Im philippa thomas. From here in the worlds news room, we send our correspondents to bring you the best stories from across the globe. In this weeks programme. Inside North Waziristan. Owen Bennett Jones finds the Pakistan Army back in control of the tribal area on the afghan border, after a huge Military Operation to clear out alqaeda and the taliban. Around one Million People from North Waziristan fled when the conflict was at its height, and the question now is will they come back . Saved from slavery and worse. Naomi grimley meets the Young Yazidis who escaped the so called Islamic State to find refuge in germany. A genocide in the making. Alastair leithead reports from south sudan on claims of new atrocities by Government Forces and local militia. Making chinas skies blue again. Carrie gracie investigates beijings new measures against old polluting vehicles. The chinese economy is still fuelled by coal. And in the one party state there is little the public can do, to force the politicians here to deliver air fit to breathe. And the beauty of the brain. Fergus walsh meets the researchers unlocking the science of thought. The tribal areas on the afghan pakistan border have long been associated with militancy and lawlessness. The ancient tribal customs, with their emphasis on both revenge and hospitality, have been challenged in recent years by violentjihadis, imposing sharia, not tribal law. North waziristan became home to alqaeda, the taliban, and jihadists from all over the world, but as owen Bennett Jones reports, after a long and bloody military campaign, the Pakistani Army is now firmly in control. For years now, these remote areas on the afghan pakistan border have been a haven for violentjihadists. In 2014, the Pakistan Army launched a campaign to win back this land, and today virtually all of it is under army control. The militants left behind this roadside bomb factory. Capturing facilities like this has made a difference. There used to be thousands of bomb attacks in pakistan each year, that is now down to hundreds. The army reckons its operations here are the most successful anti jihadist campaign the world has yet seen. This is sub conventional warfare. It is not conventional warfare. So somewhere it was the ied that was a threat to you, somewhere it was small ambush or different, so different incidents happening in different areas when we were trying to get them. Just like aleppo and mosul, the army caused massive destruction fighting the jihadis. When the battle was raging, the entire population left. The effort is now on to get them back. Around a Million People from North Waziristan fled when the conflict was at its height and the question now is will they come back . So the army has built facilities like this school, that can take 1,000 children not open yet but it is hoped this will attract people to come back thinking there are ways they can live here, and get their children educated. There are few Public Schools in pakistan as well equipped as this. Local markets are also starting up again. But everyone knows the future holds great uncertainties. A few hours drive away in the city of peshawar, traders say the number of bombs has gone down, but they still have problems. For example, with militants extorting money from them. This gentleman by himself has received extortion letter. If you want to see it i can show it to you. Three months ago. Asking for ten million. From this shopkeeper, can he afford that . No. This is the aps school, where 130 children were murdered by the Pakistan Taliban just over two years ago. The survivors say they are determined to resist the militants, by leading useful lives. If you dont get over it, you dont get to live, because you see, if people become stuck in that psychological depression and that kind of thing, you cope with your studies, you cant cope with the world, you cant see the beauty of life, so you have to cope up, and all we did, we all did bravely and we all did, we coped very brilliantly and now we are facing the world bravely. There is a growing nationalism in pakistan. Some militant groups remain strong and havent been challenged by the state, but there is also a rejection of those jihadis who Attack Targets on pakistani soil. 0wen bennettjoan, bbc news, North Waziristan. As fighters from the self styled Islamic State are gradually being driven out of their stronghold in iraq, the scale of the atrocities is being revealed against one ethnic group in particular. The yazidi people are ethnic kurds, and the un says they are the victims of a genocidal campaign. Thousands have been killed, thousands more women and children are being held captive, many traded as sex slaves. Some have managed to escape and seek sanctuary in germany. Naomi grimley has been to one refuge deep in a forest in the south west of the country. A Secret Location in south west germany. It is a place of exile. 