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From Our Own Correspondent

The Democrats unconventional convention

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Former US Vice-president Joe Biden accepted the Democratic party’s nomination for the presidency via video-link from his home in Wilmington, Delaware. The party convention was going to be a big celebratory event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with balloons and standing ovations. But not during the pandemic. Laura Trevelyan reports from this unconventional convention. South Africa banned alcohol to help keep hospital beds free for Covid-19 patients. So many have a drinking problem in the country that over 62,000 deaths a year are attributed to alcohol. But banning it damages the drinks industry. Vumani Mkhize reports on that dilemma and looks back at his own experiences with alcohol. There have been protests and strikes in Belarus since the contested elections of 9 August. And now the long-term ruler Alexander Lukashenko has given orders to end the unrest. The official result gave him 80% of the vote while the opposition denounced the poll as fraudulent. But where do they go from here, asks Jonah Fisher in the capital Minsk. The blast in Beirut cost many lives and caused thousands of injuries. One of those whose wounds still haven't healed is Leila Morana-Allen. But during the first days after the explosion, it wasn't just her injuries she was worried about, but her pet dog. Was he lost? Did he die? Would Lebanon's networks of dog-lovers be able to help? Being a foreign correspondent may sound glamorous to some, but the reality is working long hours with lots of short-notice travel. Correspondents accept that as part of the deal. But what's harder to deal with is the separation from loved ones. And now, as Shaimaa Khalil is finding in Sydney, due to pandemic travel restrictions she may not see her husband for a year. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:05.0

Good morning.

0:06.2

Today, amid all the virus statistics,

0:09.2

no one's going to be able to gauge

0:11.1

just how much a small glass of something at the end of the day has helped get us through this time.

0:17.0

But in South Africa, where alcohol was banned initially,

0:21.0

and the ban's only just been lifted, we hear of their troubled relationship with drink.

0:26.1

Different trouble on the streets of Minsk, where the long-term Biala Russian leader

0:31.4

has ordered the suppression of protests, the end of the demonstrations or the end of the president.

0:38.0

Amid all disasters, there are tales of the tiny details which matter to individuals. We have the story of the

0:45.6

missing dog from Beirut. And a tough goodbye when pandemic restrictions

0:52.3

mean you might not be able to see your husband for a whole year.

0:57.0

First, the American election conventions which used to fill our screens with a riot of flags, noise, lengthy standing ovations, and people

1:06.7

dressed in a great array of patriotically coloured outfits.

1:10.8

Not on Thursday evening though, when former Vice President Joe Biden accepted the nomination

1:17.1

as the Democratic Party's candidate.

1:19.5

It was a virtual event done remotely on video links with Mr Biden giving his speech from his home in

1:26.0

Wilmington in Delaware. An unconventional convention, says Laura Trevelyan. The first indication that something was about to happen in sleepy Wilmington, Delaware was the lawn mower.

1:38.0

The noise of the engine interrupted the quiet outside Brandywine High School.

1:42.0

The lawn was being manicured ahead of Jill Biden,

1:45.0

the wife of the candidate, speaking to millions of Americans from inside the classroom where she

1:49.4

once taught. Usually political conventions are carefully choreographed affairs taking place in one location

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