Power Sharing Executive at stormont. The executive formed by the dup and sinn fein broke down in march. Chris page reported on what impact the agreement yesterday could have on the prospects for deal stormont. Well you hear differing opinions about that, one hand the dup and Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire here on behalf of the government very much suggesting that the deal sets a different context for the talks, that it means that because there will be more money in the stormont part of the Power Sharing Executive gets back up and running, that is something that may encourage politicians to get backin may encourage politicians to get back in government together and get spending that money. But sinn fein when they came out to give a News Conference here in the past couple of hours, really came out with a strong line and i think indicating that a deal is some way. The sinn fein chairperson Declan Kearney said there would be no movement from the dup on the substantive issues at the heart of the crisis. Few issues he mentioned specifically, he said there had to be an Irish Language act, a piece of legislation which promoted the Irish Language. And he also mentioned rights for the lgbt community. In terms of the town that said, ithink community. In terms of the town that said, i think we can say there are still major gaps between the two main parties here, the dup and sinn fein. The dup response of that sinn fein. The dup response of that sinn fein should not engage in what they described as high wire acts, they say theyre ready to go back into stormont and have