B.b.c. World Service it's 6 hours g.m.t. Welcome to Weekend with Julia market. Coming up the u.s. Agro chemical firm Monsanto is ordered to pay nearly $290000000.00 in damages to a man who said it's weed killer made him terminally ill Also as President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares to leave office later this year we'll have an assessment of his time in power unfortunately I think that for most people probably life is growing a little bit harder than 15 enough it and here with me for the whole program by 2 guests Ayesha Siddiqa a Pakistani military scientist and scholar of London University School of Oriental and African Studies and Iona Craig independent journalist specializing in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula that's all here on this edition of we can. Tell the world news Hello this is the b.b.c. News if you know MacDonald the American species can see now says about to begin an historic mission to the Sun The Parker solar prove will fly closer than any other species craft before Jonathan emotional ports it's a hellish prospect the outer atmosphere of the sun is where conditions get super heated where energetic gases reach millions of degrees it's into this environment in the coming weeks that parka will plunge hiding its instruments behind the thick shield the prize is to understand the physics that drives the sun's great outbursts these emissions of particles of magnetic fields comply havoc with technologies on earth disrupting communications and satellites and even power grids parkas data should improve the forecasting of these solar storms. U.s. Agro chemical giant Monsanto says it will fight to defend its best selling weed killer after a court ordered it to be hundreds of millions of dollars in damages one son 2 said it will appeal against the decision of a jury in California that it should be nearly $290000000.00 to a school grounds when teams kook reports the Wayne Johnson applied Monsanto's round up and Ranger pro herbicides up to 30 times a year now 46 years old and dying of non hodgkins lymphoma he held his head in his hands after the judge related the jury's verdict life or state did present a substantial danger Monsanto had to be negligent in failing to warn users and had acted with malice sort of pression Mr Johnson said he hoped the verdict would bolster thousands of similar cases his lawyer said the company had acted with reckless disregard for human life but Monsanto which is owned by the German conglomerate buyer says it will appeal insisting its products are vital effective and safe tools for farmers worldwide. Turkey's banks are due to hold an emergency meeting with regulators following the latest plunge in the value of the local currency at one point on Friday the lira was down by 18 percent after President Trump unknowns that he didn't crease tariffs on imports of steel and dollar minium from Turkey selling gear it considers hope Turkey could resolve its dispute with the United States these are the options that Turkey has at the moment an interest rate hike which President our Don sees as mother of all evils is not very likely to happen he might seek help from the i.m.f. But that is not likely either as it would have strings attached there's a feeling that the quickest and most efficient step could be to ease the tensions with Washington for that to happen Washington expects an American pastor currently under house arrest in Turkey to be released and sent home. A man has appeared in court in Southern California charges starting a huge wildfire on Monday that is still burning out of control prosecutors allege that Forrest Clark had a grudge against a neighbor world news from the b.b.c. . There's been a security alert at Sea-Tac International Airport in the u.s. City of Seattle after a mechanic stole a plane into cough without permission there were no passengers or crew onboard police described the man a suicidal this report from ground ferret flights from Seattle airport were grounded as the author tried to persuade the man to land the plane safely air traffic controllers were trying to coax him down but it's unclear how experienced he was as a pilot video footage shows the twin engine turboprop flying low over coastal areas pursued by 2 fighter planes after performing what appeared to be a stunt the plane crashed into an island south of Seattle sparking a fire in woodland no one on the ground was hurt Police emphasize that the incident was not terrorist related. Rumania as president close your Highness has condemned what he called the disproportionate use of force by riot police against anti-government protesters in Bucharest Mr Your Highness has often clash for the governing Social Democrats who have tried to decriminalize corruption offenses about a 1000 officers were deployed during a massive rally in the capital on Friday Japanese officials have confirmed that all 9 people aboard a rescue helicopter that crashed on Friday are dead the helicopter came down in a forest in a mountainous area northwest of Tookie Oh it was on a flight to inspect new climbing routes it's not clear what caused the crash. North and South Korea or juju Priya rare football match in saw was part of a French to improve relations between the 2 countries the game which has been organized by trade unions will be played at the city's World Cup stadium a crowd of 30000 spectators many of them from the north are expected to attend the head of the North Korean delegation said the match would reaffirm the spirit of the meeting between the 2 leaders b.b.c. News. It's 6 minutes past 6 g.m.t. Welcome to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service with me Julianne Moore a coming up a little later are we watching too much football as the English Premier League season begins we'll have a political view of the role football plays in society football in particular and sport in general continue to relentlessly extend their remit a universe religion with a paradise victory to help defeat and splendid gods athletes it is today's opium of the masses we will debate that in this half hour I have to guess with me throughout the program. Is here Party study military scientist political commentator and scholar at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies and Iona Craig independent journalist specializing in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula We'll hear more from them in a moment 1st the u.s. Agro chemical giant Monsanto has been ordered to pay nearly $290000000.00 in damages to a man who says its weed killer made him terminally ill the award was