SATURDAY 16 JANUARY 2021

SAT 00:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382rfst)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 00:06 The Real Story (w3cszcp4)
America's damaged democracy

Donald Trump is ending his presidency with the distinction of being the only president in American history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. The behaviour of his supporters in breaking into the Capitol Building, where a session was in place to certify the presidential election, has received widespread condemnation. Several people died. Democrats say the violence was the culmination of President Trump's history of riling up his supporters with misleading claims and outright lies, and it was an attempt to overturn the will of the people who voted for Joe Biden as the next president. Yet many, including some Republican politicians who fled the mob, say the protestors were right to challenge the legitimacy of Mr Biden's victory - even though the claims of mass fraud have been debunked by election officials and rejected by the courts. And despite events, Mr Trump remains popular with a significant portion of Republicans. President-elect Biden takes office under the theme ‘America United’, but it’s clear the country is anything but. So what lies ahead for America’s fragile democracy? With angry and polarised political groups, rampant misinformation, and an absence of dialogue, how dangerous a moment is this for country – and what might pull it back from the brink? Join Ritula Shah and guests as they discuss the impact of a tumultuous week in Washington DC.


SAT 01:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382rkjy)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 01:06 Business Matters (w172x19617fjsmv)
Biden plans Covid vaccination push

US President-elect Joe Biden lays out an ambitious Coronavirus vaccination plan - warning things will get worse before they get better. India also gears up to start its own huge campaign this weekend, tackling its population of 1.3 billion people. Plus, German chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party meets to elect a new leader, who will stand a good chance of becoming chancellor after September's general election, the BBC's Marie Keyworth asks what is next for Germany in the post-Merkel era. Also in the programme, we discuss the farming sector including discrimination among African-American farmers in the US. Plus Professor Brian Steffenson at the University of Minnesota joins the show to explore an exciting new development in gene technology speeds up the breeding process to help make wheat more resistant to fungal infestation. Plus, there's new evidence that bees are gathering pollen and nectar from different kinds of flowers. Dr Natasha de Vere, head of conservation and research at the National Botanic Garden of Wales explains the implications. Peter Ryan, the ABC's Senior Business Correspondent, joins Business Matters’ Fergus Nicholl for comment.
(Picture: vaccinations. Picture credit: Getty Images)


SAT 02:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382rp92)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 02:06 From Our Own Correspondent (w3csz9qq)
Australia's beauty - and its terrors

Australians are used to taking the power of nature seriously - as the environment and the creatures within it can be so dangerous. 2020 began in flames, as bush fires tore through the landscape, and ended in floods, as cyclones flattened and drenched much of the more populated parts of the coastline. And with memories of those disasters still fresh, the country is now having to deal with a far tinier (but still lethal) menace: coronavirus. Phil Mercer reflects from Sydney on resilience and robustness in the face of all these threats.

Pascale Harter introduces this and other dispatches from BBC correspondents, reporters and writers around the world.

Indonesia's geography also offers plenty of challenges for people who need to get around this vast archipelago quickly and safely. Over the past few decades, the explosive growth of a middle class who can afford to take domestic flights has fuelled a boom in small airlines - but have the airport infrastructure and safety oversight been good enough to keep up with passenger numbers? After the recent Sriwijaya crash, in which 62 people were killed, Rebecca Henschke remembers covering far too many similar incidents.

Chris Page talks to one of the survivors of Ireland's now-notorious system of mother and baby homes. For decades, these institutions took in unmarried mothers, promising to care for them during and after their pregnancies and find good adoptive or foster homes for their children. But conditions inside the homes were harsh and there were many cases of abuse, neglect and disease within them. Growing public concern about this history led to an official enquiry - and now official apologies from the Irish government and the country's Catholic Church for what went on inside.


And Mary Harper reveals some new developments from Somalia after her most recent visit there. While foreign news often concentrates on the country's al-Shabaab jihadist group, the regular suicide bombings and its food insecurity, there are other visible trends. These days, some militiamen are turning to extortion rackets. There's a boom in the construction sector. And everywhere there are people with ingenious and innovative ideas, just looking for ways to make life better.

(Image: People paddle along a flooded street in Tumbulgum, New South Wales, Australia, 15 December 2020. EPA/Jason O'Brien)


SAT 02:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzpg1kg)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 02:32 Stumped (w3cszhkd)
Langer comes out swinging

Australia head coach Justin Langer launches a passionate defence of captain Tim Paine and batsman Steve Smith, but how far has their behaviour in the third Test against India, and the reaction to it undermined efforts to restore the reputation of Australian cricket?

