From Our Own Correspondent
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FOOC 18 May 2013: Conspiracy!
Correspondents' stories from around the world: a field day for conspiracy theorists as the White House stumbles in a fog of political scandal; Libya's second city Benghazi's unstable, violent and there's uncertainty there over the presence and degree of influence of radical Islamists; as France slips back into recession, there's a trip to Lot-et-Garonne in the south west where they have their own ideas about how to cope in times of economic difficulty; to the holiday islands of The...
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FOOC 11 May 2013: Brides For Sale
Correspondents around the world with the detail behind the headlines: Beth McLeod on the struggling Syrian refugees resorting to selling their daughters into marriage. The costs and consequences of standing in a Pakistani election are explored by Owen Bennett Jones. Another food scandal in China: Martin Patience on how, this time, it's rat which is leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. How can a pile of nappies in the British Museum spell good news for Somalia? The answer comes from Mary...
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FOOC 04 May 13: The Chocolate Revolution
Reporters' stories from around the world: why Rupert Wingfield Hayes believes North Korea's recent sabre-rattling speaks not of a regime that is strong and confident but one that is weak and scared, of the outside world and increasingly of its own people too. Emilie Filou accompanies the fly-catchers of Burkina Faso as they test an old legend - 'if you live too close to the river, it will eat your eyes!' Mexico's latest political scandal unfolds in a restaurant over the road from the BBC...
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FOOC 27 April 13: Nigeria's Lady Gaga
Reporters from around the world tell their stories. Steve Rosenberg visits Dagestan on the trail of the alleged Boston bombers, and finds that violence is part of everyday life there. Nick Thorpe watches an attempt to educate Hungarian police cadets away from prejudice against the Roma minority. It's a tough sell. The military's continuing grip on Egyptian society is explained by Shaimaa Khalil, who hails from an army family herself. In the Sioux country of South Dakota, Matt Wells...
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FOOC 20 April 13: The Libyan Truffle
Correspondents' stories: why President Assad may now believe he's winning the argument; the garage man in Jordan recruiting young Islamists to go fight in Syria; why shackles are still being used to restrain some of the mentally ill in Indonesia -- even though officially they are banned; a truffle recipe's handed over at an army camp in Syria and exciting days in the northernmost reaches of Scandinavia as the annual reindeer migration approaches. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by...
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FOOC 13 Apr 13: The Stradivarius Tree
Colour and insight from reporters around the world: the man who'll find you a violin tree in the Jura Mountains; what's going to happen to the man who tends the roses in the Afghan town of Lashkar Gah? Culture clash in Bamako -- how some of the refugees from Mali's north are overstaying their welcome. Why the Mexican president's warning about vigilantes may not be heeded in the mountainous south-west and ominous signs as birds of prey gather in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
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FOOC 06 April 13: It Could Have Been Much Worse
How the direction of the wind saved Tokyo from possible radioactive contamination -- Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines the debate over re-starting Japan's nuclear power plants. Andrew Harding considers how Nelson Mandela's hospitalisation has caused South Africans to look again at their country's development in the years since apartheid. The police are said to deal drugs, the playgrounds are littered with syringes -- but Lucy Ash says not all optimism's been extinguished in Ukraine. David...
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FOOC 30 Mar 13: The Jihadi Vegetable Patch
Correspondents' despatches from around the world. In this edition: Thomas Fessy marches through Mali with the French Foreign Legion looking for insurgents; Jonathan Fryer's in the Angolan capital, Luanda, where people have much to look at but, in most cases, little money to spend. What's the point of the Swiss army? Imogen Foulkes says some there believe there's no further need for compulsory military service. Alan Johnston chronicles a sad, final day at a 'trotting' track in Italy which is...
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FOOC 23 Mar 2013: Talking About Fish
Insight, colour and analysis from reporters around the world. Mark Lowen's in Cyprus where the banks remain closed and the people have been getting angrier. Shahzeb Jillani makes the decision to work as a correspondent in the troubled Pakistani city of Karachi - his family questions his judgement! Charlotte Pritchard takes a drive through the smuggler borderlands between Colombia and Venezuela. As politicians and community leaders in Yemen discuss the future, Daniel Owen's been to one town...
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FOOC 21 Mar 2013: The Black Cowboy
How did Herb Jeffries become a black cowboy film star when he wasn't even black? Sarfraz Manzoor travels to Kansas in search of the answer. Mike Wooldridge is in Pakistan - an election date's been announced but will the new team of rulers tackle what some call an alarming rise in religious intolerance? Western Sahara is not much reported upon: Celeste Hicks goes there and tells a tale of secret police, comic book spies and wobbling octopus. Anthony Denselow travels to Uttar Pradesh in India...
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FOOC 16 Mar 2013: Referendum Day
Millions of Zimbabweans vote on a new constitution - Andrew Harding, in Harare, quotes one government minister saying the document is the 'midwife' to a brand new future for the country. Jonathan Head talks of Burma's most famous resident, the Nobel prizewinner Aung San Suu Kyi. Once revered as an icon, now she's having to get used to being heckled as she goes about her work as a politician. Louisa Loveluck talks of the crumbling Egyptian railway system and how it is starting to tarnish the...
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FOOC 14 Mar 2013: Decision Time for the Aborigines
What price can you put on memory? Neil Trevithick is with the Aborigines whose territory in Western Australia's being coveted for its mineral wealth. Once hundreds of hermits lived in the mountains of northern Lebanon. Today John Laurenson's meeting one of just three who remain. Joanna Jolly's in Nepal where, six years after the end of civil war, no-one's been brought to court to face charges of war crimes. Will Grant is with the Venezuelans paying their last respects to their late...
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FOOC 09 Mar 13: Battle Stations at the Vatican!
Allan Little says there are deep disagreements among the cardinals as they prepare to elect a new pope. They are voting too in the Falklands. Caroline Wyatt says the result is in little doubt. But what will they make of it in Argentina? Stephen Sackur has been in Tunisia, a land which has been in deep political crisis since the shooting last month of a prominent critic of the government. How should a town handle the legacy of being the birthplace of a notorious dictator? Bethany Bell's been...
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FOOC 07 MAR 13: The Boy Who Knocked Stalin Down
Correspondents' stories. Today: Steve Rosenberg's in Moscow as Russians debate the legacy of Josef Stalin sixty years after his death. There's speculation that Turkey could be poised to sign a peace deal to end the long conflict with Turkish rebels - James Reynolds has been investigating. Steve Vickers tells us why the Swedish authorities want to move their northernmost city to a new location two miles away. Owen Bennett Jones reflects on how much the instability and violence in today's...
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FOOC 02 Feb 13: Teatime in Germany
Reporters worldwide tell their stories. Steve Evans in Berlin on how, perhaps surprisingly given their history, Germans feel a real affinity for Britain. She used to be called 'the most powerful woman in Mexico.' Will Grant on the arrest, on embezzlement charges, of one of the country's top union leaders. Paul Henley tries to keep his cool listening to a stream of homophobic vitriol in Russia. Young people in Portugal queuing up to leave the country - Alison Roberts is in Lisbon where...
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FOOC 28 Feb 13: Cold in Calcutta
Reporters worldwide: Rahul Tandon is in Calcutta as its people struggle to cope with an unaccustomed spell of cold weather. 'Together Bulgarians are Strong' - Nick Thorpe tells us that's the cry of protestors whose disenchantment's brought down the government. The Kenyan election's on Monday and Gabriel Gatehouse has been finding out that land remains an issue of vital importance to many. A difficult decision for parents in Guatemala - Humphrey Hawksley explains why many would prefer their...
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FOOC 23 Feb 13: The Lap of Luxury
When Madeleine Morris returned to her native Australia after twelve years in the UK she knew she'd find things different there, but she didn't realise her wallet would take such a battering! Ian Pannell, in northern Syria, finds a group of little boys sheltering in a Roman-era tomb and asking where their mother's got to. Craig Jeffrey's at the Indian college where once students demonstrated for the right to cheat in exams. Sicily looks like being one of the key battlegrounds in the Italian...
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FOOC 21 Feb 13: Desperate for Tourists
Despatches from around the world: Jonathan Head on a little-reported but long-running conflict in southern Thailand; a rare protest on the streets of Singapore - Karishma Vaswani tells of mounting anger in Asia's richest nation; a new government in Italy, after this weekend's election, seems unlikely to tinker much with the employment laws - Ed Butler believes nepotism in the labour market is set to continue; Paul Lewis talks to Ugandans finding it hard to get by even if official forecasts...
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FOOC 16 Feb 13: Wild Horse Chase
Reporters' despatches from far and wide: a vegetarian of 37 years' standing, Nick Thorpe, is despatched to ask questions about horse meat and to investigate a slaughter house in Romania. Can Japan spend its way out of recession and into prosperity? Economists are thrilled at the idea. But Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Tokyo has his doubts. What's the US military doing in a remote corner of the Philippines? Kate McGeown's gone to find out. Will Ross is in northern Nigeria wondering why so few of...
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FOOC 14 Feb 13: Was It Worth It?
Reporters worldwide - today: Ruth Sherlock on how the Free Syrian Army's losing support as people turn to the Islamists for help in getting by during difficult times. Wyre Davies on a plot still unfolding: he's in a bookshop in Tunis looking out on an unfinished revolution. Mark Mardell on how experience in the US military is helping to shape the new team around President Obama. Tom Esslemont on murder in Corsica -- old scores are being settled against a Mediterranean backdrop. And it's like...
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FOOC 09 Feb 13: Low-Speed Rail
Stories from around the world. Today: Will Grant in Mexico on the night horror descended on a beach holiday on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Why were 21-thousand knives handed out on the streets of Mumbai? Alex Preston was there and has the answer. Chris Morris finds out what the building with the biggest carpet in Europe can tell us about attitudes to the EU. Richard Hamilton senses a swagger of self-confidence on the streets of Nairobi but, he says, the ghosts of an older Kenya are...
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FOOC: 07 Feb 13: Digging Up The Beer
Analysis, colour, wit and observation from journalists worldwide. Today: Pascale Harter chronicles the fury in Spain at reports that politicians are lining their pockets while the people are making painful sacrifices in the name of austerity. James Harkin on the death of a young engineer who wanted to help build a new Syria after the revolution. Jill McGivering on the Indian women being talked into hysterectomies by doctors eager to make more money. Orla Guerin meets an Afghan governor who...
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FOOC 02 Feb 13: Settling Scores
Tim Whewell, just back from Mali, talks of retribution. Every conflict throws up winners and losers. And it's the nomadic Touareg, he tells us, who have become targets for revenge. Arguments over gun control have once again been dominating the headlines in the US and Paul Adams has been reporting on a debate he says is quintessentially American. Darius Bazargan has been in northern Lebanon, where he has been talking to factions allied to different warring groups in Syria. The Swiss train...
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FOOC 31 Jan 13: 'Dream Big Kid!'
Correspondents take a closer look at events in their part of the world. Aleem Maqbool follows a week of street protests with the question - can democracy really take root in Egypt? The arts world is in turmoil in Hungary, and Nick Thorpe tells us how the government there is being accused of hijacking the cultural agenda to promote its own political ends. Parto Parvin, and that's not her real name, talks of the difficulties being faced by exiled Iranian journalists trying to cover events in...
