PRI's The World » Ian Rosser

Best of the BBC: An ex-child soldier in Sudan

Ian Rosser — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:20:08 +0000

This weekend’s presidential elections in Sudan have been heralded as the first genuine multiparty elections since 1986. They have been beset by problems, including the withdrawal of parties from the process due to allegations of vote rigging. But what of the plight of ordinary Sudanese, living with the poverty and violence caused by years of infighting and oppression amidst civil war? In this audio slideshow Deng Chan describes why he decided to look after his family instead of training with the former rebel army in South Sudan and why he had to leave school after changing one uniform for another.

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Actor George Takei remembers his internment

Ian Rosser — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:25:23 +0000

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At a stroke Executive Order 9066 branded Japanese-Americans the enemy within. In California alone tens of thousands were sent to the north of the state or the interior of the country, forced to live in barracks and penned in by barbed wire fences. Resentment grew, particularly among the young, and riots sometimes ensued. George Takei recalls the time he spent interned, the effect on his family and others – some of whom were driven to suicide – and the moment when he heard the war was over. He also tells interviewee Lucy Williamson about the time spent adjusting to freedom. It took decades for a formal apology from the US government to those labelled a threat, over two-thirds of whom were American citizens.

Berlin film festival presents restored masterpiece

Ian Rosser — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:01:07 +0000

We hear the words ‘timeless’ and ‘classic’ used often, perhaps a little too liberally some might say. But put them both together and in this case we think it’s entirely appropriate. Visually stunning after more than 80 years and with a science fiction context exploring the relationship between workers and owners in the capitalist system, Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece ‘Metropolis’ was way ahead of its time. But around a quarter of the movie was then cut on its release. The film’s newly discovered footage was unearthed in Argentina, revealing a close copy of the original first aired in 1927. Listen to Steve Rosenberg’s radio report and click below to see the tv version.
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BBC interview with Gil Scott Heron

Ian Rosser — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:10:59 +0000

Gil Scott Heron, with his early 70′s proto-rap and spoken-word series of songs highlighting inner-city life, has been labelled by some as ‘the godfather of rap’. His music over the next two decades, a fusion of jazz, soul and blues, inspired various genres and artists. He also published acknowledged classic urban texts including The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. In the early part of the noughties Heron spent time in jail on drug-related charges but 2010 sees a new album, ‘I’m New Here’, his first in well over a decade. But don’t tell him that it’s good to have him back – in his eyes he’s never been away, as he tells the BBC’s Mark Coles.
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BBC’s The Strand

‘I was expelled from Afghanistan’

Ian Rosser — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:58:11 +0000

Irish-born Michael Semple and his wife moved to Pakistan in the 1980′s to work as Oxfam’s aid program representatives for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. They divided their time between the two countries and Michael ultimately worked in Afghanistan in a number of different roles. But then, in 2007, he was expelled from Afghanistan, accused of being a spy and a Taliban supporter. We thought our listeners would like to hear Semple’s account of witnessing the end of the Soviet-backed regime, the ensuing civil war and rise of the Taliban and events after September 11th, 2001.

BBC launches radio service in Haitian Creole

Ian Rosser — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:24:20 +0000

The BBC provides different language services throughout the world. We thought you’d like to hear about the latest addition this weekend - BBC Haitian Creole – which has been set up in response to the earthquake and humanitarian crisis in Haiti. The 20-minute daily broadcast has been set up to address issues most important to the population who rely on radio for basic news and information. It’s a fascinating insight into how the BBC put the wheels in motion to help survivors.

Click on the video link on the website below to watch the BBC’s Nick Miles and presenter Carline Faustin tell us how this was done and what the daily broadcast hopes to do.

BBC starts Creole broadcasts

Listen to the show’s intro:
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BBC slideshow: African elders

Ian Rosser — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:18:11 +0000

There’s an old adage that a picture is worth a thousand (or ten thousand) words. Let’s not haggle over whether it’s an ancient Chinese proverb, or from a 1921 article by Fred R. Barnard in the trade journal Printer’s Ink.The point is that images have the ability to make us laugh, cry, ask questions and stare in wonder. We here in the London office of The World found these images of elders sent in to the BBC by online visitors from Africa especially compelling. Take a look.

