SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER 2020

SAT 00:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptsf5y)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 00:06 Business Matters (w172x18zvp5kn8v)
US Election: Trump back on campaign trail in Florida

President Trump is in Florida trying to garner more support in his adopted state. Business Matters gets the very latest from Mary Ellen Klas, Tallahassee Bureau Chief for the Miami Herald. The BBC's Samira Hussain examines the key issues facing farmers in America as they decide whether to vote for Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Also in the programme, Spencer Dale, chief economist at oil giant BP, discusses the company's plan to cut its oil and gas production by 40% by the end of this decade. Plus we hear from Stuart Fowkes, the creator of the Future Cities project, a sound sharing project of natural and human sounds from more than 650 locations. Fergus Nicoll will be joined by Elizabeth Gwynn Nine News reporter in Albury, New South Wales, Australia for comment throughout the programme.


SAT 01:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptsjy2)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 01:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bdxlzc9c6)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 01:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffgx6g)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 01:32 Stumped (w3cszhjv)
Will split international teams benefit cricket?

Has cricket lost touch with the Black Lives Matter movement? West Indies captain Jason Holder tells me the game has gone quiet on racism.

Plus, could England and Australia playing different formats in different countries at the same time provide a financial lifeline to smaller nations?

And Nigeria women's captain Samantha Agazuma on the cricketing journey she hopes will take her all the way to the Big Bash in Australia.

Photo: Glenn Maxwell & Jos Buttler (Getty Images)


SAT 02:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptsnp6)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 02:06 The Fifth Floor (w3cszjhq)
The battle for Florida’s Latino voters

Florida makes or breaks the US presidential election, and Spanish language ads have been bombarding Latino voters. BBC Monitoring journalist in Miami Luis Fajardo analyses the tactics and tunes being used by both Republicans and Democrats to swing the state.

Egypt’s septuagenarian record breaking footballer
Ezzeldin Bahader recently entered the record books as the world’s oldest professional footballer aged 74. BBC Arabic sports reporter Marwa Helmy has followed the inspiring story.

A trip to a Russian banya
Yulia James of BBC Russian shares her love of the famous Russian bath house, the banya: a place to warm up, cool down and relax with friends.

Nigeria's anti-SARS protests
Citizen protests against Nigeria’s Special Anti Robbery Squad or SARS turned violent this week, when protesters at a toll gate in the Lekke Island suburb of Lagos found themselves under fire. BBC Pidgin reporter Damilola Banjo has been covering the story since the beginning, and was there when the shooting took place.

Making a board game political
A new board game is about to hit the East Asian market. It’s called United Front: Fight Back Against China, and pits players representing Mongolia, Taiwan and Hong Kong against invading forces from China. Politically sensitive to say the least, as Lam Cho Wai of BBC Chinese explains.

Image: Poll worker at a ballot drop box in Miami Beach, Florida
Credit: EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP


SAT 02:50 Witness History (w3cszmvl)
Nasa's pioneering black women

Usually it is the names of astronauts that people remember about the space race. But less celebrated are the teams of people working on how to put a rocket into orbit. only in recent years have stories come to light of the contributions of the black women involved.

Many were recruited as 'computers', meaning that they carried out complex mathematical calculations by hand, before machines were invented that could do the job.

Christine Darden started her career in the computer pool, helping the engineers work out the trajectories needed to bring the Apollo Capsule back to Earth. Finally, she broke through the hidden barriers facing women at the time, gaining a promotion to engineer.

(Photo: Dr Christine Darden at a desk in Nasa's Langley Research Center, 1973. Credit: Bob Nye/Nasa/Getty Images)


SAT 03:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptssfb)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 03:06 The Real Story (w3cszcnl)
What next for US foreign policy?