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FOOC 26 Jan 2013: The Art of Seduction:
Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says keep that election bunting close at hand - Israelis may have to vote again before long. Will Self goes to the Romanian capital, Bucharest: millions live there but he's of the opinion that it would be hard to find a less homely place. The Chinese authorities say they're tackling the Great Smog of Beijing, but Martin Patience doesn't expect great change any time soon. A tale of violence, bribery and corruption from Brazil's Amazon frontier is told by Sue...
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FOOC 24 Jan 2013: Return of the Bunga Bunga King
Andrew Harding travels to the centre of Mali to find out how the fight against the Islamist rebels is affecting life in one small country town. Thousands of prisoners are being released from jail in Georgia -- Damien McGuinness has been learning that not all Georgians think that's such a good idea. Silvio Berlusconi's trying again to be prime minister of Italy. Alan Johnston in Rome's been finding out that many Italians don't want to see a return of the bunga bunga king. Orla Guerin tells us...
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FOOC 19 Jan 13: New Enemies, New Friends
Correspondents around the world telling their stories: Lyse Doucet has been meeting some of the millions of people who've been forced to flee their homes in Syria because of the continuing bloodshed there. Mark Doyle in Bamako on how the fighting in Mali has seen a new alliance being forged between the French and the Nigerian military. The Hungarian economy may be tottering - but Petroc Trelawny has been finding out it's boom time in the flea markets and second-hand shops of Budapest. Why...
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FOOC: 17 Jan 2013: Return of the Gendarme of Africa
Correspondents' news and views from around the globe: Hugh Schofield is in Paris as French troops take on Islamist rebels in the former French colony of Mali; Will Grant on how Venezuelans are starting to consider a future without their president, Hugo Chavez; Emily Buchanan on the Indian holy man who wowed the ladies in New England; Jo Fidgen on how the Sami people of northern Sweden haven't quite forgotten their traditionally nomadic ways and James Luckhurst takes shelter from the cold and...
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FOOC: Title: Stateless in Kuwait
Kate Adie presents reporters' despatches from across the globe. Matthew Teller meets the stateless bidoons of Kuwait Mark Lobel looks attempts to improve one of Cape Town's poorest settlement in the wake of a devastating fire. Jonathan Fryer assesses Baghdad's surprising aspiration to become the conference capital of the Middle East. Alan Johnston wonders whether the mystery of Garbaldi's final resting place will ever be solved. Dany Mitzman describes the trials and tribulations of not...
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FOOC 5 Jan 2013: The secrets of eternal youth
Andrew North reflects on whether the recent rape and murder of a woman in Delhi might bring a greater soul searching amongst all sections of Indian society. Owen Bennett-Jones teeters on the "fiscal cliff" with anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, asking if he's really the most powerful man in America? Nicholas Shakespeare makes a nostalgic return to Phnom Penh. Andrew Bomford uncovers the secrets of eternal youth on the Greek island of Ikaria. Hugh Schofield banishes the January blues by...
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FOOC 29 Dec 12: Highlights of 2012
As the year draws to an end, Kate Adie presents a feast of highlights from correspondents' despatches across 2012. Fucshia Dunlop is in Shanghai, dancing the the city's glamourous past. Lucy Ash is challenged by a call of nature in Russia's Siberian wilderness. Kate McGowan decides against boiled duck foetus for breakfast in Manila. Allan Little uncovers the great egg crisis in the Falkland Islands. Emma Jane Kirby is feeling distinctly under dressed as she takes a table in St Tropez. And...
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FOOC: A Parisian merry-go-round
Kate Adie presents despatches from reporters across the globe. Lucy Ash travels to Burma where she finds that Chinese investment ventures are being challenged by local people. As Greece receives it latest tranche of bailout funds, Mark Lowen looks back over a tumultuous year in the country. Andrew North looks at the controversy surrounding the proposed introduction of foreign supermarkets to India. Joanna Robertson joins in the Parisan love affair with fairgrounds. Horatio Clare explains why...
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FOOC 15 DEC 12: Dementia Village
Reporters worldwide provide context to the week's news. Today: South Africa's ANC at the crossroads? As the party prepares for conference, its figurehead Nelson Mandela in fragile health, Andrew Harding reads the political runes at a critical time for the country. Allan Little is in the Polish city of Wroclaw observing how old allegiances and old identities are emerging in the new Europe. Now what's the attraction of the 'mitten' or 'hairy' crab? At this time of year in eastern China they're...
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FOOC 08 Dec 12: A Nightmarish Tale
The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen examines claims that a conclusion to the long conflict in Syria is within sight. After a year of protests against President Putin, Steve Rosenberg finds support for him is still strong -- particularly in cities away from the capital, Moscow. Bethany Bell's in South Tyrol where some are angry that the Italian authorities, in the midst of financial crisis, want this wealthy Alpine province to contribute more to the national exchequer. The Turks know...
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FOOC 01 Dec 12: Cairo at the Crossroads
Jon Leyne in Cairo reflects on the debate about Egypt's future. Will it be dictatorship or democracy? Secular or religious? Ed Butler's been to Halabja, the town in the Kurdish region of Iraq which, almost 25 years ago, was attacked with chemical weapons. The tea industry in India is in trouble - Mark Tully says change is on the way to the tea plantations of Assam. Celeste Hicks returns to her old base in Mali and finds that the traditional history-singers have little to say about the...
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FOOC 24 Nov 12: The Worst Possible News
Despatches from reporters across the globe. Jon Donnison was in Gaza as the city came under Israeli attack and a BBC man took a distressing phone call. Gabriel Gatehouse was in Goma as rebels took the town in eastern Congo with UN peacekeepers standing by, seemingly unable to intervene. Petroc Trelawny was in a part of France which is taking a special interest in the vote in Catalonia which many feel could be a step along the road to Catalonian independence. Owen Bennett Jones has been...
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FOOC 17 Nov 12: A Frugal Dinner
Reporters' despatches from around the world. Afghanistan: as pressure grows on the British prime minister to bring the troops back home early, defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt considers the legacy they'll leave behind. Russia: the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is the country's prisons capital. Alex Preston has been to meet a former convict trying to help others, recently released, to find a toehold back in Russian society. El Salvador: the murder rate in this Latin American nation has...
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FOOC 10 Nov 12: A Poisonous Cocktail
Burma: Jonathan Head goes to Rakhine state in Burma where bitter unrest has resulted in more than a hundred deaths and a hundred thousand displaced. Libya: Kevin Connolly visits a war graves cemetery and considers stories of loss and love, grief and anger. Japan: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes takes a boat to the islands at the centre of a bitter argument in the South China Sea. USA: As the dust settles after the election Jonny Dymond's in Indiana looking on as the real business of America gets...
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FOOC: Driving on Mars
The United States of America: after the election excitement the Obama team start planning for four more years. Paul Adams. Mali: preparations well advanced for a military operation to repel Islamist rebels from the north of the country. Afua Hirsch. Oman: the Arab Spring comes calling at the Gulf state once called 'a place of wind and spiders.' Matthew Teller. Georgia: Can the new government act to restore parts of the country now effectively under Russian control? Martin Plaut. The USA: A...
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FOOC: 3 Nov 2012: Terror in Northern Nigeria
Will Ross on the bloodshed in Northern Nigeria;Theopi Skarlatos on why Golden Dawn is becoming Greece's worse nightmare;Anu Anand vents her frustrations about shambolic India - business is booming but what about power cuts and burst balloons? Also privileged Princeton - Dave Edmonds explains why so many alumnae are happy to donate billions to one of the world's richest universities. And Joanna Robertson tells us why the French Prime Minister reminds people of a small chocolate covered bear.
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FOOC: 1 Nov 2012: No Safe Refuge
Gabriel Gatehouse talks to a once-loyal Alawite pilot who ran foul of Syrian intelligence and was accused of planting bombs on military planes. Syrian refugees in Jordan tell Sahkr al Makhadhi how they fled the war zone but are now desperate to return. In Moscow, a new map marking the homes of Stalin's victims gives our correspondent Daniel Sandrof uncomfortable information about his own flat. Fact-checking is always tough, but Rana Jawad says it's especially tricky in Libya, where the...
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FOOC: 25 Oct 2012: The Party Animals
Will Grant in Cuba: 50 years after the Missile Crisis, Fidel Castro still has the power to made headlines. Jill McGivering in Shenzhen sees the gulf between different generations in modern China. Kate McGeown looks at the hopes for peace in the Southern Philippines. Kim Philley experiences the art of animist 'spirit possession' in Burma. And Steve Evans explores the etiquette of cycling in Berlin.
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FOOC: 20 Oct 2012: Cities United and Divided
Dispatches from reporters across the globe, presented by Kate Adie. Chris Morris in Berlin analyses Angela Merkel's increasing international confidence. Fergal Keane hears the echoes of history amidst Syrian refugees in the Turkish city of Izmir. Niall O'Gallagher takes the temperature of Catalan nationalism on the streets of Barcelona. Craig Jeffrey asks if "jugaad" - the spirit of creative and quick fixes - is really the solution to India's challenges. And Hamilton Wende in Maputo, the...
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FOOC 18 OCT 12: Lederhosen Style
Thousands of Kenyans prepare to go to court to pursue claims against the British. Gabriel Gatehouse in Nairobi explains how they date back to the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s and why they are getting little publicity inside Kenya itself. The Dutch are changing their famously-liberal drugs laws. Manuela Saragosa says the decision's delighted some but infuriated others. Caspar Leighton's been observing celebrations of fifty years of Ugandan independence. He says people there are wondering...
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FOOC 13 OCT 12: The Tough Cats
Andrew Harding's in Zimbabwe where there are fears of a return to violence as the election season approaches Ian Pannell's been in the Syrian city of Aleppo where there's been fierce fighting and where foreign fighters have responded to calls from the rebels for assistance Will Grant tells us of the embarrassment suffered by the authorities in Mexico after the disappearance of the body of one of the country's most notorious drug lords Louise Redvers visits the new multi-million pound...
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FOOC 11 Oct 12: India's Missing Children
Anu Anand in Delhi on what happens to the two hundred thousand Indian children abducted each year; a future vision for Africa -- Gabriel Gatehouse in Kenya meets a man with a radical plan; Chloe Arnold on how Algeria is desperate to escape the clutches of a violent past; how much has the Chinese rail network changed? Angus Foster has ample time for reflection on a 16-hour journey to Wuhan and Laura Trevelyan in New York gets an American style-makeover as she prepares to become an 'anchor' on...
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FOOC 06 OCT 12: Coming Home Early?
Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says an early and substantial drawdown of British troops in Afghanistan is being privately considered David Willey wonders who else at the Vatican - besides the butler on trial for stealing Papal documents -- is dissatisfied with the way the church is being run Frances Harrison meets survivors from the civil war in Sri Lanka as officials there hope cricket will help restore the island's image as a holiday paradise Pascale Harter in Barcelona on the Chinese...
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FOOC Oct 04 12: A Tale of Two Termini
Unemployment's up, the tax bills are up, public cheerfulness is down. Hugh Schofield says these are gloomy times in France. Sunday's general election in Venezuela could be a close one. And already it's providing our correspondent Paul Moss with a wardrobe nightmare. The stalemate in London surrounding Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continues. Jo Fidgen says that in Sweden, where he's wanted after allegations of sexual assault, most people believe he should come back for questioning....