decided by a jury in California the firm insists its products which contain the widely used herbicide cly for seat are safe and it says it will appeal correspondent James Cook is in Los Angeles what led to this hearing was the plight of a man called the Wayne Johnson who worked as a groundskeeper for schools in a county in California and in that role applying these particular Montas Monsanto herbicides round up another one called Ranger Pro up to 30 times a year he's now 46 year old and he's ill he's dying in fact of non hodgkins lymphoma it's possible according to his legal team that and quoting his doctors that he only has months to live and so he alleged that the reason he was ill was because he'd use these Harborside he said use them so much sometimes they sprayed in his face at one point. Even Burson drenched his whole body in the herbicide and the jury has found in his favor Monsanto though is not accepting this decision at this stage that's right I mean the jury said Monsanto had been negligent it had failed to warn users there was evidence it had acted with malice sort of pressure and the company as you make speck has rejected all of that it says it will appeal against this verdict it says that have been a number of scientific studies and the government agencies have concluded that its products do not cause cancer says it's sympathetic for the plaintiff Mr Johnson but it says that its products have had a 40 year history of safe use and they continue to be a vital effective and safe tool for farmers and others what of the possibility of other claims in this area well it's highly likely and indeed a number already progressing there are thousands of claims beginning to work their way through the court system in the United States but this doesn't just affect the u.s. There's been a big debate in many countries and many jurisdictions around the world about the safety or otherwise of this particular chemical that's used in these products life or seat at the science to be honest is not completely certain the World Health Organization a few years ago decided to classified life as safe as probably carcinogenic but even after that in Washington and in Brussels regulators really approved its usage so there's clearly a continuing debate about whether it's safe or not there's likely to be further research and that's likely to be further argument and one of the size of the damages paid out in this case what does that say what sort of message are they seeking to send out do you think. So yes the jury in the court in San Francisco awarded in total $289000000.00 u.s. Dollars in compensation $250000000.00 of thought was punitive punitive damages against Monsanto and I suppose that is a signal that they the jury wanted to send to the company that it was not at all impressed with its behavior and indeed the jury was very critical of biotech suggesting the firm had acted with malice or oppression the plaintiffs plaintiff's lawyers had actually argued for higher damages been on the ice is a pretty significant award and what this also fuels again is a debate about Monsanto's alleged behavior critics accuse it of trying to influence regulators of criticizing scientists who disagree with it of threatening legal action against anyone who raises concerns about the possible health effects all of which of course Monsanto says it doesn't do it says it's acted properly James Cook reporting from Los Angeles now having Ayesha Siddiqa and Iona Craig here gives us a chance to talk a little bit about Pakistan and Yemen respectively Iona to Yemen 1st this brutal war goes on and on but it international headlines this week because of this particular attack on the bus in which so many children died What's your assessment of that and the impact that has on the wider picture. Well unfortunately these kind of instance of massive alien casualties have become quite common in the air campaign the Saudis launched in in March 2015 although this is certainly the worst one that's been on children in particular the majority of those who were killed were under the age of 15 numbers in the forty's of children killed and you know very distressing pictures coming out of Yemen as a result of that I think it's obviously these these kind of massive illing carroty events do sort of bring Yemen back onto the agenda a little bit for most people. I think you know consequences wise the Saudis have said that they are going to launch their own investigation they've investigated some 75 strikes out of what is you know around 18000 air raids in the whole of the war now which is a fairly small number and they've never taken any serious responsibility for any violations of international humanitarian law in that and that's despite the fact that the u.k. Ministry of defense in their own tracker database that they have they've catalogued over 350 potential caters of international humanitarian law violations and violations of the laws of war during the conflict running up to July but yeah I think now everybody is calling for an Independent of any nation this kind of self investigation how likely is that do you think. I think there's more chance of happening now than it was 12 months ago the u.n. Created a new sort of panel of their own team to carry out investigations in Yemen and as long as they're given access then that does give some chance of a of a more fully fully independent investigation if they are able to get to the location you mention that the u.n. Because of course next month in Geneva the UN's new Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths will attempt to resolve the conflict through negotiation which will play you a little burst of what he said in an interview with least who said he described his worst fear for the come. 3 and the region if those talks fail collapse. And massive massive humanitarian suffering in Yemen and the effect of that on the region possible disruption of trade routes a possible increase in terrorist activities in Yemen for that reason we need to act now I remember trying to do something about Syria some years ago my worry about Yemen is that if we left it and it wasn't resolved that we could look at Syria plus . It's as bleak as that you think yes I mean a few he mentions about the risk of state collapse in Yemen and effectively that in Yemen has fractured so much and you've got at least 4 different systems of governance now that are operating effectively almost independently of each other so . It's no longer one state a single state in practical terms anyway. And yes the humanitarian consequences are absolutely dire and I think