麻豆社

There have been awful scenes at the Grand Mosque in Mecca after a giant crane collapsed and crashed onto people praying. There are reports of at least 100 dead and more than 100 injured. There has been a lot of building work around Islam's holiest site, and as the Haj approaches, concerns about the safety for pilgrims are growing. Irfan Al Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, explains the problems.

The virtual currency Bitcoin has had its fair share of scandals. The Japanese authorities have now charged the former head of a collapsed Bitcoin exchange with embezzlement. Mark Karpeles, who is from France, was the boss of MtGox which closed last year after admitting the disappearance of 850,000 coins worth $480mn at the time. At the time Mr Karpeles said it was a software glitch.

Also in the programme, we have a special interview with Dr. Kirill Komarov, one of the bosses of Russia鈥檚 nuclear programme, Rosatom.

And Singapore may have celebrated 50 years of independence, but the country is about to celebrate another even bigger birthday - that of the country's national drink. The Singapore Sling is turning 100. Sharanjit Leyl goes back to its roots to find out how this most Singaporean of things has endured.

All this and much more discussed with our guest Professor Adrian Hearn, Australian Research Council fellow in Pacific studies at the University of Melbourne

(Photo: A crane collapsed over the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Credit: Saudi TV via AP)