While US domestic policy has taken centre stage in the race for the White House, whichever man wins the presidency will also help define America’s place in the world for years to come. President Trump won 2016’s election, in part, on promising to reduce the number of military and diplomatic entanglements the country was involved in across the globe. In the Middle East he pulled US forces out of Syria, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated during the Obama administration, and has strengthened ties with regional allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In Asia the US is engaged in a trade war with its single biggest trading partner - China. During his first term Donald Trump also had a frosty relationship with many of his NATO allies - and a much closer one with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin than any of his predecessors. Did those newly-defined strategic partnerships herald new achievements? Joe Biden has promised to turn back the clock on many of Mr Trump’s ‘America First’ themed policies, but which ones? And has the role the US plays on the world stage changed forever? As part of the BBC World Service's 'US Elections 2020: What the World Wants' series, Ritula Shah and a panel of expert guests discuss what's next for American foreign policy.


SAT 04:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptsx5g)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 04:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bdxlzcnll)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 04:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffh8fv)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 04:32 Comedians Vs. The News (w3ct0x3h)
Deborah Frances-White and Tats Nkonzo

Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini are joined by British-Australian comic Deborah Frances-White and top South African stand-up Tats Nkonzo to take on the global news headlines. This week, is it deal or no deal for the UK on Brexit? And are comedians really considered ‘essential workers’ in South Africa?
Get involved and tell us about the funny stories where you are.
#comediansvsthenews


SAT 05:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptt0xl)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 05:06 Weekend (w172x7d1t25rd69)
US Covid cases rise

More than 70,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States on Thursday. This steep rise in infections was a central theme in the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Also in the programme: Sudan and Israel agree to normalise relations and how the rivalry between China and the US is affecting the world.

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues is Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels correspondent for The New York Times, covering the European Union and Oliver McTernan, co-founder and director of Forward Thinking.

(Picture: A sign for a COVID-19 drive-thru testing site in the US. Credit: REUTERS/Bing Guan)


SAT 06:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptt4nq)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 06:06 Weekend (w172x7d1t25rhyf)
Cardinal criticises Pope's comments on homosexuality

One of Pope Francis's fiercest critics in the Vatican has said that the Pontiff's recent comments supporting civil unions for same-sex couples are a 'private opinion', which ordinary Roman Catholics are not obliged to obey. Cardinal Raymond Burke reiterated official Catholic belief that homosexual acts were 'intrinsically disordered'.

Also in the programme: The US sees a rise in coronavirus cases and Chileans vote on changing their country's constitution.

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues is Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels correspondent for The New York Times, covering the European Union and Oliver McTernan, co-founder and director of Forward Thinking.

(Picture: Pope Francis. Credit: Reuters)


SAT 07:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptt8dv)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 07:06 Weekend (w172x7d1t25rmpk)
Parents separated from children at border missing

The American Civil Liberties Union says the parents of 545 children separated from their families at the US border, as part of the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, cannot be traced. About two-thirds of those parents have been deported back to their country of origin, according to a court filing.

Also in the programme: Coronavirus cases continue to rise in the US.

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues is Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels correspondent for The New York Times, covering the European Union and Oliver McTernan, co-founder and director of Forward Thinking.

(Picture: Hundreds of children are believed to be living without their parents in the US. Credit: Reuters)


SAT 07:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffhmp7)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 07:32 The Documentary (w3csz4pt)
The Superlinguists

The polyglots

Simon Calder meets people who keep learning new languages not because they have to, but because they want to. What motivates them? Situations like this - an immigrant hotel cleaner who is moved to tears because you speak to her in her native Albanian; A Nepalese Sherpa family that rolls about laughing in disbelief at hearing their foreign guest speak Sherpa. But do polyglots have a different brain from the rest of us? Simon travels to a specialised lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and undergoes a brain-scan himself, to find out.

Presenter: Simon Calder
Producer: Arlene Gregorius


SAT 08:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xpttd4z)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 08:06 BBC OS Conversations (w3ct0xjt)
US election: Trucking and farming

Nuala McGovern speaks with truck drivers and farmers in the United States as they share their thoughts on how their lives and livelihoods have been under the past four years of the Trump presidency.

Wisconsin is known as America’s Dairyland. It’s an important state in this election, where the vote could go either way, and where more than one in ten of the electorate are farmers. Three farmers in Wisconsin explain how trade deals by the US have impacted what happens on their farms and how that affects their votes this time.

