Latin America has turned into a COVID-19 epicentre. It has 10 percent of the world's population, but in recent weeks has accounted for nearly half the global daily death toll. And Mexico is one of its worst-hit countries, with a death toll that has now surpassed Italy and Spain. About one in five of its inhabitants live in the capital, Mexico City - a beehive perfect for any virus looking to spread. Despite that, many question whether its rise here was so inevitable, or if the region's...

One day, when the coronavirus pandemic is merely of historical concern, much time will be spent discussing its origins and evolution and evaluating its long-term effects. But for now, for today, the coronavirus is still a matter of life and death. With many already mourning the loss of loved ones, others fear they might be next. Billions of people around the world are still in some degree of lockdown, their lives on hold, their jobs on the line. Economies are imploding, overstretched health...

A group of young women are looking to the stars in Kyrgyzstan. In the capital Bishkek, a non-profit organisation has put together an all-female group to build and launch the country's first satellite by 2021. This could help reignite an industry once shuttered; after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan gained independence but lost its national space programme. Nineteen-year-old Alina and others work tirelessly to code, wire, design and build the satellite. They also have to whip...

Marita Cheng built a tech empire with the sole purpose of creating robots that help people in their everyday lives, especially those with physical disabilities. The 29-year-old creative entrepreneur works on several of her innovations in this film. Some are completed and some are still a work in progress. We see her creations through all stages, from inception and research development, to the process of making and testing them. Her robots transform the routines of people with disabilities....

Anastasia Miliou knows just about everything there is to know about dolphins. She is a hydrobiologist and scientific director of the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation. It is the largest NGO of its kind and has monitored marine life in the Aegean Sea for the past 20 years. It is also halfway through a project to host the world's first marine life sanctuary off the small Greek island of Lipsi. A remote hamlet, the sanctuary's blue-green waters will offer refuge to local animals...

In the Kenyan port city of Kisumu, biological scientist Sheila Kaka Ochugboju tackles the biggest challenge of our era: climate change. In Kenya, one of Ochugboju's main concerns is the shrinking Lake Victoria, which also borders Tanzania and Uganda. Rich in resources, the lake is the lifeblood of surrounding communities, but a quickly changing environment is forcing people to adapt to new ways of harvesting food and running businesses. To tackle these issues head-on, Ochugboju works with...

Filmmaker: Blaise Piguet Loyalty cards, medical records, geolocation, biometric passports. Our digital traces speak volumes about our habits. The large volume of data recorded during each of our visits to the internet represents a great opportunity for personalisation, but the information we distil is also widely used for commercial purposes and can be used by governments as an invasive tool. Dataland illustrates the different facets of big data and artificial intelligence being unleashed...

Primatologist Citlalli Morelos-Juarez came to Ecuador's fast-disappearing Esmeraldas jungle to study and help save the endangered brown-headed spider monkey. To conduct her research she must go beyond the normal role of a scientist to become the director of a nature reserve, a landowner, agriculturalist, economist and politician. Key to her success has been setting up a parabiologist programme that empowers local women to learn about sustainability for the benefit of their communities and...

This is Episode 2. Watch Episode 1 here: https://youtu.be/EPHe4oag0R8 Writer and journalist Aatish Taseer returns to India, his mother country, to explore the changes in this deeply religious yet secular nation. He takes an in-depth look at tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and how the hardline government of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has fueled anger between Indians of different faiths. Cows are a sensitive topic in India - holy to Hindus and a commodity to Muslims....

Writer and journalist Aatish Taseer returns to India, his country of birth, to explore the changes in this deeply religious yet secular nation. He takes an in-depth look at tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and how the hardline government of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has fueled anger between Indians of different faiths. Cows are a sensitive topic in India - holy to Hindus and a commodity to Muslims. Taseer meets the families of cow traders and herders who have become...

Writer and journalist Aatish Taseer returns to India, his country of birth, to explore the changes in this deeply religious yet secular nation. He takes an in-depth look at tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and how the hardline government of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has fueled anger between Indians of different faiths. Cows are a sensitive topic in India - holy to Hindus and a commodity to Muslims. Taseer meets the families of cow traders and herders who have become...

Latin America's political left has been facing mounting pressure after political defeats in Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador, demonstrations and parliamentary opposition in Venezuela, the far-right victory in Brazil and flagging enthusiasm for the revolution in Cuba. This film offers an insight into the new challenges the continent is facing with unprecedented access to political leaders in Latin America including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former Presidents Dilma Rousseff of...

