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Forlorn, Dilapidated and Dangerous Aug 31, 2019

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Gang violence in the townships of Cape Town is now so serious that the South African army has been sent in to try to curb it. But the causes of violence are complex. Will the state really be able to stamp its authority? Lindsay Johns reports.

Lizzie Porter finds sunflowers in bloom on the outskirts of Sinjar, the town in northern Iraq, where, five years ago so-called Islamic State kidnapped thousands of Yazidis. But the town itself is still largely empty, the streets deserted, the buildings smashed and most of the original population absent, too scared to return home.

There's a growing number of people from Africa and Asia in Central America, whose hope one day is to make it to the United States. Katy Long dusts down her rusty French to speak to a man from Congo in the middle of a rainstorm in Costa Rica.

While the Taliban talks peace with the US in Qatar, there's scepticism and concern on the streets of Kabul. Secunder Kermani talks to a group of young cricketers near the Ghazi Stadium, the place where the Taliban once carried out public executions.

And, while cricket fans in England had plenty of means at their disposal to watch Ben Stokes' demolition of the Australian bowling attack in last Sunday's Ashes victory, Jonah Fisher, in Kiev, was finding it less easy to follow proceedings. Being a cricket-loving foreign correspondent, he says, hasn't always been easy.

Fighting white supremacy Aug 24, 2019

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The United States is experiencing a resurgence of far-right extremism. We meet a man trying to challenge the ideology and convert those who have been radicalised. But Aleem Maqbool says he's ploughing a lonely furrow.

In Serbia the government has been investing in traditional crafts - carpentry and pottery - in an attempt to sustain rural communities. Nicola Kelly goes to meet the craftsmen and women - and finds offers of the local tipple difficult to refuse.

It's not long ago that Zimbabweans were celebrating the political demise of Robert Mugabe, who was president for nearly three decades - during which the country's economy collapsed. But, as Kim Chakanetsa reports after a recent trip to Harare, many there now have an unexpectedly rose-tinted view of the past.

Argentina too has had its fair share of economic misery. Results of recent presidential primaries spooked the markets and raised fears of renewed difficulties. Natalio Cosoy hears echoes of the past in Buenos Aires.

Petanque, that traditional summer pastime of the French, is undergoing something of a face lift. But the changes - especially the one that outlaws an accompanying glass of pastis - have occasioned more than a few grumbles, as Chris Bockman finds out.

From Our Home Correspondent 18/08/2019 Aug 18, 2019

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Mishal Husain introduces pieces reflecting contemporary life across the United Kingdom. Alison Williams would regularly see a young middle-aged woman sitting outside the railway station she used. They returned smiles; Alison wondered about her back story. Then suddenly the woman was gone. What happened next is a parable of our times. Each summer in recent years, Dorset has welcomed children from areas of northern Ukraine and Belarus blighted by the radioactivity released by the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear site in April 1986. During their stay, the children receive health checks and enjoy the hospitality of local families. So how are they faring? Jane Labous has been to meet this year's visitors - and their hosts. Even the idea of Welsh wine to accompany haute cuisine used to bring a smile to many a face, not least in the country itself. But in fact wine-making there dates back to Roman times and is currently undergoing a revival. But can what was once a cottage industry - literally - become a money-spinner? Tim Hartley has been visiting vineyards in both North and South Wales to gauge the prospects. When, fifteen years ago, 23 Chinese cockle pickers tragically lost their lives on north-west England's "wet Sahara" - the vast area of sand and mudflats which is Morecambe Bay - it confirmed its reputation for treacherous tides that can readily catch out the unwary. A new guide to assist crossings to and from the Cumbrian and Lancastrian sides of the Bay has recently been appointed and Tom Edwards decided to take his daughters there to initiate them into its tidal flows. And John Forsyth has been unearthing the mystery of toppling headstones in Scottish cemeteries. He discovers the identity of the perpetrator - and why it is happening.

Producer: Simon Coates

Lost Innocence Aug 17, 2019

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The protests at Hong Kong's international airport this week and the violence that resulted have been widely reported. Jonathan Head says not only was this the week that the protest movement lost its innocence, but also that the violence has handed the Chinese authorities a propaganda coup.

