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Episode details

World Service,19 Dec 2016,49 mins

How Outlook Solved a WWII Mystery

Outlook

Available for over a year

American soldier Major Zachariah Fike is on a mission to reunite lost war medals with their owners. He was on Outlook in August and listening to that interview in New Zealand was David Watson and it made him think about a dog tag and letters he had come across. The dog tag belonged to soldier Stanley Kownacki who was killed in action in 1943 during World War II. Thanks to David - and Zac - the letters and dog tag have now, finally, been returned to Stanley's only surviving sister Theresa Kownacki. Trinidadian Sonja Dumas once had a sensible career in the corporate world... but she gave it all up to turn her hips into a weapon. That's what she called her academic paper - 'The Hip as a Weapon' - and it's how she sees the dance form that is now at the centre of her life. It's a blend of abstract modern dance with a Caribbean twist. Outlook's Nicki Paxman went to meet Sonja at her studio in Port of Spain. The prestigious Sakharov Prize for this year has just been awarded - it honours people who campaign for human rights and freedom of thought. And it's gone to two remarkable Iraqi women who've told their stories to Outlook in the past - Nadia Murad and Lamiya Haji Bashar. Both are Yazidi - a religious minority in northern Iraq which has been persecuted by so-called Islamic State, or IS. Nadia and Lamiya tell us their stories. If you were watching the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games earlier this year, you would have seen Saulo Laucas performing the Brazilian national anthem. He's an opera singer, who happens to have autism and to have been blind since birth. Outlook's Gibby Zobel went to meet him, and his proud mum Vanessa, and hear their story. Photo: Stanley Kownacki's dog tags, Credit: Zachariah Fike

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