it's bbc hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. it's exactly a year since a historic power—sharing agreement was signed between the civilians and military in sudan after the fall of president bashir. my guest in this exclusive interview is the civilian prime minister, abdalla hamdok. the world celebrated with the sudanese people after the successful revolution, but has that euphoria now given way to harsh realities and unfulfilled expectations? prime minister abdalla hamdok in khartoum, welcome to hardtalk. the euphoria at the removal of president omar al—bashir, how far is that really now a long—distant memory? thank you very much, zeinab, for having me on hardtalk. today marks the first anniversary of the signing of the constitutional document that paved the way for the establishment and the formation of the transitional government. and i think we have all the reason and the cause to celebrate the victory of the great sudanese revolution. it came about because of the judicious and hard work of the young people, women, and through

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.se government goes to extraordinary lengths to control its own population. perhaps the most extreme example, xinjiang, where muslim uighur people have faced systematic repression. but the principal of authoritarian control runs much deeper. my guest today is wu'er kaixi, a political dissident in exile, part of the 1989 tiananmen generation. he is himself a uighur. has beijing effectively snuffed out the spirit of tiananmen? wu'er kaixi in taiwan, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much. thank you for having me back. it is a pleasure to have you on the show. i think we must begin with what is happening in xinjiang, particularly to the uighur muslim communities in xinjiang. there is a rising level of international condemnation at what the chinese government is doing. as you watch this situation very closely, do you see any sign china is modifying its policies? small signs here and there, but not in the general picture. for instance, there is one country, turkey, being a muslim country a

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the unimaginable horror of the beirut blast, the people of lebanon are now living with a zombie government, dead in all but name but still in place. my guest today is the minister of economy and trade, raoul nehme. now he has resigned but he's still in office until new ministers take over. the outgoing prime minister says the catastrophic situation is the result of endemic corruption. so is lebanon a country now beyond rescue? minister raoul nehme in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, thank you. your country is going through an unparalleled crisis, and i have to ask you a very simple question, does lebanon have a government today or not? lebanon has a caretaker government, which means that the council of ministers cannot meet and take any decisions. there are very few exceptions, basically if there is an emergency, an earthquake and we need to make some decisions, then yes we can do it. each minister on his own can take only basic decisions, administrative decisions, and not spen

now on bbc news, hardtalk welcome to hardtalk, our ability to inform, communicate and persuade has never public debate seems more toxic, more divisive than ever before. what is happening. our intolerance and extremism winning out over a reasoned debate. my guest today is the american neuroscientist, philosopher and podcast her, sam harris. he goes into intellectual territory where few others dare tread on race and religion and generates lots of heat, but what about light? sam harris in california, welcome to hardtalk. happy to be here. you have an extra nearly popular podcast in which you talk with leading intellectuals across the world, but you also express your own opinions in books that you have written, which is more meaningful to you? the conversation, or expression endure strong opinions? a good question. i think i split the difference there because, as you know, i do not do much in the way of standard and interviews. i try to have a conversation. i probably take about 40% of the bandwidth in any interview, i get to hear myself talk to my hearts content and perhaps the exasperation

now on bbc news, hardtalk. stephen sackur talks to vanessa neumann — venezuela's opposition envoy to the uk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. 18 months ago, venezuela seemed to be on the brink of political upheaval. the leader of the national assembly declared himself president and he won the backing of more than 50 countries. but today, the socialist government is still in power — president nicolas maduro overseeing a deep economic and health care crisis. my guest today is vanessa neumann, the london envoy of the would—be president juan guaido. has the opposition missed its main chance? vanessa neumann in new york city, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for having me. it's a pleasure to be back with you, stephen. let's reflect on the big declaration made byjuan guaido some 18 months ago, when he declared himself president of venezuela. he said that he was going to deliverfreedom and democracy and a better life to the people of venezuela. are you somewhat embarrassed when you think back to those

