welcome to hardtalk. i m 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 arabia s 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, it s a familiar image and a familiar trick. sau
now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m 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 arabia s 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, it s a familiar imag
more than 28,300 people crossed the english channel to the uk on board small boats in 2021, triple the number for 2020. a devastating fire that swept through south africa s houses of parliament in cape town has restarted. a legal document which prince andrew s lawyer believes could stop a civil case against him in the us has been made public. the duke of york, who isn t named in the document, has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. the document, which has been unsealed, is a settlement agreement between jeffrey epstein and virginia giuffre, also known as virginia roberts. it dismisses the case for damages brought by ms giuffre in return for the sum of $500,000, or £371,000. there was no admission of liability from epstein. it also adds that the document is a general release by virginia giuffre for any other person or entity who could have been included as a potential defendant from all legal actions, including lawsuits both state and fede
belarus. the eu is expected to remove ukraine from its list of covid safe countries as cases rise with 600 people dying every day. gender equality is the focus of the cop26 summit in glasgow stop the un says that women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change. and the glittering diamonds which once belonged to france s last queen marie antoinette are going up for auction in geneva. a very warm welcome. us rapper travis scott is facing multiple lawsuits after at least eight people were killed and hundreds injured in a crush on his texas festival astroworld. one injured concert goer has accused scott and surprised perform at drake of inciting the crowd and is seeking $1 million in damages. neither have commented on the lawsuits. scott has said he is working to help the families of the victims, the youngest of whom was just 1a. victims, the youngest of whom wasjust14. mark lobel was just 1a. mark lobel reports. too much to bear. after losing his brother danis
russian shells still landing close by. in the town centre, a russian flag is raised, and another on a rooftop in one of the town s industrial areas. the kremlin is already crowing, releasing footage of russian fighterjets in action. air power has played a big role in this victory. on the ground, ukrainian forces have also been struggling with acute shortages of men and, in particular, of ammunition. so these are the last two shells that you have? yes, this artillery officer told us a week ago, blaming western nations for halting supplies. the result ukrainian infantry fighting to hold on to avdiivka have been heavily outgunned by as much as 10:1, and so eventually ukraine ordered a withdrawal, at times well organised, but not always. here, a ukrainian armoured vehicle is hit by a drone. overall, though, it s russia that has suffered by far the heaviest losses here. translation: russia has| suffered 47,000 casualties in avdiivka since last october. those are huge losses. in