From Our Own Correspondent
By BBC Radio
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Podcast Description
Insight, wit and analysis as BBC correspondents, journalists and writers take a closer look at the stories behind the headlines. Presented by Kate Adie. Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the UK on Thursdays at 1100 (local time) and Saturdays at 1130 (local time) for about 25 weeks of the year. BBC World Service broadcasts every day from Monday to Friday plus a weekend edition all year round, presented by Owen Bennett-Jones. For more information, a full list of programme broadcast times and the podcast Terms of Use go to www.bbc.co.uk/fromourowncorrespondent
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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 in Azerbaijan. And Steve Rosenberg, who's there, says it's attended by awkward questions about human rights. And she was invited to a seaside tasting of some of Italy's finest fare. So what could possibly go wrong for Dany Mitzman? | 26 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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: why the people of Vienna, who live in one of the world's most desirable capital cities, still seem to have plenty to moan about. | 24 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 really be wrong, to a court for judgement. Fuchsia Dunlop's been to one part of China where they don't find cheese alien and revolting And Mary Harper's been mingling with the Somali population in Dubai. And taking a drive, in some style, around the gleaming emirate. | 19 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 revolution. Everyone, though, has a view about corruption there. A UN envoy, in Cambodia this week, spoke of how firearms were increasingly being used there against human rights activists. Guy Delauney considers this in the light of growing public controversy over land issues and illegal logging. And as the nude bathing season gets underway in Germany Stephen Evans tells a story of how cultural confusion over nakedness caused embarrassment in a Berlin gym. | 12 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 push for further energy supplies is affecting reindeer and their herders And Alan Johnston, touring the celebrated sights of Rome, tells us there's one particular statue which casts a chill shadow -- even on the sunniest of Spring days. | 5 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 scholar in Syria whose library was destroyed as the struggle continues between protestors and the security forces. What makes Kenyan athletes such fine distance runners? Claudia Hammond's been jogging through the Great Rift Valley learning some of the answers. and Stephen Sackur went to Cairo to report on how the people's uprising there was faring but instead found himself captivated by a revolutionary TV chef whose recipes are being lapped up throughout the Middle East! | 28 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 away. India: His mother warned him against walking on ice, but Paul Howard finds it's the only way to visit a remote community high in the Himalayas. Germany: Great excitement at the start of the white asparagus season. Steve Evans finds the vegetable dominating menus and conversation. But surely it's not an aphrodisiac? | 21 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 14 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 seventy years ago. | 7 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 of the most gruesome happenings now seems to cause little surprise or horror. Jonathan Fryer's been meeting a family hugely respected in Togo. Over the generations they've become known for producing twins -- regarded as particularly special in this part of west Africa. And how on earth did a man from the high Himalayas come to be serving Jewish culinary specialities in a store in Manhattan? The answer to that one comes from Reggie Nadelson. | 31 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 there are hundreds of people who feel they should have the job Gavin Esler meets Chancellor Merkel in Berlin and considers to what extent Germans feel obliged to help the poorer nations of southern Europe | 24 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 22 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Islands in the wake of the great nineteenth century naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace. Joanna Robertson's been to the cinema in Paris seeing how French children are being educated to become the film experts of the future. And Peter Day describes the extraordinary Chinese ghost town -- empty streets, half-finished buildings -- which suggests to some that the great real estate bubble there has finally burst. | 17 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 15 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Krasnodar where many still revere the memory of the empress, Catherine the Great. And Will Ross receives an unexpected invitation to fly into troubled Somalia with the Ethiopian army. | 10 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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, incensed about land grabs, stand up against the authorities. Martin Patience, in Guangdong province, says they may have won the battle but they shouldn't feel too confident about winning the war. And Martin Plaut meets an extraordinary man close to the troubled border between Sudan and South Sudan: a doctor, determined to dodge danger and bring help to all who need it. | 8 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 process of reform? There's a story of connectivity, turtles and love from Huw Cordey in the central American state of Costa Rica. And how would you like to get the tea for 49 young children? Catherine Fellowes has been talking to a mum in Kenya who does it every day! | 3 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 British students than ever before are enrolling in foreign places of learning. Sanchia Berg's to Harvard in the US. And Tom Burridge is in Barcelona where the regional politicians feel they're getting a raw deal from Madrid. | 1 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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, on his days off, joins