SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER 2020

SAT 00:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhvprm)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 00:06 The Real Story (w3cszcnz)
Is Macron marginalising France's Muslims?

French President Emmanuel Macron has described Islam as 'a religion in crisis.' This week he presented draft legislation to cabinet ministers aimed at tackling radical elements and propping up ‘republican values’. Among the proposed measures are curbs on foreign funding for mosques and imams, new rules making it harder for children to be home-schooled, and fresh attempts to root out and prevent forced marriages. While the government has planned the policies for some time, it is publishing details just weeks after a pair of deadly terrorist attacks, including the beheading of a history teacher - Samuel Paty - who showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to his students, and the killing of three churchgoers in Nice. But with the French presidential election less than 18-months away - and with the far-right politician Marine Le Pen thought to be one of Mr Macron’s greatest obstacles to re-election - many French Muslims have accused the government of unfairly targeting their community and using the national tradition of laïcité - or secularism - as an excuse to do so. France’s Muslim population has grown significantly since Algerian independence in 1962, as has the debate over ‘French values’. So are Muslims now being exploited for political gain, or are the new proposals a common-sense response to serious problems? Ritula Shah and guests discuss whether the French government is marginalising Muslims.


SAT 01:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhvthr)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 01:06 Business Matters (w172x1946wvn1ln)
Trials to test combination of AstraZeneca and Sputnik vaccines

UK and Russian scientists are teaming up to trial a combination of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines to see if protection against Covid-19 can be improved. Mixing two similar vaccines could lead to a better immune response in people. And the WHO has announced its secured nearly a billion doses of the leading jabs for low and middle income countries.

Also in the programme, the BBC's Manuela Saragosa finds out why the UK's ambition to ban live animal exports after Brexit could be difficult to achieve and we hear from China where emotive chat bots are helping combat loneliness.

Sasha Twining is joined by Peter Ryan ABC's Senior Business Correspondent in Sydney for comment throughout the programme.

PHOTO: Getty Images


SAT 02:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhvy7w)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 02:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bk8tnfpp0)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 02:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3k9j8)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 02:32 Stumped (w3cszhk7)
Can India conquer Australia again?

Has Australia's batting crisis given India the advantage going into their eagerly-awaited Test series.

The remarkable story of the team of Filipino domestic helpers making big waves in the Hong Kong cricket leagues.

Plus, cricket supporters groups from around the world come together to fight for a bigger say in the future of the game.

Photo: Virat Kohli (Getty Images)


SAT 03:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhw200)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 03:06 The Fifth Floor (w3cszjj3)
A small election in North Macedonia

North Macedonia is holding local elections this weekend. The country has been independent for nearly three decades, but it is not unusual for the countries of the former Yugoslavia to be interested in what happens next door. But not generally in small mayoral elections. BBC Serbian reporter Aleksandar Miladinovic explains that he travelled more than 450 kilometres talk to Stip to find out more about one of the candidates, Simon Gajiga.

Nepali chef in MasterChef: The Professionals
It’s not only UK viewers who have been gripped by the current series of MasterChef: The Professionals. People in Nepal have also been following it closely as one of their own, Santosh Shah, is not only the first Nepali to appear on the show, he's made to the finals. BBC Nepali’s Rama Parajuli tells us more.

Kimchi clash
Kimchi is a salted and fermented cabbage and a staple of traditional Korean cuisine. It's taken very seriously in South Korea, which is why a claim by China about Kimchi has angered people there, as Julie Yoongyung Lee of BBC Korean explains.

Indian farmers’ protests
The Indian government's new farming reform law has sparked protests in the country, and 100,000 farmers have blocked the main entrances to the capital city of Delhi. Ishleen Kaur, originally from the Punjab region, spent her early summers milking cows and eating sugar cane in the fields there, and knows some of those taking part in the protests.

Brazil’s Hollywood style bank robberies
Shooting, kidnapping, rockets and banknotes flying through the air: not a Hollywood movie, but a robbery in the small city of Criciuma in southern Brazil. Digihub reporter and Brazilian, Fernando Duarte, explains how this modus operandi has caught on within Brazilian crime gangs.