we're well aware of that now being the poorest country in the Middle East with an issue with malnutrition even before the conflict started the impact on the civilian population is pretty much a measurable we have no real idea of how many people have died in Yemen as a consequence of sort of starvation and severe acute malnutrition as well as as dying from preventable diseases because of the collapse of the health care system and that's really the area where many many more people are dying than they are from the from the violence in the conflict but yeah it's going to be a massive challenge Martin growth as they haven't been able to get even the parties to the conflict together in in one location for 2 years even to get them in the same room never mind beat out an actual get them to sign any kind of a deal would be an achievement in itself and without wanting to do be too pessimistic I think even to get together to to speak to each other in the same room would be an achievement we haven't seen in 2 years next Friday Imran Khan is going to be sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan how do you see he's prospect. Well at least we hope that he takes over as prime minister it's still. You know still juggling with numbers he got less than a simple majority and if he darts become the prime minister he's going to be definitely a very controversial prime minister the opposition is very strong he's populist and very headstrong as well. People are very uncertain about about his team a couple of names that he has selected. They've had a reputation off some of corruption some of some other questionable behavior everybody is a bit nervous and yet they look forward to what he brings with him what of his relationship with the military. Well the military is the master in Pakistan so be it the AFIC aurally put dobe in his ear but on the bargain of our free and now Iran Hon they have to take some of what they dictate but it's not to say that things will be just very honest going on a straight bar for him there are issues on which she will disagree I mean for example recently both Iran and Saudi Arabia seem to be courting the prime minister in in in waiting and so the signal is you are the support me or you support the other side. And the question is What does he want to do and by the way recently has said that Pakistan should not engage in the war in Yemen now that's a very interesting signal for not just the Saudi Arabia but also for the Pakistani military which has about 7000 personnel in Saudi Arabia but of whom are assisting operationally in the war in Yemen what clear policy clues has he given away this point and I use the word clues deliberately because there isn't a great deal of clarity there. No not really mean except for corruption and the back apparently the British high commissioner went to see him Thomas Drew and immediately said you know peak specs the u.k. To help him bring the looted money back I mean forget about finding friends it evidence linking you know the money that is hair in the u.k. Or other parts of the world with loot and plunder in Pakistan or corruption it's a difficult journey and he thought things of it more and more simply and you know there are there are law. Of challenges I think the only clarity one has is all right he's going to spend some time and money and efforts on education health proven to police but you know there are there is still up in the air at the moment does he sporting star quality count for anything point he was very thorough teria I mean 992 in the story which is not told is that he actually put his foot down and got the team together which is fantastic and he might as well do it now but the problem is that. That makes a very difficult and problematic decision making I mean right now the result party structure. You know whatever the decisions are being made everybody says from the party we're waiting for Iran to you know say something as if nothing will move on through he said. We will no doubt follow events in Pakistan very closely in the coming weeks and months you're listening to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service. A reminder of our main news Nassor is preparing to launch a satellite designed to get closer to the sun than any other spacecraft in history and we'll hopefully bring you more on that in the next hour when that launch is due to take place in the meantime let's talk sport Andrew Linzey there are 6 Premier League games to look forward to in England today entry exit starting with a lunchtime kick off between Newcastle and Tottenham and it's the 1st Saturday of the new season the transfer window having closed the Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez says it's now time to concentrate on the matter in hand there's a time to do research and focus on football and for us for me this puzzle of the team my target now is to be sure the players they are focused on the games sure everything that has happened offside the breach we have to forget quickly and we should finish queues when we are ready to perform during the games the opening fixture in the English Premier League gilded a win for Manchester United they be less the city to won the World Cup when a Paul Pogba captain the whole son scored an early penalty. Happily for England the forecast is more favorable for batting today but India has seen bowlers from still present problems in ns bats when failed in similar conditions against Pakistan earlier in the summer resulting in defeat and we'll see if anything was learned from that experience Anderson of Wouk's led the way with the ball bowling a beautiful full length India's lack of technique Meanwhile given little chance of surviving flicks towards midwicket accounted for merely and Kohli Kartik was bowled by current through the gate while a case of the jitters resulted in the run out of Pajaro almost by the length of the pitch they're going to need to be patient and rein in the big drives to establish the lead should win the match despite the time lost to rain I was a cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew on England's Test with India and looks better conditions today Jonathan was saying yesterday England bowled out the Taurus a 107 James Anderson making the most of those wet conditions 5 wickets for 20 runs now electrical storms in St Louis Missouri meanwhile have hit round 2 of the Us p.g.a. Gary woodlands the clubhouse leader but as our gulf correspondents here in Carter explains the weather has affected the share Jule heavy thunderstorms brought an early end to proceedings halting Tiger Woods progress