And three truckers -Michael in Arizona, Pat in Indianapolis and Sunny in California - describe what they have seen driving across the country over the past four years. For some of them, the coronavirus pandemic had led to an upturn in their business prospects.

(Photo: Michael Ware Credit: Michael Ware)


SAT 08:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffhrfc)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 08:32 Girl Taken (w3ct0xw6)
Girl Taken

24/10/2020 GMT

Girl Taken is a two year investigation to find a little girl taken from her mother in Iran. In this 11 part series, recorded in real time, Sue Mitchell and Rob Lawrie slowly unravel the mystery of what happened to four year old Bru and set out to reunite mother and daughter after years of being apart.

The series starts when Sue Mitchell came into the story, as a reporter for the BBC covering the refugee crisis in Europe. The little girl had hit the media spotlight when her father, claiming to be a widow fleeing Afghanistan under threat of death from the Taliban, asked Rob Lawrie, a volunteer at the Calais camp, for help. He wanted Rob to smuggle Bru to the UK but this failed. Although the story was extensively covered no one knew Bru’s mother was alive and desperately searching for her.

Through the original BBC coverage the mother, Goli, makes contact with Sue and Rob, telling them her daughter was taken from the family home in Tehran without her knowledge or consent. She’d been to the police in Iran but was told they could not help. She then travelled thousands of miles at the hands of smugglers with Bru’s baby sister, Baran. Sickness forced her to stop in Denmark but authorities and refugee charities there could not find Bru. These recordings cover a series of dramatic turns in the search for the little girl.

The recordings also touch on the plight of other women whose children have been taken from them by abusive husbands. It is still a rare thing to happen, but this investigation exposes shortcomings in the asylum process. Since the recordings aired, officials have discovered other cases where men have come into the United Kingdom with a child to help their asylum claims. These claims have not been fully investigated in the past and there are few safeguards to protect those who have suffered as a result.

The series raises the plight of children living in the Calais Jungle and other overcrowded and unsanitary camps. Through Goli’s story we learn more about the control others had in shaping her life. She’d had an arranged marriage to a cruel and controlling man and lived in a society where she had few rights. When she decided to flee Iran and search for Bru, she encountered many dangers, from smugglers to perilous sea crossings in the dead of night with Bru’s baby sister, Baran, in her arms.

The series gives voice to one woman’s story and in doing so raises issues affecting many others. Goli left the only culture she had known to search the world for her little girl and in doing so changed her outlook completely. On reaching the West she immersed herself in the education she had always wanted. As she began making her own choices she starts to experience possibilities and freedoms she had never before imagined. Goli is hopeful that her story could help other women to challenge the injustice and cruelty she has overcome.


SAT 08:50 Over to You (w3cszf4z)
Listeners respond to The Response USA: The Return

The Response USA - the return. Four years after its original broadcast, listeners offer their views on whether this catch-up edition about the US presidential
election of 2016 did the job it was supposed to. Plus we need your help in tracking down interference problems on shortwave.

Presenter: Rajan Datar
Producer: Howard Shannon.


SAT 09:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptthx3)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 09:06 Sportshour (w172x3c0rthb9pt)
Australia Grand Final Weekend

With the both the men's and women's NRL Grand Finals taking place this weekend, we preview both matches which will be played as a double header in front of a 40,000 person crowd. Current captain of the Brisbane Bronco's Ali Brigginshaw joins us to look ahead to what we can expect from both matches and how Brisbane are looking for their third win a row.

How diverse is the sport of cheerleading? Caroline Nyemi-Tei founded Cheer from Head to Toe to address poor representation in the sport. She tells us about a new video she has released which documents athletes and coaches experiences of racism in the industry and how the sport can be more inclusive.

We also look at the link between sport and elections. A study conducted ten years ago argues that the fate of the person who holds a seat can be influenced by other matters like whether the local sports team wins or loses in the weeks prior to an election. We explore if this is still relevant with Stanford University Professor Neil Malhotra who conducted the research.