Image: Simon Gajiga came to Stip 40 years ago from Nigeria, and now hopes to become mayor
Credit: BBC


SAT 03:50 Witness History (w3cszmvz)
The return of the beaver

In 2009, beavers were released into the wild in the Knapdale forest on the west coast of Scotland, some 400 years after they were wiped out in the UK. The Scottish Beaver Trial was the first official beaver re-introduction programme in the UK and was considered a landmark conservation project. The beaver is seen as a keystone species which can help shape and restore the environment. Alex Last spoke to Simon Jones, who was then the project manager of the Scottish Beaver Trial.

Photo: A beaver in Knapdale in 2011 © Steve Gardner (courtesy of the Scottish Wildlife Trust)


SAT 04:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhw5r4)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 04:06 The Reith Lectures (w3ct1cym)
Credit crisis to resilience

Dr Carney takes us back to the high drama of the global financial crash of 2008, which ended a period when bankers saw themselves as unassailable Masters of the Universe. More than a decade on, how much have the bankers changed their ways? How far has the financial sector changed? Carney says that we must remain vigilant and resist the “three lies of finance.” If we don’t, he warns, we will live with a system which is ill-prepared for the next crisis.

In his four BBC Reith Lectures Dr Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, charts how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and how we have gone from market economies to market societies. He argues that this has contributed to a trio of global crises: of credit, Covid and climate. And he outlines how we can turn this around.

(Photo: Outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney makes a keynote address at the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Credit: Tolga Akmen/ Getty Images)


SAT 05:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhw9h8)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 05:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bk8tng1xd)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 05:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3knrn)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 05:32 The Cultural Frontline (w3cszj9b)
Covid-19 and China’s changing club scene

How coronavirus is changing the landscape of China’s underground electronic music scene. DJ and broadcaster Frank McWeeny speaks to leading DJs and promoters about the collaboration and creativity that is transforming China’s electronic music scene after lockdown.

Inside the political battle between the pop star and the President that’s dividing Uganda. Journalist Patience Akumu on the political contest between seventy-six year old incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, and the man called the Ghetto President, the thirty-eight year old musician and performer Bobi Wine.

The Venezuelan pop sensation Liana Malva on her new musical project Gotas, that she hopes can help promote environmental awareness and protect her nation’s natural beauty.

Plus has a film, a book or a piece of music ever changed the way you see the world? Radiohead guitarist and film composer Jonny Greenwood shares his love for the Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki.


Presented by Tina Daheley

(Photo credit: Tao Yun)


SAT 06:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhwf7d)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 06:06 Weekend (w172x7d658vtsj3)
Pfizer vaccine approved in US

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. President Donald Trump said it would be made available for free to all Americans and that the first inoculations would take place within 24 hours.

Also in the programme: A Hong Kong democracy activist appears in court today and aid agencies say staff killed in conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region.

(Picture: A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine jab. Credit: Ben Birchall/Pool via REUTERS)


SAT 07:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhwjzj)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 07:06 Weekend (w172x7d658vtx87)
US approval for Pfizer vaccine

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. President Donald Trump said it would be made available for free to all Americans and that the first inoculations would take place within 24 hours.

Also in the programme: Pressure on Armenia's Prime Minister following the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and how Manhattan's Chinatown has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

(Picture: Healthcare workers take part in a rehearsal for administering the Pfizer vaccine in the US. Credit: REUTERS/Bryan Woolston)


SAT 08:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhwnqn)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 08:06 Weekend (w172x7d658vv10c)
US authorises Pfizer vaccine

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. President Donald Trump said it would be made available for free to all Americans and that the first inoculations would take place within 24 hours.

Also in the programme: Brexit negotiations resume and are countries doing enough to prevent a climate change catastrophe?

(Photo: A vial of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Credit: Liam McBurney/Reuters)


SAT 08:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3l101)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 08:32 When Katty Met Carlos (w3ct1c4y)
Conspiracy theories in the time of Covid-19

Multiple conspiracy theories are circulating about Covid-19 - but how widely are they believed and what influence do they have?

