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Embassy employees at this stage have suffered a range of different injuries from north here and headaches 3 to dizziness and some quite severe loss of hearing thousands of people take to the streets in Barcelona days ahead of what the Spanish government says is an illegal votes on independence we hear from the woman in the Vietnam War who's returned to open her own orphanage and the entrepreneur declares colorizing might be possible within the next decade coming up. This is the b.b.c. News with Nick Kelly the Us health secretary Tom Price has offered his resignation and President Trump has accepted Mr Price was under pressure from the president after it emerged had been using expensive private jets or traveling on government business most government officials are required to take commercial flights for work related travel Laura Becker reports President Donald Trump said the optics of his health secretary Tom Price making 24 flights on private planes in 4 months at a cost of $300000.00 to the taxpayer was not good Mr Price would a personal check for just over $50000.00 to the u.s. Treasury to cover some of the expense and he said he'd make sure it didn't happen again but Mr Trump was said to be furious to all the members of his cabinet are under scrutiny for using private planes while working the White House said Mr Price offered his resignation and the president has accepted Cuba says Washington acted hastily by deciding to pull out most of its staff from its embassy and have a following mystery sonic attacks on its diplomats the Cuban foreign ministry is chief for u.s. Affairs hosts if in a vigil so the measure would affect bilateral relations Washington has not directly accused it of Kuber of launching the sonic attacks the B.B.C.'s Pascal Fletcher in Miami has more on what the Cubans are saying they've been insisting all along that you know they've not had previous knowledge of it or they have no knowledge of what's going on or they haven't been involved so they've certainly been cysteine on it but clearly the u.s. Side you know doesn't quite by the fact that they don't know what there is happening or they're not complying with their what the USA is there they are their obligation of the Vienna Convention to to basically protect the foreign diplomats in this case u.s. Diplomats on their soil Syrian activists say that dozens of people including children are being killed in airstrikes on a town in the mainly rebel held province of Idlib Sebastian has this report. Daddy I don't want to die a girl screams as she lies trapped under the rubble of her house while her father frantically tries to pull her clear it's one of a number of videos and reports that have been coming out of it in the past 24 hours activists say that air raids on a residential area in the town of have killed a number of civilians the air strikes have been intensifying since the Syrian government backed by Russia launched its new offensive on it earlier this month it's in response to attacks by the mainly to hardest rebels who still control most of it live on government held areas in the neighboring province of Hama the u.s. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson has said Washington does not recognize the result of the independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan but best a citizen called for calm saying no one would benefit from threats and recriminations Iraq Iran and Turkey have all said they'll take punitive action against the regional authority in Iraq ie Kurdistan world news from the b.b.c. . Thousands of cattle and separatists have held a final rally ahead of Sunday's planned referendum on independence from Spain the head of the regional government colorless push to man told the crowd that on Monday he believes Catalonia will be taking its 1st steps as a sovereign nation Spain's central government is trying to block the vote as Guy Hedgecoe says there's uncertainty over what happens next the members of the cattle and government say it's many independents Catalans out on the streets say that they're determined to vote they're very confident about it but having said all that there is a good deal of uncertainty about in Catalonia as a general in general people aren't really sure exactly what is going to happen on Sunday they're not sure if they're going to be able to vote as planned and how many of these 2000 election will colleges they call them will actually be accessible for voters on the debt cell phone if the police will allow them to get in and vote as planned the u.s. Justice Department and officials from 3 Central American countries have announced that charges have been laid against more than 3800 gang members in a joint statement with chief prosecutors from Honduras Guatemala and El Salvador the u.s. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said they were working together to try to stop 2 gangs the m s 13 and the 18th Street killing raping and trafficking drugs and underage girls across borders and of course in Paris is given 3 jewel thieves prison sentences of up to 15 years for 2 robberies in the capital in the 1st one in a department store in 2013 the thieves made off quietly with more than $4000000.00 worth of jewelry but during the 2nd one almost 2 years later in a store things went wrong and gunfire was exchanged in which a police officer one of the robbers were injured the men were charged with the 1st robbery because of the similarity between the 2 heists b.b.c. News. Hello and welcome to business matters from the b.b.c. World Service this is John Big 3 coming up in the next hour the u.s. Withdraws more than half of its embassy staff from Cuba after mysterious attacks left some on well we'll ask what it all means for u.s. Cuba relations but also Microsoft boss Sayen Adela on his 2 years in charge the thing that I've feel is that innate sense of purpose of why am I here and why this company's here and the connection between the 2 and are we any closer to colonizing the red planet we hear about entrepreneur Musk's plans to blast us to Mars and I'll be joined throughout the program by Cullen Peacock who presents Radio New Zealand's Media Watch program he is in Wellington I call in car guy John Greetings from New Zealand good to have you on the program Colin and we are