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen psycho. the internet and there the mobile phone, our ability to inform, communicate and persuade has never been greater. yet, public debate seems more toxic, more divisive than ever before. so what is happening? are intolerance and extremism winning out over reasoned debate? my guest today is the american neuroscientist, philosopher and pod caster, sam harris. he goes into intellectual territory where few others dare tread, on race and religion. he generates lots of heat. what about light? sam harris in california, welcome to hardtalk. happy to be here. you have an extraordinarily popular podcast in which you talk with leading intellectuals across the world but you also express your own trenchant opinions in a host of orcs you have written. which is more meaningful to you? the conversation or expressing your strong opinion? good question. i think strong opinion? good question. ithinki strong opinion? good question. i think i split the difference there because as you know i do not do much in t

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. all of the talk earlier this year was of a political earthquake. the radical nationalist party sinn fein won the most votes in ireland's general election. they promised to smash the status quo. well, so much for that. in fact, ireland's two old established parties formed a grand coalition, and they are guiding the country through the covid—i9 pandemic and brexit. my guest today is mary lou mcdonald, the leader of sinn fein. has her party missed its moment? mary lou mcdonald in dublin, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. after the february election, when you and your party did remarkably well — you won the most first preference votes in ireland's general election — you talked about a revolution at the ballot box. well, five months on, what's happened to that revolution? well, five months on, we are into really uncharted and unprecedented times, no more than yourselves, with a global pandemic, with the public health emergency here on our island, and, of course, that has caused very consider

now on bbc news, hardtalk.

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. covid—19 pandemic has inflicted huge economic damage, but it has offered the natural world a little bit of respite — room to breathe. but what will come next? will it be a return to the old ways of resource exploitation and consumption? my guest today is one of the uk's best known naturalists and environmental campaigners, chris packham. are we humans capable of fundamentally changing our priorities? chris, thanks so much for inviting me to your home, but also this woodland, which i know means so much to you. yes, well, this is my ecological home, there's no question of that. i love this patch of woodland. i feel more connected to this place than anywhere else on earth. it's an environment that i grew up in, this oak hazel, a bit of ash, a bit of yew woodland. and i'm comfortable here with all the colours, the sounds, the smells. it's a wonderful place to be able to spend my time. and i've spent more of it here this spring than ever before. i was going to say, the coronavirus pandemic

now on bbc news, hardtalk.

now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. amid all the talk of spikes and second waves, one thing is clear. those people predicting an early end to the covid—19 pandemic are indulging in wishful thinking. so, is there any way of respecting the science and mitigating the worst impacts on economic and social life? my guest today is sirjeremy farrar, director of the wellcome trust and a key scientific adviser to the uk government. just how dangerous is the moment we're in now? sirjeremy farrar, welcome to hardtalk. pleasure. governments around the world have had pretty much six months now to figure out how to get control of covid—19. how do you think they're doing? i think we face enormous challenges. we've got a virus which came across from animals into humans maybe sometime in 2019, maybe before that. to which none of us have any immunity, we have no treatments, no vaccines, no diagnostic when it happened, and it's very, very transmissible. it goes from me to you very easily and so spreads around the world in, what, 100 days a

now on bbc news it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.ne of the world's most sensitive conflict zones is heating up again. last month, armenian and azerbaijani forces clashed, and at least 17 people were killed. it is the latest twist in a long—running dispute over nagorno—karabakh. well, my guest today is armenia's prime minister, nikol pashinyan. is armenia preoccupied with fighting old battles? prime minister nikol pashinyan in yerevan. welcome to hardtalk. thank you. hi. it's more than two years now since you swept into power with very high hopes for the so—called velvet revolution. when i look at armenia today, it seems many armenians feel that those hopes have been dashed. what has gone wrong? i wouldn't agree with your impression, because all armenians — all citizens of armenia — they are seeing and they are living in a democratic country, and with... in 2019, we had the biggest economic growth in europe, and we had big economic success. and our country made tremendous progress in all international ratings in terms of democracy, fr

