Filippo Grandi brings enormous field experience in emergency operations to his role as UN High Commissioner for Refugees - and compassion and kindness, too. Today, there are 70.8 million forcibly removed people, whose challenges and those of their host communities are compounded by COVID-19, the biggest threat to humanity in almost a century. What future awaits these individuals, many of whom have no home or access to clean water - but are being told to stay indoors and wash their hands? And what hope do they have in this era of lockdowns and closed borders, when movement and escape are sometimes their only means of survival? In this special conversation, our host James Chau speaks with Mr. Grandi about the human condition that impacts us all.
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Apr 08 , 2020 | COVID-19Since Wuhan and its surrounding areas lifted its city-wide lockdown, 60 million people have been able to leave their homes freely and walk outside, many of them for the first time in 76 days. As the city slowly returns to normal, the timeline of events from the earliest days of the outbreak is beginning to emerge. It was in late December when an unknown pneumonia was detected in Wuhan— triggering an alert system that notified the World Health Organization. Days later, the genome sequence was published on an open platform, allowing international scientists to collaborate. This story explores the critical first days and weeks of what is now a global pandemic.
Apr 08 , 2020 | COVID-19We've brought you many conversations with people shaping the response and looked at the consequences for highly vulnerable communities, like refugees, asylum seekers, and people of color. But the fallout from this pandemic is only becoming more apparent as each day passes. That's why our host James Chau speaks to art historian Manfredi della Gherardesca, who provides a lens by which we can digest the world before, during, and after COVID-19. Like many people, he is also a first-hand participant in the complexities of the lockdown, choosing to leave his home in London for his home country of Italy, even though it is one of the worst-affected of all.
Apr 03 , 2020 | InnovationMillions of us rely on satellite technology every day, whether it be ordering food for delivery, checking the weather, or routing our way home on our smartphones. With China’s launch of its Beidou satellite system, global navigation technology is about to get an upgrade. Beidou, named after the Big Dipper constellation in Chinese, is a group of satellites positioned on different orbits that will allow clearer communication and better coverage around the world. Watch our story to learn more about its impacts on our daily lives.