Crossing Continents
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Crossing Continents: Romario Tackles Brazil
A profile of Romario - Brazil's footballing bad-boy turned politician.
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CC: Romario tackles Brazil 16 May 2013
The 2014 World Cup is being hosted by Brazil. And leading the charge against corruption and over-budget stadiums is an unlikely figure: Romario – the World Cup-winning striker - has become one of Brazil’s most hard-working politicans. Tim Franks meets him for Crossing Continents. Is this a genuine transformation for one of Brazil's most notorious celebrity bad-boys?
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CC: Return to Ghana's oil city 9 May 2013
Ghana’s first commercial oil began flowing two and a half years ago. Shortly after the taps were turned on, Rob Walker visited the hub for the new offshore industry: the once sleepy port of Takoradi. He found a mixture of ambition and uncertainty in a rapidly expanding boomtown. Rob now returns to Takoradi to catch up with those he met last time and find out whether their dreams have been realised. Producer: Katharine Hodgson.
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CC: Hazaras, Hatred and Pakistan 2 May 2013
Mobeen Azhar investigates the deadly persecution of Pakistan's Hazaras, a mainly Shia minority.
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CC: Belarus's university in exile 25 April 2013
The European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania is an institution in exile. Forced out of it’s homeland in Belarus by the President, Alexander Lukashenko. But is it really a hotbed of political activism training students in readiness to take over what some have called ‘the last dictatorship in Europe”? Lucy Ash reports on this academic anomaly.
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CC: Mexico's village vigilantes 18 April 2013
Linda Pressly meets the vigilantes fighting Mexico's criminal gangs in Guerrerro State.
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CC: Ukraine's HIV battle 11 April 2013
Lucy Ash investigates why Ukraine has such a poor record of tackling HIV and AIDS.
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CC: Nepal, Getting Away with Murder
Joanna Jolly investigates war crimes in Nepal and asks why the authorities have done so little to bring killers to justice.
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CC: Mongolia's Mining Boom 28 Mar 2013
Why Mongolia has become the world's fastest-growing economy. Justin Rowlatt explores the mining boom and asks if all Mongolians will share in the benefits - and hears of the risks that the government could kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
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CC Extra: After Saddam Part 2
Hugh Sykes returns to Iraq to find out how lives have changed over the decade since the US-led invasion. Reporting from Baghdad, he hears the personal stories of Iraqis from across society.
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CC Extra: After Saddam Part 1
Hugh Sykes returns to Iraq to find out how lives have changed over the decade since the US-led invasion. Reporting from Southern Iraq, he focusses on the economic challenges of recovery.
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CC Extra: In Search of the British Dream (3/3) 11 Feb...
Foreigners are settling here in record numbers. But how easy is it for them to integrate? Mukul Devichand asks newcomers sometimes difficult questions about fitting in.
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CC Extra: In Search of the British Dream (2) 04 Feb 2013
Foreigners are settling here in record numbers. But how easy is it for them to integrate? Mukul Devichand asks newcomers sometimes difficult questions about fitting in.
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CC Extra: In Search of the British Dream Part 1
Mukul Devichand seeks to see the UK through the eyes of those who have recently arrived.
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CC: People trafficking in India 10 Jan 2013
Investigating how young girls in India are being trafficked and forced into marriage, or to work as prostitutes or domestic servants. Natalia Antelava hears stories of the trafficked girls and from a trafficker himself. Listeners may find some details disturbing.
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CC: Forced Confessions in Japan 3rd Jan 2013
Japan has an astonishingly high conviction rate but is the use of prolonged questioning and other dubious tactics by police and prosecutors one of the reasons for this? Mariko Oi investigates
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CC Extra: Correspondent's Look Ahead: 28 Dec 12
Owen Bennett-Jones is joined by some of the BBC's top correspondents as they give their predictions about what will shape our world next year. Producer: Linda Pressly
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CC: Burma 27 Dec 2012
Two farmers daughters, known as the Iron Ladies, are leading a campaign against a Chinese-backed copper mine in northwest Burma. They complain of pollution and a loss of farmland but the authorities are worried the protest could put off foreign investors in the poorest country in South East Asia. Will the row over the mine prove a test case for the government's commitment to democratic reforms?
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Poland's New Immigrants 20th Dec 2012
Migrants to Poland? Poland hasn’t had to cope with a big influx in foreign workers for generations. But with the success of its economy is coming a new wave of immigration. In this week’s Crossing Continents, Paul Henley investigates the changing face of one of the very few prosperous countries left in Europe.