From SuperBowl winner to sommelier -Will Blackmon won the SuperBowl in 2012 with the New York Giants but retired in 2018 to pursue another passion he had… wine! He tells us more about what he does now and he is the 'Wine MVP'.

Plus in this week's Sporting Witness as part of Black History Month we go back to 1978 when Viv Anderson became the first Black Footballer to play a full England international.

Photo: Broncos captain Ali Brigginshaw celebrates with team mates after winning the 2018 NRL Women's Premiership Grand Final match between the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos at ANZ Stadium (Credit: Getty images)


SAT 10:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xpttmn7)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 10:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bdxlzdd2c)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 10:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffhzxm)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 10:32 Global Questions (w3ct1cq5)
Global Questions

Who’s winning the USA-China tech wars?

Rivalry between Trump’s United States and Xi’s China is rampant: from disagreements on trade tariffs, on Hong Kong and the Uighurs and, of course, the source of Covid-19.

But underlying it all is the growing tech war between these two economic superpowers, with giants like Huawei on the battlefield. For its part, China denies access to Google, Facebook, Twitter and many other American firms. It’s called ‘tech nationalism’ - both powerhouses know that global superiority in technology and innovation will be the key to future economic domination of world trade.

Central to this growing tech war are semiconductors - the cornerstone technology of the information age and key to the US-China tech war. Semiconductors are crucial for microchips which in turn are needed for making everything from smart phones to satellite weapons systems.

President Trump‘s weapons in this war have included sanctions on major Chinese companies, the goal being a global tech ‘decoupling’ which would see many nations move away from Chinese technology altogether.

Join Zeinab Badawi and a panel of experts and question askers from around the world on this edition of Global Questions.


SAT 11:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xpttrdc)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 11:06 Music Life (w3csz6tj)
Music in our grandmother's DNA with Kelsey Lu and Beverly Glenn-Copeland

Singer and cellist Kelsey Lu is joined by Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Lotic, and Fatima Al Qadiri to discuss how their ancestral backgrounds influence the stories they tell, the use of nature as a metaphor, and if they ever feel alone being an artist.

Fatima Al Qadiri is an experimental Kuwaiti music producer and artist, currently based in Los Angeles. Last year she received a Cesar nomination for Best Original Score for her work on Mati Diop’s debut feature film Atlantics. Lotic is a Berlin-based electronic musician, born and raised in Houston, Texas. She has worked with and opened for Björk, who described her as “one of the fiercest performer DJs” she has ever heard. Beverly Glenn-Copeland is a Philadelphia-born singer, composer and transgender activist, whose recording career spans fifty years. His music fuses vision, technology, spirituality and place to create a genre-defying sound. And Kelsey is a classically trained cellist from Charlotte, North Carolina. She has collaborated with the likes of Skrillex, Sampha, Solange, and Florence and the Machine, and recently created an audiovisual project of meditative sound baths called Hydroharmonia.


SAT 12:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xpttw4h)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 12:06 Newshour (w172x2yyd7bj1s2)
Virus to stay 'at least until next summer' says France's President Macron

As further restrictions are introduced in France, President Macron says he expects the country to be fighting the virus until at least next summer.

Also in the programme: A BBC investigation has verified video evidence put up by an investigative website, showing the extrajudicial killings of two ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. And a NASA space probe which successfully collected rock fragments from an asteroid earlier this week is at risk of losing the consignment.

(Photo: People in much of France must be home by 21:00 local time. Credit: Reuters)


SAT 13:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xpttzwm)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 13:06 Sportsworld (w172x3ldrcxjjjy)
Live Sporting Action

Sportsworld brings you live Premier League commentary as Fulham host Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage.

Lee James is joined by former Manchester City and Everton defender Sylvain Distin, ex-Australia international Alicia Ferguson and former Wolves and Nigeria goalkeeper Carl Ikem to discuss all the big talking points.

We'll also have the latest from the first men's El Clasico of the season with Barcelona and Real Madrid both looking to respond to La Liga defeats last weekend.