kings talk to you about where things are with the election post-election situation there and the efforts to form a government we've got that coming up with Colin also here on business matters 1st then loss of hearing dizziness nausea all those symptoms and more have been reported by staff at the American embassy in Cuba this year there's still no full explanation Bartz the us has announced it's now withdrawing 60 percent of its staff as a precaution and is warning all Americans not to visit the country it's been suggested that sonic attacks could be to blame but attacks by whom isn't to talk clear the B.B.C.'s Cuba correspondent Will Grant's has been telling me more when it's such an odd tale in many ways isn't it let's just cast our minds back a couple of months when it began to come to light about these so-called sonic attacks as the u.s. State Department is putting it what they were saying and what they strongly believe is that their employees in Cuba. More than 20 u.s. Embassy employees at this stage have suffered a range of different injuries from noisier and headaches through to dizziness and some quite severe loss of hearing there were a range of cases some were attacked in their homes others when they were in a hotel but the u.s. Is blaming this on some kind of hostile power targeting specifically its personnel in Cuba and has blamed essentially Cuba for not looking after the person or its personnel on the ground while it was on Cuban territory I don't think necessarily they believe the Cubans are behind this but they are holding it responsible holding the country responsible in those terms and that's led to this latest development of drawing embassy staff down by about 60 percent of advising u.s. Citizens no longer to travel to Cuba to which are both extremely significant developments Yes And how does this play into the bigger relationship between the u.s. And Cuba as you say well the u.s. Is not pointing the finger at Cuba for committing these attacks whatever they might be does that affect things in any way in a broader sense and it's so strange isn't it think that just a couple of years ago even less the we were talking about the warmest period in u.s. Cuban relations in decades in almost 60 years of course we had these embassies reopen on either side of the Florida straits so we had the Washington d.c. Of Cuba open in d.c. And of course we saw the u.s. Embassy reopen in Havana we saw the visit by President Obama to Cuba unthinkable just a few years ago and yet there it was in there and happened on the rhetoric coming out on either side was so much more positive than it had been in more than 50 years so of course this seriously dense all that good feeling between the 2 sides. It's worth marking that relations haven't been frozen suspended the embassy hasn't been closed so there. Is still the channel there for bilateral relationship that is important because of course you know it was coming from an even lower position than it is now when when President Obama oversaw this thaw Nevertheless the Cubans have said that what they say they're calling a very hasty decision by the u.s. State Department changing its personnel and have honored that drawdown will affect relations so certainly they see this as a step a very significant step backwards and the fact that the u.s. Is warning is not only withdrawing its stuff but is also warning Americans not to visit Cuba or tall because it can't guarantee their safety of the Cuban authorities can't guarantee their safety I mean that's a fairly big step as well isn't it it's huge and of course it comes with the fact that so many people have been pushing to see those that relationship that movement of people back and forth to grow to improve and to see families reunited more easily to see u.s. Visitors come to Cuba to boost the tourism sector to help entrepreneurs and private business owners in Cuba by coming and spending u.s. Dollars on Cuban soil all of those groups that have been supporting those sorts of steps have come out pretty much in unison to that to get against this decision by the State Department and by the White House nevertheless course the White House are saying that their 1st kind of priority must be with their staff with the State Department staff based in Cuba and there are senators for example Marco Rubio in Florida who is very very keen to see this type of step that this needs to be as far as he and his constituents are concerned a punishment for not having looked after u.s. Personnel on Cuban soil it is extremely difficult moment in what did look just a year ago like like the relationship was. Improved to a point that it would be difficult to unpick apparently not it could be unpicked as quickly as this and of course the question underlying all of this is who is behind it the B.B.C.'s. Cuba correspondents will Grant's was tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Barcelona ahead of a highly controversial vote that asks Catalans whether they want independence from Spain local officials are pressing ahead with plans for the vote on Sunday against the wishes of the national government in Madrid which says it is illegal thousands of extra police have been sent to the region to prevent the vote from going ahead the B.B.C.'s Guy Hedgecoe has sent us this report. It looks and sounds like just another election rally local people have turned out to a recreational park to hear politicians from the cattle and Republican left party speak preceded by a bit of music. But on Sunday these Catalans want to take one of the biggest decisions in their region's history whether or not to separate from Spain I will vote in favor of independence but it doesn't matter what I want it to go the thing is that I want to vote because I think that Catalonia are people they want to say something to Spain and they want to run this pain doesn't want to listen Saeed Lanny is a Syrian refugee who fled his country's civil war and settled in Barcelona he's a volunteer for the pro independence calls believe him pretty don't for I mean for any people for any for any county for me if the same freedom in referendum in got this ban. Or that or in Scotland or in Catalonia is pretty dumb as it's international law gulfs. The Standish government deems the referendum illegal and it's in the courts have taken strident measures