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.is people have turned against him in the streets, but belarus' dictator, alexander lu kashenko, is still in power. his security forces are still following his orders. so where do the anti— lukashenko activists go from here? my guest is natalia kaliada, one of the founders of the belarus free theatre, an artist dissident in exile. will bela rus‘ summer rebellion be blown away with the autumn leaves? natalia kaliada, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me here. we have seen extraordinary scenes for more than two weeks now in belarus. masses of people protesters on the streets. but president lukashenko, he hasn't blinked, he hasn't buckled. are you surprised? 0h, he blinked. and i am sure you saw a number of days ago when he was in his helicopter, fully equipped with a rifle, and he presented himself as a complete joke to the world. so we need to understand he is in that mental condition, because he has messiah psychopathic, and he speaks, and now we need to understand is the world

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.is people have turned against him in the streets, but belarus‘s dictator alexander lu kashenko his security forces are still following his orders. so, where do the anti—lu kashenko activists go from here? well, my guest is natalia kaliada, one of the founders of the belarus free theatre, an artist dissident in exile. will bela rus‘s summer rebellion be blown away with the autumn leaves? welcome to hardtalk. masses of people, protesters on the streets, but president lukashenko has streets, but president lu kashenko has not streets, but president lukashenko has not blinked or buckled. are you surprised? i'm sure you saw a number of weeks ago, his helicopterfully equipped with a rifle. he presented himself as a complete joke to the world. we need to understand he is and that mental condition, because he has mosi psychopath e. we need to understand what to do with him next, because people are standing up against him. when you say he made himself a com plete you say he made himself a comple

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk, where zeinab badawi speaks to former singaporean diplomat kishore mahbubaniwho believes that covid—19 has fundamentally weakened the west. come to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. increasing tensions between united and china have plunged relations to their lowest level in decades. this comes at a time when the world is facing its worst recession in living memory. could this reshape the global order? my guest is one of asia's most influential thinkers, kishore mahbubani, a former singaporean diplomat. he believes that covid—i9 has weakened the west and made china boulder. is he right that this is now asia's century? kishore mahbubani, in singapore, welcome to hardtalk. why do you believe that covid—i9 will mark a shift in power to a sharp? covid-19 will only escalate the shift of power it was already happening beforehand, so we saw since the yeari until the 1800, beforehand, so we saw since the year i until the 1800, china year 1 until the 1800, china and india were always the largest economies and they are coming back but clearly covid—19 is accelerating it b

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.lobal covid—19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the relationship between scientists and policy makers. leaders across the world have responded to the science with everything from respect to scepticism, foremost amongst the sceptics presidentjair bolsonaro of brazil, one of the countries hit hardest by the virus. my guest, brazilian microbiologist natalia pasternak, has launched a crusade against her president in the name of science. is she winning the argument? natalia pasternak in sao paulo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen, for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the programme. let's start with the claim from your president, jair bolsonaro, that the worst of the coronavirus epidemic in brazil is now over. would you agree? of course not. we're still in the middle of it... ..if we're lucky. and the president seems to be completely disconnected from reality, really. that's the way he's been behaving from the start. so, he has no real measure of the dangers and the gravity of

now on bbc news — it's hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi.s is a tough business. it puts you in the limelight, but sometimes for the wrong reasons. my guest is katie hill. she was seen as a rising star for the us democrats, but she resigned last year as a congresswoman, barely 12 months in office. she claims she was the victim of sexual double standards after she admitted an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staff member and after nude photos of her were published in the media. what does her case tell us about american politics in the metoo era? katie hill in washington, welcome to hardtalk. you made headlines in november 2018 when you flipped a seat in california from the republicans to the democrats. young woman, early 30s, rising star and all the rest of it. a year later, you resign. what went wrong? well, the basics of what went wrong is that i had a relationship preceding my swearing in as a congressional member. and after i left my husband, which was about in the middle of my time in congress, those photos... there were photos