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FOOC 29 Sept 12: A War Getting Worse
Lyse Doucet's in a Syrian suburb hearing stories about a civil war which is reaching more parts of the country every week. Damien McGuinness finds there are complaints from some Turkish women about the good times which have arrived at a resort town on Georgia's Black Sea coast. Justin Webb wonders whether ludicrous amounts of time and money are being spent trying to woo undecided voters in the US presidential election. Lucy Ash is at a monastery contemplating the growing influence on the...
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FOOC: 27 Sept 2012: The Vegas Blues
Justin Rowlatt visits Las Vegas and learns why America's casino capital has suffered more than most from the economic crisis. Sarah Birke, reporting from the border between Syria and Turkey, meets a rebel commander who says he'd rather write poetry than go to war. Will Ross has been investigating reports that young girls have been forced to hand over their babies for adoption in Nigeria. Daniel Nasaw's has learned how the battles of the American Civil War have helped to shape the debate in...
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FOOC: 22 Sept 12: A Mountain of Debt
Damian Grammaticas in China on how accounts of forced abortions from around the country have fuelled a debate on a once-taboo subject: the state's One Child only policy. Paul Mason tells how Spain's third city Valencia is being buried under a mountain of debt. Now the chemists are running out of prescription drugs. Gabriel Gatehouse is in Kenya where questions are being asked about an outbreak of factional violence. Is it simply a matter of local feuding or should national politicians...
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FOOC: 20 Sept 12 : Lots of Cakes, Not Many Eggs
Andrew Harding says ending one miners dispute in South Africa does not mean the authorities' troubles are over. Judith Kampner, a new US citizen, volunteers to become an election worker -- and all does not go according to plan. Jonathan Fryer hears that while Istanbul may be one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, Turkey does not officially approve of multiculturalism. Martin Buckley takes the slow train to Belgrade and finds a lively city keen to move on from recent Balkans history....
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FOOC: 13 Sept 12: The Sacred Crocodiles
Thomas Fessy flew into The Gambia to ask questions about recent executions. But he was thrown out of the country. It's left him asking: what have the authorities got to hide? Iraqi police and army officers have been accused of taking part in a murderous campaign of persecution against the country's gay community. Natalia Antelava meets one senior official who reckons there are only about ten homosexuals in the whole country and, he tells her "they need to change." John Laurenson's in a vast...
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FOOC 08 SEPT 12: The Fourth Banned 'T'
Greece remains a land where millions go each year to enjoy their holidays. But Mark Lowen's discovered that it's now also a place where increasing numbers of people are finding it hard to cope with the austerity demanded of them. The Russian republic of Chechnya is enjoying the most peaceful time it's seen in years but Oliver Bulloughsays its people seem far from content. Linda Pressly's been to Israel to talk to some of the Haredi, the inclreasingly influential ultra-orthodox, who seem set...
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FOOC: 01 Sep 12. The eye of the storm
Kate Adie hosts correspondents' stories from the United States, Russia, France, Italy and the Czech Republic. The United States breathes a sigh of relief that Hurricane Isaac didn't turn into another Katrina. Alastair Leithead has been in the eye of the storm. The new 'skinheads'. Tom Esslemont tries to unpick what motivates Russia's ultra-nationalists. Just where did Julius Caesar REALLY defeat the Gaulls? Hugh Schofield investigates a case of alleged archaeological skulduggery in Burgundy....
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FOOC: 25 Aug 2012 Meeting the last Emperor of China
Kate Adie hosts reports from correspondents around the world. Mark Lobel attends a memorial service for the South African miners killed by police while striking for better pay and working conditions. Mike Thompson is 'embedded' with the army in the West African Republic of Mali. Can it win back the north of the country from Islamist militants? What do people in Ecuador make of the diplomatic stand-off between their government and the UK over the Julian Assange affair? Will Grant finds out....
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FOOC: 18 Aug 12. A Yankee Learns Farsi
French police have been placed on higher alert after rioting in the northern city of Amiens. Christian Fraser says the unrest poses a growing challenge to the new president, Francois Hollande. Government forces have been re-deployed from north-east Syria. Orla Guerin believes the Kurds, who've long wanted to establish their own homeland, see this as a window of opportunity. There've been more protests in Delhi against corruption in public life. But Mark Tully wonders if support for the...
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FOOC: 11 Aug 12. A Return to the Countryside
Chris Stewart is in Spain where some young people, unable to find employment in the cities in these austere times, are returning to work in the countryside. The agricultural sector's been holding up reasonably well as parts of the US economy take a hammering. But Paul Adams has been finding out that in the corn fields of Nebraska, drought is the main threat. Kate McGeown in the Philippines has been learning that the government in Manila is trying to bring home Filipina domestic workers...
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FOOC: 04 Aug 12. Life After Lonesome George
Could Mogadishu be about to lose its title as the world's most dangerous city? Mary Harper says soon there'll be a new parliament and a new president in the Somali capital and there's hope the days of war, drought and famine could come to an end. The authorities in Yemen helped by the US have been taking the battle to al-Qaeda but Natalia Antelava says some believe hearts and minds are being lost in the process. Three years ago the north-eastern tip of Sri Lanka was the scene of the Tamil...
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FOOC 28 JUL 12: Battle for Aleppo
Ian Pannell visits a school which has become a morgue for children in the Syrian city of Aleppo. James Harkin meets a Syrian whose chosen weapon, in his battle against the Assad regime, is a mobile phone rather than a gun John Sweeney's in Belarus. It's ruled, he says, by a regime so cocky it can't even be bothered to rebrand its secret police. They're still known as the KGB. Senegal's become the latest African country to grow melons for Europe. Susie Emmett joins workers who find time to...
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FOOC: 21 JULY 12. Austerity or not?
Pascale Harter's testing the mood in Spain in the week hundreds of thousands made clear their disapproval of the Madrid government's austerity measures. In France the new administration of President Francois Hollande wants to restore prosperity without applying too much austerity. But David Chazan says the difficulties are piling up for the new man in the Elysee Palace. The Nigerian economy is leaking millions. Will Ross has been to the Niger Delta to find out how people are helping...
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FOOC: 14 JULY 12: An Unfinished Revolution
As speculation continues about who's won the election in Libya, Rana Jawad in Tripoli hears how "Libyan women face five problems: the father, the son, the husband, the brother and the working man!" Deep in the hills of Honduras Stephen Sackur's been talking to a man who's trying to escape the country's drugs and gang culture but fears he won't be allowed to succeed. In the week China released figures showing how its economy has slowed down, Michael Bristow leaves the country in, as he puts...
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FOOC: 07 JULY 2012: Ghosts of Bush House
Natasha Breed on how the population of Kenya's expanding fast, urban areas are eating up the countryside. And it's proving disastrous and sometimes fatal for the country's wildlife. A weird fungus which grows out of the heads of caterpillars is being harvested in parts of the Himalayas. Craig Jeffrey, who's been investigating, says it's proving a valuable cash crop for some of the mountain villagers. Latvia has the fastest-growing economy in Europe. Damien McGuinness has been to the capital...
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FOOC: 05 JULY 12: Shifting Sands
Pauline Davies in the desert where nothing lives: the Atacama in Chile. But once thousands of miners lived here. Today ghost towns are all that remain. Andrew Harding on how the fears of those living in the Malian city of Timbuktu came to be realised when Islamist militants came to town and started to destroy their historic monuments. Could France be about to issue an apology to Algeria for the brutal events which led up to Algerian independence fifty years ago? Philip Sweeney wonders who...
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FOOC: 30 June 12: Roman Austerity
Churches and mosques are being targetted by the Boko Haram militant group in Nigeria. Will Ross has been to the northern city of Jos, a city he says feels like it's under seige. The Europe-wide debt crisis is increasingly being felt in Italy, where both prices and unemployment are soaring. Alan Johnston's in a suburb of Rome, hearing that people have begun to feel the pinch. It's fifty years now since Algerians won their battle for independence from France. Chloe Arnold in Algiers has been...
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FOOC: 28 June 2012: Bombs + Kebabs
Ian Pannell tells us how the story of Robin Hood is proving popular with one of the Syrian rebel groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. Will Grant, on the campaign trail ahead of Sunday's election in Mexico, finds himself in what he describes as 'the most dangerous place I've ever been.' Hampi in India may once have been the heart of one of the biggest empires in Asia, but Anthony Denselow says it's increasingly drained of daily life. Damien McGuinness has been learning that...
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FOOC: 23 JUN 12: Folly of Empire
Rumours and conspiracy theories swirl around Egypt; the Greeks fed up with being criticised for attitudes towards Europe; businessmen and environmentalists squabble over the River Danube in Croatia; how love, trolls and goblins help the Swedish government balance its books and musings on the folly of empire from half way up a volcano in Indonesia.
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FOOC: 21 June 2012: Life Support
Kevin Connolly has the latest from Cairo, awash with conspiracy theories after the authorities delayed the results of Egypt's presidential election. Jill McGivering's travelling across northern India investigating a growing water crisis. Major rivers are contaminated by pollution and wells are running dry. As delegates at the Rio conference study papers on future energy sources, Jonny Dymond's been to Kentucky where livelihoods built around coal mining are now in doubt. There's a building...
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FOOC: 16 June 12: The Stone Breakers
All of Europe is watching the Greek elections. Chris Morris says they could have a profound effect on the Euro and on the future of the European Union. The child stone breakers of Madagascar. They toil all day every day. It earns them just a few coins. And, as Luke Freeman finds out, there's no question of them ever going to school. He was one of Cuba's revolutionary heroes. The funeral of boxer Teofilo Stevenson has just taken place in Havana. Sarah Rainsford was there and later talked to...
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FOOC: 09 JUN 12:Catholic Olympics
From Mogadishu -- Gabriel Gatehouse on how the al-Shabab militants have managed to lose friends and influence among the population of Somalia and given a boost to the African peacekeepers there Andy Martin's talking of a rift in the Irish church as Dublin prepares to welcome tens of thousands of Catholic visitors to the capital for an event some have called the 'Catholic Olympics.' A shaded graveyard in Kabul: Andrew North says the memorials there tell a story about Afghanistan's strategic...
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FOOC: 07 JUN 2012: Destruction + Regeneration
Alan Johnston's been to the Italian towns shaken by a series of earthquakes and aftershocks. In Pakistan, monsoon season is approaching again: Aleem Maqbool meets victims of last year's disastrous flooding amid concerns it could happen again. Hamilton Wende, a longterm resident of Johannesburg, believes it's shaking off a reputation for violence and urban decay. James McConnachie is in Nepal, where Chinese influence is bringing new road-building projects to the world's most dramatic mountain...
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FOOC: 02 JUN 12: Love Commandos
Fergal Keane meets exiled Syrians in Istanbul and finds little agreement among them about the way forward for their troubled country. Gabriel Gatehouse is in eastern Congo where politics, history and nature have conspired to create instability and danger. David Willey talks of unrest and dismay at the Vatican as Cardinals plot and the Pope speaks of betrayal. Anu Anand's been meeting The Love Commandos in Delhi -- they help young couples who dare to get together without parental approval....
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FOOC: 31 May 2012: Socket to me!