80 yazidi women and children now live here. They were violently persecuted by so called Islamic State and chased out of northern iraq. These two boys were captured by the extremists and sent to a military Training Camp aged just 1a and 16. This is their story. Translation the training was about weapons. We learned how to load and fire a weapon. We were training to be soldiers. We would do exercises, crawling under barbed wire, things like that. To learn how to fire a gun on human beings they took us to graves where they had the dead bodies of muslim traitors or those who took drugs. They said we had to fire on them to get used to it. If we didnt do what we were told, or broke the rules, they would beat us with a stick. Everything had to be like they wanted. I had to pretend to be a muslim to survive. Their books were like magic, they change your mind and made you into one of them. I bet notjust me, even a mans mind would have changed. After a year, a smuggler helped them escape the camp. It was dangerous. But there was nothing left to be afraid of. We had seen death with our own eyes, we saw how they killed. When you lose everything, you have nothing left. We had nothing to lose. This is mainly a community of women and children. Most of the men are missing, presumed dead. The women were originally brought to germany for Trauma Counselling after the mass rapes under Islamic State. South west germany has welcomed more than 1,000 yazidis in two years, and the man who runs the project says several towns volunteered to give them shelter. Of course it is hard, of course they have bad dreams, of course they are struggling, but they can start, like, you know, just start a new future, get into school, get an education, dream about falling in love and all the things that are normal. All that may take time, but at least for now this refuge is far away from those religious zealots who are trying to wipe them out. Naomi grimley, bbc news. To south sudan, which, according to the un, is edging closer to genocide. It accuses Government Forces and militia of carrying out ethnically motivated attacks on civilians, while using the current civil war as a smoke screen, but the government denies that the country is experiencing ethnic cleansing. Alastair leithead reports. The grief of a mother. The death of a son. She travelled through the night when she heard what happened. Isaacs body was found dumped in the river, his ankles tied. A metal wire tight round his neck. Translation my son was fishing and saw the body. I dont know who did it or why they did it. Does this happen a lot . Translation it happens. Government forces are in charge of the town. The civil war recently spread to this part of the country, where different ethnic groups peacefully lived side by side. We are a short drive from the centre of the town, but this is pretty much the limit of where the army forces are prepared to go on foot. Because the rebels control areas just up the road. Houses and buildings in this deserted neighbourhood have been burned. The soldiers blame wild fires or accidents. It is our mandate to make sure civilians are safe. It might be the rule, but it is not the reality or at least not the reality we heard from those who would talk. We are protecting their identities. This mans sister was assaulted by three soldiers. Who raped her . The soldiers. Government soldiers, yes. She is sure they are Government Soldiers . Yes. Is this happening a lot here . It is a lot. Another witness described ten young men being dragged out of their family homes, chained together, and then shot, one by one. This woman was attacked in her house by soldiers in uniform. They started to beat me. He beat me here. It was painful. It was going to beat me on my head. I put my hands like that. Even though both sides in this war have been implicated in atrocities, these allegations were all against Government Forces. There is no killing or raping said the senior commander. Anybody who does is arrested. The only people we fight are the rebels, he said. This is when the killing occurs. The survivors claim civilians were killed by the army, but we dont kill our own in our own country. So there are no renegade troops, no troops, not a single case . No. But still people are leaving. In eight months 500,000 people have fled the country, rather than live here under the army. Everywhere you go in this area it is the same. Villages that have been abandoned. People have closed up and taken what they can with them. Hundreds of thousands of people have crossed into uganda, or in the bush because of the fighting, everywhere, village after village. And there is a deeply disturbing ethnic element underlying the deaths, that people are being killed because of their ethnicity. That is why the un has warned this could end in genocide. Alastair leithead, bbc news, south sudan. The netherlands is often described as the most liberal country in europe. But many are wondering if that reputation is changing. The polls suggest in the general election on wednesday many people will vote for geert wilders, who wants to pull the country out of the eu and ban immigration from muslim countries, may even win the largest number of seats. So what happened to the supposedly tolerant easy going dutch . Gabriel gatehouse has gone back. The netherlands is having an identity crisis. What does it mean to be dutch . I dont remember people agonising over this question in the past. They are now. What are dutch values . We are all equal. We are all the same. We are very tolerant, and we drink and eat and play and dance together. So that is the good thing about carnival. What about the rest of the time . Well, its a bit different. Were not so tolerant any more. Why not . Some people