after picking up 3 birdies in his 1st 7 holes simle Taney Asli Rory McILROY was becoming level par he faces a battle to make the cut of those out on the course Ricky Fowler was closest to Gary woodlands lead at 7 under par through 10 holes play will resume at 7 am local time with a 3rd round to be played in 3 balls off to tease to put the championship back on shed your Finally for the 2nd time in as many years Steph Curry played as an amateur in the l.m.a. Golf Classic the m.b.i.a. The n.b.a. Star shot a 16 over par 86 in the 2nd round to finish last Andrew thank you that was Andrew Linzey with the sport as we were hearing there from Andrew football's English Premier League season has started less than 4 weeks after the end of the World Cup in Russia now die hard for board. As would say you can't have too much of a good thing but is that true or are we really getting too much football Stuart Jeffries is a feature writer for The Guardian newspaper here in the u.k. And a lifelong fan in this essay for weekend he offers a political view of the role football plays in society the return of the Premier League suggests we have become so hooked on football that we can't do without it for more than a few minutes can it really be starting less than a month after the French teenage prodigy Killian pay broke Croatian Hearts won the World Cup and drove the Shawn sillies a faithful interacts to sea and on celery loosing Yes it can but pretend you care I say we for a reason this is not one of those essays in which someone disses the holy polloi from a limpy and heights rather it's what the Frankfurt School of neo Marxist philosophers called imminent critique specifically one perform from within the spirit crushing intelligence depleting nightmare that is the ugly game for I am a football fan too like millions of England supporters I stood with my back to the telly clenching my fists during the Columbia penalty shoot out later I celebrated victory over Sweden in patriotic delirium by chucking out all the I care Alan Keyes I could find I fell for the lie that 52 years of hurt was coming to a glorious end as England dreamed a few weeks later I'm back dreaming stupidly this time about Aston Villa the football team I've supported since the 1970 s. No matter that I'm yet again deluding myself. The sociologist Max vapor wrote of the iron cage of capitalism that subdued humans during working hours later the Frankfurt School argued capitalism got more sophisticated deploying the culture industry Hollywood popular music spectator sports fashion to control our leisure time co-opting us unconsciously to facilitate the smooth running of a system that oppressed us those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it Marx argued football fans especially he could have added our passion is both to all of the ruling class and safety valve for dupes who would better put their energies elsewhere Leon Trotsky saw this clearly the revolution will inevitably awaken in a British working class the deepest passions which have been diverted along artificial channels with the aid of football you'll notice that this hasn't happened so football in particular and sport in general continue to relentlessly extend their remit a universal religion with a paradise victory to help defeat and splendid gods athletes it is today's opium of the masses I'll come on you might counter surely we should take heart from the marvelous example of Gareth Southgate's multi-racial England team arguably not those players encourages to think that Britain is socially mobile rather than the truth that it is sclerotic keeping the masses in their places especially if you're a black or mixed race kid. Sport then is a nightmare from which we dare not awake for if we did we would see it as the emblem of an intolerable world and burn our season ticket Stuart Jeffries writing for The Guardian saying it out loud for us what do you think I own I wouldn't put myself down as a die hard football fan although I did follow some of the World Cup over the summer but having been involved in the in the sporting world for my horse racing background 15 years I kind of appreciate the sentiment of being buried in there in a very little insular world where demi gods are created and all the rest of the world get shut down and doesn't appear to matter so much in only want to sort of retrieve yourself from that space you realize that there are there is a big wide world out there it can all seem rather over important to you at the time but yeah I think it was all well said that football is war without guns you know when you put it in a national level and perhaps you could argue well we be better off playing football matches then to try to resolve our conflicts rather than actually having real wars but some but yes I definitely won't be sitting down to watch football matches every Saturday afternoon but I might be having this week at the racing every now and again. Your take on it. I come from the cricket while I know you do more than more than more than football but you know I can appreciate and I think I'd agree with what Fiona set the game I think is unfortunately not being played the way it was meant to be in cull k. The spirit of sportsmanship. Except when you lose it and you know very Joycelyn generally except when you win it now it's passion as anger and you know when was a not been for now the game's contribution to that sentiment I mean I was thinking when I was watching football what if in the finals you have England and France facing each other it would be history repeating itself all over again. The very scary thought. So you know I was I was very happy with the Croatian France playing the finals at the end yes I think there is something there is a lot of value in that essay was sad think the entire attitude towards sports is change it's become more competitive there is betting there is people cheating and I was reminded of this film Chariots of Fire which the purpose of the film is to say that look there has to be generous winning there has to be a sportsman spirit instead of fighting and winning at all costs I remember somebody saying to me a colleague in this building some years back one of the main sports reporters on them b.b.c. Radio 5 Live She said The worst thing about being a football fan is the hope. And I I think she has a point you're listening to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service more from I guess in the next hour Ira Craig and I should City before that the latest international news headlines. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the u.s. Is made possible by American Public Media. And distributes award winning public radio programs that Inform engage in Captivate is proud to connect audiences to the world with accurate impartial international news and global perspectives from the b.b.c. World Service 2 . It's $630.00 g.m.t. This is weekend from the b.b.c. World Service Still to come as president says he won't continue as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo we ask how the future looks for the country and the women who've had the greatest impact history the outcome of a b.b.c. History Magazine Oh that's a whole weekend with me Judy more. News . B.b.c. News with Jerry Smit the American space agency NASA is about to launch a satellite designed to get closer to the sun than any other spacecraft in history the Parkers solar probe will travel at up 267-0000 kilometers an hour Scientists hope the mission will allow them to understand more about events like solar flares . The u.s. Agro chemical giant Monsanto insists his bestselling week here is safe after a court ordered it to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages a jury in California made the award after hearing that a school grounds man became terminally ill as a result of using the herbicide glyphosate. Turkey's banks are due to hold an emergency meeting with regulators following the latest plunge in the value of the local currency the lira fell by up to 18 percent after President Trump announced an increase in tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from Turkey. Remaining as President Klaus your harness has condemned what he called the disproportionate use of force by riot police against anti-government protesters in Bucharest they use battens tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators. There's been a security alert at Sea-Tac International Airport in the u.s. City of Seattle after a mechanic stole a plane and took off without permission the aircraft a twin engine turboprop with no passengers or crew on board crashed after being pursued by 2 fighter aircraft. A man has appeared in court in Southern California charges starting a huge wildfire on Monday prosecutors allege that a forest Clarke was involved in a dispute with a neighbor the far has prompted the evacuation of more than 21000 people. North and South Korea edgy to play a rare football match in Seoul as part of efforts to improve relations between the 2 countries the game has been organized by trade unions b.b.c. News. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service so I'm Julia more of her with weekend coming up a little later this hour a profile of the former British punk rocker who's now in charge at Max Mara one of the world's largest luxury fashion brands the most mentors thing that happened in Manchester in those years was the opening of the hacienda Tony Wilson's club with new order and when it 1st opened I went there every night for 6 months I didn't miss one I was a club or belong more to the kind of punk post-punk period. More of that to come this half hour with me throughout the program Ayesha Siddiqa Pakistani military scientist political commentator and scholar at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies and Iona Craig independent journalist specializing in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula I should you have a book due out I think fairly soon haven't you about what the links between Soofi and Salafi are one hubby Islam across South Asia and what you call West Asia which what we might also refer to as the Arab gulf what are you trying to investigate you know that when I started working on the seizure of the famous seizure of Mecca 979 and I discovered from that that some of the rebels that were involved. Were from Sufi Housel So then the question was what came to mind was that I started investigating and found more and more that this whole whine really that you have no mind that you know there is this very peaceful there is this warrior like the Harvey slum that you know there are different categories I think. Religion is a kind of a discourse an ongoing discourse which changes over time the different philosophies which interact with each other in case of South Asia and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf whereas happens is a constant interaction we imagine all the Today we imagine Saudi Arabia being source of all the ideological problems in the world but I'm trying to also look at . How interactive the process was of development of the ideology a lot came from South Asia from what was once India and Pakistan how scholars who went to Saudi Arabia how what what how the contribution how these scholars from from the Arab world came to South Asia to learn and so these different ideologies are actually have been interacting with each other for a very long time so that perception of 2 traditions and 2 regions and a line between them that that line well it's very flawed we need to look more deeply into it and I think once we have that because these different bind result very mechanical It doesn't take you anywhere neither makes sense of conflict nor how do you bring peace to it what stage is the project at our very good question. While I'm still for far months away from from finishing it I hope that as soon as possible I've been at it for a long time yes I can imagine it's it's not a day's work it's a little more than that I wanted to ask you about a report that you wrote for the intercept the investigative news website specifically of a Navy Seal raid in a remote Yemeni village which takes us back more than a year doesn't it and you want an award for the reporting you did what was what was the story and what did you tell people that others at the time were not being told I'm well this was the 1st foreign military engagement under the trumpet ministrations So talking back in January 2017. And in what became quite familiar fashion the White House claim this Navy Seal raid is a huge success and that they gathered some great intelligence from about Al. When they read minutes or as a result that I happened to be in Yemen at the time I'd been to the area before where it happened which was in a very remote area central Yemen where normally would have taken 7 or 8 hours drive because the Civil War and the. Conflict at that point it actually took me 4 or 5 days to get there sake a sort of 1000 mile detour and I went to the village where it happened and got information from witnesses obviously and all the rest of it and it totally contradicted what the Americans have been saying in the statements from the White House and