Episode details

World Service,14 Jan 2022,49 mins
Secret phone calls shed light on Tunisia’s Ben Ali’s last 48 hours
NewsdayAvailable for over a year
The ѿý has obtained extraordinary recordings which we believe to be of phone calls made by a former Middle East dictator, Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, as he flew out of the country in 2011. The recordings give an insight into the change in Ben Ali's mood in the last 48 hours of his regime, as he slowly begins to grasp the true impact of protests rocking his feared police state. The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is under further pressure following new allegations of parties held at Downing Street in breach of Covid rules. The alleged gatherings took place on the eve of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, during which she was seen sitting alone because of coronavirus measures. And could a rapprochement finally be on the cards between Armenia and Turkey after 30 years of frosty relations?
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