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CCExtra: Europe moves East 18 Dec 2012
Allan Little charts how the centre of power in the European Union is moving from France and towards Germany and Poland.
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Libya: Life after the Revolution 13 Dec 2012
It’s more than a year since the Libyan revolution ended but the country is still awash with weapons. While most Libyans rejoice in their success overthrowing 42 years of dictatorship, there are tensions over who deserves most of the credit and who should get a bigger say in shaping the country. In Crossing Continents now Justin Marozzi reports on the battle for who owns the revolution. The programme does contain some descriptions of violence, including sexual violence, which some listeners...
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Sexual Abuse in US Prisons 06 Dec 2012
Sexual abuse has become so common in America’s huge jail and prison system that the government has introduced new rules designed to stamp it out. Linda Pressly speaks to victims of prison rape and asks whether the new rules can stamp out abuse behind bars.
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CC Extra: Decontaminating Halabja 03 Dec 2012
BBC foreign affairs editor John Simpson returns to Halabja in Kurdistan, 25 years after the world's worst-ever chemical weapons attack on civilians.
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The Mystery of South Africa's Missing Textbooks 29 Nov...
Many schools in the north of South Africa have gone for months without text books. There was money to buy the books. There was also a contract to deliver them. Yet they didn't arrive. Many students and parents are furious with politicians of the governing ANC - and say the problem is due to mismanagement and alleged corruption. For Crossing Continents, Rob Walker investigates the mystery of the missing books, and asks what it says about the way the ANC is running South Africa.
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CC Extra: On the French Fringe 23 Nov 2012
Kirsty Lang and Lucy Ash investigate an underground arts collective which operates in the vast network of tunnels which lie beneath Paris.
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CC Extra: On the French Fringe 22 Nov 2012
Kirsty Lang and Lucy Ash meet female authors, magazine editors and activists wearing false beards who tell them that feminism in France is still very much a fringe affair.
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CC: El Salvador's Gang Truce 22 Nov 2012
El Salvador's violent street gangs have made a truce. The Mara Salvatrucha and 18th Street gang are criminal outfits that trace their origins to Los Angeles. In March peace was brokered in El Salvador’s prisons with the gangs’ leaders. Since then the murder rate in this small Central American nation has plummeted. Linda Pressly visits the jailed leaders to find out how the deal was done. Is this a peace that can last?
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CC Extra: On the French Fringe 21 Nov 2012
Kirsty Lang and Lucy Ash take a journey off the beaten track of the French arts scene and meet the world's most celebrated street theatre company.
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CC Extra: On the French Fringe 20 Nov 2012
Kirsty Lang and Lucy Ash take a series of snapshots off the beaten track in France looking at the state of the nation through the prism of arts and culture.
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CC Extra: On the French Fringe 19 Nov 2012
Kirsty Lang and Lucy Ash ask what the French obsession with film festivals - of which they have 168 - says about the nation.
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CC: The Mayor of Mogadishu 15 Nov 2012
Andrew Harding meets the Somali/British Mayor trying to clean up his city. Can the former student from London tackle the impact of mass corruption and violence while staying alive?
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CC Extra: Putin, the Patriarch and Pussy Riot 01 Oct 12
After the feminist punks, Pussy Riot, sparked outrage in Moscow Cathedral, Lucy Ash explores the complex relations between Church, State and protest in Putin's Russia.
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CC Extra: The Stasi Jigsaw Puzzle 14 SEP 2012
The East German secret police, The Stasi, loved to keep records and built up a library of hundreds of thousands of files on its own people. When the order came to destroy those files after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was so much paper to get through the state’s shredders collapsed under the pressure. Two decades on, Chris Bowlby visits Berlin to meet the archivists using modern technology to restore this nearly-destroyed record of Germany’s communist past and learns how the search for...
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CC Extra: Latino USA 11 Sept 2012
America needs to re-invent itself. Claire Bolderson taps into the under exploited potential of America's fastest growing minority and asks if Latinos hold the key to a reborn USA.
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CC: Israel’s New Front Line 06 Sept 2012
Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews have been exempt from conscription - but now that could change. Linda Pressly investigates how the issue is exposing deep faultlines in Israeli society
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CC: Romania's Gold War 30 Aug 2012
A proposed gold mine at Rosia Montana in Transylvania promises much-needed jobs and a multi- bilion dollar boost to the Romanian economy - but this open-cast gold mine, which would be Europe's largest, has caused a political storm across the country.