Now Mitt Romney's secured the Republican nomination, will there be new scrutiny of his faith, Mormonism? Paul Adams is in the church's home state of Utah. They used to be labelled 'untouchables.' As Natalia Antelava's been hearing, India's Dalits say they are still being discriminated against even though the prejudice was officially outlawed. Peter Day returns from China with news that the days when every country had its own idea of what an electric plug should look like are numbered. What's...
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FOOC: 26 May 12: Seaside Disappointment
Jeremy Bowen in Beirut says the Middle East is certainly changing. But the dominoes aren't tumbling as quickly as some thought last year. Instead, the way ahead will be long and hard. Will Ross in Lagos on the fuel subsidy scandal and why for Nigerians the price of petrol is a constant preoccupation. Jonny Dymond takes to the skies over Arizona with a man determined to do his bit to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the US. The campest show of them all, Eurovision, has come to Baku...
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FOOC: 21 May 12: Heroes and Villains
Portia Walker: optimism in Yemen has been punctured by a devastating bomb blast in the capital. Alan Johnston: a state funeral has taken place in Sicily to honour a man who dared to take on the Mafia - and paid the ultimate price. Laura Trevelyan: the town in Mexico which has grown rich on the profits of sex trafficking. Matthew Teller: how the authorities in the Saudi capital Riyadh have transformed a public rubbish tip into lush parkland complete with lakes and walkways. and Bethany Bell:...
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FOOC: 19 MAY 12: Nile Mystery
Kevin Connolly's in Luxor wondering if the military, which has controlled proceedings in Egypt since 1952, really will hand over power to civilians once the elections, starting next week, are over. Jonathan Head in Turkey notes that talks about joining the European Union have started up again. But does Turkey really need to join an EU worrying about economic catastrophe? David Belton's been to a remote part of New York state where the Amish religious sect has taken the question: can God...
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FOOC: 12 May 12: Syrian Ghosts
Many Syrian doctors and medical staff have fled the country as the violence there continues. Portia Walker's been talking to one of them in Turkey. The Arab Spring has failed to take root in Algeria. This week there were elections there and Chloe Arnold's been reflecting on the public reluctance to take part in a vote about the country's future. Hugh Sykes has been listening to opposing views about the state Pakistan's in. Some talk of its political stability; others of how it's ripe for...
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FOOC: 05 May 12: Sunlounger economics
In a week full of elections near and far, Mark Lowen says Sunday's vote in Greece could be the most critical of them all. Justin Rowlatt is in Kenya noting a huge turnaound in the global economy -- while Europe and the USA are feeling the pain, the rest of the world is steadily getting richer. Petroc Trelawney's been to find out why a new town in Ireland has houses and a new railway station, but very few people. Lucy Ash is camping out in the Russian Arctic and seeing how Vladimir Putin's...
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FOOC: 28 Apr 12: Congo warlord
The British soldiers in Afghanistan have lost faith in their mission, there are fields full of opium poppies and the Taliban are everywhere. Quentin Sommerville talks of the mood among the troops as they prepare at last to return home. After Charles Taylor, who'll next be taken to court to face charges relating to war crimes? Fiona Lloyd Davies has been in the Democratic Republic of Congo meeting one former rebel commander who is wanted for trial. Ian Pannell has been talking to an English...
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FOOC: 21 Apr 12: Asparagus fever!
Bahrain: Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines why all sides in the bitter conflict there feel the controversy surrounding this weekend's Grand Prix can work in their favour. France: It's an election which lacks a feel-good factor. Perhaps, Chris Morris feels, that's why all the campaigners are looking back, at a vision of a romantic, glorious French past. Kenya: Mary Harper's in a huge refugee camp, run on international money, and contrasts life there with that in an impoverished village not far...
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FOOC: 14 April 2012
Fergal Keane is on Turkey's border with Syria listening to the experiences of those seeking refuge from the violence. The rise - and fall - of Italy's House of Bossi. David Willey reports. Natalia Antelava uncovers what appears to be a secret programme to sterilize women in Uzbekistan. Justin Marozzi finds street life returning to the Somali capital Mogadishu, once the most dangerous city on earth. And Jon Donnison hears the Olympic dreams of one Libyan athlete.
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FOOC: 07 Apr 12 Sarajevo
Presenter Kate Adie's in Sarajevo along with Allan Little and Jeremy Bowen. All three of them correspondents who reported from the Bosnian war 20 years ago. Also today Owen Bennett Jones on a controversial group of Iranian exiles whose camp in Iraq is about to be closed down. Pascale Harter's in Iceland talking of life in a town which remains in the shade from October to February. While Simon Worrall goes to northern France with questions about what exactly happened in a battle more than...
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FOOC: Libyan pets 31 Mar 12
What does a chaotic pet market have to tell us about Libya's transition from dictatorship to democracy? Kevin Connolly's been finding out. Refineries. Miles and miles of pipeline. Hundreds of workers from overseas. Antonia Quirke's learned they are all coming to a remote corner of Mozambique now there's been a huge gas find there. Drug-related violence is a major issue in the Mexican presidential election campaign, which has just got underway. Will Grant's in the capital city where even news...
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FOOC: 24 Mar 12 Afghan New Year
Afghans enjoy New Year celebrations but Lyse Doucet finds they are concerned about what the months ahead may bring John James travels to the west African state of Guinea-Bissau and finds unexpected charms amidst its shadows The Burmese are finding out that recent reforms in their country have encouraged tourists to return. Caroline Hawley has been seeing what it has to offer the international visitor The Egyptians are preparing to vote for a new president and Jon Leyne has been finding out...
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FOOC: Boybandmania 22 Mar 12
One Direction: behind the scenes with the boy band in the US. Arrest warrant issued for a former premier of the troubled Turks and Caicos Islands. Cambodian Americans deported from the US. Why the Eurovision Song Contest reminds one woman in Azerbaijan of losing her home. And the Brazilian port--- 900 miles from the sea.
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FOOC: the Kony film. 17 March, 2012
A hundred million plus hits on the internet. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding on the film about warlord Joseph Kony and why it's received the thumbs down from an audience in Uganda. A group of former paramilitaries and police officers from Northern Ireland have been to South Africa to see how combatants in the apartheid era there are now trying to come to terms with their troubled past -- Fergal Keane joined them. 'A steady pulse of pleasure' as Simon Worrall sails to the fabled Spice...
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FOOC: Benin Voodoo 15 Mar 2012
A voodoo priest visits in Benin; disappearances in Sri Lanka; a truce in Gaza and calls from Israeli intelligence; contemporary art arrives in the Kremlin; and specialist shops in Mexico's old city centre.
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FOOC: March 10, 2012
The fisherman who decided to sail TOWARDS the tsunami - Julian May hears his story as he drives around Japan a year after the tidal wave and nuclear emergency. Owen Bennett Jones has been meeting Syrians forced into making painful decisions by the ongoing fighting in their country. The BBC's moving out of Bush House in London and, for our man in Rome Alan Johnston, that's a cause of some sadness. Russia's often associated with having autocratic leaders and Tim Whewell's in the city of...
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FOOC: March 08, 2012
The extraordinarily spry 80-year-olds of Shikoku: Peter Day's met them and tells us about the problems countries such as Japan and Britain face with their ageing populations. 'A match made in heaven.' Daniel Schweimler's impressed with the wines made in the Argentine region of Mendoza. Matthew Price finds Greeks deeply concerned about the further demands they're facing for austerity as efforts continue to secure another cash bailout from the EU and IMF What happens when Chinese villagers,...
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FOOC: March 3, 2012
'A revolution with almost no co-ordination or planning.' That was Ian Pannell's assessment as he toured northern Syria trying to work out the extent of the rebellion against President Assad. Meanwhile, James Harkin's in the capital Damascus where international sanctions are starting to leave their mark on everyday life. Rachel Harvey's been meeting a group of Burmese opposition figures recently released from long jail sentences. Do they believe the new government is genuinely committed to a...
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FOOC 1 Mar 2012: Abbottabad, and Greeks in Germany
Did you ever see bin Laden? Aleem Maqbool is in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where they've been bulldozing the compound where the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US special forces. The German public appears to be tiring of rescue packages for Greece and Steve Evans in Berlin has been hearing it's not easy being a Greek in today's Germany. David Loyn is in the Indian state of Bihar hearing the arguments for and against Britain's aid for India. Hugely increased fees at UK universities mean that more...
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FOOC: 25 Feb, 2012
Andrew Harding's in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia -- how impressed have they been there with the international gathering in London aimed at restoring stability to their country? Gerry Northam's in Japan where, a year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami, they're wondering whether to dump nuclear power altogether. David Willis is looking at a ninety-year-old murder mystery in the Hollywood hills. An extraordinary tableau's revealed in a Cairo bar: Sara Hashash meets a soldier who,...
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FOOC: 23 Feb 12
Is al-Qaeda giving the people of Yemen something their government is not? It's a question explored by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes who's there in the wake of this week's election. Who wants to venture seven miles to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean? Rebecca Morelle tells us four competing teams are developing submarines to do just that. Christchurch in New Zealand is still far from rebuilt a year after the devastating earthquake there. Joanna Lester talks of a city centre in ruins and communities...
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FOOC: 18 Feb 2012
Guns remain the ultimate arbiter of disputes in post-Gaddafi Libya. And in Benghazi Gabriel Gatehouse says disarming the militias is a priority for the country's new leaders. Bill Law's been in Bahrain as violence between protestors and security forces has left many casualties in recent days. Justin Rowlatt meets a Brazilian who admits to cutting down swathes of Amazonian rainforest. But maintains he was doing what his government considered appropriate. There's growing resentment between the...
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FOOC: 16 Feb 2012
No need for expensive cab fares this time! The regime change in The Maldives proves a story Andrew North was able to cover entirely on foot. Can Greece ever come back from this crisis? Paul Mason's on the road to Patras encountering a deep sense of gloom. As relations between Russia and the West nosedive amid arguments over Syria, a tale from Steve Rosenberg about the time when two Englishmen used football to boost productivity in Russian textile factories. For Africa's big football match,...
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FOOC: Feb 11, 2012
That windswept outpost of Britishness in the South Atlantic again causes tension between Britain and Argentina as the anniversary of the Falklands War approaches. Fergal Keane is in Buenos Aires where a longing to redeem the islands is deeply felt; Allan Little's in the capital of the Falklands, Port Stanley, finding out they are more concerned there about shortages of fruit, veg and eggs. Mark Lowen's our man in Athens where Greeks are becoming increasingly angry with the way their...
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FOOC: 9 Feb, 2012
From Ambridge to Tunisia: Owen Bennett Jones meets a man at the heart of government power in Tunis who talks of The Archers and how Britain's the most Islamic country he's ever lived in. Michael Bristow finds the Chinese secret police not so secret as he tries to report on Tibetan protests in western China. The National Front in France hopes to be a significant force in the upcoming French elections -- Christian Fraser on how the party's changing under the leadership of Marine Le Pen....
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FOOC: Feb 4, 2012
After a journey from the calm of a hotel lobby to a city centre ladies' outfitters and on to the drum-beating heart of Syrian protest, Tim Whewell confronts the question: how much longer will the regime of Bashar al-Assad survive? Alan Johnston tells us Italy's young are worried about the economy and the future -- and many are deciding to emigrate. As protestors in Russia prepare again to take to the streets in anti-Putin demonstrations, James Coomarasamy's testing the public mood outside...