Elsewhere, we'll round up the sporting action from around the world - including the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix, the Giro d'Italia and the women's Big Bash cricket.

Photo: Wilfried Zaha celebrates scoring against Manchester United (Getty Images)


SAT 17:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptvgw4)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 17:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bdxlzf798)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 17:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffjv4j)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 17:32 Trending (w3cszvsf)
Help! My mum is a conspiracy influencer

What would you do if your mum became a conspiracy theory influencer?

Kate Shemirani is one of Twitter’s most popular anti-mask, anti-vaccine, anti-5G activists. She calls coronavirus a “plandemic” and a “scandemic”, makes the false claim that 5G radio waves cause the symptoms of the disease and even says, contrary to all the evidence, that the virus that causes Covid-19 doesn’t exist.

She’s built up a huge following on social media, speaks to rallies in London and encourages people to ignore guidelines on social distancing and mask wearing recommended by health authorities and written into law.

Her influence on public health has grown so much that one popular British newspaper recently asked: “Is this the most dangerous woman in Britain?”

But her son is worried that his mum has gone down the rabbit hole – and he’s sounding a warning for others who might be in the same situation.

Sebastian Shemirani describes how conspiracy theories always had a grip on his mother, but the coronavirus pandemic thrust her into the public eye.

Conspiracy theories have torn the family apart – and now Sebastian has spoken exclusively to the BBC about the toll it has taken on him.

Plus we hear from experts about the right way to talk to friends and family members who are being drawn in by conspiracy theories.

Presented by Jonathan Griffin and Marianna Spring

Photo: Sebastian Shemirani

Photo credit: BBC


SAT 17:50 More or Less (w3ct0py0)
US election: facts or fiction

Tim Harford hears about the sheer volume of false claims made during the campaign. President Trump is well known for making wild statements, but has his behaviour changed? And what about Joe Biden? So much attention is concentrated on Trump’s claims, how does the Democratic candidate fare? Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post and Katherine J Wu at the New York Times tell us about fact-checking during the run up to the election.


SAT 18:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptvlm8)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 18:06 The History Hour (w3cszkpk)
Why Portugal decriminalised all drugs

In the grips of a drug crisis, why Portugal took a radical approach in 2001 and became the first country in the world to decriminalise all drugs. Also searching for those who disappeared during apartheid rule in South Africa, how mistakes with the initial production of the polio vaccine made thousands of children ill in 1995, plus the black women who helped propel NASA's space programme and Joan Littlewood a giant in 20th century British theatre.

(Image: Staffers interview a new patient in Lisbon, Portugal (Credit: Horacio Villalobos - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)


SAT 19:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptvqcd)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 19:06 The Arts Hour (w3cszk3h)
Actor and rapper Riz Ahmed

Actor and musician Riz Ahmed discusses his new film Mogul Mowgli. Author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi tells us why she chose to set her new novel The First Woman in 1970s Uganda and R&B star Usher performs a cover of The Chainsmokers’ track, Don’t Let Me Down.

British actress Romola Garai tells us why she has chosen to direct a horror movie as her first feature film; Star Trek’s George Takei talks about his long lasting friendships from the show and Chinese pianist Lang Lang plays through one of Bach’s best loved compositions.

Nikki Bedi’s guests this week are world class photographer Misan Harriman; and writer and critic Edwin Okolo who joins us from Lagos.

(Photo: Actor and rapper Riz Ahmed. Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images)


SAT 20:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptvv3j)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 20:06 Newshour (w172x2yyd7bk0r3)
Doubts over US-brokered Sudan-Israel deal

A former Sudanese prime minister, Sadiq El Mahdi, says the US-brokered agreement between Sudan and Israel could help ignite a new war in the Middle East and jeopardize the authority of the transitional government.