demonstrators throwing stones at the military! And Aleem Maqbool is finding out why a town in Pakistan's north-west is known as Little Britain. | 25 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 torn apart. The French province of Brittany has a great deal going for it but not, as Robert Colls has been telling us, much in the way of job opportunities. And Frank Gardner's taken to the skies off the coast of Somalia to see how an international force is dealing with the threat posed by pirates. | 23 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 people of Hong Kong and Chinese mainlanders - Juliana Liu's been exploring the tensions... while in New York City Reggie Nadelson looks around a vast wedding emporium where you can spend thousands on a wedding dress - and many do! | 18 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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, the Cup of Nations final, Tamasin Ford was at a sweltering screening in a refugee camp in Liberia. And very different weather in County Mayo: the winds howl and the hail lashes down as Kieran Cooke inspects a structure causing controversy in the far west of Ireland. | 16 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 government's handling their debt crisis. Did you know the Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's family comes from Lake Garda in northern Italy. No? Well nor did most of the people living there until Christine Finn told them! And Alastair Leithead's been to a village in southern Mexico to see how the government is trying to impress descendants of the great Mayan civilisation. | 11 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. Rubbish is a hot political potato in Mexico City -- Will Grant's had a pungent day out with its binmen. And behind closed doors in Libya: it's a bride's day ... and as Saleya Ahsan tells us, it's not an occasion for the men! | 9 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 the capital. Will Ross is in Addis Ababa where the latest Chinese contribution to Ethiopian life is dominating the landscape. And how do you deal with evil spirits, ghosts and fallen angels? Kate McGeown is in a consulting room behind a karaoke bar in the Philippines finding out! | 4 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 through six southern African countries - the passengers soon noted life outside their gilded carriages was a lot less comfortable. And UNESCO reckons the Viennese cafe's worth adding to its list of intangible items of cultural heritage. Bethany Bell explains why there's a lot more than just apple strudel behind the counter. | 2 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 28 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 the fact that their city was created as the capital of the British Raj ... and Allan Little's been meeting some of those behind the creation of the European single currency - he asks them: what on earth's gone wrong? | 26 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 transplant. Jeremy Bowen, heavily shadowed by government minders, tries to find out the degree of support for the campaign to oust the president Bashar al-Assad and Stephen Sackur has been to report in Yemen where a political vacuum seems to suit an al-Qaeda-backed insurgency. | 21 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 city areas where the migrants have set up home - Mukul Devichand's been investigating in the southern city of Guangzhou. Nick Haslam has been to Ecuador, finding out who must pick up the bill when the developed world asks a developing country to forgo economic growth in favour of the world's environment. | 19 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 process of reconstruction is still going on -- some say it's taking too long. Sara Hashash is in Cairo where they're trying to salvage what they can from thirty truckloads of ancient books, manuscripts and other documents damaged and destroyed during fighting in the capital last year and our Europe correspondent Chris Morris takes a break from talking about bail-outs and over-the-counter derivatives and heads off to Copenhagen for a heart-to-heart with the Queen of Denmark. | 14 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 but the tragedy remains deeply controversial today. Libby Spurrier's just been for a cruise down the River Nile and says it's clear that ten months of instability in Egypt has proved devastating for that country's tourist industry. Stephen Sackur's been getting tips on gastronomy from the man behind what some say is the world's best restaurant and he's emerged with controversial suggestions about what you might want on your Christmas table next December! | 7 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 31 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 30 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 29 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 28 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 27 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 26 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 history of Odessa and its enduring passion for music. | 24 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 their minds! The revolution's brought a new look to Libya but Tarik Kafala, who's been back to Tripoli after many years away, says not everything's changed. Jill McGivering's in Indian Kashmir where questions are being asked about thousands of unmarked graves. And a celebrated bookshop owner passed away this week in Paris and Christine Finn, who worked in his shop recently, tells us what made this store, over the bridge from Notre Dame, so special. | 17 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Mark Tully, who remembers the long struggle which preceded its birth, wonders if too much celebration of that anniversary will lead to further bitterness. And Linda Pressley's in eastern Cuba climbing mountains and asking awkward questions about the love life of Fidel Castro. | 10 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 India - Craig Jeffrey says the incident's once again got the country talking about corruption. A book fair --and a beating up: Sara Sheridan in the United Arab Emirates on the issues surrounding the release from prison of a group