From QAnon to the death of Jeffrey Epstein, conspiratorial thinking seems to be everywhere right now - is this the era when fringe ideas have gone mainstream?

Katty Kay and Carlos Watson speak to political scientist and conspiracy theory expert Prof Joseph Uscinski to explore why people believe in them, and what the potential consequences for wider society might be.

They hear directly from those who believe in them, as well as people who have been subjected to personal attacks from conspiracy theory extremists.


SAT 09:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhwsgs)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 09:06 BBC OS Conversations (w3ct19yz)
Coronavirus: Vaccines, frustrations and hope

Two doctors in Nairobi tell host Nuala McGovern why conditions for health workers in Nairobi are leading to calls for a strike. They include rising death rates, unpaid salaries and lack of a comprehensive medical insurance.

We’ll also hear from two members of US President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid task force about combatting vaccine hesitancy after the United States recorded the highest daily death toll in the world so far.

And as vaccines make people think about a possible return to normality, we hear from those who have had to move in with their parents during the pandemic.

(Photo: Kenyan doctors wearing protective face masks hold candles and portraits of their colleagues who died due to Covid-19 during a vigil outside the Ministry of Health offices in Nairobi, Kenya December 9, 2020. Credit: Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)


SAT 09:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3l4r5)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 09:32 Two Minutes Past Nine (w3ct1cws)
Two Minutes Past Nine

12/12/2020 GMT

On April 19th 1995 a 26-year-old named Timothy Mcveigh steered a yellow rental truck into downtown Oklahoma city. Inside was a two-ton homemade explosive.

The Oklahoma City Bombing killed 168 people and leaving 680 injured. Journalist Leah Sottile investigates the legacy of the attack in a series that gets into the heart of America’s far-right today.
Recorded over some of the most divisive and turbulent months in recent American political history, Two Minutes Past Nine explores and questions the changing face of far right extremism in all its chaos and conspiracism.


SAT 09:50 Over to You (w3cszf5c)
Asking questions of the Climate Question series

What exactly is The Climate Question, the new BBC World Service podcast and weekly programme, asking? We quiz its presenters how they handle the politics of this topic - and how rigorous the show is in presenting contrasting schools of thought? Plus, what has happened to The Why Factor? We find out.

Presenter Rajan Datar
Producer: Howard Shannon


SAT 10:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhwx6x)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 10:06 Sportshour (w172x3c5415dq0m)
Tiara Brown on quitting the police: 'Enough was enough'

“Enough was enough – I felt like I was on the wrong side” – Tiara Brown on leaving the police

Unbeaten professional boxer Tiara Brown joins us following her recent decision to resign from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. The former “DC Officer of the Year” tells us she became increasingly disheartened by some of the behaviour she witnessed from fellow officers when working at the protests that followed the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake. Brown believes law enforcement can’t be changed from the inside and says she’s been targeted on social media following her resignation.

South Africa’s Devon Petersen tells us about his journey into darts and how he visualises winning the world championship during practise sessions ahead of next week’s PDC World Darts Championship. The crowd favourite also explains his walk on routine and laments the fact fans aren’t allowed to wear fancy dress this year. Petersen tells us in a normal year it’s not unusual to see “Santa having a pint with Smurfs”.

We speak to champion bodybuilder Rene Campbell about the reality of going against societal norms, when it comes to how some people think a woman should look. Campbell suffered with an eating disorder due to her wish to be slim before she got into bodybuilding. A photograph of her is currently featured in a six-month exhibition in west London called "Womanhood."

In Sporting Witness, we travel back to the winter of 1969-70, when anti-apartheid campaigners disrupted 24 matches during a tour of the British Isles by South Africa’s Springboks rugby team. The campaign forced the cancellation of a planned tour by the South African cricket team later in 1970, and then of all future visits by South African teams until the end of Apartheid. We hear from Peter Hain, who organised the protests and later became a British MP.

