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Minister Gebran Bassil Feb 13, 2015

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In a special edition of HARDtalk, Zeinab Badawi is in Brussels to speak to Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil. He has travelled to the city to tell EU officials that his country has been overwhelmed by Syrian refugees. More than one million Syrians live in Lebanon – many of them have fled the oppression and brutality of the Assad government. So why then does his political party have an alliance with Hezbollah that backs the Syrian President?

(Photo: Gebran Bassil. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

General Assad Durrani Feb 11, 2015

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Pakistan's Intelligence Service has long been accused of looking both ways: of tackling terrorists when they target Pakistan but actively supporting them when they target Afghanistan or India. But when 152 people were killed in the school in Peshawar, Pakistan's Prime Minister said it was time to change. That the country would no longer distinguish between "good" and "bad" Taliban.

Today's guest is General Asad Durrani, who used to run the intelligence service - Are they really prepared to make enemies of their former friends? And what difference will it make?

Author Andrey Kurkov Feb 09, 2015

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It's a year since the protests in Ukraine's Maidan Square - protests that led to the fall of the pro-Russian government. Russian-born Andrey Kurkov has published his diary of the time. He's one of the country's most famous authors and supported the uprising. But, although he lives in Ukraine, he writes in Russian and because of that he's been rejected by some as a Ukrainian writer and accused of being a traitor by Russians.

Sarah Montague asks him what role do language and culture play in war? And was the uprising worth it?

(Photo: Andrey Kurkov. Credit: Volodymyr Shuvayev/AFP/Getty Images)

Juan Mendez - the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture Feb 06, 2015

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Sarah Montague talks to Juan Mendez, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Torture. He was a human rights lawyer in Argentina in the 70s when he was arrested, imprisoned and tortured.

He has said he owes his life to those in America who took a principled stand against torture. But now Juan Mendez says the world has become more accepting of cruelty and America has been compromised by its own brutal treatment of prisoners. So is torture ever morally justifiable?

(Photo: Juan Mendez. Credit: Getty Images)

Scientist Anne Glover Feb 04, 2015

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Should scientists working with governments and officials give opinions or just stick to giving scientific facts? Hardtalk speaks to the Scottish microbiologist Professor Anne Glover. She has just left her post as the first chief scientific adviser to the EU Commission President, and this is her first extensive broadcast interview since then. Whilst she was still in the post she said that in-house politics had hampered the efficiency of her role. Was she at loggerheads with the EU Commission?

(Image: Science apparatus. Credit: Lixuyao/Thinkstock)

Political and Social Activist - Jay Naidoo Jan 30, 2015

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According to Oxfam, South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the World - the wealth of the two richest citizens outstrips that of the poorest 50% of the population. Twenty years after the end of apartheid, why is that so?

As part of the BBC’s Richer World season Hardtalk speaks to Jay Naidoo, leader of the South African trade union movement during the liberation struggle and a cabinet minister under President Nelson Mandela. Why hasn’t freedom reduced inequality?

(Photo: Members of the Alexandra Trampoline Club in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, South Africa. The township is next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Moazzam Begg Jan 28, 2015

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Hardtalk speaks to the British Muslim campaigner Moazzam Begg. He was detained at Guantanamo Bay between 2003 and 2005, and then last February he was held for seven months in a British prison. In October all terrorism-related charges against him were dropped and he walked free. He believes that current counter-terrorism measures are fuelling the very problems they are trying to tackle and are alienating and radicalising some Muslims. So how should Muslim communities work with the authorities to prevent the extremists carrying out attacks?

(Photo: Moazzam Begg. Credit: Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Robbie Rogers - Footballer Jan 26, 2015

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Professional football has a problem with homophobia. There are gay footballers, but most feel compelled to keep their sexual orientation a secret. Hardtalk speaks to Robbie Rogers, a US international who plays for LA Galaxy. He broke football's great taboo by very publicly coming out after a spell in English football. But why haven't other gay footballers followed his lead?

(Photo: Robbie Rogers #14 of Los Angeles Galaxy. Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

US Economist Luigi Zingales Jan 23, 2015

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American capitalism is in crisis - that's the view of Professor Luigi Zingales. He blames the links between big government and big business. For the man who cites Margaret Thatcher as his hero, his answer is more competition; more free markets; an end to subsidies and lobbying and less privilege for the few. That's the way he says that capitalism can "rediscover and renew its moral foundation". So can it really be the answer to tackling inequality and mending the American dream?

(Photo: Wall Street sign near the New York Stock Exchange. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Dissident - Wu'er Kaixi Jan 22, 2015

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Chinese dissident Wu’er Kaixi, a student leader during the pro-democracy protests in 1989, takes part in a live debate on democracy with Stephen Sackur. The year 2015 marks 750 years since the first Westminster parliament and 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta. These landmark moments underpinned the establishment of Parliamentary democracy and the legal system in the UK and around the world. The BBC's Democracy Day will look at democracy past and present and encourage a debate about the future of democracy. How democratic are we?

(Photo: Chinese dissident Wu'er Kaixi speaks during the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown in Taipei, 2014. Credit: Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

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