of people accused of being disrespectful to a ruling family. And the American state of Iowa's preparing for its moment in the political sunlight. It's time for the caucuses, critical for Republicans hoping to become their party's candidate for the White House. | 3 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 young people there more interested in the future than in their country's bloody past. Mark Lowen's in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which lost the major part of its Jewish population to the holocaust and recalls the life of his own grandmother who once came face to face with the commandant of a Nazi death camp. And why James Harkin, chasing revolutionaries in Syria, found himself drawn, repeatedly, to what he claims is the best ice cream shop in the world! | 26 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 corner of the Russian Federation; Mike Thomson explains why Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, has become a 'closed city' but says it pays to get to know it better and Alastair Leithead's on a whirlwind tour of Colombia - he gets an apology from the president and tells us how gold has become the country's new cocaine. | 19 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 trouble. A new property law's been introduced in Havana - Peter Day tries to answer the question: does this mean the grip of Castro-style Communism is being relaxed? Justin Rowlatt sends a despatch from Varanasi in India where the traditional practice of cremating bodies continues by the River Ganges. And you have to be fit to trek across the Pyrenees. We find out how Edward Stourton got on as he retraced the wartime route of the hundreds who used that route to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe. | 12 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Colombia is slowly changing now that government forces appear to have the upper hand in the long battle against the FARC rebels. Not all the British servicemen stationed in Germany will be coming home -- Chris Bowlby's been meeting some who plan to stay on there. And Vincent Dowd's been visiting a Philadelphia museum which offers a window onto recent American history ... and some rather fine singing too! | 10 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Mardell's joined him on the campaign trail. There's a new rail line in Jerusalem. Matthew Teller says it provides interesting travel possibilities but it's also proving controversial. And Hugh Schofield's been to the south of France to talk to the iconic fashion designer Pierre Cardin and hear how he saw off all his rivals. | 5 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 super-rich. Tamasin Ford's in Liberia ahead of next week's election runoff and hears concerns about intimidation of the media there. Damien McGuinness, our man in Tbilisi, has been examining the difficulties women in Georgia face in the workplace and in the home while Trish Flanagan has been sampling the wares at the celebrated English Market in the Irish city of Cork. | 3 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 economic hard times have been affecting life on the ocean wave. There's an incident in the High Pamir as John Pilkingon's dragged, feet first, into an icy river and much talk about the sort of food you can find in German canteens, and what it tells you about its eaters, from our own correspondent in the German capital, Steve Evans. | 29 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 military triumph, today a peaceful place with more interest in the arts than in history. And Alex Kirby takes a boat trip in Ukraine and finds that when something as finite and crucial as water has to be shared between competing needs, there are inevitably losers. The programme's introduced by Kate Adie. | 27 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 with Africa's real Number One detectives, in Botswana. | 22 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 people grapple with the trappings of democracy. And Jonathan Barker tells us how the Asian Tsunami has had benefits for the Orang-utans of Sumatra - but watch out for your fingers! | 20 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. A long way from Abidjan and a long way from Monrovia: John James is in that part of Ivory Coast close to Liberia and sometimes referred to as the 'Wild West.' It's a part of the country which was hard hit during the struggle, earlier this year, for the country's presidency. And Andrew Harding talks to Zargana, his friend the Burmese comedian, who's just been released from a 59-year prison sentence. Jeeves and Wooster, Andrew hears, were a great comfort in his cell. | 15 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 the members of one of Shanghai's neighbourhood committees - the front line of Chinese government. And with two weeks to go until the Irish go to the polls, Kieran Cooke recalls early encounters with Martin McGuinness, the former IRA man who now wants to be Ireland's next president. | 13 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 language; and Hugh Schofield in Paris on how new technology has breathed fresh life into the ghosts of Montparnasse cemetery. | 8 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Atlantic -- today, Chris Carneghy says their lifestyle's being challenged by developments in the modern technological world; Dany Mitzman talks of an anti-Mafia television station in Sicily which is under threat from new Italian legislation while Rajesh Mirchandani chews over the complications of South Africa's diverse history. | 6 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 clouds of tear gas and despair closing over a troubled country. In the Pakistani city of Karachi, the American consulate moved to a new location. Mohammed Hanif says it has meant the reopening of an historic park and armed guards being replaced by youngsters playing cricket. And you used to have to go America's Great Plains for a glimpse of the mighty bison. Not any more. Rob Cameron tells us why it can now be seen wandering around a place that used to be a training ground for the Russian Red Army. | 1 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 us, the leadership there are finding ways of making it work for them. Paul Adams