Plus, a new book on the West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician Learie Constantine, who played a pivotal role in improving race relations in the UK.

Photo: Justin Langer (Getty Images)


SAT 03:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382rt16)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 03:06 The Fifth Floor (w3cszjj8)
Beirut port blast: Five months on

On 4th August last year 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate blew up in a Beirut port warehouse. The explosion killed 200 people, injured thousands, and destroyed the port. Last month the public enquiry into the blast charged four politicians with negligence, including Prime Minister Hassan Diab. BBC Arabic’s Carine Torbey got an exclusive interview with him.

Cuba’s “sovereign” vaccine
Cuba has entered a new partnership with Iran to trial a new coronavirus vaccine. Its high hopes are summed up in the name, Soberana O-2, or "sovereign". BBC Monitoring's Luis Fajardo in Miami considers what the vaccine and its name mean to Cubans.

Kashmiri papier-mâché 
Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir used to be famous for its papier-mâché artefacts. But decades of insurgency and lockdowns have left producers struggling to survive, as BBC reporter Aamir Peerzada discovered.

The beach that lost the sun
The BBC’s Fernando Duarte tells us about Balneário Camboriú in Brazil, where shadows cast by the skyscrapers that line the sands make it impossible to sunbathe for most of the afternoon. Is the answer to widen the beach?

South Africa’s alcohol ban
Following South Africa's re-imposition of an alcohol ban as part of Covid-19 restrictions, the BBC's Vumani Mkhize reflects on the impact this is having, and the background to his country’s toxic relationship with drink.



(Image: Lebanese army member by damaged grain silo, Beirut port blast site (August 7, 2020)
Credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo)


SAT 03:50 Witness History (w3cszmw4)
Estonia's singing revolution

The Estonian rock musician Tõnis Mägi once attracted huge crowds across the USSR with a string of disco hits and a song glorifying the 1980 Olympic Games. He was a poster boy for clean cut Soviet youth with his blond hair and cheeky smile.

But in 1987 Tõnis returned to his native Estonia to write his own songs, in his own language. Times were changing. Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost or openness policy allowed Estonians to talk about things which had been taboo for decades. Tõnis tells Lucy Ash that he could smell freedom in the air.

Like its Baltic neighbours, Lativa and Lithuania, Estonia was independent between the world wars but suffered devastating losses when it was invaded by Stalin then by Hitler's troops and then reconquered by the Red Army.

In the tiny country of 1.3 million, many resented the Russians and longed to escape from Communist rule. People worried that their language and culture were disappearing and they wanted to promote Estonian nationhood, particularly through music. With his rock anthem Koit (Dawn) and other songs, Tõnis became the voice of a generation of Estonians, the voice of the Singing Revolution.

Producer: Lucy Ash
Translator: Tiina Wilder

Photo: Tõnis Mägi in 1987


SAT 04:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382rxsb)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 04:06 The Real Story (w3cszcp4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:06 today]


SAT 05:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382s1jg)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 05:06 BBC OS Conversations (w3ct19z4)
Coronavirus: Young widows

Each Covid-19 death has a tremendous personal impact on loved ones. Host Nuala McGovern talks to three women who have lost their husbands to the disease. Their Facebook group 'Young Widows and Widowers of Covid-19’ is supporting others in the same situation. They call it “the club that nobody wants to join”.

We also hear from three people in South Africa, Australia and the US who share the unexpected social consequences - both positive and negative - of wearing face masks when you have a facial disfigurement or difference.

(Photo: Jennifer Law with her family Credit: Jennifer Law)


SAT 05:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzpgdsv)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 05:32 The Cultural Frontline (w3cszj9h)
Douglas Stuart and Fashion for Change

You might know him as this year’s Booker Prize winner, but author Douglas Stuart is also a fashion designer. He tells Nawal Al-Maghafi about how fashion changed his life, taking him from his native Glasgow to New York City. He’s since returned to his hometown through the pages of his debut novel Shuggie Bain, in which the characters dress to impress while buying clothes on credit and dream of a different life while dealing with addiction and poverty.

Can clothes change the world? For the Cultural Frontline, journalist and author Tansy Hoskins presents her political fashion look-book: a mini style-guide on how to dress to protest, from the US to Belarus and from trousers to T-shirts.

Next, we meet the woman changing the face of fashion in South America. Karla Martinez, Editor in Chief of Vogue Mexico and Vogue Latin America, on how she creates a distinctly Latinx look for the iconic style magazine.

Plus - has a book, a picture or a piece of clothing ever changed the way you see the world? Acclaimed South African designer David Tlale shares the story of how his uncle’s sense of style inspired a career in fashion.

Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi


(Photo: Douglas Stuart Credit: Martyn Pickersgill)


SAT 06:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382s58l)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 06:06 Weekend (w172x7d7zmfqjk9)
Opposition alleges fraud in Uganda elections

Ugandan authorities have hailed last Thursday's elections as transparent and fair, despite accusations of fraud made by the main opposition candidate, Bobi Wine. The country's president, Yoweri Museveni, is seeking to extend his 35 years in power and preliminary results have suggested that he will have a commanding lead.

Also in the programme: India begins its coronavirus vaccination campaign and Mexico drops drug case against former defence minister.

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues are Cristina Odone, journalist, novelist and head of the Family Policy Unit at the Centre for Social Justice and Remi Adekoya, a Polish-Nigerian writer and politics lecturer at the University of York.

(Picture: Ugandan presidential candidate, Bobi Wine. Credit: EPA/STR)


SAT 07:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382s90q)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 07:06 Weekend (w172x7d7zmfqn9f)
India begins vaccination campaign

India has begun one of the world's most extensive vaccination campaigns. The government hopes to innoculate 300 million people in the coming months, starting with frontline health workers.

Also in the programme: More on clashes in Ethiopia and should professional footballers be hugging during a pandemic?

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues are Cristina Odone, journalist, novelist and head of the Family Policy Unit at the Centre for Social Justice and Remi Adekoya, a Polish-Nigerian writer and politics lecturer at the University of York.

(Picture: Indian top officials stand near the boxes containing Covid-19 vaccines in India. Credit: EPA/SANJAY BAID)


SAT 08:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382sdrv)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 08:06 Weekend (w172x7d7zmfqs1k)
Ugandan authorities deny electoral fraud accusations

Ugandan authorities have hailed last Thursday's elections as transparent and fair, despite accusations of fraud made by the main opposition candidate, Bobi Wine. The country's president, Yoweri Museveni, is seeking to extend his 35 years in power, and preliminary results have suggested that he will have a commanding lead.

Also in the programme: India's mass vaccination programme begins and a man's multi-million dollar cryptocurrency dilemma.

Joining Paul Henley to discuss these and other issues are Cristina Odone, journalist, novelist and head of the Family Policy Unit at the Centre for Social Justice and Remi Adekoya, a Polish-Nigerian writer and politics lecturer at the University of York.

(Picture: A giant election poster for incumbent Ugandan president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Credit: EPA/STR)


SAT 08:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzpgs17)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 08:32 When Katty Met Carlos (w3ct1c53)
Talking across divides

Katty Kay and Carlos Watson ask how Americans of differing views can restart their conversations. Partisan politics has broken up friendships, love affairs and even families. But is it up to the politicians to take the lead on restoring trust and respect, or should everyone play a part in reaching out across the aisle? Katty and Carlos are joined in the discussion by community organiser Maureen Hetherington, who led a unique project to heal the wounds left by decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, and by Francesca Polletta, professor of sociology at University of California, Irvine, who argues that making people like each other isn’t fundamental to bringing Americans together.


SAT 09:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382sjhz)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 09:06 BBC OS Conversations (w3ct19z4)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:06 today]


SAT 09:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzpgwsc)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 09:32 Two Minutes Past Nine (w3ct1cwy)
Two Minutes Past Nine

16/01/2021 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 (w3cszf5j)
Reporting on the invasion of the US Congress

The deadly riots at the US Congress in Washington last week saw the BBC World Service replace regular programmes with extended news coverage. Listeners give us their reactions to it and the Newsroom’s editor and presenter give us their perspectives

Presenter: Rajan Datar
Produced: Howard Shannon


SAT 10:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382sn83)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 10:06 Sportshour (w172x3c6ycr9g1t)
When Donald Trump bought a football team

We speak to former Buffalo Bills coach Phoebe Schechter ahead of the Divisional round of the NFL.

Teams, including the Bills, are just two victories away from the Super Bowl.

Plus in the week that President Donald Trump leaves office we head back to the early 1980s and his departure from professional sport. One of Trump’s ambitions was to own a sport franchise and he converted an NFL team. Unable to make this happen, he purchased the New Jersey Generals American football team of the newly formed USFL. Within two years the league had collapsed and many blame Trump for its demise.

Germany's Julia Gorges graced the world’s top ten, earned 10 million dollars in prize money and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon but she tells us why the pandemic made her realise she didn't need tennis in her life and decided to retire from the sport last year.


Plus all the reaction following the second day of the final men's Test match between India and Australia and the latest in Galle where England's men are taking on Sri Lanka in the first Test.