Also in the programme: Early voting in the US presidential election; and hunting the Asian Giant Hornet

(US President Donald Trump speaks on a conference call with leaders of Israel and Sudan about a Sudan-Israel peace agreement; Credit: European Photopress Agency)


SAT 21:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptvyvn)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 21:06 Comedians Vs. The News (w3ct0x3h)
[Repeat of broadcast at 04:32 today]


SAT 21:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffkb41)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 21:32 Trending (w3cszvsf)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:32 today]


SAT 21:50 More or Less (w3ct0py0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 17:50 today]


SAT 22:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptw2ls)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 22:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bdxlzfv0x)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 22:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5pwcffkfw5)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 22:32 Heart and Soul (w3ct16c5)
Is this Egypt’s #metoo moment?

Egypt is currently in the midst of a growing movement calling out the culture of sexual assault that’s rife in the country. A UN study showed 99.3% of Egyptian women have experienced sexual harassment or violence, and although women’s rights activists have been campaigning for years, there continues to be victim blaming surrounding women and a lack of prosecutions. However, a recent high profile case of one man who allegedly sexually assaulted and blackmailed several women was brought to the public’s attention due to an Instagram account called Assault Police which shared victim’s testimonies. It’s encouraged more women to speak out about their own experiences. And significantly, the religious authority, the Al Azhar Mosque published guidelines against assault, specifically stating what women wear is not an excuse.

Salma El-Wardany, a UK based Muslim writer and poet, was born in Egypt and wants to uncover what impact this largely online movement is having. Will it create a lasting change in Egyptian society and result in prosecutions?
Salma will talk to the key women fighting for change, and the male allies using their platform to speak out. She’ll hear from Nadeen Ashraf, the young woman behind Assault Police, and Sabah Khodir who’s offering practical support and guidance for victims. Plus she’ll speak to Omar Samra a well-known adventurer who’s encouraging men to take responsibility for their actions. She’ll hear from Human Rights Watch about their concerns over women’s rights in the country, and she’ll speak to Egyptian American journalist Mona Eltahawy about her hopes for a feminist revolution.

Producer: Miriam Williamson

(Picture: Egyptian women hold signs during a protest against sexual harassment in Cairo, Egypt, June 2014 / Credit: Ahmed Ismail/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)


SAT 23:00 BBC News (w172x5p1xptw6bx)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 23:06 The Science Hour (w3cszkxb)
Nasa probe Osiris Rex lands on asteroid

Science in Action talks to Nasa researcher Hannah Kaplan who is part of the team for the space agency’s sampling mission to the asteroid Bennu. Mission scientists were overjoyed this week when the probe Osiris Rex momentarily touched the asteroid and sucked up some of the sand and grit on its surface.

What might we learn when the sample is returned to Earth in three years' time? There is some not-such-good news about a theory about immunity to the pandemic coronavirus, and medical researchers in the UK announce the world’s first study that will deliberately infect volunteers with the novel coronavirus. The so-called challenge study is planned to begin in London in January. The purpose is to speed up the quest for effective Covid-19 vaccines but will it be safe for the participants? And there’s a new green chemistry breakthrough for tackling the world’s plastic waste crisis.

And All living things are related to each other, from elephants to algae, e-coli to humans like us. Within our cells we hold genetic information in the form of DNA or RNA. But despite viruses sharing these molecules, many scientists don't consider them to be 'life'.
Viruses cannot reproduce on their own, but some can insert their DNA into a host to pass genes sideways through the branching tree of life. As a result, viruses’ relationship with life is.... complex.

Two of our listeners had viruses on the mind, so they sent in the same question to CrowdScience. Senan from Singapore and Melvin from South Africa want to know how viruses began to see if this can tell us whether they shared a common ancestor with humans.

To dig into this complexity Marnie Chesterton speaks with an expert on Koala genetics – Dr Rachael Tarlinton. Koalas are in the middle of tackling a retroviruses, a type of virus that plants DNA into our cells as a reproduction strategy. Her research could reveal why humans life has so much viral DNA within our genomes.

Marnie speaks with a computational biologist Professor Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, who has found a new way to trace the family tree for billions of years using proteins common to all life on earth, and speaks with Professor Chantal Abergel who paints a picture of how viruses went from being the losers of evolution, to being highly successful parasites of cells.

(Image: Nasa probe Osiris Rex lands on asteroid. Credit Nasa)