‘I boarded a plane with an aerosol can’

Ian Rosser — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:46:17 +0000

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After the foiled attempt on Christmas Day to bring down transatlantic flight 253 bound for Detroit, there have been many calls for better safety measures. More careful screening of passengers and their belongings passing through airports was immediately implemented. But as this BBC report from Colette Hume shows, security is still not exactly where it should be.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: New anti-terrorism screening measures for international air passengers took effect yesterday. The procedures were a response to a Nigerian man’s alleged attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam on December 25th. And yet, the heightened security did not stop Colette Hume from boarding a flight from Sydney, Australia to the US yesterday, with a forbidden can of hairspray in her bag. Ms. Hume is a BBC reporter. She arrived in New York yesterday morning, uncaptured, and every hair in place. Briefly, Colette, how did the baggage handlers in two separate searches miss this full sized aerosol can?

COLETTE HUME: Well, as a seasoned traveler, I know only too well what you can and can’t take on an aircraft. Now the tin of hairspray got into my bag, I think, because I’d used that bag during an overnight stay to see friends out in New South Wales. I really didn’t even know it was there, and in fact, the first I knew about it is when I went through my bag, on the aircraft, when the doors had been shut, to look for a book. I simply couldn’t believe that I’d got through a scanning machine at Kingsford-Smith Airport in Sydney, and gone through a second hand search and not one security had picked up this bright pink aerosol can during those searches.

WERMAN: Right, this wasn’t some sort of “gotcha” phony journalism experiment that you pulled off. This wasn’t on purpose.

HUME: I really truly did not know this tin was in my bag. But you know, when I got onto the plane and found the aerosol and talked to some of my fellow passengers, we found that we had similar stories. They said they’d been checked through with various items that they didn’t really think they were allowed to take on flights previously, but certainly the one thing that is different now, even from flights I took leaving London early in December out to Japan, is that the atmosphere on airplanes is very, very different.

WERMAN: Right, very jumpy I imagine. Now I remember this movie, “Live and Let Die,” one of the James Bond films, in which Roger Moore creates an aerosol flame thrower. He has I think a can of deodorant, but he sparks it up with a cigar. So what is the problem with an aerosol can?

HUME: Well, I’m a journalist, not a pyrotechnic expert, but what I can tell you is this, the size of this aerosol can, it was more than 200 milliliters, is twice the limit of liquids allowed on US flights, indeed, all world flights. When I got off the flight at LA to recheck my baggage, I spoke informally to a member of ground staff at LAX. And you know, her eyes just widened, and she said, “No, ma’am, absolutely, you will not be able to take that on the plane.” Now fortunately, I was able to recheck it and it’s made its way with me to New York.

WERMAN: I thought maybe it would convince you once and for all not to use hairspray any more.

HUME: Well, from the serious angle in this, I think traveling, especially air travel, has changed beyond all recognition. You know, the old days of air travel where you could spend time hanging out with the flight assistants, maybe getting a cup of tea and talking to them during the flight, those days have disappeared.

WERMAN: Well, just on the record, Sydney Airport did say that it successfully screens millions of passengers each year, and that issues such as yours, Colette, are extremely rare and they are taken seriously. So, Colette, you are the exception. The BBC’s Colette Hume in New York. Colette, here’s to a new year of good flights. Thanks so much for your time.

HUME: Thank you very much.

WERMAN: And you can read more about Colette Hume’s airport security experience at The World dot org.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

What became of Romanian neglected orphans?

Ian Rosser — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:30:17 +0000

A BBC investigation has uncovered appalling conditions and abuse in adult institutions in Romania, 20 years after the fall of Nicolai Ceausescu exposed conditions in the country’s orphanages.

Death and denial in Nigeria

Ian Rosser — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:00:16 +0000

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In Western countries people mostly take for granted that the police are there ‘to protect and to serve’. The BBC’s Caroline Duffield has found this might be quite different in Nigeria – at least in one city. A hospital in the south-eastern city of Enugu has experienced an overwhelming flow of dead bodies in recent months, so many that mass burials have taken place. There are suspicions that the police might be implicated, particularly the feared SARS unit – the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. This has been denied by the authorities.

Chile mourns celebrated folksinger Jara

Ian Rosser — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:35:08 +0000

We thought this BBC slideshow beautifully captured a unique moment in Chile last week. As many as 6,000 people marched through the streets of Santiago to mark the end of a three-day wake for Victor Jara, the man President Michelle Bachelet called “a great poet, singer, social justice activist, actor and a man essential for understanding Chile’s national identity. “ Last year a Chilean judge ordered Jara’s remains to be exhumed to corroborate the circumstances of his death. The decision came after new information was provided by the only soldier indicted for his murder. It was discovered that Jara had been brutally tortured and repeatedly shot. Crowds danced, sang Jara’s songs and held up his portrait on the four-mile funeral procession in a public outpouring of emotion. The reburial on Friday was attended by Jara’s British-born wife Joan and his two daughters.