And – the BBC’s Alistair Bruce-Ball joins us from Molineux ahead of the day’s early game in the Premier League between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.

Photo: Tiara Brown poses after her victory against Vanessa Bradford at Generoso Pope Athletic Complex on October 24, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Edward Diller/Getty Images)


SAT 11:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhx0z1)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 11:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bk8tngsd5)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 11:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3ld7f)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 11:32 The Documentary (w3ct1cx4)
Belarus across the barricades - part two

For 100 days and counting protesters are calling for an end to the 26-year long rule of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. Poet Valzhyna Mort records first-hand stories from her friends who are out protesting week after week; ordinary people making extraordinary choices. Obsessively, she reads the social media posts flooding her phone. In her hands, these tiny messages are poetry themselves, the oral history of our time captured on thousands of phones. The story is rich, layered, and homely. ‘Leave food out for cat.’ says one woman not sure whether masked security agents will snatch her from the street. A young father explains how he writes his address in his little son’s clothes in case he has to make it home alone one day. Yet in all this fear and rage comes a spirit of togetherness. Strangers have become friends. Apartment blocks have become neighbourhoods. Whole communities upload the choral part-songs they’ve been gathering to sing after dark each night. Whatever happens next in Belarus, this is a country transformed.

Producer: Monica Whitlock

(Photo: Pensioners protest in Minsk, Belarus. Credit: EPA)


SAT 12:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhx4q5)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 12:06 Music Life (w3csz6tx)
The science behind the perfect hit with Becky Hill, MNEK, Ella Eyre and Frances

This week Music Life gets crazy about pop with host Becky Hill, who asks MNEK, Ella Eyre and Frances all about their signature styles, if there's a formula for writing the perfect hit, and when songs don’t turn out as expected.

Becky was a finalist on the first series of The Voice UK, and has since gone on to achieve global Pop stardom, working with the likes of Rudimental, MNEK, Little Simz, Jonas Blue, Jax Jones, Sigala and many more. An album is finally expected next year.

Former Music Life guest MNEK is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer. He has written and produced for some of the biggest artists around the world, including Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, HER and Dua Lipa, and he’s amassed over 1 billion streams. Frances is a singer-songwriter and producer. She’s been releasing her own music since 2015, and has written and produced for the likes of Katy Perry, Dua Lipa and Meghan Trainor. And Ella Eyre is an award-winning British/Jamaican/Maltese singer-songwriter, who rose to fame back in 2013 when her collaboration with Rudimental topped the UK chart. Since releasing her debut album, Feline, back in 2015, she has toured with the likes of Olly Murs, Little Mix and the Script, and has worked with everyone from Ty Dolla $ign, Yxng Bane, and Kiana Ledé to Meghan Trainor and French Montana.


SAT 13:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhx8g9)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 13:06 Newshour (w172x2z2rg0lg2w)
COVID-19: FDA approves Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in US

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. President Trump said it would be made available for free to all Americans and that the first inoculations would take place within 24 hours

Also on the programme: Iran has hanged a prominent opposition journalist implicated in anti-government protests; and we hear reaction to the news that the UK’s Royal Navy is on standby in case of a no-deal Brexit.

(Picture: A hospital in Indiana rehearses its distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, Credit: Reuters)


SAT 14:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhxd6f)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 14:06 Sportsworld (w172x3lk3lllxvr)
Live Sporting Action

Sportsworld brings you live Premier League commentary as Newcastle United take on West Brom at St James' Park.

Lee James is joined by former Swansea and Tottenham goalkeeper Michel Vorm, ex-England and Arsenal forward Rachel Yankey and the former West Brom and Nigeria winger Peter Odemwingie to discuss all the big talking points.

We'll have reaction to the day's early kick-off between Wolves and Aston Villa and we'll look ahead to the first ever men's Manchester derby behind closed doors.

Elsewhere, two-time unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua prepares to fight Bulgaria's Kubrat Pulev in front of 1,000 fans at Wembley Arena in London on Saturday. We'll have all the build-up to that fight and what it could mean for a bout between Joshua and Tyson Fury next year.