Reporting from Indian-administered Kashmir has been especially challenging since the Indian government stripped it of its special status: no internet and no telephones. But Yogita Limaye finds one friendly Kashmiri who supplies both hot tea and functional broadband.

If you're nervous about snakes then Gombe District in northern Nigeria is best avoided, warns Colin Freeman. He visits a hospital that specialises in treating bites, especially those of the carpet viper, an ever-present danger to the local farmers.

Waterproof clothing made from the wool of the Bordaleira sheep has kept Portuguese farmers dry for centuries. Today, it's also the height of fashion, as Margaret Bradley reports; flying off the shelves of smart shops of Lisbon and Porto and in much demand overseas.

President Trump surprised Sweden recently when he suggested that the prime minister intervene in the case of a US rapper who'd been arrested in Stockholm on suspicion of assault. Maddy Savage was in court to see the case play out.

Russia Burning Aug 10, 2019

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Fires are blazing in the far reaches of Siberia - an area the size of Belgium is on fire. Steve Rosenberg goes to have a look, a seventeen hour drive through forests of birch and cedar. But is Russia also burning socially and politically?

The Italian island of Lampedusa - halfway between Tunisia and Malta - has long been at the centre of the "migrant crisis"; a welcome haven for the occupants of leaky boats. Dr Pietro Bartolo has been working with migrants for many years but now, as Emma Jane Kirby reports, he's adopted a different approach.

The announcement from Delhi this week that Kashmir was losing its autonomous status took the world by surprise. The region has since been on lockdown, the residents left with few means of communication with the outside world. Rahul Tandon talks to young Kashmiris in Delhi, who oppose the new policy, and to Indians who support the government's move.

Sex is often a delicate subject. Norms are often very different from place to place – and the penalties for living outside the norm can be serious. Shereen El Feki has been working with a team from BBC Arabic to survey and interview people across the Middle East about their attitudes and their desires.

A group of Jewish orphans who survived the Nazi concentration camps and were resettled in Britain became known as The Boys, even though there were girls among them. Hannah Gelbart, the grand daughter of one of them, reports on a special reunion in Prague.

A Sorry Century Aug 03, 2019

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Television footage from Idlib in northern Syria continues to provide distressing evidence of civilian suffering. But the world's leading nations are unwilling or unable to intercede. Jeremy Bowen recalls his visits to the region in former, peaceful times but sees no end to the current violence.

The protesters have been on the streets of Hong Kong for several months, their fury with their government undiminished. But what are they saying in Beijing, the real centre of power? Celia Hatton says they're preparing death by a thousand cuts.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Somalia since the outbreak of civil war in the early 1990s. But a few brave souls have been going back to try and start the rebuilding process. Andrew Harding made friends with one of them several years ago, a man who became the mayor of Mogadishu.

In Nicaragua it's now 40 years since the Sandinista movement overthrew a hated dictatorship. The man in charge then, Daniel Ortega, is still in charge now. But the movement is now accused of adopting the same autocratic methods of the government it replaced. Will Grant has been talking to opposition figures recently released from prison.

In St Petersburg there's a row over the literary legacy of one of the city's best-known writers, Vladimir Nabokov. Chloe Arnold has been meeting those on each side of the argument

Aung San and a Disputed Legacy Jul 27, 2019

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It’s Martyrs’ Day in Myanmar and the country’s founding father, Aung San, is being honoured. His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi now leads the government, but with her reputation in tatters for her failure to condemn the excesses of the armed forces. Nick Beake reflects on the contradictions.

50 years after the first man walked on the moon, India has been celebrating the successful launch of its own lunar mission. Rajini Vaidyanathan joins a group of schoolchildren basking in the glow of national pride.

Thousands have been killed in the Philippines in President Duterte's “war on drugs.” He’s also got a reputation for a sense of humour that’s not to everyone’s taste. Howard Johnson wonders whether his jokes have conditioned people in the Philippines to accept atrocities.

Greece has a new prime minister after elections earlier this month. He’s promised to end the country’s brain drain, to persuade the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve left in recent years to come home. Jessica Bateman asks if that’s what they’ll want to do.