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FOOC: 2 Feb, 2012
A rich seam of frustration - over poverty, bad leadership and corruption -- is being mined by the Nigerian militants Boko Haram, according to Andrew Harding.The fall of Colonel Gaddafi, says David Willey in Rome, has given Italy an opportunity to breathe new life into its long relationship with Libya. Chris Bockman meets some of those who worked for the French in what was then Indochina who are now living quietly by the River Lot in south west France. Hamilton Wende took a luxury train...
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FOOC: 28 Jan, 2012
From our own curmudgeon. Hugh Schofield finds reasons to be dyspeptic in Paris. Jeremy Paxman on why he says: let's hear it for the Chinese Communist party. Mary Harper visits the Ethiopian town at the centre of the world qat trade. Mark Doyle investigates the link between corruption and crisis in Nigeria while Gabriel Gatehouse explains how the job of uniting the divided factions in the new Libya becomes harder by the day.
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FOOC: 26 Jan 2012
Twenty-six planeloads of Libyans arriving in Amman: Matthew Teller on how the downfall of Colonel Gaddafi's providing an economic windfall for Jordan. Pauline Davies learns what's meant by marriage Papua New Guinea-style at the nuptials of her niece there - she was, it seems, a four-pig bride. Aidan Lewis finds himself the subject of police scrutiny as he explores the troubled relationship between Morocco and Western Sahara. Mark Tully's finding out if the residents of Delhi really do resent...
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FOOC: Jan 21, 2012
BBC correspondents don't often go out gardening -- perhaps that's because it gives them a guilty conscience! At least it does Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem. He's been losing sleep over his lemon tree. Humphrey Hawksley's been meeting children in India who work, sometimes in poor conditions, to produce goods sold in shops on Western high streets. Owen Bennett Jones is in Pakistan where the agenda of the news anchors ranges from assassination and polical venality to gossip and who's had a hair...
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FOOC: Jan 19, 2012
The women are in charge - and the men don't seem to be doing much about it. Timothy Allen tells us that's how things are in one northeastern Indian state, where a nascent men's liberation movement is having little impact. Mark Lowen is in Libya, where one of the biggest problems facing the country's new rulers is disarming the many fighters who helped overthrow the dictator Colonel Gaddafi. One consequence of China's great migration, from country to town, is rising tension in some of the...
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FOOC: Jan 14, 2012
The Afghan women still suffering in silence - ten years after the fall of the Taliban. Caroline Wyatt, who's just back from Kabul, examines how their lives might change once the international community withdraws its troops from their country. Nick Thorpe's been to meet the president of Hungary - a man at the centre of a political and constitutional storm. Laura Trevelyan's in Haiti where, two years ago, a 35-second earthquake killed more than three hundred thousand people. She finds the...
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FOOC: Jan 07, 2012
Can international pressure on the military-backed government in Burma be relaxed now a series of reforms is underway? Fergal Keane has been accompanying the British foreign secretary on his visit there and offers an assessment of latest developments there. A year after the assassination of the Governor of Punjab Owen Bennett-Jones has been to Pakistan to examine the impact that killing's had there. John Sweeney talks of how it may be eighty years since millions of Ukrainians died in a famine...
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FOOC: Dec 31, 2011
Kate Adie on the months of the Libyan revolution which led up to the death of Colonel Gaddafi in October. A chance to hear again some of the BBC's senior correspondents filing on the long road to Tripoli and charting a revolution which stunned the world.
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BBC World Service FOOC: Dec 30, 2011
An American Dream: New Hampshire, 1996 Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch by Gavin Esler. In the runup to a Presidential election, he explored small-town America's values and aspirations in Manchester, NH. And as things are today, he found that corporate raiders, rising unemployment and out-of-touch Washington politicians were much on the electorate's mind.
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BBC World Service FOOC: Dec 29, 2011
Prisoners of Norilsk - a city frozen in time "A history of Soviet failure written in crumbling cement; a monument to a system which simply ran out of steam". Norilsk, 1994 Owen Bennett Jones introduces a despatch from Kevin Connolly in the city of Norilsk in the Arctic Circle. He met people who had suffered and survived there for decades under the USSR - and seemed likely to spend the rest of their lives in this remote outpost.
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BBC World Service FOOC: Dec 28, 2011
The Truth is Our Currency Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch from 1997 by Martin Bell. At a time when television news in particular had been focusing on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, journalism was wrestling with issues like the real meaning of 'objectivity' when reporting on wars, and the limits of neutrality.
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BBC World Service FOOC: Dec 27, 2011
The Road to Mandalay Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch from 1984. Veteran correspondent Bob Jobbins describes a journey through Burma's history and culture as he travels from Rangoon to Mandalay.
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BBC World Service FOOC: Dec 26, 2011
"The army was rotten to the core and could not put up a fight" - Kinshasa, May 1997 Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch from the country then still known as Zaire. Allan Little describes the last days of the Mobutu regime and the advance of Laurent Kabila's forces.
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FOOC: Dec 24, 2011
A dead man's suitcase in Cape Town transports Tim Butcher from today's Africa via World War Two Italy to Renaissance Tuscany. The most cosseted pets in the world: it's no dog's life, says Joanna Robertson, for the pampered pooches of Paris. High in the Himalayas Joanna Jolly goes searching for a little yellow idol which once wreaked terrible vengeance. Allan Little shares some of the jokes which have fuelled the big news stories in years gone by and Petroc Trelawny on the extraordinary...
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FOOC: Dec 17, 2011
The polar bear's back in the news - this time it's at the centre of controversy in Canada where some believe it's a far better animal to be the country's national symbol than the one which currently holds the honour, the beaver -- Lorraine Mallinder has been finding out that some Canadians reckon the beaver's just too boring for the job. At the end of another stressful week in the eurozone Chris Morris tells us that the Germans don't seem too concerned -- the Christmas party season's on...
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FOOC: Dec 10, 2011
'A political system which had considered itself as solid as rock has started to show cracks.' Steve Rosenberg's in Moscow on a weekend of more demonstrations. The Americans are preparing for their withdrawal from Iraq and Gabriel Gatehouse has been considering what exactly's been achieved during their nine years there. There's a view from Hungary where Nick Thorpe's been looking at how the country's affected by the crisis in the Eurozone. It's forty years since Bangladesh came into being and...
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FOOC: Dec 3, 2011
Being Italian is bad for your health! That's the contention from Bologna where winter is descending and a range of ailments, unknown to British correspondent Danny Mitzman, are making their presence felt! It's election time in the Democratic Republic of Congo and while you might expect the sounds of tear gas canisters being fired and angry argument about electoral fraud, Will Ross has encountered an orchestra playing Handel's Water Music! A bag of snakes tipped out in a government office in...
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FOOC: Nov 26, 2011
'But of course there will be violence,' says one seasoned observer to Andrew Harding as he travels in the Democratic Republic of Congo wondering if Monday's election is a chance for Africa's wounded giant to get back on its feet. And there's another election, in Egypt, starting on Monday: Lyse Doucet joins a family whose window, overlooking Tahrir Square, offers a unique view of world history unfolding. Fergal Keane, who's been watching the opening of the Khmer Rouge trial in Cambodia, finds...
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FOOC: Nov 19, 2011
Are the generals in Egypt really about to relinquish power? Stephen Sackur in Cairo takes a closer look at the Tahrir Square revolution as Egyptians prepare to cast their votes. David Loyn's in Burma where vested interests, the cronies they're sometimes called, look on to see what will happen with the leaders' programme of reforms; Lucy Ash is in the Republic of Dagestan, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, where bomb attacks and shootouts on an almost daily basis make this the most volatile...
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FOOC: Nov 12, 2011
"That's nobody's business but the Turks'." A quote from one of several songs which feature Turkey which are in turn quoted by Kevin Connolly as he talks about why the country remains keen to join the EU despite the Union's problems with debt and insecurity. Hugh Sykes is in Rome as prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's reported to be on the verge of resignation - he wonders why a country which does so many things so well, and manufactures so many goods coveted worldwide, can find itself in such...
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FOOC: Nov 10, 2011
'Prosperity for all!' That was the Ugandan president's promise as he stood for re-election but today, as Rob Young's been finding out, there's growing discontent at steeply rising food and fuel prices. There are accusations in Kyrgyzstan of persecution of the Uzbek minority in the south of the country -- Natalia Antelava, who's been investigating, says the official line is that reconciliation's well underway after vicious ethnic clashes there last year. Huw Cordey records that the image of...
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FOOC: Nov 05, 2011
America has the Wild West, Russia has its Wild East. And Reggie Nadelson's there, in the port of Vladiovostok. The city, once closed to foreigners, is getting a big makeover. It'll be the new San Francisco, some claim. Paul Moss is in Athens where it's been a week of uncertainty and high political drama. Herman Cain is the choice of many Republicans to be the man to contest next year's presidential election. But his campaign's been sidelined by allegations of sexual harrassment. Mark...
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FOOC: Nov 03, 2011
Silvio Berlusconi attends the G20 meeting in Cannes amid mounting alarm in Italy about the country's debt crisis -- Manuela Saragosa's been meeting some Italians who feel Mr.Berlusconi's become a liability and should resign. The G20 meeting is reported to be considering taking Chinese money to help bail out the beleaguered Eurozone. Much of the new Chinese wealth is in the hands of the private sector; Michael Bristow's been having lunch with an industrialist who's one of the country's new...
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FOOC: Oct 29, 2011
The appointment of a white vice president in Zambia indicates, according to Fergal Keane, that for Africa's whites, the long journey towards feeling they have a future as of right on the continent is finally underway. David Willey in Rome tells of Italian scepticism about their prime minister's ability to deliver on the promises he's made to EU-leaders about the implementation of austerity measures in Italy. Horatio Clare's aboard a vast container ship in the South China Sea finding out how...
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FOOC: Oct 27, 2011
A dystopian vision of Venice - Rachel Harvey's words as she watches the flood waters approaching Bangkok's city centre. Allan Little, covering the historic first Arab Spring election in Tunisia, says there aren't many days in a life spent chasing news that are as unremittingly positive as this! Jennifer Pak's in Kuala Lumpur reporting on a controversy in Malaysia over a proposal to extend Islamic law. Garreth Armstrong visits the South African town of Mafeking -- once the scene of a British...
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FOOC: 22 Oct 2011
Gabriel Gatehouse describes the scenes at that infamous sewer pipe, where Colonel Gaddafi was found. Kevin Connolly wonders if Gaddafi will be the last of the "grotesque, blood-stained buffoon dictators." Peter Day is in Argentina, which famously defaulted on its massive foreign debts but now appears to be flourishing - could this be a lesson for Greece? Jamie Coomarasamy visits the campaign headquarters of Marine Le Pen, the head of France's far-right Front National; and Jon Silverman is...
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FOOC: 20 Oct 2011
Kate Adie introduces reports from around the world. Today Jonathan Head ask what keeps the fighters in Libya going, risking their lives, when perhaps they don't really have to? Sue Lloyd Roberts experiences life trapped in your own flat, with young children, in the middle of the Syrian revolution. The Arab Spring began with Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution, in January. Now they are preparing to vote and Celeste Hicks hears of the disappointments and hopes of young people, and the confusion as...