And we'll be live to Molineux and the Black Country derby as Wolves take on West Brom in the English Premier League.

Photo: Donald Trump (R) at a press conference for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL (Associated Press)


SAT 11:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382ss07)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 11:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bm357cjfc)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 11:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzph48m)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 11:32 Global Questions (w3ct1pxm)
Global Questions

America's place in the world

As President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office to become the 46th president of the United States what will be his priorities?
Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic tops his agenda for now, but he’s also promised to heal America’s bitter divisions and reach out to the rest of the world and repair fractured alliances.
“America is back,” says the new president - but what kind of America will it be?

Zeinab Badawi is joined by a panel of experts and question askers from around the world.


SAT 12:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382swrc)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 12:06 Music Life (w3csz6v2)
Dancing in the kitchen with Eris Drew, Octo Octa, Kate Pierson and Jayda G

DJ and producer Eris Drew talks to Octo Octa, Jayda G, and Kate Pierson of The B-52's about who they’ve remixed recently, why it's hard to do DJ mixes and not be able to look at the crowd, why 1950s rock'n'roll is important for dance music, and the role positivity plays in their music.

Eris is a transgender DJ and producer, originally from Chicago, who started raving in the early 90s, eventually mastering the art of vinyl DJing. She now tours the world playing back-to-back with her partner in life and music, Octo Octa, the ecstatic House producer and DJ based in New Hampshire. They run the T4T LUV NRG record label together.

Also on the show is Jayda G, a Grammy-nominated Canadian DJ and producer now based in London, who has made a huge impression on the underground dance scene over the last few years. She released her debut album Significant Changes on the Ninja Tune label in 2019. She’s also a scientist, having studied environmental toxicology.

And finally, we have musical royalty with Kate Pierson. A singer, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founder of one of the world's most famous rock'n'roll bands, the B-52’s. They defined rock through the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s with hits such as Love Shack, Roam, Private Idaho, and Rock Lobster.


SAT 13:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382t0hh)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 13:06 Newshour (w172x2z4kslh642)
Museveni declared winner of Uganda election

Uganda's election commission has declared the veteran leader Yoweri Museveni winner of the presidential election. But his main challenger Bobi Wine has called it the most fraudulent election in Ugandan history, vowing to present the evidence once the internet is restored.

Also on the programme: Germany's governing CDU party elects a new leader - another step closer to the end of the Angela Merkel era; and Signal is overwhelmed - why are so many people suddenly joining the messaging app?

(Photo: A voter casts a ballot in the presidential elections in Kampala, Uganda, January 14, 2021. Credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner)


SAT 14:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382t47m)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 14:06 Sportsworld (w172x3llxy5hnwy)
Live Sporting Action

Sportsworld brings you coverage and news from the global sports world. Our commentary game comes from the Premier League.

Photo: The official Premier League match ball in the back of the net. (Credit: Visionhaus)


SAT 18:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382tm74)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 18:06 The Newsroom (w172x7bm357dcn8)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 18:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzphzhj)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 18:32 Mayday (w3ct1cxg)
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 Sporting Witness (w3cszh63)
The woman who won the Paris-Dakar rally

In January 2001, the German driver, Jutta Kleinschmidt, became the first - and only - woman to win the Paris-Dakar rally, one of the biggest events in motorsport. She talks to Simon Watts. The programme was first broadcast in 2017.

PHOTO: Jutta Kleinschmidt celebrating her victory in 2001 (Getty Images)


SAT 19:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382tqz8)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 19:06 World Questions (w3cszt63)
The European Union

Europe Editor, Katya Adler, presents a debate focusing on the European Union post Brexit. Politicians from across the region and the political spectrum discuss tough questions put to them by the public on issues such as the EU's environmental record, migration, Brexit, bailouts, the handling of the pandemic and the future of the Union.

The panel:
Katja Leikert: Deputy Chair of the CDU Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag (in Berlin)
Dominik Tarcynski: Polish MEP – Law and Justice Party (in Warsaw)
Eva Kaili: Greek MEP –Social Democrats (in Athens)
Nathalie Tocci: Director of the Institute for International Affairs (in Rome)

Producers: Helen Towner and Charlie Taylor
Assistant Producer: Steven Williams
Studio Engineers: Nigel Dix, Chris Weightman and Ian Mitchell

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

(Photo: European Union flags, Credit: Getty Images)


SAT 20:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382tvqd)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 20:06 The Arts Hour (w3cszk41)
Actor Juliette Binoche

Actor Juliette Binoche on her new 1960s-based film How to be a Good Wife and the importance of truth in acting

