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Morocco will co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, becoming only the second African country to stage the event. Why did the country succeed with its bid, at the sixth attempt?
What are Liberians prioritising ahead of next week’s general election? The vote will be the fourth since the end of two successive civil wars which ravaged the country.
Plus, we meet Bose Ogulu, mother and manager of afrobeats sensation Burna Boy. Known as Mama Burna, she tells us about her life and inspiration.
Morocco will co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, becoming only the second African country to stage the event. Why did the country succeed with its bid, at the sixth attempt?
What are Liberians prioritising ahead of next week’s general election? The vote will be the fourth since the end of two successive civil wars which ravaged the country.
Plus, we meet Bose Ogulu, mother and manager of afrobeats sensation Burna Boy. Known as Mama Burna, she tells us about her life and inspiration.
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weismann for their contributions to developing the fundamentals that led to life saving mRNA vaccines. Although funding and support were not always assured on their road to the Nobel, Katalin Karikó tells Roland she used these setbacks to drive her towards success.
On the other side of the coin, allegations of scientific misconduct over bold room temperature superconductivity claims. Earlier this year, eleven authors submitted a paper to Nature. Now, eight of them are calling for a retraction. Science journalist Dan Garisto covers the story.
Also this week, NASA Ames researcher Jacob Kegerreis details how Saturn got its rings. Hint: It’s a smashing story.
And, what is the most fear inducing sound in the world? Lions roaring? Gunshots? According to mammals in South Africa it is the human voice. Fear-ecologist Liana Zanette explains.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: Katalin Karikó. Credit: Mark Makela / Getty Images)
A report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture this week said, torture in Egypt has been used as a political tool to curtail dissent and that it was so widespread it amounted to crimes against humanity. We hear a testimony from an Egyptian female in exile in the United States, who alleges she was tortured in prison, under the current regime. The Egyptian government denies all allegations of torture in facilities, including prisons. Also quelea birds are a pest across many countries on the continent. Recently, Tanzania culled over a million of them but the chemical used to kill them in Africa, is either banned or restricted in other countries. I speak to my colleague Dorcas Wangira who has covered this story extensively in Kenya. And we meet Rwanda's first female Barista.
How would it feel wake up years later? After the US narrowly avoided a government shutdown, we look at how complicated systems - such as living things - can just press pause.
Could humans ever hibernate like bears and squirrels? Or even like simpler animals that can be revived after 46,000 years.
Also, which way does antimatter fall under gravity? And how might IVF save a functionally extinct species of rhino?
Presenter: Caroline Steel, with Chhavi Sachdev and Philistiah Mwatee. Producer: Alex Mansfield, with Margaret Sessa-Hawkins, Ben Motley and Sophie Ormiston
The main opposition leader in Seychelles, Patrick Herminie, is one of eight people charged with witchcraft, following the exhumation of two bodies. They deny the charges, with Mr Herminie calling the prosecution a "political show" intended to taint his image.
Meanwhile, we examine the arrest of Tunisian opposition politician Abir Moussi, and look at why another opposition leader from the country, Rached Ghannouchi, is on hunger strike.
And why the price tag for conserving the king of beasts, the African lion, could be a staggering $3 billion per year.
Focus on Africa takes you inside Sierra Leone's overcrowded prisons and looks closely at the country's justice system. Our reporter Umaru Fofana looks into a much needed review on how prisoners are treated.
Also the Nobel peace prize-winning gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, who is renowned for helping victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, announces his plans to run for president in December. What's the reaction in the DRC and can Denis Mukwege make a difference?
And we talk to African playwrights, Tonderai Munyevu and Yael Farber who join over 60 of the world's leading playwrights for an online charity auction taking place at Christie's in London. The event, "Out of the Margins", is organised by the Good Chance theatre and will include writers; Wole Soyinka, Inua Ellams, Tom Stoppard, Tina Fey, and Tanika Gupta.
How did Oprah become the richest African American of the 20th Century? BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng find out, and then they judge her.
In the podcast that uncovers how the world's 2,668 billionaires made their money and asks if they are good or bad for the planet, Simon and Zing follow Oprah Winfrey's rise from a poor young girl dressed in potato sacks, to the queen of all media. And find out what surprising item she bought with her first million.
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One year on from the most recent coup in Burkina Faso, we look at the current state of play regarding security, the economy and the ruling junta.
We examine the political tensions in Mozambique ahead of the country’s local elections next week.
Plus, we meet Kenyan stargazer Susan Murabana, who is bringing astronomy to the people.
American writer Michael Chabon talks about his 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
From Jewish mysticism to Houdini to the Golden Age of Comic Books and WWII, Chabon’s immersive novel deals with escape and transformation through the lives of two Jewish boys in New York. Josef Kavalier makes an impossible escape from Prague in 1939, leaving his whole family behind but convinced he’s going to find a way to get them out too. He arrives in New York to stay with his cousin Sammy Klayman, and together the boys cook up a superhero to rival Superman – both banking on their comic book creation, The Escapist, to transform their lives and those around them, which in part he does. Their first cover depicts The Escapist punching Hitler in the face, and they wage war on him in their pages, but the personal impact of WWII is painfully inevitable.
The novel touches on the personal scars left by vast political upheaval, and the damaging constraints of being unable to love freely and live a true and authentic life. Chabon’s prose is perfectly crafted – sometimes lyrical, sometimes intensely witty, and occasionally painfully heartbreaking.
(Picture: Michael Chabon. Photo credit: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images.)