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05/10/2019 GMT

BBC World Service - Boston Calling, Who's listening?

‘I would like you to do us a favour’: The phone call that ignited a political storm

‘I would like you to do us a favour’: The phone call that ignited a political storm.

When US presidents get on the phone to speak with foreign leaders, staff are on hand to take diligent notes. But is there a set procedure of how calls with foreign dignitaries are handled? Tom Blanford from the National Security Archives in Washington, DC says that Trump’s style has been very different compared with his predecessors. 

Also, TikTok, is one of the most popular social media apps in the world but the company that owns it is based in China, and some say that's leading to censorship; When you think about the Soviet Union, you don’t often think about comedy, Michael Idov’s film ‘The Humorist’ delves into the life of a Soviet comic; the power of comedy is something stand-up comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi is trying to harness in order to start a more honest conversation between Israelis and Palestinians; and the tale of a Russian ship captain whose message in a bottle was recently discovered on a beach in Alaska. 

Image: Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump (Credit: Ukraine Presidential Press Service via EPA)

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