Episodes
Kate Adie introduces stories from India, Mexico, South Africa, Russia and a trans-continental sleeper train. Narendra Modi has returned for a third term as India's Prime Minister, but has seemingly lost some of his star power among voters, as the BJP lost its parliamentary majority. Yogita Limaye reflects on what this surprising election outcome says about the current health of Indian democracy. In another major election, Claudia Sheinbaum was elected as Mexico's first female president – the...
Published 06/08/24
Kate Adie introduces dispatches on Haiti, China, Lebanon, Spain and Italy. Haitians fear their plight is being forgotten after criminal gangs took control of the capital. An international peacekeeping force is scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks, but how quickly can law and order be restored? Catherine Norris Trent reports from the capital Port au Prince, where she met a community of displaced locals, now living in an abandoned government building. This week marks 35 years since...
Published 06/01/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from Myanmar, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Mexico. In Myanmar, tens of thousands of people have been killed since the military seized power in a coup in 2021, halting the country’s tentative transition to democracy - a further 2.5m people have been displaced. Quentin Sommerville has spent a month in the east of the country, living alongside resistance groups fighting the junta the jungles of Karenni state on the border with Thailand, and Shan state, which borders...
Published 05/25/24
Kate Adie presents stories from the US, Russia, Afghanistan, Germany and Bhutan It’s been a week of high drama in Manhattan as Donald Trump’s former ally and fixer, Michael Cohen took to the witness stand in the former President’s criminal trial. Kayla Epstein was watching events unfold in the courtroom in New York and reflects on what it might mean for Donald Trump’s re-election chances. A new front opened up in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week, as Russian troops made gains in the...
Published 05/18/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Georgia, Serbia, Colombia, Thailand and the Philippines Georgians have been protesting for weeks about a draft law requiring organisations to declare foreign funding, which many see as a turning point in Tbilisi's relationship with Russia and the West. Rayhan Demytrie explores why the law has proved so divisive. China’s President Xi Jinping has been on a tour of Europe this week, including a carefully timed visit to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Guy De Launey...
Published 05/11/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from the US, Portugal, the South China Sea, Argentina and Antarctica. University campuses across the US have been gripped by protests over the war in Gaza, with students demanding their schools divest from Israeli interests. Nomia Iqbal considers the ramifications of the protests for Joe Biden, who will need the youth vote on his side if he is to win re-election in November. In the days after the Hamas attacks, some 200,000 Israelis were evacuated from Israel's...
Published 05/04/24
Katie Adie presents dispatches from Armenia, India, China, Belgium and the Middle East. The flight of more than 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh last year, after a rapid offensive by Azerbaijan, quickly faded from news headlines. Tim Whewell remembers how the self-declared republic first emerged, as the Soviet Union was in its last throes, and reflects on how nations are born, and re-buried. More than a billion Indians are heading to the polls over the next six weeks to vote in a...
Published 04/27/24
Kate Adie introduces dispatches on Iran, Ukraine, South Africa, Portugal and Hong Kong. As the world nervously watches the developments between Iran and Israel, Lyse Doucet reflects on the rise of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since coming to power three decades ago, he has managed to avoid taking Iran into an all-out war - could that change as tensions continue to rise? A missile attack in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv this week laid bare the weakness of the country’s air...
Published 04/20/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Israel, Nigeria, the US, Lithuania and France Tensions between Iran and Israel this week have ramped up further after Tehran issued a warning that it would retaliate for a recent strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Israel never claimed responsibility for the attack but is widely considered to be behind it. This has compounded fears the conflict between Israel and Gaza will spill into a wider regional war. James Landale has been on an air drop mission...
Published 04/13/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from Rwanda, Estonia, St Helena and Puerto Rico. This weekend marks the start of the genocide in Rwanda that led to the death of more than 800,000 people – most from the country’s Tutsi minority. Three decades on, Emma Ailes met those who, against the odds, survived the violence – but continue to live with the trauma to this day. Among those who survived the genocide is the BBC’s Victoria Uwonkunda, who was just 12 years old at the time. She recently returned for...
Published 04/06/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from Israel and the Palestinian Territories, India, Tibet, Ireland and Guinea. What are the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians? Yolande Knell has been asking Israelis and Palestinians about their hopes and fears for the future, and whether the recent war in Gaza can be an impetus , or impediment, for a future peace settlement. In India, the Muslim minority which makes up about 200 million people, has been feeling under pressure as a result of...
Published 03/30/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from Belarus, Senegal, the US-Mexico border, Cambodia and Brazil. Political prisoners in Belarus attract less international attention than those in Russia - but there are far more of them, even in a smaller country. Many are women, held in a kind of house arrest known as 'chemical detention', under stringent rules which control their every move. Monica Whitlock gathered testimony from some living under these conditions. After months of political turbulence,...
Published 03/28/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from Russia, Germany, Timor Leste and Oman At a recent gathering in a gilded hall in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin thanked VIP supporters for his re-election. As he commenced his fifth term in office, he has reminded his voters that the annexation of Crimea is just the beginning of Moscow's ambitions. Steve Rosenberg reflects on how this latest election has emboldened the President but there are voices of opposition willing to take a stand in spite of the...