In golf, we'll have the latest from the Women's US Open and we'll have reaction to qualifying for the final race of the Formula One season in Abu Dhabi.

And we'll be in New Zealand ahead of day three of the second men's Test match against West Indies.

Photo: West Brom manager Slaven Bilic with Newcastle boss Steve Bruce (Getty Images)


SAT 18:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhxw5y)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 18:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bk8tnhmm2)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 18:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3m7gb)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 18:32 Mayday (w3ct1cx9)
On 11 November 2019 James Le Mesurier was found dead in a street in Istanbul. He was the latest casualty in a very unusual war – one fought not on the battlefield, but online.

Le Mesurier was a mysterious figure with a taste for the finer things who served in the British Army in several of the world’s hotspots before focusing his energies on war-ravaged Syria from 2014. He co-founded the White Helmets, a Syrian civil defence force who filmed themselves pulling survivors and bodies from the rubble of bombed out buildings.

Soon, the White Helmets - and Le Mesurier - found themselves at the centre of a global race to control the narrative in the Syrian War. In this investigative series Mayday, presenter Chloe Hadjimatheou talks to the people who knew James, including his widow Emma, his ex-wife and former army colleagues, as well as those on the ground in Syria still working as White Helmets today in an effort to piece together James’ story and that of the White Helmets. She speaks to some of the White Helmet’s detractors and follows up accusations about the organisation to try and understand the truth surrounding them.

Chloe Hadjimatheou says: “Making this series has been an extraordinary experience, as listeners will discover. It started out being an investigation into the story of a man with an astonishing life and a mysterious death but it ended up taking me on a bizarre journey down rabbit holes of misinformation. Ultimately this is a story about how truth functions in modern warfare.”


SAT 18:50 More or Less (w3ct0pyd)
QAnon: Child runaways and trafficking numbers debunked

Tim Harford looks at false statistical claims online about missing and trafficked children in the US. These numbers have resurfaced online in part due to conspiracy theorists following QAnon. In the past few months they have inspired protests under the banner - ‘Save Our Children’. We wade through some of the false numbers with the help of Michael Hobbes, a reporter for Huff Post and the co-host of the podcast called You're Wrong About.


SAT 19:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhxzy2)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 19:06 World Questions (w3cszt62)
Sudan

After a revolution and the fall of a long-term military dictator, Sudan is officially on the road to democracy and civilian rule. How do you rebuild a country? The US has promised to take Sudan off the state sponsors of terrorism blacklist, and within the country a peace process is bringing regional rebels into the fold. But is the movement to civilian rule fast enough? When will the conditions of women’s lives start to improve? At what point will becoming a mainstream nation again mean an improvement in the extreme economic hardships felt by so many in Sudan? The BBC’s James Copnall presents with a panel of leading figures from Sudan debating questions put to them from the public across the country.

The panel:
Omer Ismail: Foreign Minister
Walaa al-Boushi: Minister for Youth and Sport
Reem Abbas: Journalist and Blogger
Mohammed Nagi al-Assam: Nominee to Transition Partners Council

Producers: Charlie Taylor and Helen Towner
Studio Engineers: Ian Mitchell, Rob Symington and Donald McDonald

BBC World Questions is a series of international events created in partnership with the British Council.

(Photo: Alaa Salah during a demonstration in Khartoum on April 8th 2019, Credit: Courtesy Lana H. Haroun)


SAT 20:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhy3p6)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 20:06 The Arts Hour (w3cszk3w)
Musician and comedian Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin, comedian, actor, writer and creator of Matilda the musical, joins Nikki Bedi on the line from Sydney, Australia to discuss his debut studio album Apart Together and his hit TV show Upright.

British star Felicity Jones reveals what George Clooney was like as a director and co-star on the set of his latest movie The Midnight Sky.

Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino explains his fondness for writing about outsiders, including in his latest work, the TV series We Are Who We Are.

