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From Our Own Correspondent: The rhetorical tug-of-war over Ethiopia

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Women at a rally to support Ethiopian government forces against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF),

04/12/2021 GMT

The rhetorical tug-of-war over Ethiopia

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, The rhetorical tug-of-war over Ethiopia

Harder (and hotter) words are traded over Tigray; tales from Venezuela, Vienna and Seoul

Reporting on conflict in Tigray runs into harsh criticism; tales from Venezuela's decaying hospitals, US-Iran nuclear talks in Vienna and the stressed-out workers of South Korea

The conflict in Ethiopia between the central government, based in Addis Ababa, and the leadership of the northern Tigray region is not only being fought on the ground. It's increasingly raging online and via broadcast media too. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since fighting broke out in October 2020. There are many reports of violence against civilians. Both sides have been accused of war crimes and of aggravating a growing food crisis. Andrew Harding has reported from Ethiopia many times but like most of the international press he’s been struggling to cover the war at first hand. Even from further away, though, he's seen plenty of signs of rising prejudices - and burgeoning beliefs in supposed 'conspiracies'. 

Getting to the truth of what Covid is doing to a country can be difficult too. In Venezuela, the socialist government, led by Nicolas Maduro, says proudly that it is a government for and of the common people, and that healthcare is a priority.  But the state of the country’s public health service was already a source of bitter controversy well before the virus arrived. Now Covid is taking a terrible toll on a health system that was already run-down. Katy Watson describes what she and a BBC team found recently in the cities of Caracas and Maracaibo.  

While the world worries about Covid  - or the longer-term threat of climate change – there are still other hazards to human life on earth which haven’t gone away – like the risk of nuclear confrontation.  One of the touchiest sets of negotiations you can imagine is the attempt to reach an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear activities. These long, complex, high-stakes talks were started in 2013 and did produce a deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA – in 2015. But Donald Trump was outraged by its terms and pulled America out of the process in 2018. President Biden's administration is keen to revive the deal and diplomats are gathering in Vienna to try. The BBC’s Diplomatic Correspondent James Landale has been following the twists, turns and surprises of the negotiations. 

Recently Southh  Korean pop culture has been surfing a wave of popularity across the world, From boy bands, to fast foods, to viral videos – Korean is cool. Yet some of the biggest hits abroad – like the Oscar-winning movie Parasite or the recent TV sensation Squid Game – have picked away furiously at the less-pretty sides of Korean life  – particularly its extreme stresses and growing class tensions. This is a hugely competitive and increasingly unequal society which demands a great deal from its students and workers … and even more from them if they’re female. In Seoul, Chloe Hadjimatheou heard about some of the things which keep some South Korean women up at night.

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