Writer and director Julia Hart on re-inventing 1970s crime thrillers from a woman’s point of view, in her film I’m Your Woman

Actor Sacha Dhawan on his new role as confidante to Catherine the Great of Russia in TV Drama, The Great, as well as being the first Asian actor to play The Master in the BBC’s Doctor Who

Pete Docter, director of the animated films Up and Inside Out, on his new Disney PIXAR movie SOUL

Screen and stage actor, Adjoa Andoh, talks about her role as Lady Danby in the TV drama, Bridgerton, set in high society London in the early nineteenth century

And there’s music from Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, Stian Carstensen, that he describes as ‘Surf meets Turkish war music’

Joining Nikki Bedi in the programme are critic and podcaster Jake Cunningham and filmmaker Deepa Mehta, who also discusses her latest film Funny Boy, set in Sri Lanka amid the Sinhala-Tamil tensions of the 1970s and 1980s

(Photo: Juliette Binoche. Credit: Visual China Group via Getty Images)


SAT 21:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382tzgj)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 21:06 Newshour (w172x2z4kslj533)
Uganda election: Museveni rejects rigging claims

Uganda’s veteran leader Yoweri Museveni has declared himself the winner of the presidential election and called it the most fraud-free vote in the country’s history. But rival candidate Bobi Wine tells Newshour he believes the contest to be “the most fraudulent election in the history of Uganda”.

Also in the programme: As Germany’s governing party elects a new leader - seen by some as Chancellor Angela Merkel's likely successor - what does the future hold for Germany’s place in Europe and the world in the post-Merkel era?

And how a team of Nepalese climbers have made history by becoming the first to reach the summit of K2 in winter.

(Image: A supporter of incumbent Ugandan Presdent Yoveri Museveni and Uganda’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) celebrates in the streets of Kampala, Uganda, 16 January 2021. Credit: EPA/STR)


SAT 22:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382v36n)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 22:06 The Newsroom (w172x79snfmqk6h)
The world's Newsroom brings you global events as they happen


SAT 22:20 Sports News (w172x3fp8kkdv5b)
BBC Sport brings you all the latest stories and results from around the world.


SAT 22:30 BBC News Summary (w172x5q2jzpjgh1)
The latest two minute news summary from BBC World Service.


SAT 22:32 Heart and Soul (w3ct0w56)
The paddle-out

The sight of dozens of surfers circled together and floating beyond the breakwater will always mean one thing - that another surfer has died. A paddle-out is a way of honouring someone who’s had a love for the ocean. It’s a practice which has become entwined with surf’s cherished culture.

On the coast of Cornwall we meet a gathering of surfers who have come to pay homage to their friend Riccardo, who has recently died from cancer. We join them as they prepare to paddle out with flowers around their necks. They join hands in the water and share stories, memories and songs.

Big wave rider Clyde Aikau, brother to legendary surfer Eddie Aikau, describes the first ever paddle out in 1978, when his brother was lost at sea and drowned. After Eddie died, thousands of people gathered to paddle out from his favourite surf spot at Waimea Bay to celebrate him. It was a defining moment, and surfers around the world still paddle out to mark the anniversary of Eddie’s death each year.

In Cape Town, we also hear the voice of Mikhail Thompson, a surfer and mentor who has administered a number of paddle-out ceremonies during his lifetime. He describes the profoundly spiritual experience of surfing waves, and how losing someone from the close-knit surfer community leaves a void. And we hear him reflect on a special moment in the paddle-out ceremony, when the whole party erupts in hoots and cheers, splashing the water and throwing flowers into the air.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

Image: Riccardo (Credit: Salvador) and Eddie Aikau (Courtesy of the Eddie Aikau Foundation, Credit: David Bettencourt)


SAT 23:00 BBC News (w172x5p8382v6ys)
The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.


SAT 23:06 Business Weekly (w3ct0sps)
Silicon Valley turns on Donald Trump

It’s been a week in which the US president, Donald Trump, was suspended from his social media accounts and the social network Parler was taken offline. On Business Weekly, we explore the role these companies have in society and whether they facilitate free speech and cohesion, as they claim. Plus, the BBC’s Justin Rowlatt speaks to Tesla founder Elon Musk about money, electric cars and populating other planets. And it probably feels like a lifetime ago that any of us went to a cinema to watch a film, popcorn in hand. Will they ever return? Our reporter Vincent Dowd hears from the world's most northerly movie theatre about its struggles during the pandemic. And should you do what you love, or love what you do? We speak to a pianist who ditched his passion to become an accountant. Business Weekly is produced by Matthew Davies and presented by Vishala Sri-Pathma.

(Image: Getty Images)