The US debate and the battle for Pennsylvania

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie presents dispatches from the US, the DRC, Italy, Romania and Egypt

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off against each other in a debate on Tuesday night at a pivotal moment in the race. In the lead up to the debate, both candidates had been neck and neck in the polls. Tom Bateman gauged what the locals made of their performance.

An outbreak of the viral disease, mpox across central and west Africa has infected more than 21,000 people and killed more than 600 – and the Democratic Republic of Congo is at the epicentre. Simi Jolaoso has been to South Kivu, where medical staff are racing to deliver treatment and await vaccinations.

The Italian town of Monfalcone has a population of over more than 30,000 people, more than 6,000 of whom are from Bangladesh: largely skilled workers who came to work at a major shipyard there. This has changed the makeup of the city, which is being met with resistance from certain corners. Especially the far-right mayor, as Sofia Bettiza discovered.

Nicolae Ceaușescu bulldozed one fifth of the city to construct his People’s Palace in Romania’s capital Bucharest. It still towers over its population today. It’s now the location of Romania's parliament and, while efforts have been made to remove the communist era symbols, it was deemed too expensive to demolish. Rob Crossan has been to visit.

George Orwell’s short satirical novel Animal Farm allegorised the rise to power of Stalin and exposed the abuses of his regime in Russia. When Magdi Abdelhadi recently tried to get a new edition of the book printed in Egypt, he found it… a rather Orwellian experience.

Producers: Serena Tarling and Farhana Haider Editor: Tom Bigwood Production coordinators: Sophie Hill & Katie Morrison

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.4	Hello. Today, a surge in cases of impocks in the Democratic Republic of Congo is causing alarm. We visit the health workers working on the
0:15.3	front line of the outbreak in South Kivu. A sprawling shipyard in Italy's
0:20.7	northeast is benefiting from the influx of skilled workers from Bangladesh, but we
0:26.2	hear how the local mayor is less than welcoming.
0:29.9	We're in Romania, inside the palace of former President Nikolai Charchescu with its vaulted
0:35.7	ceilings and grandiose decor, and where shadows of the past still linger, and in Cairo we're on the hunt for a publisher who can print a translation of a George Orwell classic.
0:49.0	But first, Pennsylvania, where the two US presidential candidates
0:54.0	Carmela Harris and Donald Trump faced off against each other in a debate on
0:58.5	Tuesday night in Philadelphia at a pivotal moment in the race.
1:03.4	In the lead up to the debate, both candidates had been neck-and-neck in the polls.
1:09.0	Past campaigns have often hinged on snappy sound bites or gaffes from Gerald Ford's comment that there was no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe in 1976 to Ronald Reagan's refrain of,
1:21.5	There you go again, when debating against Jimmy Carter,
1:25.5	who he went on to beat in 1980.
1:28.5	Tuesday's debate took place in one of the key swing states which is seen as especially vital for
1:35.1	Carmelah Harris. No Democrat has won the White House without winning Pennsylvania
1:40.5	since 1948.
1:43.0	Tom Bakeman went out to talk to people there about how the candidates performed and what resonated most with them.
1:51.0	Johnstown, Pennsylvania, knows all about winning and losing.
1:55.0	Flanked by red spruce trees, the road through the Allegheny Mountains drops down,
2:00.0	taking us into the valley's old steel town.
2:03.0	During the 19th century, Johnstown helped build America.
	...

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