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FOOC: 15 Oct 2011
Is the name of Bahrain being dragged into the mire by a string of alleged human rights abuses? Frank Gardner gives his assessment after meeting the King and the Prime Minister - and joining the riot police on patrol. Yolande Knell in Cairo says that with every month that has passed since President Mubarak was overthrown, public frustration has mounted. Katya Adler's investigating the scandal in Spain of the so-called 'ninos robados' or stolen children - sold off to 'more deserving' parents....
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FOOC: 13 Oct, 2011
'I'll Not Do It Again!' That's the verdict of some foreign businessmen, out of pocket after getting involved in the Indian market. Mark Dummett in Delhi examines whether this is really a difficult country in which to do business. Embarrassment for the French state: Chris Bockman on how it's having to pick up the hotel bills of radicals who were once convicted of trying to blow up the Eiffel Tower. Tamasin Ford visits the centre of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone while Michael Bristow meets...
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FOOC: 08 Oct 2011
Why two crumpled pieces of paper are among the most precious reminders Lyse Doucet has of her reporting trip to beleaguered Syria; Nick Danziger's been back to Kabul and wondered why the voices of Afghan women are too often ignored; Steve Evans in Berlin reflects on the row surrounding the return of twenty skulls to Namibia; building a new nation is never easy, but now Rosie Goldsmith tells us that South Sudan faces an additional challenge as it tries to introduce English as the official...
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FOOC: Oct 6, 2011
A time of shifting and unexpected new relationships in Libya is explored by Allan Little. He's been meeting the Islamists, determined not only to be a part of the post-Gaddafi government but also to forge a new working relationship with the West; Chris Morris talks of the crisis in the Eurozone after visiting Greece, the Netherlands and five other European countries; it's fifty years since the people of Tristan da Cunha were evacuated as a volcano erupted on their island in the South...
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FOOC: Oct 1, 2011
An 18-hour train ride to the end of the line brings you to the very edge of Norway. Inside the Arctic Circle. But why is it that this place has such firm connections with Italy. Christine Finn has the answer. Justin Webb examines a Japanese conundrum: the country benefits from its cultural insularity and yet, if it doesn't open up to outsiders, it faces economic decline. Mark Lowen, charting the mood in Athens as international investigators assess the creditworthiness of Greece, talks of...
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FOOC: 29 Sept, 2011
They came from all over: serious men from Seville and Madrid with their fine suits and Havana cigars to see the last bullfight in the historic stadium in Barcelona. Robert Elms was also there to witness the final show. Attempts to clamp down on the highly lucrative trade in mineral smuggling in eastern Congo have not proved successful, as Conor Woodman has been finding out. North Korea might not seem to be a country with the latest in communications technology but, as Lucy Williamson tells...
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FOOC: 24 September 2011
Kate Adie shares stories behind the headlines with correspondents around the world. David Loyn is at the funeral of Burhanuddin Rabbani reflecting on the return to prominence of Afghanistan's warlords. Tim Mansel looks at the intimate relationship between football and politics in Turkey. Roland Buerk explains why the residents of Tokyo are cancelling the leases on their high rise apartments. Damien McGuiness is in the disputed territory of Abkhazia and Andrew Harding has the opportunity to...
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FOOC: 22 Sept 11
Katie Adie presents more despatches from foreign correspondents. As forces try to oust Gaddafi loyalists holding out in his home town of Sirte, our correspondent Alastair Leithead ponders the dilemmas of keeping the story in the news. In Pakistan, the monsoon season has left thousands homeless once again; Aleem Maqbool travels through Sindh, one of the worst-affected provinces, and find people feeling abandoned by their government and the world. We get up close and personal as Robin Irvine...
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FOOC: Sept 17, 2011
Reprisals and revenge in a desert oasis as the battles continue against the final Gaddafi loyalists -- Justin Marozzi's been learning of the tensions in a small community in the far south of Libya. Katy Watson in Doha on how the Gulf state of Qatar was one of the first countries to declare its support for the Libyan rebels and how it is now reaping the benefits. Jonathan Head, who accompanied Turkish premier Erdogan on part of his North African tour, contends that a Turkish leader, elevated...
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FOOC: Sept 15, 2011
How did the lifeboat of the North Atlantic, as it's called, manage to cope with thousands of unexpected air passengers? Jo Fidgen is in Gander, Newfoundland, with a story of 9.11 kindness. In Sudan, there are fears of a new offensive by government troops once the rains have stopped -- Julie Flint's in the Nuba mountains in the south. Nick Thorpe's at a monastery overlooking the River Danube in Romania. There they've been celebrating a holy day when people come to have their ailments washed...
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FOOC: Sept 10, 2011
Whatever happened to his notebooks? Jeremy Bowen, charting the demise of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, wonders why his precious notebooks keep going missing. Mishal Husain travels though five countries finding out about the role Twitter and Facebook have played in the Arab Spring. Thousands of Zimbabwean children have been making a long, risky and illegal journey south in search of a place in a South African schoolroom; Mukul Devichand's been metting some of them. Lesley Curwen's been to the...
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FOOC: Sept 3, 2011
The day after history was made in Libya Kevin Connolly was out shopping -- and tells a story of a capital city trying to return to normal. Few parts of the United States have escaped the economic downturn -- as Jonny Dymond's been finding out on a Main Street in North Carolina; Fiona Lloyd-Davies has been meeting a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo who's been helping thousands of victims of rape. Summer may have been something of a damp squib in the UK but Huw Cordey's been to Death...
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FOOC: July 27, 2011
The Arab-Israeli conflict seems to have been sidelined in this year of revolutions. But our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen tells us that it hasn't gone away, and the signs are not good. It was 37-degrees at the Italian air base where Jonathan Marcus has been to meet some of the pilots flying NATO missions over Libya -- but not too hot for them all to tuck into a full English breakfast while Jonathan inquired: how much have the pilots contributed to the rebels' success in and around Tripoli?...
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 20 Aug 2011
'Politics at its most brutal, its most basic, democracy as a demolition derby.' That's Mark Mardell's view as he contemplates months of Republican infighting ahead of next year's US presidential election. The Moscow coup of twenty years ago: Bridget Kendall, who was there during that eventful August back in 1991, says it could so easily have succeeded. The smiles seem to have faded somewhat in newly-independent South Sudan but Robin Denselow, just back from the capital Juba, says they still...
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 13th August 2011
Aleem Maqbool reports on Karachi, where inter-ethnic violence between Urdu speakers and Pashtuns has killed hundreds in the last few months; as Sonia Gandhi receives medical treatment in the US, Mark Tully explores her enduring political power in India, despite the fact that she holds no government office; Orla Guerin is in Misrata, in Libya, where rockets still threaten civilians and little appears to have changed for the better; Sudan is now officially divided into two and Sudanese pride,...
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4 August 6th 2011
Mexico's drug wars are notoriously violent and the killings have spread to neighbouring Guatemala. Linda Pressly has been to the scene of a gruesome massacre in northern Guatemala. The "indignados" in Spain began their protests in May, angry at the banks and at the way the government has responded to the economic crisis with spending cutbacks, privatisations and redundancies. Sarah Rainsford recently joined some of the young indignants on the road. Colombia's "Red Zone" is traditionally a...
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FOOC: July 30th 2011
Today: Peter Svaar finds out that the man behind the killings in Norway was his class mate and friend. Charles Haviland visits northern Sri Lanka to see if life is returning to normal there. Justin Rowlatt examines if Iceland, which refused to pay off its debts, offers a solution to Europe's economic woes? Christine Finn gets a peek into the secretive world of bobbins, skeins and "metiers" with the lace makers of France. And we hear from Oliver Bullough why Russian officials, not known for...
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FOOC: July 23, 2011
Will Thursday's eurozone agreement be enough to save the European single currency and the union of European nations? Chris Morris in Brussels considers the deal designed to prevent the debt crisis from spreading. Michael Buchanan was in Helmand province Afghanistan as the city of Lashkar Gah was returned to Afghan control. For the westerners leaving, he says, their job was far from done. Some Ethiopian girls are getting married at the age of five and Claudia Hammond has been finding out...
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FOOC: July 16, 2011
Could the Libyan rebels be poised to march on the capital Tripoli? Gabriel Gatehouse, who's been spending time with them near the coastal city of Misrata, doubts they have the capability for military victory; Andrew Hosken's just returned from Somalia where the rains have failed again, drought has taken hold and many people are in danger of starving to death; a battle between modernity and an older way of doing things is underway in the Indian state of Orissa and Justin Rowlatt's been...
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FOOC: July 9, 2011
They are celebrating in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the world's newest country. But Fergus Nicoll, who's there, says its leaders must address some of the lessons they've been handed down by history. Who's visiting the great archaeological sites in Libya as the conflict in that country continues? Justin Marozzi's just been to one of them and had little company there other than cows and goats. David Willey in Rome talks about the country's much respected President Giorgio Napoletano and...
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FOOC: July 7, 2011
The end of the world is nigh! Well, it is according to one estimate. But Chris Bockman who's in the French Pyrenees says there's a village there where you might just be safe. Much joy's being reported in South Sudan. Peter Martell's in this region which has experienced generations of civil war but is now getting ready to usher in independence. Could the mighty US be about to default on its debts? Lesley Curwen says the government in Washington's been given a deadline by which time it must...
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FOOC: July 2, 2011
The Greek austerity bill may have been passed by the Athens parliament, but Justin Rowlatt's wondering if anyone expects it to be fully implemented. It may be one of the most polluted cities in the world but Delhi, as Anu Anand has been finding out, is home to an astonishing collection of bird life. The Libyan Mediterranean city of Misrata is still coming under rocket fire from troops loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, but Andrew Harding's been seeing that families still enjoy an afternoon at the...
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FOOC: June 30, 2011
Now the Greek parliament's voted for austerity, large numbers of people working in the country's huge public sector are waiting to see where first the axe will fall -- Manuela Saragosa's in Athens. Saving cash is a theme throughout Europe and Mark Lobel's been to Strasbourg where some say the city should no longer be a base for the European Parliament, it's just too expensive. Venezuelan security forces are said to have been tunnelling INTO a jail to try to resolve a riot inside. Sarah...
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FOOC: June 25, 2011
The lights go out in the United States. It's only a simulation at present but Mark Mardell in Washington says it's evidence the US military is taking seriously the threat of war in cyberspace. Inside the walls of a prison in the Horn of Africa our correspondent Mary Harper is surprised by a demand for an interview ... from a Somali pirate! Misha Glenny reflects on the EU's decision to admit Croatia to full membership:proof, he believes, that a powder keg has finally been defused. Rupert...
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FOOC: June 23, 2011
A voice from Croatia's war-torn past is recalled by Allan Little in Zagreb as the EU prepares to admit this country to full membership of the Union. Chris Morris is in Athens as Greece faces fresh hurdles in its attempts to avoid defaulting on its debt repayments. Lobsters are big business but in Nicaragua, as Conor Woodman's been hearing, catching them can be dangerous. Reggie Nadelson tells us how the price of property's soaring in Harlem, a part of New York once associated with poverty...
