Synopsis
Insight, wit and analysis as BBC correspondents, journalists and writers take a closer look at the stories behind the headlines. Presented by Kate Adie and Pascale Harter.
Episodes
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Fasting under Fire
17/07/2014 Duration: 28minDespatches. In this edition: some of the families caught up in Israel's fight against Palestinian militants in Gaza. Out on patrol on the dimly-lit streets of Caracas - the city with the highest murder rate of any capital. Two months to go to the Scottish referendum:- so what happened when other nations set out to assert their identities, to run their own affairs? And we find out why there are absolutely no women enjoying one of the most spectacular views in all of Greece.
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Watching the World Cup in the Woods
12/07/2014 Duration: 28minWe join the German football fans watching the world cup in the middle of a forest. Also: Fighting corruption in China; the culture of silence in a Mexican town ravaged by violence; why the French would rather speak Latin; and Italy's oldest police force celebrates its 200th anniversary. Presented by Kate Adie.
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Tennis in Baghdad
10/07/2014 Duration: 27minJeremy Bowen laments the loss of everyday freedoms in Baghdad; Hilary Andersson investigates the mistreatment of prison inmates with mental health problems in the UDA; Alex Preston ventures into the biggest jade market in the world in Mandalay; Diana Darke meets Syriac christians rebuilding communities in their ancestral homeland in southeast Turkey; and Alex Marshall goes 'dumb walking' with his smartphone in Tokyo.
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Two Worlds Collide
05/07/2014 Duration: 28minReporting the world: correspondents with insight, colour and analysis from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Rome, Lahore and Paris
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No More Boat People
03/07/2014 Duration: 27minGlobal despatches: in this edition, why hunger is again taking hold in South Sudan - even after a plentiful harvest; Australia gets tough with asylum seekers -- and the problems pile up for those seeking a new life down under; how America's attachment to its First Amendment gives hate groups the freedom to disseminate their beliefs; we visit a cemetery in the Czech Republic: a place of awful history, but also one where you learn about a community determined to create a successful future for itself; and fine dining for only a few pounds? we meet a man in Chile dedicated to reviving his country's culinary heritage.
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Hero or Villain?
28/06/2014 Duration: 28minJune the 28th 1914 was the day Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Ferdinand. It led to the start of the First World War. Allan Little considers why today's Sarajevo is divided over whether Princip was a hero or a terrorist. President al-Sisi's new regime in Cairo: Louisa Loveluck's been finding out whether Egyptians regret voting in a new era of authoritarianism. Brazil has one of the world's worst crack cocaine problems: Katy Watson's been to see a government project which is trying to address it. Aidan O'Donnell visits a sacred city in the Horn of Africa. It is also noted for its production of beer. And while India's new rulers are keen to promote the use of Hindi, Craig Jeffrey's been finding out that the English language is still omnipresent, creeping into even unexpected corners of everyday society.
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The Consequences of History
26/06/2014 Duration: 28minThe foreign interventionists whose actions have contributed to today's violent events in Iraq. How Burmese rebels crash-landed a plane and then made off with its cargo of cash. Increasingly pressing challenges face the government of Kenya -- not least a drastic reduction in the number of people wanting to spend their holidays there. We are told that a refugee camp in Beirut might just be the best place to go and watch a match in the World Cup and find out why a village on the south coast of Spain is celebrating the life of the very English author Laurie Lee.
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I Never Got to Florence
21/06/2014 Duration: 27minCorrespondents' stories. Few British go to the Italian seaside town of Alassio these days but the library created for them there is still going - just. Coffee prices are rocketing in Brazil and the producers in this country which traditionally produces 'an awful lot of coffee' are concerned. There's a despatch from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital which is now a target of ISIS and other Sunni rebels. The problems pile up for the French president -- but he takes time off to praise an artist who only ever paints in black. And from the USA, we find out what happened to Little Germany, once a thriving part of New York City. Today, little more than a distant memory.
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Dilemma for the US
19/06/2014 Duration: 28min'Getting rid of Saddam was the easy bit.' The problems stack up for the United States as fighting continues in Iraq. Elves have had a place in Icelandic folklore for more than a thousand years. We find out why they're treated with such respect. Also, how countries around the world are drawing lines on the map of Antarctica, carving up the ice with their territorial claims. The climbing season on Mount Everest comes to a close; we hear it's been one of the worst on record and what happened when a British woman living in Bulgaria offered work to a gypsy boy.
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A Glimpse of the Future
14/06/2014 Duration: 27minTwo conflicting visions of the future present themselves on a visit to the Middle East; the Americans send in the drones to attack the Pakistani Taliban again -- what chance now of a negotiated peace? The long strike in South Africa's platinum mines may be ending, but the bitterness which has divided mining families will be long lasting; the president of Burundi is a keen footballer, we hear, but is it a surprise that he scores so many goals? And fond memories of a school in New York celebrating its centenary -- but what is it exactly that makes this school such a well-loved place? Producer - Tony Grant
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Guitar or Sitar?
