Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. President biden has reportedly paused arms sales to saudi arabia as his administration reviews relations with his long time strategic ally. Not long ago, candidate biden described the kingdom as a pariah, but is there any prospect of external or internal pressure challenging the authority of saudi arabias De Facto Leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman . Well, my guest is exiled saudi opposition activist, madawi al rasheed. What next for saudi arabia reform, repression or maybe both . Madawi al rasheed, welcome to hardtalk. Hello. You have become one of the highest profile saudi critics of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. I just wonder how you felt a couple of weeks ago when we saw the crown prince so warmly welcomed at the World Economic forum, the online davos event, where he was selling saudi arabia as an Investment Opportunity for the entire world. What did you make of that . Well, its a familiar image and a familiar trick. Saudi arabia ha
Hello and welcome to the programme. We start this hour with Breaking News a Military Coup appears to be underway in myanmar. The countrys De Facto Leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the president win myint, and other Senior Party Leaders have all been detained in a series of Early Morning raids. Phone and Internet Connections have been cut and soldiers are on the streets of the Capital Naypyidaw and the main city yangon. The move comes after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the powerful military that stirred fears of a coup. All this in the aftermath of an election the army says was fraudulent thats been rejected by observers. State tv in myanmar has released a statement saying its having technical errors and is unable to broadcast. 0ur South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head is in bangkok. He says facts are difficult to confirm at this stage. Well, its not that clear from here in bangkok we are getting a lot of reports from contacts inside myanmar. It does appe
Now on bbc news, hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. President biden has reportedly paused arms sales to saudi arabia as his administration reviews relations with his long time strategic ally. Not long ago, candidate biden described the kingdom as a pariah, but is there any prospect of external or internal pressure challenging the authority of saudi arabias De Facto Leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman . Well, my guest is exiled saudi opposition activist, madawi al rasheed. What next for saudi arabia reform, repression or maybe both . Madawi al rasheed, welcome to hardtalk. Hello. You have become one of the highest profile saudi critics of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. I just wonder how you felt a couple of weeks ago when we saw the crown prince so warmly welcomed at the World Economic forum, the online davos event, where he was selling saudi arabia as an Investment Opportunity for the entire world. What did you make of that . Well, its a familiar image and a fami
in community events. the big help out is urging people to take on volunteering roles and members of the royal family have been dropping in on some of the projects. charlotte gallagher reports. after the glitz and glamour of the coronation concert, today s celebrations come down to earth. scouts and their volunteer leaders are just some of the thousands of people taking part in the big help out. and a famous face is getting involved too. it makes us all a better person when we get involved. we extend our network and meet new people and develop new friendships. we feel like we are doing something positive. and i love that. members of the royal family are at some of the events, including the prince and princess of wales and their children. they ve been in slough, helping the scouts with a bit of building work, with prince louis keeping up with his older brother, getting behind the controls of a digger. are members of the royalfamily are members of the royal family are at some