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FOOC: June 18, 2011
The ultimate failed state. That's what some call Somalia in the Horn of Africa. Peter Greste is in the capital Mogadishu, perhaps the most dangerous city in the world. He's finding out why thousands of Somalis are leaving homes in the countryside and flooding in to the city? Another mass migration's going on in China. But, as Juliana Liu tells us, difficulties can lie ahead for the country people heading for town in search of a better life. Paul Henley's been looking at an economic boom...
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FOOC: June 16, 2011
Tunisia's fragile revolution is under threat from the violent uprising in Libya. Pascale Harter, investigating in these borderlands, also reveals what a football commentary sounds like in Libya where the only name permissible is that of Gaddafi. The blockade on Gaza means that many people living in that territory never get to leave. Jon Donnison's been meeting two men, at the Erez crossing into Israel, who get nearer than most. Cheung Chau island, not far from Hong Kong, has become notorious...
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FOOC: June 11, 2011
The bloody events in Syria are making the government in neighbouring Turkey uneasy, as Hugh Sykes has been finding out on the eve of the Turkish general election there; Chris Hogg's in Taiwan where, amid a thawing in relations with mainland China, there are businessmen who are prospering in the new climate of detente; corruption in India is now so pervasive, it reaches even the smallest country village but, as Craig Jeffrey's been hearing, it can still be a joking matter; there's a ban on...
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FOOC: June 9, 2011
Amid uproar in and around Syria, Kevin Connolly considers suggestions that there have been attempts by the authorities in Damascus to manipulate the news agenda to distract the world from events going on in their country. A year after violent disturbances in the Kyrgyz town of Osh Rayhan Demytrie, who covered those events, considers the difficult legacy they've left in their wake; Tracey Logan is in the Republic of Ireland examining how an EU directive, aimed at protecting Ireland's peat...
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FOOC: June 4, 2011
A mysterious encounter with the sinister Colonel Tariq, thought to be from Pakistani Intelligence, is described by Aamer Ahmed Khan. Tim Whewell's in the Sinai Desert finding a roaring trade in rifles. A guided tour of Benghazi with Andrew Hosken: he is told that Colonel Gaddafi couldn't make the railways run on time -- he couldn't make the railways either! An acute housing shortage in Beijing is described by Martin Patience - it's meant people living in air raid shelters, bunkers and...
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FOOC: June 2, 2011
The E.coli outbreak in Germany is the subject of a despatch from Steve Evans in Berlin who's been finding out how it's sending ripples throughout Europe, affecting sales of fruit and vegetables and altering families' eating habits. As General Mladic prepares to face war crimes charges in The Hague, Nick Thorpe's been touring Bosnia meeting family and supporters of the man who was the military leader of the Bosnian Serbs. It's crisis time for the pornographers of Los Angeles: Ed Butler's been...
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FOOC: May 28, 2011
Fin de Siecle Deauville hosts the G8 summit of world leaders where there have been clear signs of a different world order emerging -- Bridget Kendall's been taking note. Andrew Harding tells us what it's like in Misrata which endured a two month seige by Libyan forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi; Conor Woodman is in a town in Laos which has been taken over by Chinese investment; there's a picnic under the palms in Algiers for Chloe Arnold as she charts the decline of the city's Russian...
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FOOC: May 26, 2011
The Roman Catholic Church is accused of running a dirty campaign as the people of Malta prepare to vote in a referendum on divorce. Jake Wallis Simons has been gauging the mood in and around the capital, Valletta; Anna Cavell, who's in Kampala, Uganda, tells us how the continuing series of protests is heaping pressure on the long-standing president Yoweri Museveni; Bhutan, the Himalayan mountain kingdom, is a place said to be more interested in Gross National Happiness than Gross Domestic...
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FOOC: May 21, 2010
The carrots and sticks which the authorities in Saudi Arabia hope will persuade their people that protest is not a sensible option -- Michael Buchanan is gauging opinion in the desert kingdom. Who'll be the next president of Russia - Putin, Medvedev or someone else? It's a question preoccupying correspondents in Russia, among them the BBC's man Steve Rosenberg. As nuclear power plants around the world check their safety procedures after the apparent meltdown in Japan in March, Nick Thorpe...
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FOOC: May 14, 2011
Assisted suicide: as the people of Zurich in Switzerland prepare to vote on the issue, Imogen Foulkes tells a moving story about a couple who believed they had a right to decide on a date for death. Fergal Keane considers the historical significance of the forthcoming visit, by Queen Elizabeth 2, to the Republic of Ireland. Andrew Harding is in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi where, he says, people are determined to continue their fight against Colonel Gaddafi and to emerge with...
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FOOC: May 7, 2011
Weeks of violent confrontation in Uganda: Will Ross is in Kampala where lawyers are the latest group to protest against the regime of President Museveni. Mishal Husain is in the Pakistani town of Abottabad, where the life of Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, was brought to an end last Sunday. Mishal talks of the new interest in this location which she remembers as a place her family went on holiday. President Obama was at Ground Zero this week and coincidentally, a little...
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FOOC: April 30, 2011
A very French murder story: Hugh Schofield tells how France has been transfixed by an appalling human drama -- the killing of a mother, three sons and a daughter. Owen Bennett Jones questions whether depicting the news from Syria as 'brutal suppression of peaceful protestors' might be, to some extent, misleading. A climate of fear is stifling discussion about Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws -- that's the contention of the BBC's Jill McGivering who's been touring the country...
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FOOC: April 23, 2011
Students aren't revolting in Qatar and Oman -- Robin Lustig's been to the Gulf states to see what effect the uprisings in parts of the Arab world are having there. Justin Marozzi's in Libya as questions are being asked about who will run the country in the future. More journalists lost their lives this week in the fighting in Libya. Stuart Hughes reflects on the dangers a reporter can face covering conflict. Ethiopia is one of the least urbanised countries in the world; it's also a place...
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FOOC: April 16, 2011
'The Bahrain I had known wasn't there' - Frank Gardner, who used to live on the Gulf island, reports on life there under a state of emergency. The 7/7 bombings in London claimed victims of many nationalities; Nick Beake has travelled to Poland to hear more about one of them: a young woman who was a keen student and a member of the local choir. India's huge population has come under scrutiny in the recent census and Mark Tully has been wondering if the country's relatively youthful population...
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FOOC: April 09, 2011
'Even the winners are losers'-- Andrew Harding goes on a road journey through devastated, terrified Ivory Coast; Robert Hodierne on the homes being built for limbless former combat troops in the United States; Stephen Sackur's in the Australian outback hearing how the Chinese are getting iron ore there; the dangers of childbirth in Afghanistan and the efforts being made to improve the situation are explained by Nadene Ghouri in Kabul while Nick Thorpe hears tales about the ancient sturgeon...
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FOOC: April 2, 2011
Visiting time at Yemen's jail for political prisoners: Genevieve Bicknell meets the families of some of those detained who tell her why they feel it's time for the country's president to step down. Mark Urban, just back from Afghanistan, talks of a new attempt to improve the tarnished image of Afghanistan's police force. How the Lost Boys, who fled the civil war in Sudan, are finding out details of their past thanks to an archive which had been gathering dust in Addis Ababa -- that's from...
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FOOC: March 26, 2011
Crisis in the Eurozone -- Chris Morris in Brussels says we're ignoring it at our peril. Sue Lloyd Roberts hears two opinions about Saudi Arabia: do its women live pampered lives or are they kept prisoners? Nick Thorpe's in a village in eastern Hungary where vigilantes say Roma crime is raging out of control. Crazy names for serious people in the Philippines, Kate McGeown investigates. And Gabriel Gatehouse is in The Netherlands trying to ask the Royal Family if they still ride about on...
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FOOC: March 19, 2011
Explosions and gunfire in Benghazi -- Kevin Connolly on the struggle for power in eastern Libya; Rupert Wingfield Hayes is in Tokyo where there's growing fear at the prospect of nuclear meltdown. Hannah Barnes has been talking to lovers of Hebrew who are determined to ensure that the language remains as up to date as it can possibly be. Two months after a Congresswoman was shot in Tucson, Arizona, David Willis looks at the impact the incident had had on America's attitude towards guns. And...
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FOOC: March 17, 2011
Colossal forces of nature have devastated Japan and the country faces the possibility of a nuclear disaster; but in the teeth of catastrophe Rachel Harvey discovers an extraordinary resilience on the part of the Japanese people. Egypt is undergoing massive political upheaval; and while the country is struggling to shape its future, Christine Finn hears that looters are increasingly plundering its past. Southern Sudan is just a few months away from independence; Hugh Sykes gets a feel for...
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FOOC: March 12, 2011
Earthquake in Japan: Hugh Levinson on how fear of catastrophe has helped shape the country's psyche; menace and bloodshed in Ivory Coast's largest city - Andrew Harding on the violence triggered by a dispute over the presidency. What impact has the foreign media had on the course of the uprisings in north Africa and the Middle East? It's a question confronted here by the BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson. In north-east India, Rupa Jha meets some of the women who've lost their husbands...
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FOOC: Mar 10, 2011
Michael Buchanan goes behind the front lines in the rebel city of Benghazi in Libya and finds many are still giddy with delight at their new found freedom. John James has been watching the West African State of Ivory Coast descend into chaos over the bitterly disputed election. In Cuba, Polly Hope finds people are plunging into the once forbidden world of commerce with huge enthusiasm. Daniel Sandford gets to the heart of the matter in Ukraine, listening to the tales of a former government...
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FOOC: March 5, 2011
Dreams of a new Libya in the revolutionary city of Benghazi but, as Kevin Connolly's been discovering, there's fear too. Could Saudi Arabia be touched by this season of revolt in the Middle East? It's a question answered by a correspondent who knows the kingdom better than most, Frank Gardner. In a court in Belarus, David Stern looks on as KGB evidence condemns a pro-democracy activist. Judy Swallow chronicles the life of a hand-rickshaw puller in the Indian city of Kolkata and on a hunting...
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FOOC: Mar 03, 2011
A restaurant date with Colonel Gaddafi: Jeremy Bowen talks revolution and politics with the Libyan leader. Chris Hogg in Shanghai -- is an Arab-style political spring likely to blossom in China? Steve Evans is in Berlin explaining the fall from grace of the government minister they're calling Dr Cut and Paste. Ethiopia's Christians celebrate their ancient sacred heritage, as Michael Kaye looks on. And flip flops - but not as we know them: Jane Beresford on another correspondent's dilemma.
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FOOC: Feb 26, 2011
Our correspondent - who can't be named - describes life in Tripoli with its empty streets, boarded up shops and burnt out buildings. Barbara Plett describes the strange goings on at the United Nations with Libya's diplomats divided over support for Colonel Gaddaffi's regime. Mark Mardell witnesses the conflicting emotions in Washington over the upheaval in the Middle East and asks why it seems that the United States so often backs the bad guys? Jonty Bloom explores the linguistic divide...
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FOOC: Feb 24, 2011
The Black Sea resort of Sochi is preparing to host the next Winter Olympics. But following an attack on tourists at a Russian ski resort, Stephen Rosenberg hears concerns that Sochi could become a target for terrorism. As the people of Dresden commemorate the anniversary of the city's bombing during World War Two, Stephen Evans meets the neo-Nazi's demonstrating there. Petroc Trelawney is treated to a day out in the Zimbabwean countryside and a history lesson from the daughter of the...