are not so the same as other people. I think the whole islam thing makes it we are more aware of our values. Geert wilders, The Netherlandss answer to donald trump, wants to ban the koran, close the mosques and the borders. In defence of their tolerant way of life, many dutch people are apparently willing to vote for some pretty intolerant policies. Growing up, we were taught that tolerance was as much a part of Dutch Culture as Eating Mayonnaise with your chips. I used to live over there, number ten, just the other side of the canal. Before i lived there, some other people did, whose names are commemorated here in these plaques. Seven of them who were murdered by the nazis during the Second World War because they were jewish. There are similar plaques along the canal side. During the war, one tenth of the population of this city were deported to concentration camps. The German Occupation had a huge impact on how the dutch see themselves. Discriminating against people because of their religion, their culture or ethnic background, that was something that other people did. Not the dutch. I grew up in a time when all of us in this country were still very much under the impression that we live in the most Liberal Progressive Country in the world. I used to say this to people. I am from amsterdam. I live in the best country in the world, best city in the world. Anything goes, and you are free to be whoever you are. However, when i look back i think there was a lot going on under the surface that just wasnt discussed. Beneath the surface, many people felt uncomfortable with the effect of immigration. To speak of that was once taboo. Not any more. Fuelled by geert wilders, the debate has focussed on islam. Sylvana has set up a political party, trying to highlight what she says is a hidden current of racism in dutch society. The reaction has not been good. Death threats is what i have received for simply voicing my opinion on this topic. That doesnt sound like the most tolerant, the most progressive country on earth. We used to take pride in saying we are so tolerant, that is our biggest problem. We have been tolerating, and tolerating means accepting something that you really dont actually agree with, but you are just, you know, accepting. Perhaps the idea of The Netherlands as free space was never anything more than an illusion. Now, in an age of identity politics, the dutch are asking themselves some fundamental questions. What does liberalism mean . What are the limits of tolerance . And does The Netherlands still want to be a place that is open and inclusive . Gabriel gatehouse, bbc news. To china, where the government has declared its aim of making the skies blue again by tackling the countrys air pollution crisis. The authorities want to reduce reliance on coal, and invest billions in renewable energy, and they are targeting emissions from cars which add to the smog hanging over major city, by encouraging the use of greener vehicles. Carrie gracie has taken to the streets of beijing to find out more. Everything in china is on a massive scale. The problems and the solutions. Cars are to blame for about a third of chinas air pollution. So it is scrapping the worst offenders. But this ritual in the wreckers yard is a losing battle against 30 million new cars taking to the roads this year. If these people want clean air, then from transport to heating and lifestyle, they have to change their behaviour. China has to kick its addiction to fossil fuels. For this beijing couple, the Morning Commute is a his and hers divide. He is part of the problem. And she is part of the solution. Meet little blue. Harmful emissions, zero. To beat the petrolheads, China Subsidises Electric Vehicles and makes them much easier to license. On smoggy days little blue doesnt face restrictions like other cars, and kim is proud to do her her bit for clean air. Translation we all have to live in the city, and the pollution is terrible for health and beijings image. Driving little blue i dont have to feel guilty, even on smoggy days. I tell my friends they should get one too. Gathering winter fuel. To beat the smog, all the villages surrounding beijing have banned the burning of coal. And this 70 year old farmer is forced back to the old ways. The fire heats their brick bed. The government did give them an electric heater, but on their pensions they cant afford to switch it on much. Winters are sub zero here. But he tells me he is more worried about his electricity bill, than about the cold or the smog. He is wearing thick layers of longjohns. Beijing can clean the air when it wants to, like now, for the annual session of its rubber stamp parliament, but it cant do it for long, because despite the push for cleaner vehicles and heating, the chinese economy is still fuelled by coal. And in the one party state there is little the public can do to force the politicians here to deliver air fit to breathe. Carrie gracie, bbc news, beijing. It is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of science, a prize of almost £1 million for Cutting Edge Research aimed at understanding the brain. This year it has been won by three british based neuroscientists for their work on how the brain uses a system of chemical rewards to help us make choice, they have been speaking to fergus walsh. How do