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CC: Crime and Football in Bulgaria 23 Aug 2012
In Bulgaria no fewer than 15 football club bosses have been murdered in the last decade. Crossing Continents investigates the longstanding connection between crime, politics and football in Bulgaria and asks is violence and corruption in the game getting further out of control?
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CC Extra: Generation E: Poland's Undergound Economy 17...
Coal mining is proving a popular career choice in south east Poland where young people have found work in re-opened coal mines. Travelling to Katowice, Lucy Ash also finds other young job seekers resorting to illicit means because they say the country's taxes are crippling them.
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CC Extra: Hungary's Trapped Graduates 16 AUG 2012
Hungarian university students with state funded places must sign a contract promising to stay in the country for a decade after they graduate - even longer for medical students. The Hungarian government introduced the measures as it is desperate to avoid a brain drain, but many claim the new law violates freedom of movement within the EU.
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CC: Korea Host Bars 16 Aug 2012
BBC Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson explores the growing popularity of South Korean Host Bars where female customers select and pay for male companions.
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CC Extra: Generation E: Italy's Five Star Idealist 15...
The Five Star Movement is a new force in Italian politics, launched by the country's best known comedian, Beppe Grillo. Lucy Ash meets one of the movement's proteges, 22-year-old Mattia Calise, a political science student and Milan city councillor. Mattia is passionate about transparency and irritates the mainstream parties by recording council sessions and putting them on his blog. He has also campaigned to reduce the influence of the Mafia.
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CC Extra: Generation E: Latvia's Loans for Life 14 AUG...
When the economic crisis hit, Latvia introduced some of the strictest austerity measures to be found anywhere in Europe and its GDP fell by 25 per cent. Now it is hailed by the IMF as a great success story, but Lucy Ash discovers that life for young people is still extremely tough. She speaks to those who have lost their homes but still owe the banks huge debts, while others have simply left the country.
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CC Extra: Generation E: Germany's El Dorado 13 AUG 2012
As the euro crisis deepens and schisms emerge, Lucy Ash travels across Europe to meet the continent's next generation, who face an uncertain future. She travels to the affluent German town of Schwabisch Hall. Short of skilled workers, the town appealed to job seekers across Europe and recieved thousands of applications overnight. But how are the new arrivals adjusting to life in Germany?
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CC: Cold Turkey in Karachi 09 Aug 2012
Karachi has a population of 20 million, of whom an estimated half a million are chronic heroin addicts. Mobeen Azhar finds out how a charity is helping them and their families.
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CC: Rwanda Cycling 02 Aug 2012
Tim Mansel spends a week with Rwanda's national cycling team to see how one of the world's most physically challenging sports is helping Rwandans confront their traumatic past
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CC: Spain’s White Elephants 26 Jul 2012
The Aeropuerto Don Quijote in central Spain is brand new with one of the longest runways in Europe. But it's closed. What can it tell us about Spain and the economic crisis?
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CC: China Tweeting 19 Jul 2012
China's main microblogging site, Sina Weibo, has more than 300 million users. Shanghai-based journalist Duncan Hewitt finds out how the service is changing China.
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CC: Some Promised Land 12 JUL 2012
Following the route taken by illegal migrants who are risking their lives to reach the Europe Union, which - despite all its troubles - they still see as the Promised Land.
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CC: China: too old to get rich? 17 May 12
China's natural aging process has been accelerated by the One Child Policy. Mukul Devichand asks whether Shanghai's aging population could be undermining economic growth.
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CC: Russia's New Energy Frontier 10 May 12
Vladimir Putin's political survival depends on increasing oil and gas extraction in Russia's Yamal region but the area also boasts the world's biggest reindeer herding community. Lucy Ash visits Russia's Arctic where reindeer herders and gas companies compete for land.
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CC: A Death in Honduras 3 May 12
Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. Linda Pressly profiles the People's Funeral Service - a unique organisation offering succour in a sea of violence.
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CC: Marriage Breakers of Bangladesh 26 Apr 12
In Bangladesh, 20% of girls are married before their 15th birthday. Angus Crawford joins campaigners trying to persuade rural villagers not to marry off their daughters so young.
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CC Extra: Nigerian Crossroads 24 APR 2012
Nigeria, the giant of West Africa, has the largest population of any African country. It's a country that could - perhaps, should - be a significant player on the world stage. But Nigeria's communities are torn apart by communal and religious violence and in recent years a new, radical Islamist group, Boko Haram, has emerged to challenge the power of the state across the north of the country. BBC Correspondent Mark Doyle asks whether Nigeria will grow into a confident democracy or whether it...