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FOOC: Feb 17, 2011
The wind of change sweeps across parts of the Middle East and North Africa -- an assessment from Jeremy Bowen. Basque separatist group ETA announced last year they would no longer use violence to campaign for the region's independence; Sarah Rainsford watches a new political party launch in Spain. Will Ross follows the first elections in Uganda since the end of war in the north of the country. Indonesia hopes to ride the wave of economic growth in the developing world and become the next big...
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FOOC: Feb 12, 2010
Weeks of drama in Egypt reach a climax with the resignation of President Mubarak. Hugh Sykes tells of the joy in Cairo's Tahrir Square; Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines what will happen to the army of police, thugs and torturers who enforced Mubarak's police state; Jonathan Marcus explains how western diplomats were left floundering by this very Egyptian revolution; Sarah Monaghan's in Oman, a distant outpost of the Arab world waiting to see if the winds of change will blow through there as...
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FOOC: Feb 10 2011
The generals in Cairo watch and wait as the demonstrations continue: Jon Leyne considers their possible role in the days and weeks ahead. Bethany Bell attends a spectacular Viennese ball and finds that the possible succession in Egypt is the talk of the town. Across Europe there is growing anxiety about the cultural impact of immigration, fuelling the growth of populist political parties who say Europe's Christian heritage is under threat. Chris Bowlby reflects on the religious symbolism of...
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FOOC: Feb 5, 2011
With Egypt in turmoil Kevin Connolly discovers what Hosni Mubarak's sense of timing says about his character. Malcolm Brabant has been finding out how the dreams of migrants die on the streets of Athens. Why a Chinese chicken farmer is ruffling feathers in a Zambian market -- Justin Rowlatt's been investigating. In the southwest of France Chris Bockman's unearthed skullduggery among truffle hunters and their dogs. And Hamilton Wende's been to meet the bare-knuckle brawlers who fight for...
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FOOC: 03 Feb 2011
President Mubarak of Egypt is desperate to leave office with a degree of dignity, but Lyse Doucet meets people in Cairo who think the time for change is now. US-led forces in Afghanistan feel they are making progress; Robert Fox considers whether this might be the beginning of the end for the Taliban or just another lull in the fighting. Few countries are as homophobic as Uganda; homosexual acts can be punished with years in prison. But following the death of gay rights activist David Kato,...
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FOOC: Jan 29, 2011
Spectacular political developments across the Arab world as viewed from the Corniche in Beirut by Kevin Connolly; Quentin Somerville in Kabul views shocking evidence of what the Taleban call justice; Madeleine Morris is in the Indian state of Andrha Pradesh finding out why microcredit, once hailed as the answer to world poverty, has been getting a bad name; James Coomarasamy explores a town in Belarus where the spirit of Lenin still marches on and David Goldblatt is in Dakar getting a crash...
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FOOC: Jan 27, 2011
The rampant corruption that blights India's dreams of a brighter future is chronicled by Chris Morris. Justin Marozzi is on the frontline of one of the most dangerous cities on earth. Sarah Monaghan is in once-thriving Dubai, the emirate learning to live with much harder economic times. David Willis has been hearing about the debt Las Vegas owes to the mafia.
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FOOC: Jan 22, 2011
Is China's economic muscle crushing the heart out of blue-collar America? Justin Rowlatt's been to Ohio to find out. But while America's industrial heartland's feeling the pinch, Mike Wendling finds that, in the social networking industry, Americans lead the field; Mary Harper tells us about the city in the Horn of Africa which has risen from the ruins of war; the story of an extraordinary Englishman who's immersed himself in Afghan tribal life is told by Nadene Ghouri; while Christian...
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FOOC: Jan 20, 2011
As the political crisis in Lebanon deepens, Jeremy Bowen explores the country's tangled politics and finds out why intrigue surrounding the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri five years ago is driving events today. Adam Mynott was in Tunisia as President Ben Ali surrendered power. He assesses the mood on the streets and reflects on the difficulty of reporting a revolution. In Vietnam, Alastair Leithead finds a booming economy and an appetite for western goods challenging the...
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FOOC: Jan 15, 2011
Violence on the streets of north Africa -- Chloe Arnold in Algeria says it's not only been a problem for the authorities in Tunisia. Southern Sudan's farmers have been talking to Will Ross about their dreams of peace in a new nation; the Communists of Laos begin a journey down the path to capitalism - Claudia Hammond had time to give an elephant a wash and brush up as she learned more; why some Americans are captivated by the British royal family -- Laura Trevelyan travelled to Grand Rapids,...
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FOOC: Jan 8, 2011
The assassin who was garlanded: Orla Guerin on murder on the streets of Islamabad and the extent of extremism in Pakistan. Mark Doyle returns to his old stamping ground in Ivory Coast and visits the hotel that once gave pony rides to his son and now is a sanctuary and a presidential office at the same. Jonathan Fryer is in Azerbaijan looking at the city of Baku: crossroads between east and west; Justin Rowlatt is investigating Chinese economic activity in Brazil while Tim Ecott’s at the...
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FOOC: Jan 1, 2011
Nineteen correspondents from around the world join Kate Adie in this special New Year edition of the programme. They consider such matters as the 'park and pray' facilities on German's motorways, a reporter's dilemma on encountering a baby close to death in Pakistan; a cinema in Kabul where people gather to try to forget their troubles, a club in Baghdad where time seems to stand still, a school in Kenya where the alphabet is spelled out in goat droppings, several harrowing episodes at our...
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FOOC: Dec 18, 2010
Three years in America: Kevin Connolly has time to reflect as he prepares to leave an eventful posting in the United States. A cocaine factory is blown to pieces in a Colombian jungle clearing -- Frank Gardner was there watching as the security forces took their battle against the cocaine barons into the jungle. Gideon Long, our man in Santiago, on Chile's extraordinary, rollercoaster year. The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Algiers has just re-opened -- Chloe Arnold was at the inauguration...
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FOOC: Dec 11, 2010
Can America's dollars buy hearts and minds in southern Afghanistan? It's a subject Michael Buchanan has been examining in Helmand province; Hugh Sykes has been finding out how some Palestinians and Israelis have been forging connections across their deep divide. In Chennai, formerly Madras, Peter Curran has been listening in to an argument about the use of the English language; the best and the worst of life in one of South Africa's toughest townships -- Karen Allen's been visiting Gugulethu...
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FOOC: Dec 4, 2010
The great silence that is the legacy of genocide -- Neil Trevithick considers the legacy of brutality in Cambodia; Andrew Harding manages to relax on the beach in war-weary Mogadishu and finds some Somalians optimistic about the future; Paul Adams eats oysters for breakfast and talks to some of those living with the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico's oil spill disaster. With much of the opposition boycotting the second round of general election voting, Jon Leyne considers the nature of...
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FOOC: Nov 27, 2010
Why Pakistan's flood victims feel they've been let down by their rulers – Jill McGivering’s been investigating; Peter Day’s just back from China with the story of a victim of the Cultural Revolution who emerged from prison and made a fortune. Russia's policemen fail to see the funny side of a campaign of ridicule as we discover from a despatch by Lucy Ash. Justin Marozzi mingles with the crowds at a football tournament being held, controversially, in Yemen while Barbara Plett is in New York...
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FOOC: Nov 20 2010
Ireland prepares to say goodbye to the best and brightest of its youth – Gavin Hewitt’s been finding out how the economic crisis there has forced thousands to consider emigration; Mark Urban’s at the NATO summit in Lisbon and points out that while some of the delegates question the continuing role of the alliance others believe fervently it has a role to play in the 21st century; in Rome David Willey says the rising tide of scandal may finally engulf Italy’s embattled prime minister; Paul...
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FOOC: November 13, 2010
A dark portrait is painted by our correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes of millions of Russian lives lost in alcohol and despair; there are reflections on the death of a deeply troubled German hero from Eleanor Oldroyd; Will Ross explores the divisions that may be just about to split Sudan in half; A Chinese gourmet is introduced to fine Italian food by Fuchsia Dunlop in Turin and we know that the super spy, James Bond didn't like the Cold War Russians....but what, Kevin Connolly wonders, did...
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 11 Nov 2010
Christian families are leaving Iraq in large numbers amid continuing sectarian violence, Jim Muir has the latest developments. John Humphrys travels to China and finds political perils threaten the country's booming economy. In South Africa, Hamilton Wende hears tales of horror and victory from a veteran of the Battle of El Alamein. Lina Sinjab finds youngsters in Yemen disturbed by the way the world views their country. And in the Maldives, Tim Ecott witnesses the massing of the manta rays.
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FOOC: Nov 4, 2010
An undercover exploration of the glittering new capital city built by Burma's generals is carried out by Sue Lloyd-Roberts; Damian Grammaticas looks at the population count in China that will shed light on more than a billion lives; Daniel Schweimler finds a vacuum in Argentina after the death of former president Nestor Kirchner; anger and fear in Indonesia's restless province of Papua is reported by Rachel Harvey; while in a forest in the Czech Republic, Mike Wendling taps into the local...
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FOOC: 30 Oct 2010
The ruined heart of an American city, laid waste by economic collapse, is explored by Paul Mason; Mary Harper visits a hotel in Nairobi that's become a little piece of Somalia; from a South African prison, Hamilton Wende tells an inspiring tale of guilt and redemption; there's an explosion in modern art in the Turkish city of Istanbul, but Rosie Goldsmith's been finding out that not everyone's happy with that. And our correspondent David Willis struggles to embrace America's passion for...
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FOOC: Oct 28 2010
Extra police have been drafted in to the Swedish city of Malmo -- Tim Mansel, who's there, says a gunman is on the loose who seems to have immigrants in his sights. The Chinese villages condemned to drown beneath the rising waters of the Yangtze - Peter Day's been to investigate. In the US, Andy Gallacher has a story of blood and guts at a rodeo in one of the country's toughest prisons. And Hugh Schfield tells us that while French may be the language of love and cuisine....it may not be...
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 23 Oct 2010
Today: We hear French lessons for an American truck driver; the surprising story of why some schools in Japan are funded by the North Koreans; there are the explicit stories told to get the Aids message across to Ugandan children; and we learn how a 21st Century St. Patrick could help out with Ireland's economic woes.
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 21 Oct 2010
Today: we hear from Aleem Maqbool in Pakistan where it's easier to blame others for your troubles than to really face up to them; we're in Berber country, in Algeria, with Jonathan Fryer, where until recently kidnappings and killings were commonplace; we visit the Liberian countryside with Chris Simpson where they are dreaming of the good ol' days when some people had a monthly salary; in Okinawa Philippa Fogarty explains how some people are determined to preserve their culture, as distinct...
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FOOC: 16 Oct 2010
A huge welcome -- from some at least --as the President of Iran comes to southern Lebanon, Jeremy Bowen was there watching. Humphrey Hawksley's in Kiev as Ukrainians look nostalgically back to the days when they were part of the Soviet empire; a mixed press for the Commonwealth Games but Sam Miller finds there are technological reasons to be cheerful; Joanna Jolly's in Nepal where the world's tiniest man reckons his height is a passport to financial security. And Nick Thorpe tells tales of...
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