we motivate ourselves in life . Whether it is the choices we make about the food we eat cream cake, or fruit . To the friends we make. Thanks fergus. The pleasure of a hug or the goals we set ourselves at work, to succeed or buy a better car. What underpins our Decision Making is a chemical in the brain called dopamine, which is released when there is a reward. This sense of reward which can sometimes be equated with happiness, pleasure, or simply a desire to do something has been crucial in human evolution. The three neuroscientists who shared the prize given by a foundation in denmark have spent 30 years studying the dopamine reward pathway, and say it underpins all our choices. You look at a menu, in a new restaurant, so you have an interesting thing, should you explore a new type of cuisine . So you make a prediction of what it might be like, you say maybe i will try it. If it is better that than you expect, you get a positive signal. Next time, you have a higher chance of choosing that food. If it is worse, you wont choose it. There is a dark side to the dopamine reward pathway. It can reinforce poor Decision Making, such as with Drug Addiction and lead to compulsive behaviour. Parkinsons disease leads to the loss of dopamine producing nerve cells. Drugs that boost the levels can sometimes trigger addiction behaviour. It can have negative effects, leading to excess gambling. Numerous patients, when treated with drugs, have resorted to gambling, often secretive. This is the result in the tragedy of them losing their life savings. The three Prize Winners are based in the uk, which has a track record of world leading brain research. Their work will help in the development of treatments for patients with psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia, where the Brain Reward System goes wrong. Fergus walsh bbc news. That is all from reporters for this week. From me, philippa thomas, goodbye. Saturday brought the warmest day of the year so far for Northern Ireland. We will see some sunshine but the warmth will not be repeated today. This was the saturday evening sunset and 16 was the temperature that we reached, about 61 fahrenheit. There was 18 in the sunshine in the south and the east and on the whole was a fairly decent day for most. However we did have that Weather Front around. The rain has been pepping up with heavy bursts of Rain In The South and the odd rumble of thunder off the south coast. We do have notjust one but two Weather Fronts to contend with for sunday and an awful lot of cloud, misty low cloud, hill and coastal fog so for most, sunday will get off to a mild start. This rain in the east obviously bringing a different day for Eastern England and damp weather in Northern Ireland in the morning, moving soon into wales and the south west of scotland. All the time it will be a gray and misty start so a lot of low cloud around the hills and coastal fog as well. Behind this first Weather Front and ahead of the next one we may well have some brighter weather through the east of wales, midlands, into parts of Northern England and central scotland. Still quite murky near the east coast of scotland compared with saturday and that rain band is getting into the west. All the time, the rain in the east will be fizzling out. It looks as if the rain further west as it heads in, will become more showery as well. There will therefore be a lot of cloud around and more limited brightness. It looks lovely for Northern Ireland in the afternoon, Western Fringes of the uk. And that means we will see some sunshine but it will not feel as warm as it did during the day on saturday. Temperatures reaching 1a degrees. Through the night as the skies clear further we are in for a chillier night. We could have a frost, a light frost as we head into monday morning. Perhaps the far south and east is still quite cloudy. With High Pressure building in for the start of the week, it means that the weather is settling down so monday looks like a decently dry day with some springlike sunshine, just not the springlike temperatures we saw through the first half of the weekend. Still, 1a or 15 with sunshine is pleasant enough. But that weak Weather Front is starting to invade from the north west and the breeze increases, so tuesday brings more cloud and not much rain. It hangs around into wednesday before the pressure tries to build back in again and the Weather Front pesters northern and western parts through the coming week. You can see risk of cloud in the sough on tuesday. As ever there is more detail on the website. Welcome to bbc news. Im gavin grey. Our top stories a diplomatic row intensifies between The Netherlands and turkey after the dutch government stops two turkish ministers addressing a rally. The move sparks protests in both rotterdam and istanbul. President Erdogan Wades into the row calling the dutch nazi remnants and fascists. Translation they dont know anything about politics or international diplomacy. They are very nervous, and they are cowards. They are nazi remnants, they are fascists. The un warns of the largest humanitarian crisis in more than 70 years, 20 Million People face starvation in parts of africa. A boost for indias Prime Minister as his bjp party wins a landslide in key state elections
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