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CC: The Pink Certificate 19 Apr 12
All Turkish men have to complete a period of military service, unless they are sick, disabled or homosexual. But for gay men, applying for exemption is a humiliating process.
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CC: Forced sterilisation in Uzbekistan 12 Apr 12
Natalia Anteleva uncovers evidence that women in Uzbekistan are being sterilised by the government, often without their knowledge.
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CC: The Angola Two 02 Apr 2012
Tim Franks looks at the case of two prison inmates who have been held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for 40 years - believed to be the longest period of time in US history.
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CC: Canada's prescription drug crisis 29 Mar 12
On the First Nations reserves of Canada, addiction to prescription pain-killers is rife. Linda Pressly investigates the devastating impact of such widespread abuse.
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CC: What happened to the Kurdish spring? 12 Jan 12
Should the autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq be a model for the Middle East to follow or avoid? Gabriel Gatehouse investigates.
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CC: Saving the Brazilian Amazon 05 Jan 12
The Brazilian authorities have managed to significantly reduce rates of deforestation in the Amazonian rainforest Justin Rowlatt investigates how.
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CC: Frank Wild's last journey 29 Dec 11
As Frank Wild's ashes are taken to South Georgia for burial next to Shackleton Karen Bowerman retraces the route of Antarctic explorer Wild, Shackleton's second-in-command.
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CC: The graves of Kashmir 22 Dec 11
Jill McGivering investigates the discovery of thousands of bodies in mass graves in Indian Kashmir. Are they Pakistani militants - or innocent victims of the Indian military?
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CC Extra: Tales from the Arab Spring: Syria 21 Dec 11
In Tales from the Arab Spring, the BBC's middle east editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on a momentous year. In the third and final programme he hears from some of the people who have witnessed the repression of President Bashir al-Assad's regime in Syria at first hand. We hope you enjoy this Crossing Continents Extra podcast.
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CC Extra: Tales from the Arab Spring: Libya 20 Dec 11
In Tales from the Arab Spring, the BBC's middle east editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on a momentous year. In the second programme he considers events in Libya and the fall of Colonel Gaddafi. We hope you enjoy this Crossing Continents Extra podcast.
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CC Extra: Tales from the Arab Spring: Egypt 19 Dec 11
In Tales from the Arab Spring, the BBC's middle east editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on a momentous year in the Middle East. In this first programme he considers events in Egypt and recalls his own experiences of the Mubarak regime. We hope you enjoy this Crossing Continents Extra podcast.
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CC: China's migrant worker mega-city 15 Dec 11
China's economy depends on a system regulating workers from around China and beyond. In Guangzhou, the migrant metropolis, Mukul Devichand hears stories of anger and reform.
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CC Extra: Boundaries of Blood
Forty years ago, in December 1971, Pakistan suffered a humiliating defeat after a two week war with India and a new country, Bangladesh, was born. In this Crossing Continents Extra podcast Shahzeb Jillani examines how the memory of that defeat has shaped the thinking of the Pakistani military today and explores the hidden legacy of violence which fuels the resentment many Bangladeshis still feel towards Pakistan.
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CC: Roubles and Radicals in Dagestan 24 Nov 11
Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov has pumped a fortune into Dagestani football and is bankrolling projects across this restive republic. Can his roubles end the insurgency?
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CC: India's corruption whistleblowers 17 Nov 11
Despite promises by the Indian government to stamp out graft Rupa Jha investigates how local-level campaigners against corruption face threats and violence.
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CC: Zimbabwe's child migrants 08 Sept 11
Mukul Devichand goes on the road with young children travelling alone on a journey of desperation, danger and hope - south from Zimbabwe and across the border to South Africa.
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CC: 9/11 - Toxic Ash 01 Sept 11
David Shukman reports on the thousands who have become ill from the toxic dust that blanketed Lower Manhattan after the Twin Towers collapsed on September 11th.
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CC: The mystery of Dirar Abu Sisi 25 Aug 11
Gabriel Gatehouse investigates the strange story of Dirar Abu Sisi. A Palestinian who disappeared from a Ukrainian train, only to reappear in an Israeli court on terrorism charges.
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CC: Takoradi, Ghana's oil city 18 Aug 11
Rob Walker visits the sleepy Ghanaian city of Takoradi as a massive oil boom gets underway. Can the city - and the country - escape the "oil curse" of violence and corruption?
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CC: Murder, migration and Mexico 11 Aug 11
Thousands of Central Americans travel to the US every year. Now Mexican drug cartels are kidnapping and killing them. Linda Pressly investigates their perilous journey.
