The Basketball Row

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The latest row between China and the US revolves not around trade, but around basketball. It all began with a tweet in support of the Hong Kong protesters by the general manager of the Houston Rockets which, as Robin Brant reports, has made the Chinese authorities deeply unhappy.

The people of Lebanon have been out on the streets in anti-government demonstrations for several days. It all started with a proposal, now withdrawn, to impose a tax on internet-based voice calls. But Lizzie Porter wonders if some of the protesters aren't simply enjoying the party.

Transylvania, now part of Romania, is a region of Europe that has belonged to many different states and empires. The legacy of this history is a variety of ethnic groups and languages. Andrew Eames has been to visit the small number of people there who still speak German.

There has been a series of police raids in northern Nigeria on institutions known variously as Islamic schools or rehabilitation centres. In reality they are places where children have been dumped and forced to live in terrible conditions. Mayeni Jones found the authorities there very reluctant to talk.

Kyrgyzstan, one of the 15 states formed as the Soviet Union collapsed, shares a long border with China. But the nomads in the interior lead a life apparently unchanged for decades, as Sara Wheeler discovers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Today the people of Lebanon are out on the streets demanding political change,
0:10.0	or might they just be having a party?
0:12.0	We're in Transylvania trying to have a word on or might they just be having a party?
0:12.6	We're in Transylvania trying to have a word or two in German and finding it ever more difficult.
0:18.4	While in northern Nigeria, no one wants to talk to our correspondent about the tales circulating of torture and abuse,
0:25.8	though in Kyrgyzstan there are a country of storytellers if you're a woman that is.
0:32.4	First the power of the tweet and basketball, the sort of thing which can cause an international
0:38.7	crisis these days.
0:40.7	It's not a game that inflame's passions everywhere, but it's ignited an unholy
0:44.9	row between the United States and China, where it's hugely popular, especially the American
0:50.8	version, the NBA. Everyone supports an American team and it's all
0:55.4	over the television. Until the general manager of the Houston Rockets,
0:59.5	Darryl Mori, tweeted a message in support of the protesters in Hong Kong.
1:04.7	Kew Trouble, as Robin Brant in Shanghai explains.
1:09.8	There are courts everywhere.
1:11.7	In school playgrounds, at the side in the shadow of Shanghai's tallest
1:15.8	skyscrapers where I sometimes get the ferry and in Fire Station four courts.
1:20.7	I've got a cheap net in front of my house too. Shooting hoops is a good way to unwind.
1:26.4	A couple of the top teams come here annually for pre-season games. They bring the whole carnival
1:31.8	with them. Cheerleaders, dancers, mascots, it's the real deal. I saw it from a few rows back last year.
1:39.0	Perhaps the most telling proof though of the NBA's dominance in China is the wide range of
	...

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