Published 03/23/24
Kate Adie introduces stories from Haiti, Chad, the Netherlands, Palau and Mexico. Haiti remains mired in crisis, with the capital in the grip of gang violence - more than 350,000 people have been displaced. Will Grant reports from Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic, where he has witnessed the growing desperation among people flocking to find food and supplies and escape the violence. It’s nearly a year since civil war erupted in Sudan between rival military forces - more than a...
Published 03/21/24
Kate Adie presents dispatches from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, the United States, Croatia and France. The brutality of Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army once made headlines around the world, as #Kony2012 became a global social media cause. While the world soon moved on, the forgotten victims of LRA violence living in the Democratic Republic of Congo are still trying to heal. Hugh Kinsella Cunningham reports from Haut-Uele province. The Islamic Revolution in Iran put an...
Published 03/16/24
Kate Adie presents stories from France, India, the US, Panama and Spain. It’s been a year since the UK signed a deal with France to help reduce the number of boats crossing the Channel and break up the smuggling gangs. And whilst the number of crossings is falling, there’s been a sharp rise in migrant deaths, mostly by drowning, as they take ever greater risks to reach the UK. Andrew Harding is in Calais to find out why. In the coming days, India will be calling national elections. Voting...
Published 03/14/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Haiti, South Korea, the US, Senegal and the Vatican City. Haiti's government have declared a state of emergency after armed gangs attacked the country's airport and stormed two of the main prisons. Harold Isaac gives a first-hand account of the chaos that unfolded and how the capital went into full lockdown. South Korean women are increasingly shunning the dating scene and choosing not to have children. And the country's birth rate recently fell again, to just...
Published 03/09/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Nigeria, Ukraine, Iran, Uzbekistan and Nepal. Nigeria is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, with soaring inflation and a depreciating currency, making many basic food items unaffordable for the majority. Mayeni Jones describes the challenges of daily living in a country where inflation is around 30 per cent. In the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, several villages have been captured after Russian forces took control of the town of...
Published 03/07/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Gaza, Turkey, Somalia, Ecuador and Japan. US President Joe Biden raised hopes that a ceasefire deal was close to being reached this week over the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. But these hopes faded after a tragic incident in which more than 100 people were killed as aid was being delivered to Gaza City. Paul Adams says the incident also highlighted wider problems as the war continues. Lizzie Porter follows the story of a family who fled...
Published 03/02/24
Kate Adie presents stories from the US, Indonesia, Georgia, Thailand and Colombia. Donald Trump’s only Republican rival for the US presidency, Nikki Haley, says she’ll fight on, despite roundly losing to him in her home state of South Carolina, where she was governor twice. Our Correspondent, Will Vernon, joined Republican campaigners in South Carolina, as they went door-to-door. In Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, a former army general with a questionable past humans rights record, is set to...
Published 02/29/24
Kate Adie introduces dispatches from Ukraine, Russia, the USA and Georgia. Sarah Rainsford was in Ukraine when Vladimir Putin first launched his full-scale invasion two years ago, reporting on the defiance and rush to defend the country. On a recent trip back to the border city of Kharkiv, she found a much more sombre mood. Steve Rosenberg reflects on how the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, along with two years of war with Ukraine, has affected the outlook of many ordinary...
Published 02/24/24
Kate Adie introduces dispatches from Germany, the Red Sea, Argentina, the Hungary-Serbia border and Costa Rica. BBC security correspondent, Frank Gardner takes us behind the scenes at the Munich security conference, where the sudden announcement of the death of Alexei Navalny brought home the diplomatic challenges facing world leaders. Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis say they will continue to target ships in the Red Sea, in solidarity with Palestinian people in Gaza. This has had a major impact on...
Published 02/23/24
Kate Adie introduces dispatches from Germany, the Red Sea, Argentina, the Hungary-Serbia border and Costa Rica. BBC security correspondent, Frank Gardner takes us behind the scenes at the Munich security conference, where the sudden announcement of the death of Alexei Navalny brought home the diplomatic challenges facing world leaders. Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis say they will continue to target ships in the Red Sea, in solidarity with Palestinian people in Gaza. This has had a major impact on...
Published 02/22/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Israel and Gaza, Guyana, Finland and the USA. International media have been campaigning to gain access to Gaza in the months since the Israeli bombardment began - with only occasional access granted, which is closely supervised by the Israeli military. More often, news organisations have relied on Palestinian journalists already living and working in Gaza, who continue to operate under dangerous conditions. Jeremy Bowen reflects on the difficulties of telling...
Published 02/17/24
Kate Adie presents stories from Ethiopia, Sweden, India, Australia and Ecuador. Ethiopia's Tigray region has already been devastated by war - now its people are facing starvation as swathes of land have been parched by drought. Our Diplomatic Editor, James Landale has been given rare access to the region, where he visited a clinic helping the hungry. Rising gang violence in Sweden has wrecked the country’s peaceful image. Now the government plans to introduce so-called ‘police search zones’...
Published 02/15/24