12/06/2014 Duration: 27minCorrespondents with stories to tell: how is traditional Indian culture faring with the country engulfed in a tide of globalisation? World football's governing body FIFA is in crisis as the World Cup kicks off in Brazil. Germany and Britain are at odds over how Europe should be governed. What's in a name? It's of great importance when you're bidding to be the next president of Afghanistan. And how new technology can help those visiting the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium.
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Mort Pour La France
07/06/2014 Duration: 28minThe news -- with added insight, colour and perspective. In this edition, the unsung French civilian heroes who gave up their lives in World War Two. The people in eastern Ukraine who fear the consequences of being caught up in a power struggle between east and west. Why Libyans are wary of the former general who's pledged to rid the country of Islamist militias. There's an historical battle re-enactment in Don Quixote territory in Spain. It's a bit like rugby, a bit like boxing. But why haven't the Russians been invited? And another question: why have the North Koreans opened a chain of restaurants across Asia? Our man tries to find out whether they're just proud of their cuisine, or if they have more sinister motives?
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the Education Minister's Watch
05/06/2014 Duration: 28minLooking behind the headlines: the new patriotic conservative mood in Russia -why it's making the country's beleaguered opposition feel under siege; the Thai military which has seized control of the country promises increased prosperity but warns protestors must keep quiet; the Nigerian authorities try to improve educational facilities in the north as the insurgency by Boko Haram gathers pace; education's under discussion in Mexico too - the president's decreed there must be improvements and the politicians in the United States who're not tightening up the firearms laws, they're GIVING guns away!
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The News in 2039
31/05/2014 Duration: 28minGlobal despatches: will the African elephant be extinct in two decades? And which of the stories preoccupying correspondents today will still be seen as important in the future? In this edition, reporters in Kenya, Egypt, Kashmir, Niger and China.
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Thurs May 29 2014: Spinning Myths
29/05/2014 Duration: 28minInsight, colour, analysis and description. In this edition the stories come from Odessa, Rio de Janeiro, Naples, San Francisco and Saintes-Maries-De-La-Mer.
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Less Freedom, More Stability
24/05/2014 Duration: 28minCorrespondents telling us more: how there's always been someone lying awake in Egypt waiting for the policeman's midnight knock; on mounting anger in Nigeria that the authorities aren't doing enough to counter the threat posed by the militants of Boko Haram; why the fishing communities of the far west of Ireland feel it's not just distance which separates them from the bureaucrats in Brussels and Strasbourg; why, in Brazil as the World Cup approaches, so many feel disillusioned, disrespected and discriminated against and our reporter's in Texas, flipping pancakes with the oldest Congressman in the House of Representatives. At 91, the veteran politician says, he's certainly not too old to continue serving the public. Tony Grant is the programme's producer.
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Walk Warily in Waziristan
22/05/2014 Duration: 28minCorrespondents worldwide: Owen Bennett-Jones attends a Christian church service in Waziristan, Pakistan's Taliban country; Mark Tully considers whether India's secular tradition is under threat now the Hindu nationalist BJP has been voted in to power; Justin Rowlatt watches the Brazilian authorities trying to protect 'the most endangered tribe on the planet'; Thomas Fessy visits a ski shop on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Niger and on 'Good Neighbours Day' in France, Joanna Robertson finds suspicion, hostility, grievance and gossip alive and well in the apartment blocks of Paris. Programme produced by Tony Grant.
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The Tourists Have Gone
17/05/2014 Duration: 28minStories from reporters around the world. In this edition: empty hotels and a deserted holiday coastline in Kenya as tourists head home after a Foreign Office terrorism warning; five years after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, the Sri Lankan government says the country's on the path to ethnic reconciliation - but is it? The coming European elections: will they reflect a growing wave of scepticism about the effectiveness of pan-continental government? A disaster in central America three hundred years ago which brought to an end the last independent kingdom of Scotland. It's a city even Parisians want to move to! how Nantes has been transformed from a grimy old port into a dynamic, artistic powerhouse. The producer - Tony Grant.
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Beauty and horror in South Sudan
10/05/2014 Duration: 28minBeauty and brutality coexist after a battle in South Sudan: a bullet whistles over the head of our correspondent in eastern Ukraine: watching the maple syrup wars in Canada: out on the town in Colombia, despite the threat from FARC rebels: and a memento in Bosnia of Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who sparked World War I. Presented by Kate Adie.
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Heroes of Baghdad
03/05/2014 Duration: 27minGlobal viewpoints. In this edition: Kevin Connolly visits the Baghdad book market and salutes the bravery of those who carry on with their daily lives amid a constant threat of violence; Jeremy Bowen considers the impact on the Middle East of the apparent coming together of the two rival Palestinian factions; Chris Terrill's on a perilous day out with the fishermen of Mauritania in west Africa; Katy Watson is in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo where housing's a serious problem - this is a place with the world's largest slum population. And fish and rice they are used to, but Robin Lustig was in the Burma's Irrawaddy Delta when the locals, for the first time, were invited to sample German sausages and tomato ketchup.