and also even from Centcom from u.s. Central Command about Aids of success of the raid in even about the so-called intelligence they claim to have gathered. And yes I'm now looking in the next year to kind of follow up on that reporting. And we'll go back go back yeah yeah would you which isn't ideal at the moment because al Qaeda and Islamic state are fighting each other in that location so I won't be dashing back there immediately. And yes I might have to change my plans somewhat but it's not an easy place to access and obviously you know made security issues in the process of doing that but but yes it's now but since General 2017 been the most heavily bombed area of Yemen by the Americans who are cold of sort of fighting this parallel war against against al Qaeda in Yemen whilst the Saudi coalition is bombing the heath 6 g.m.t. Will turn to the Democratic Republic of Congo now a vast country of untold mineral wealth where the central government struggles to make its presence felt in regions far beyond the capital Kinshasa and militias vie for power and territory under the Constitution the President Joseph Kabila who's been in power since 2001 should have stepped down from office at the end of 2016 but he clung on on Wednesday though it was confirmed that he wouldn't try and stand again Instead they'll be an elect. The governing party put forward a new name to be its candidate to succeed President Kabila the former interior minister Emmanuel Rama Zani shuddery he's been targeted by European Union sanctions and accused of a ruthless crackdown on activists Mr Should Dari will face at least 8 other contenders including the former vice president and ex warlord jump Yeah Bemba So what's the state of the country that President Kabila will leave to his successor Stephanie Walters is a head of the Peace and Security Research Program at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria there's not much that he can really claim to have achieved in terms of changing the fundamental way in which Congolese live in that country of course that is a very huge task he has had some time to achieve it unfortunately I think that for most people probably life has grown a little bit harder since he's been in office and I think that in terms of his own legacy where if he had left perhaps in 2016 when he was due to leave office and when elections were due to be held if he had done that I think he could have created that positive legacy as somebody who delivered peace and and regular elections to the d. Or c. Unfortunately due to the 2 years delay I don't think he can really claim that he has presided over crackdowns on the population over the killings of civilians and protesters the harassment of civil society activists in the closing of the political space would be hard at this point I think for him to claim a positive legacy what do you think prompted him to stand aside now. I think it's a combination of elements I think that he had been trying until quite recently to find some sort of formula that might have allowed him to stay in office obviously the growing instability the popular protests from many different corners of Congolese society and across the country have put pressure on him and have also created greater instability in the d.r. Sea and that is something that the search. The the region has taken note of important countries like Angola for whom stability in the Congo is essential have been at the forefront of trying to convince him to leave office and that is in my view because they are concerned about growing instability linked to dissatisfaction with his regime and so I think these are the factors that really pushed him to ultimately take the decision to not stand again so we will now see a contest for his replacement among those standing the governing coalition has picked one of his close allies Emmanuel rumors on the shadow Ari tell us a bit about him and and how he compares with Mr. Manual Rama's Anisha diaries somebody who's been close to be a family for many years and sensually since Laurent Kabila led the rebellion to overthrow Mbutu was behind the scenes for a long time but became more prominent in the last 5 years or so he's really a loyalist amongst loyalists he doesn't have his own political base I think even among the sort of contenders that many have been speaking about he was probably the least publicly profiled the least well known and with the lowest public base really or popularity but he really is not independent he doesn't have much of a track record and he certainly has nowhere nearly the visibility of some of the most well known opposition leaders there's talk of at least 8 other contenders how do you see this playing out what we have I guess 3 really big name political opponents at this point I would say retail can marry Felix just a kiddie and who's newly back on the political scene with Khatami who according to recent opinion polls is still the most popular in the most likely to win a free and fair contest on his own of course has been prevented from registering as a candidate because he wasn't allowed to return to the country I think there is some pressure to perhaps review that prefer the moment he's not standing there has been a lot of lip service paid by these political opposition leaders to finding a unity candidate I think that if they. Were to put forward one candidate from the opposition then it would be extremely unlikely that the ruling party's candidate so Ramazani shuddery could win a free and fair contest and that I think is part of the the strategy that the opposition is being urged to adopt is to put forward this candidate to make it fairly obvious that if there were to be a victory by the ruling party that that would be essentially almost impossible and would indicate that the election had not been free and fair but we still have a while to go yet we in fact still have a period to go before we know whether she will have been accepted as a presidential candidate the Independent Electoral Commission will rule on that in the next few weeks Stephanie Walters took me from Pretoria so we have an election where we maybe thought we were not going to have one is that at least an encouraging sign. Certainly. Any country should which is struggling to words democracy should have election process is so fundamental to democracy but I'm not saying that there are other factors there aren't other factors. Elections are definitely part of it people should be in the habit of making their choices it doesn't make them democratic immediately elections. But it trains their mind and how the exercise their