Portuguese singer Mariza celebrates the centenary of Amália Rodrigues, the grande dame of fado, with her latest album.

The actor and writer Michaela Coel discusses her current state of post-writum depression with Louis Theroux, and talks about life after I May Destroy You.

Artist Tracey Emin on her love of Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, and what makes the most lasting kind of art.

Joining Nikki Bedi in the Arts Hour studio is broadcaster and journalist William Lee Adams.


(Photo: Tim Minchin. Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images)


SAT 21:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhy7fb)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 21:06 Newshour (w172x2z2rg0mf1x)
UN chief urges world leaders to declare 'climate emergency'

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on every country to declare a 'climate emergency', with global leaders marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate accord. But critics felt most countries had failed to show the necessary level of ambition to curb global warning.

Also in the programme: Is Juan Guaido - the man recognized as Venezuela's legitimate leader by dozens of countries, including the United States - a "busted flush"? Last weekend President Nicolas Maduro and his Socialist party won back control of Venezuela's Congress in elections that were boycotted by Mr.Guaido and some other opposition parties; and as Harrison Ford is confirmed for a fifth film playing Indiana Jones, does the archaeologist he portrays bear any resemblance to reality?

(Photo: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a news conference at UN headquarters in New York City. Credit: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)


SAT 22:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhyc5g)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 22:06 The Newsroom (w172x79qv31tt59)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 22:20 Sports News (w172x3fmg6zj344)
BBC Sport brings you all the latest stories and results from around the world.


SAT 22:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q0qn3mqfv)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 22:32 Heart and Soul (w3ct1csl)
Jonestown: From socialism to slaughter - Part two

In 1978, over 900 US citizens died at Jonestown, a remote settlement in Guyana. The vast majority were members of a community run by the charismatic Rev Jim Jones, taking their own lives with poison under armed guard on his orders. But how did a church known for racial integration and practical help for the poor come to such a destructive end? How could one man’s increasing paranoia have driven so many people, who had built a mission community from nothing in four years, into a seemingly pointless sacrifice?

In this second and final programme, Erin Martin – who herself grew up in a controlling religious group – hears from ex-members of Peoples Temple who explain how steadily increasing isolation made it so hard to leave the organisation. Vera Washington describes how she and seven others had to accelerate their escape plan when a leadership spy heard of it, and Jordan Vilchez relates how a faked assassination attempt on Jim Jones was used to reinforce their sense of threat from outside.

The move to the Guyanese jungle meant escape was almost impossible - Jim Jones’ son, Stephan, and a few others survived because they were on a visit to the capital, Georgetown. But could Jonestown have had a future? Tim Carter imagined paved streets and seeing his grandchildren there. And John Cobb still feels that if he hadn’t been in Georgetown with Stephan on November 8th, 1978, he could have prevented what was, before 9/11, the largest intentional loss of civilian lives in American history.

Producer: Paul Arnold

(Photo:Main entrance to Jonestown, with welcome sign over the road. The sign reads Welcome to Jonestown, on the top line; the next line reads Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, May 1978. Credit Jon Moore/The Jonestown Institute).


SAT 23:00 BBC News (w172x5p68xhygxl)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 23:06 Business Weekly (w3ct0spm)
What Covid-19 vaccines can do for Big Pharma

On this edition of Business Weekly, we ask whether Covid vaccines are the shot in the arm the pharmaceutical industry needs to rescue its reputation. Plus, as the world looks ahead to life after the pandemic, will our transportation systems be there to help us get around? There’s a financial crisis at New York’s mass transit system. What does that mean for the city it supports? Airbnb finally packs it bags and heads to the stock market. The holiday accommodation company’s shares boomed on their first day of trading this week. We speak to Airbnb’s chief executive, Brian Chesky. Also, in China, over 15m tonnes of food is wasted every year. The government has a new plan to tackle this, but how will it convince its citizens not to throw food away? And we’ll be talking about that nine figure deal reached by Bob Dylan to sell off his back catalogue. Business Weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

(Image: Doctor wearing surgical gloves and preparing the coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine, Getty Images)