And, Vincent Dowd hears how technology is making shipping safer as he takes a boat trip out to the Fastnet Rock off the coast of Ireland, with its lighthouse, “a great cathedral tethered to the ocean.”

From Our Home Correspondent 21/07/2019 Jul 21, 2019

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Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from writers and journalists which reflect the range of contemporary life in the United Kingdom.

Writer and broadcaster, Ian McMillan, embarks on a high summer stroll along the bridle path that links his home with the post-industrial landscape of South Yorkshire, taking in a flattened colliery, a screaming mandrake, Peter Falk, the X19 bus to Barnsley and a magpie - or is it two? Journalist and part-time canoeist, Bob Walker, embarks on a "Three Men in a Boat"-style progress on the river Wye - which for much of its course marks the border between Wales and England. He quickly finds out that, just as in Jerome K. Jerome's time, there is often ferocious competition among the different users of the water space for access. And money often lies at the heart of the wrangling... With mental health issues finally commanding more attention at home, work and in society generally, Christine Finn returns to her home town of Deal to discover how those managing conditions are being helped by the use of allotments. Along the way, she realises that old-style denial of mental health problems had gone on much closer to home than she had previously thought. As the nation's gargantuan appetite for soft fruit reaches its apogee, John Murphy journeys to the poly-tunnels of the garden of England to learn how this demand is satisfied and how berry farmers' costs may yet force radical changes to the way strawberries, raspberries, loganberries - and all the rest - reach our tables. He also hears how the poly-tunnels can be unexpectedly romantic locations. And Ayo Akinwolere ponders how and when the relationship between fathers and sons alters, their roles invert and how well-prepared both are for the change.

Producer: Simon Coates

A World of Brandished Kippers Jul 20, 2019

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Jacob Zuma, the former South African president, has been in the spotlight all week – live on television responding to questions at a judicial inquiry investigating corruption at the highest level. Andrew Harding reflects on truth in the age of brandished kippers. The town of Kirkenes in northern Norway is a stone’s throw from the border with Russia. It’s now become the focus for a major spy scandal, as Sarah Rainsford has been finding out. Martin Patience was recently part of a BBC team that received a rare invitation to visit Iran, at a time when relations with Britain are strained. He says he was warmly received, although filming at a pop concert provided a moment of uncertainty. There’s been a long-running conflict in California over access to the beaches. On one side, the surfers, who need to be able to get to the ocean; on the other the tech millionaires, who’ve been putting up fences to keep people out. Sally Howard says the very soul of the Golden State is at stake. And Petroc Trelawny has been aboard the QE2 for a trip down memory lane. No longer plying the high seas, she’s moored in Dubai as a floating hotel; bri-nylon and formica among the glass and steel.

Freedom of speech in Algeria Jul 18, 2019

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Algerians have been celebrating the fact that their football team has made it to the final of the African Cup of Nations. But in Algeria, football is more than a sport. It was in the country’s stadiums that the desire for political change emerged. The nation’s autocratic leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted earlier this year and since then people have been getting to grips with new levels of freedom of expresssion, as Neil Kisserli has found. In the United States President Trump’s tweets about four non-white members of congress have caused uproar among his opponents. Mike Wendling has been to a pro-Trump gathering in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he encountered some unusual supporters of the president: “monarchists”. Chile is home to one of South America’s fastest growing economies. The agricultural sector plays a significant role, and exports include fruit, wine and fish. Salmon farming has become a big industry, but it can also sometimes be a dangerous one for those who work in it, as Grace Livingstone has learned. Over the next three decades, New Zealand hopes to rid itself of invasive species. Its Predator 2050 plan aims to eradicate stoats, rats, possums and other pests, in the hope of protecting the country’s indigenous wildlife. As Christine Finn has discovered, the project has garnered wide support. In China for centuries, the dominance of tea drinking may now be facing a challenge. Many young people are acquiring a taste for coffee, which may partly explain why foreign coffee shop chains have recently opened thousands of branches across the country. Andy Jones has been to Shanghai to hear why coffee may be poised to mount a challenge to tea.

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