own power over politicians over making that those choices of men which then affects their entire life so even if an election turns out to be deeply flawed it's better than no election. Yes you have to have elections I mean it's fundamental what I'm saying is that that's just one tiny part of it the other is how democratic the process is I mean do the parties really I mean do they represent democracy in their decision making system in the membership in the structure in the behavior there's a lot of opening up I mean I do not I mean I subscribe to the view that every country has its own kind of democracy or that different principles of democracy for different parts of the world no I don't think so we have to work on it and democracies like marriage to make it stick you have really struggled to make it work so you know you have to have the election electoral democracy is a very fundamental tiny part of it. Yeah I mean I think in my experience not that it's a silver bullet for everywhere of course that also so the centralization of power in particular involves countries like the l.c. Really helps that process of democracy so whether that sort of a more fair. Admiral system you know with the with the Constitution in the d.l.c. It's kind of unclear whether it's actually supposed to be federal law or unitary but they've broken down the provinces for from 11 into $26.00 in the last 10 years but but yes from where you have a lot of groups that see him selve marginalized or not engaged in the political process certainly a decentralization of power. And also you know weakened the potential for corruption as well of at least a single individual maybe it just drags it out more but but yes I think in often for that democratic process to work properly people have to feel they're both engaged in it and have some form of binding this is while we're 646 g.m.t. Karl Lagerfeld Giorgio Armani Donna Karan are among the most famous fashion designers in the world what they were Ian Griffiths Well the chances are that you've never heard of him but the former punk rocker from England heads up Max Mara one of the largest luxury fashion brands the Italian company also has one of the biggest fashion archives in Europe it's not open to the public but our correspondent Rebecca Jones has been. In northern Italy to see it. The word group in Italian means coathanger a British voice at the heart of Italian fashion in held it hanging sweaters who don't stay for things even Griffin says the creative director of Max Ma the company founded in 1951 by an ambitious young businessman Akili Madame Martin a killing merriment he had a unique vision he saw that the future was mass produced that the middle classes were going to be the most powerful social force and that they would need high quality clothes in great numbers and how radical were sounds completely by the call because nobody else was doing that in Europe he was birds let you know in the areas where the company started and where it still has its factories once the major seems . Or so the coach gets put on to a hankering for Magic was a siren signals in its pursuit break for the machinist's heard the urges 450 coats a day here contributed to an annual turnover of 1.3 big things. I suppose which the some would have to price tags of some of the Max Mara items perhaps it's not yet a breach of the middle classes now if you take a teddy coat a new classic That's about 1600 euros which if you think of it in terms of a lifetime investment is really not that much. People feel the high plunges you into the history of fashion without very sketchy and boxes of fabric swatches. There are $30000.00 items of clothing rails upon rails of them many Imax Mara So we've come into this room and we've got some not surprisingly camel colored curtains what's behind them camel colored coat surprisingly where we're at the moment that there is a kind of global shortage of camel hair fiber because we've used so much in the past seasons we've created a shortage you need to breed more. The good thing about camel is the camel head grows back several nubile resource there are other famous designs here too this is a suit that has real significance for us because it's a Chanel suit 1954 it was born by Coco Chanel herself what's the pope. They archive exists as inspiration for the designers who work here and to remind us of where we're coming from this is a sign or old coat borne by what we have why archive the work of a rival or competitor is something to do with the fashion industry that underwrites itself and tends to hide all the work that goes into making its collections things get destroyed people don't realize the importance of them until much later when they're all gone so by preserve. Having worked by other brands and other designers where preserving the culture of fashion. Here is where I come into the picture this is from 1905 sketches that I did when I was a student in Griffiths joined the company as soon as he graduated and he's been there ever since that's quite an achievement in the fashion world which thrives on novelty and the next big thing. In that there is something about this industry has to be said that pushes people into going further and further knows just to create headlines but I've got a healthy balance in my life you know I have my home in Suffolk and I do get myself up to the elbows in mud in the garden and that seems to be enough to give me every spot from it occasionally but. It's been an extraordinary journey for a man who 1st became interested in fashion living in Manchester in the 1980 s. The most mentors thing that happened in Manchester in those years was the opening of the hacienda 20 Wilson's club with new order and when it 1st opened I went there every night for 6 months every night and didn't miss one I was a club or belong more to the kind of punk post-punk period I. Was there is years ago there I was walking down the street wearing a wedding bell because it seemed like a cool thing to wear and here I am 35 years sitting in the headquarters of Max wearing a bespoke double breasted pin striped suit here I'm still the same person inside here who wants a punk always upon. More than the tally of $22.00 so blooming with their name. That was Rebecca Jones reporting you're listening to Weekend from the b.b.c. World Service. A reminder of our main news Nassor is preparing to launch a satellite designed to get closer to the sun than any other spacecraft in history and the agro chemical for Monsanto has been ordered to pay nearly 200 $90000000.00 in damage. As to an American man who said it's weed killer