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CC: The Mourides of Senegal 04 Aug 11
Tim Judah reports from Senegal on the rise to prominence and economic power of the Mourides, a Sufi Muslim brotherhood with a powerful work ethic.
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CC: Escape from North Korea
Lucy Williamson reports from Seoul on the dangerous trade of the people brokers, smuggling the desperate out of North Korea to the safety of the South.
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CC: Libyan refugees
Crossing Continents joins a British doctor volunteering to help women and children stranded in Tunisian refugee camps while the men fight Gaddafi's forces in the mountains south of Tripoli.
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CC: On the road with Hillary Clinton
The BBC's Kim Ghattas has gained exclusive, behind the scenes access to the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her staff during one of her recent overseas trips.
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CC: 19 May 11 Colombia Alzheimer's research
Scientists are hoping for a breakthrough in research into Alzheimer's Disease by investigating a family in Medellin, Colombia, with a rare genetic mutation. Bill Law reports.
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CC: The Pakistan Connection
Owen Bennett-Jones reports from Pakistan following the killing of Osama bin Laden. For years, observers of Pakistan have accused it of playing a double game: fighting jihadists who threaten the state, while tolerating extremists it thinks might be useful. And the discovery and killing of al Qaeda’s leader has only increased the pressure on a struggling country.
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CC: South Africa
Martin Plaut investigates alleged shortcomings at gold mines in South Africa.
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CC: What Happened Next? 28 Apr 2011
Lucy Ash revisits some of the significant stories covered by Crossing Continents from Kosovo to Tulsa to Turkmenistan and discovers what has changed since our initial reports.
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CC: Germany 21 Apr 2011
David Goldblatt looks at whether Berlin's alternative culture is under threat from commercial pressures. Or do developers and artists need each other to exist?
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CC: The Sisters of the Revolution 14 Apr 2011
The unfolding Egyptian revolution through the eyes of five extraordinary women. Bill Law returns to Egypt and catches up with the women he met three years ago.
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CC: Ecuador 07 Apr 2011
Ecuador has a radical plan not to exploit its oil reserves, and so save its pristine rainforest. It depends on international donors. Linda Pressly ask will the world pay Ecuador not to drill?
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CC: Uganda 31 Mar 2011
Anna Cavell investigates the human trafficking of Ugandan women to work as virtual slaves in Iraq - and tells the dramatic story of how some were rescued.
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CC: Baghdad Airport 24 Mar 2011
Gabriel Gatehouse hears the extraordinary tales of the people coming into and out of Iraq - and paints a portrait of a still troubled country through its international gateway.
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CC: Cambodia land grabs 13 Jan 2011
Mukul Devichand investigates whether Cambodia is a "country for sale" with international investors using fair means or foul to acquire valuable farmland.
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CC: India: Palliative Care 06 Jan 11
Linda Pressly reports from India on palliative care – medical provision for those nearing the end of life.
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CC: Syria corruption 30 Dec 2010
Lina Sinjab investigates whether corruption is rising in Syria as the economy booms.
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CC: Senegal 23 Dec 10
David Goldblatt examines the growth of Senegalese wrestling, from traditional rural ritual to commercial urban spectacular.
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CC: The Two Faces of Bahrain 16 Dec 10
Bahrain projects itself as an Arab state that is open, progressive and moving toward democracy. But Bill Law finds another Bahrain where dissent is suppressed and critics jailed
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CC: Nichi Vendola 09 Dec 10
Rosie Goldsmith profiles Nichi Vendola, the governor of Puglia and the hope for the Italian left. Can this gay, Catholic poet and environmentalist challenge Silvio Berlusconi?
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CC: Georgia pine cones 02 Dec 2010
Angus Crawford discovers that most European Christmas trees originate as pine cones picked in dangerous conditions in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
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CC: The Primorsky Partisans 25 Nov 10
Lucy Ash asks why a group of young men near Vladivostok killed policemen and why so many ordinary Russians supported them.
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CC: Road Kill 18 Nov 10
Sheena McDonald visits some of the world's most dangerous roads in Kenya and Costa Rica to find out why the death toll in developing countries is rising.
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CC: Delhi 09 Sept 10
Rupa Jha investigates who wins and loses in the massive rebuilding programme as the Indian capital of Delhi prepares for the Commonwealth Games.
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CC: The Church in China 02 Sept 10
Christopher Landau explores the explosive growth of christianity in China, with millions flocking to the official Protestant and Catholic churches.
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- London, United Kingdom
- World Music, World Talk
- BBC
- English
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