What is China? Where is it going? What is it going to do? The world's most populous country, an economy set to become the biggest in the world, a communist state, a developing nation, the world's oldest surviving civilisation at the cutting edge of a technological revolution, an authoritarian regime brutally suppressing its minority groups - China is many things to many people, but running through its core, like a continuous silk thread, is one central principle: order. The order really...

What is China? Where is it going? What is it going to do? The world's most populous country, an economy set to become the biggest in the world, a communist state, a developing nation, the world's oldest surviving civilisation at the cutting edge of a technological revolution, an authoritarian regime brutally suppressing its minority groups - China is many things to many people, but running through its core, like a continuous silk thread, is one central principle: order. The order really...

What is China? Where is it going? What is it going to do? The world's most populous country, an economy set to become the biggest in the world, a communist state, a developing nation, the world's oldest surviving civilisation at the cutting edge of a technological revolution, an authoritarian regime brutally suppressing its minority groups - China is many things to many people, but running through its core, like a continuous silk thread, is one central principle: order. "The order really...

The Gaza Strip - at points just 10km wide - is a narrow piece of land along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Its Palestinian population is sealed behind a separation barrier and tightly controlled checkpoints. Gaza is home to more than 1.5 million Palestinians - half of them under the age of 15. Unemployment is among the highest in the world and every day is a struggle to survive. Thousands of young people regularly risk their lives protesting their occupation by Israel along the border...

"My Ethiopia is our long-lasting traditions and cultures. My Ethiopia is our family-centred lifestyle. My Ethiopia is our authenticity," says Lensa Mekonnen, the CEO of state-owned Tourism Ethiopia. Since coming to power in April 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed women to 50 percent of his cabinet posts and promised unprecedented political and socioeconomic reforms. Lensa is finishing up her last few weeks on the job, and she is determined that tourism - which can boost the...

Every year, communities on the Gulf of Mexico risk being swept away by the elements. In 2005, the US state of Louisiana was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm which breached levies and flooded the city of New Orleans. In July 2019, tropical storm Hurricane Barry again forced thousands to evacuate as heavy rainfall brought widespread flooding. But hurricanes are not the only problem Louisiana is facing. It has been losing land to the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate,...

"My Ethiopia is my homeland. My Ethiopia is my blood. My Ethiopia is the country I was wounded for," says Muruts Beyene who lives in the Tigray region of northeast Ethiopia. A veteran of the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea war, Muruts spent years defending the territory he lives in from being usurped. But now, after new political reforms under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, part of his Irob community may be at risk. "I live near the border of Ethiopia and Eritrea, in an area which has been promised...

In a compound on the edge of Addis Ababa - next to a cluster of houses and a busy primary school - is a large corrugated iron shack. Inside is a cafe. Not an ordinary cafe, but the set of Ethiopia’s first political satire show to be broadcast on state television - Min Litazez, which translates to "How may I serve you?". "This is our mini Ethiopia," says creator and director Behailu Wase, who grew up in the same compound from where he now airs his popular show. "A lot of ideas are discussed...

We meet doctors at Johannesburg's 'Bara' hospital who are tackling eye problems among South Africa's poor communities. Once home to Nelson Mandela, Soweto was at the forefront of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle. The township, historically known as a site of defiance against racist rule, was also a place where much of Johannesburg's poor, black, urban population was forced to live. Since the end of apartheid more than 25 years ago, Soweto has grown and developed. Yet parts remain...

Meaza Ashenafi, Ethiopia's first female president of the Federal Supreme Court, is determined to restore public trust in her country's justice system. Appointed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in November 2018, the chief justice is tasked to reform her country's entire judicial system. "I always believed that promoting justice is my duty ... I decided to take up this position to restore public trust in the judiciary," Meaza says. "I knew it's going to be a difficult assignment. There is a lot...

When Raees Ahmadzai first became aware of cricket he was eight years old and living in a refugee camp in Pakistan's northwest Frontier Province. It was 1992 and Pakistan were about to win the Cricket World Cup. Like millions of other Afghans, Raees and his family had sought refuge in neighbouring Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of 1979. There, cricket was already an established passion. "I was in school at the refugee camp when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup ... Everyone was happy, the...

Half a century ago, as war raged in Vietnam, an isolated community in the jungles of northern Laos was recruited by the CIA to help fight the Viet Cong. Over 50,000 of the Hmong tribe became part of the US's secret army, disrupting Communist supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Thousands of Hmong died in the war. But their problems didn't end when the Americans withdrew. Fearing a crackdown by Laos communist forces, many fled the country. But some several thousand stayed behind and...