now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur.lobal covid—19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the relationship between scientists and policy makers. leaders across the world have responded to the science with everything from respect to scepticism, foremost amongst the sceptics presidentjair bolsonaro of brazil, one of the countries hit hardest by the virus. my guest, brazilian microbiologist natalia pasternak, has launched a crusade against her president in the name of science. is she winning the argument? natalia pasternak in sao paulo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen, for having me. it's a pleasure to have you on the programme. let's start with the claim from your president, jair bolsonaro, that the worst of the coronavirus epidemic in brazil is now over. would you agree? of course not. we're still in the middle of it... ..if we're lucky. and the president seems to be completely disconnected from reality, really. that's the way he's been behaving from the start. so, he has no real measure of the dangers and the gravity of

now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. 7 7 ?to hardtalk. 7 7 7i'm stephen sackur. 7 7 7the chinese government goes 7 7 7to extraordinary lengths 7 7 7to control its own population. 7 7 7 perhaps the most extreme 777example, xinjiang, where muslim uighur people have faced 7 7 7systematic repression. 7 7 but the principal of authoritarian 7 7 7control runs much deeper. 7 7 7my guest today is wu'er kaixi, 7 7 7a political dissident in exile, 777part of the 1989 7 7 7tiananmen generation. 777he is himself a uighur. 7 7 7 has beijing effectively snuffed 7 7 7out the spirit of tiananmen7 77wu'er kaixi in taiwan, 7 7 7welcome to hardtalk. 7thank you very much. 7 7 7thank you for having me back. 7 7 7it is a pleasure to 7 7 7have you on the show. 777i think we must begin 7 7 7with what is happening in xinjiang, particularly 777to the uighur muslim 777communities in xinjiang. 7 7 7there is a rising level 7 7 7of international condemnation7 7 7 7at what the chinese 7 7 7government is doing. 7 7 7as you watch this 7 7 7situation very close

now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zainab badawi. increasing tensions between the united states and china have plunged relations to their lowest level in decades. this comes at a time when the world is facing its worst recession in living memory. could this reshape the global order? well, my guest is one of asia's most influential thinkers. kishore mahbubani, a former singaporean diplomat. he believes that covid—19 has weakened the west and made china bolder. is he right that this is now asia's century? kishore mahbubani in singapore, welcome to hardtalk. why do you believe that covid—19 will mark a shift in power to asia? covid—19 is only going to accelerate the shift of power to asia, which is already happening beforehand. and as i always say, from the year one to the year 1800 — for 1,800 of the last 2,000 years — china and india were always the two largest economies. they're coming back. but clearly covid—19 is accelerating it, because what is a big shock to the world is that the most competent countries in dealing with covid—19

rest of the government, has blamed previous ministers and port officials in an interview with bbc hardtalks really more than just corruption. it's criminal. it's a criminal act. all the managers of the ports are now under house arrest, as well as the ministers, we re arrest, as well as the ministers, were aware of it and they didn't do anything about it. and this is really a criminal thing. reuters has reported that president 0w—n and prime minister hassan diab were warned injuly about the warehoused ammonium nitrate. and there's this from the beirut bureau chief for the washington post on twitter: this is the article she's referring to in this tweet. it quotes the head of search and rescue for the lebanese fire crew at the port, who says: the article goes on to say that vapour from paint thinners can ignite in the air and cause fires in unventilated, hot conditions. we know several hospitals were badly hit by the explosion — and the world health organisation now says more than half of beirut hospitals are ‘non—functional‘. this is vision showing the clean up inside one hospital. three maj

now on bbc news hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk.ovid—19 pandemic has inflicted huge economic damage, but it has offered the natural world a little bit of respite, room to breathe. but what will come next. will it be a return to the old ways of exploitation resource and consumption. my guest today is one of the best—known naturalists and environmental campaigners, chris packham. are we humans capable of fundamentally changing our priorities? chris, thank you so much for inviting me to your home but also this woodland which i know mean so also this woodland which i know mean so much to also this woodland which i know mean so much to use. also this woodland which i know mean so much to use. yes, well, this is my ecological home. no question of that. i love this patch of woodland. i feel more connected to this place than anywhere else on earth. it is anywhere else on earth. it is an environment i grew up in, this old hazel woodland and i am comfortable here with all the colours, the sounds, the smells. it is a wonderful place. it's been