to prevent it from taking place police have seized millions of voting slips and other electoral material most controversially a dozen members of the cattle and regional government were arrested for their role in planning the referendum. And yet Alfred Busch a senior separatist figure says the referendum will take place surrounded by noisy campaigners he tells me he is also confident of a victory for Independence perhaps the conditions will be ideal so maybe that will affect participation but we are still going to consider it valid as soon as the results are fair they will be announced as such with a validation of and national commission and then obviously within 48 hours there will be a proclamation of independence by the cattle in Parliament you know worried about what's this whole process the political tension is and possible independence could do for the economy of Spain and Catalonia and we cannot vote that will hurt Spanish democracy and that will hurt the Spanish and the Catalan economy so we believe that the best thing the best solution. Like in any other democracy is to let people vote that will be better for politics that will be better for the economy. Got to learn use 200000000000 euro economy is the biggest in Spain it's driven by tourism industry and the port of Barcelona where I am now is crucial to both but the Spanish government has warned that the uncertainty surrounding the independence issue is starting to worry potential investors call this river there is a leader of a cattle and business group that opposes independence destruction of the catamounts economy is so rooted it's so connected to the rest of us Spain in terms of banking them so far as shipping into new pharmaceutical energy companies etc It depends so much on the Spanish market that creating any barrier in the legal tax at least political barrier would only cause problems and would actually force many companies based in Barcelona today to move their tax office their taxes on the side to the rest of us Spain therefore the capital is g.d.p. . He would literally sink the cattle and government says such pessimistic talk is totally unjustified and that its economy would benefit from independence however as cattle and demonstrate in the street against Madrid's efforts to stop Sunday's referendum everybody agrees the uncertainty is in the air. Guy Hedgecoe reporting there from Barcelona this is business matters on the b.b.c. World Service Let's get a reminder of the main news this hour here's Nick Kelly the u.s. Health secretary Tom Price has offered his resignation and President Trump has accepted Mr Price was under pressure from the president after it emerged he had been using expensive private jets while traveling on government business Cooper says Washington acted hastily by deciding to pull out most of its staff from its embassy in Havana following Mistry sonic attacks on its diplomats have strongly denies involvement in the incidents and Washington hasn't directly accused it and Syrian activists say that dozens of people are being killed in as strikes on a town in the mainly rebel held northwestern province of Idlib reports and videos from the town of ominous appear to show the aftermath of heavy air raids by Syrian or Russian planes Thank you Nic Now the tech giant Microsoft has recently been seen as somewhat less innovative less coal maybe than its competitors coming late to the smartphone revolution and ceding grounds to the likes of Apple and Google Well 2 years ago new c.e.o. Sat you know Adela was tasked with changing that image and he's now written a book all about it as well as detailing some of the sacrifices his family has made along the way he's been speaking to Kyra still from our partners at the u.s. Public radio program Marketplace the Microsoft you're such an Adele as you said he's got a new book out and we have been chasing him for years and they said Come talk to him but the books that we said Ok took a quick swing by his office before we said down just to sort of get the lay of the land and waters roll right into it out in a Dell or see your microphone. All right as you know the crew of your circuit I was going to see much about how are you thank you for taking the time and it was literally thank you for coming up to know that's not a quick once over of his office complete with cricket paraphernalia he is something of a devotee of the sport the accused to be the. Place where I guess Bill was here and Steve was he is in this office this is the office. That. I was the. Man to have multiple of them so this is the quick and then we got going you've been described I think was Fortune magazine as a skinny contemplative questioning the world kind of guy you write about the poetry of code and cricket in this book how did you get this job running this company. They're coming for me the only company that I've really known is Microsoft Office and. 25 years of my life in this company I'm one of those cones you made inside is and you know you'll have to ask someone else as to how I got this job but the thing that I've feel is that innate sense of purpose of why am I here and why this company's here on the connection between the 2 Paul Allen and Bill Gates when they started this company the mission was in essence a computer on every desk right so that people would be connected and change the economy which it has with all of these things are working on now the cloud Holland's and our and all of that what does it look like if you are as successful as Bill Gates and Paul Allen were 40 years ago you know when I joined the company even as late as 1902 we still talk about our mission as a p.c. In every home on every desk and just by even the end of that decade at least in the developed world we had pretty much accomplished coding code that mission our goal from the very 1st day when Bill and Paul created the very 1st product that this company produced which was the basic language interpreter for the al to Air Force to create technology so that others can create more technology that's what I see. There's a not small part of this book that's personal about your journey about your family and about your oldest son Zane who was born disable to several problems and there's a moment the book where you you were sitting in his hospital room one night that that was a much later be