made him terminally ill . Now the pioneering Polish French scientists Mary Curie was this week named the woman who has had the most significant impact on world history in a poll of readers conducted by the b.b.c. History magazine here in the u.k. Marie Curie was born in $867.00 and died in $934.00 can be said to of change the world not once but twice she found in the science of radioactivity even the word was invented by him and her discoveries were then the basis for effective cancer treatment as well as the development of x. Rays in surgery Well the British historian Tom Holland was one of the 10 historical experts who each submitted 10 names in their chosen field for the wrote readers to vote on Tom's area was religion and philosophy and he's on the I welcome Tom morning I suppose what's interesting about this is what does impactful actually mean how do you measure that. Well it's very difficult and I think it's very precise that this to a degree is a kind of a Pollock game it's impossible to arrive at an objective standard of impact from what I did personally with my selection of women from who've had an impact on religion and philosophy was to decide that the ones who have been in shrines within various religious traditions as having an immense impact say for instance I chose the Virgin Mary I chose. And in terms of philosophers I wanted to think of of people who had had a measurable impact not just on philosophy itself but on perhaps the broader expanse of society so I chose him Simone de Beauvoir obviously hugely influential figure not just on the concept of feminism but the whole. Sense in the West and maybe beyond of the relationship of men and women but I also chose Hypatia the Alexandrian philosopher who died in. Late Antiquity she in herself. Is more significant as a meth than for what she actually was so I think it is possible to measure impact not just in terms of of what a woman achieved but in terms of her reputation and perhaps even her legend as you weighed up your options how much did you learn yourself. Well what I learned was that inevitably as someone who is. English someone who is situated in the West my knowledge of women who've had an impact on the world is slanted in that way and I think that I'm not alone and looking down the list of other people. Who were asked to nominate women I think I think we all seem to be British and I think that inevitably people perhaps in other parts of the world will see a slightly Euro centric less Well I suppose the polo as well mainly British readers as well yes it's never going to go in that direction Well yeah let me bring an iota in with their thoughts because obviously they've seen the list of the winners across all categories and I mention that Marie Curie was top I don't know what do you think of the list and how it was all arrived at Well yes obviously you know as just mentioned I thought it was quite British centric and remind me a lot of some my history lesson from school but actually my sort of take on it was something was that this had to be positive impact I quite like to see in some of the antiheroes of history or heroines of history in there and sort of and the scoundrels and roads perhaps that had a massive impact on history as well because otherwise we kind of at risk of white washing history and that everything was part of you know that all the positiveness out of women who have had an impact so yes I would quite like to stand up through the kind of Darth Vader's of history if you like in the dark side Tom did you contemplate any rogues and scoundrels. Well I mean it if you're a kind of vote. Terry the figure I suppose you would. Say that the prophet has Deborah on the Virgin Mary or I sure has not contributed some a few but happiness it's all. Entirely depends where you're standing all that issues of religion and philosophy are of course intensely controversial and said you know the Virgin Mary for instance was a figure of immense controversy in the Reformation Ayesha What were your thoughts. I agree with. You know would you know that. Yeah I mean let's be fair with history the names mean the contribution it's not just positive mean you talk about war and you talk about your. Mother Harry and what about newer Nikon who actually has a statue. Somewhere close Russell Square and she was the British soldier who went inspired on the other side and she was a radio operator part of the British Air Force Royal Air Force and died in the concentration camp there are many other names I mean when I looked at the really it was like 30 randomly made lists it was like. People are probably struggling with recognizing that all right let me think a women you know Will do have done well in the field Tom come back in on that observation Well I think to be fat that the structure of the poll may have influence that but there were there were 10 of us we each had to choose 10 women and we were each given a separate category so people had you know there was exploration and venture that was sport so if you have you know football is intermingled with Queens that is the explanation Well that's I suppose that's the parlor game element isn't there because I was just saying to you to both I guess before you came on that for some reason I was gently amused in the office earlier that the Virgin Mary narrowly beat Jane Austin it's not like you have to have this sort of running order at the end of it all yes yes I think that whenever you have polls about the most famous person or the most impactful person you always tend to get. That base I remember the poll that baby she ran. Couple decades ago about the most famous Britain and I think Princess Diana Pitt Shakespeare wrote something like that I mean I just wouldn't imagine but that's the kind of result we get now and Diana isn't even on this list so it's her and have let it go she's she's number 15 yes I have yeah I mean I she's just behind Boudicca you'll be glad to know I mean I would not have included me to have had no impact to talk. Hashes of the great Egyptian pharaoh wasn't on it with the great the wrecking Chinese president on it so but 1st I think he wanted to look 20 you can you can always play these cases and that's part of the fun of it Well Tom as you know the news back and so we have to draw that conversation to a close but thank you very much indeed for coming on thank you all and more to come from Asia and Iona in the last half hour you're with weekend from the b.b.c. World. This is Asman public radio broadcasting on k. A.j. X. Assman in k.c. Jack Carbonell.
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