Welcome to hardtalk, im stephen sackur. Now, this has to be one of the most distinctive Museum Spaces in the world, the Main Hall of the natural History Museum in london. For more than a century, this space was dominated by the vast skeleton of dippy, the diplodocus dinosaur. But dippy has gone, to be replaced by hope, the Blue Whale. And that is perhaps a symbol of this museums desire to focus not so much on the deep past and more on the fragility of our planet today. My guest is Museum Director doug gurr. Is this now a museum on a mission . Doug gurr, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. Welcome. Its a real pleasure to be here. But the strangest thing is to be in this vast, beautiful museum with absolutely no people. That, of course, is because of the pandemic. How strange and hard has it been running a museum in this time . Yeah, its been, at one level, very, very frustrating because, you know, were here to offer this extraordinary museum to all of our visitors. And weve had almost a yea
As the gang reunites for the first time in decades in just a few hours time. Hello and thanks forjoining us. A desperate search is taking place for more than 150 people feared to have drowned when an over loaded ferry sank in North West nigeria. The majority of those missing are reported to be women and children. President Muhammadu Buhari called the accident devastating. The boat was travelling between central Niger State and wara in northwest Kebbi State when it sank. The bbc s Sara Monetta has the latest. The crowd gathered on the banks of the river as news of the Shipwreck Spread into town. Theres anxiety in the air. Divers pulled a few bodies out of the water. Some lucky passengers are found swimming to shore, and rescued. The boat was travelling from Niger State to neighboring kebbi. Its a busy route on the niger river, used by local goldminers, traders and food vendors. The boat was carrying around 200 people, mostly women and children way over the Boats Capacity of 80. At least