goes to a country music show in the US and hears how the genre has embraced the anger of a generation poleaxed by economic hardship. And Trish Flanagan joins tens of thousands who arrived in a remote corner of the Republic of Ireland to watch a game of golf. | 29 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 check out a Libyan hospital .... as a patient. | 24 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 takes part in a wrestling match on the grasslands of Eastern Mongolia. In Beirut, appearances are everything, even when giving birth, as Georgia Paterson Dargham finds out. And in New England, Julian May discovers why lobster fishing is apparently helping to increase the crustacean's numbers. | 22 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 to the status of an Arab champion, is extraordinary. Claudia Hammond is in Costa Rica: tle elderly there reach a greater age than in any other nation in the Americas but the burden, she tells us, hangs heavily on the country's healthcare system. And Daniel Schweimler took some long bus trips and walked a great distance to visit a remote part of Argentina which is almost untouched by the modern world. | 17 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 away by holy water. Thomas Dinham tells of a febrile atmosphere in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in the days after a mob laid seige to the Israeli embassy there. And in the week when the president of the European Commission spoke of a fight for our political and economic future, Paul Henley argues that increasingly Europe is becoming a continent of extremes. | 15 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 US to find out how families are getting by during the economic downturn. And in Ireland, Fergal Keane sees signs of hope and optimism after the worst banking crisis and recession in the country's history. | 10 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Valley in California where it's been scorchingly hot. And back to Tripoli in Libya where Andrew Hosken's been learning about the dangers of what they're calling 'celebratory gunfire.' What goes up, he's told, must always come down! | 3 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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? They've been celebrating twenty years of independence in Estonia and, not surprisingly, we find they've been doing it in song. Kieran Cooke's been to Shangri-La. This town in western China is supposed to be as close as you can get to an earthly paradise, but Kieran's not entirely convinced. And call him a hypochondriac but our man in the Hollywood hills, David Willis, is more than a little scared when he opens up an email telling him if he's likely to get Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. | 27 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 revere their cattle. David Hargreaves has been attending a spectacular riverside religious festival in central India and Karishma Vaswani's had to call in the Indonesian witch doctor after strange goings-on at her house in Djakarta. | 20 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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, especially in the north, has taken a battering - James Copnall describes how national hopes lay with a horse called Diktator at the Sudanese Derby; and despite their economic woes, Jake Wallis Simons sees how the Portuguese still found a way to celebrate, with trays full of bread. | 13 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 no-go area for medics and journalists. But Imogen Foulkes has travelled upriver in this area - long fought over by drug cartels, FARC rebels and the Colombian military. Government cutbacks across Europe, particularly spending cuts for social programmes, are sometimes hitting the most vulnerable hardest. Emma Jane Kirby has been spending time with those who have fallen onto hard times in Paris. Why is it that Poles love to dress up as knights at the weekend? Adam Easton has been finding out. | 6 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 their smiles, are now beaming at babies. | 30 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 about the efforts being made to stamp out the practice of child marriage. Ever wondered what sound a post-coital baboon makes? Wonder no longer. Jake Wallis Simons imitates it as part his extraordinary story about the Australian much more at home in the real jungle than its urban equivalent. And Berlin's a city noted for its counterculture, its anti-establishment stance. Steve Evans is there exploring its more gentle side. | 23 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 finding out that in this case, the modern world might be about to lose out; Chris Simpson's in the Gambia where the president has made it clear that he has a low opinion of journalists -- the media people, on the other hand, complain of harrassment and worse. And from the Seychelles out in the Indian Ocean, a tale from Tim Ecott about the extraordinary coco de mer; a coconut tree with erotic connotations. | 16 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 explains how he's trying to rein in some of the activities of the controversial prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. India's caste system was supposed to have been done away with decades ago but Craig Jeffrey, in Uttar Pradesh, has found that in many areas of life, it simply has not gone away. And it's proving a sweltering summer in the city of Algiers and Chloe Arnold, who lives there, has been finding out how a Scottish firm is keen on securing a slice of the market in long, cool, fizzy drinks! | 9 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 pay up. But before that can be achieved, Republicans and Democrats must sort out their differences. Alex Renton's been learning that these are tough times in Armenia but still there's pride in the country's fine brandy which was, so they say, a favourite of Winston Churchill's. And Emily Lethbridge has been finding out that a good place to research the mediaeval sagas of Iceland is a petrol station, not far from the capital Reykjavik. | 7 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 beach there. Thaksin Shinawatra may be living in self-imposed exile in Dubai but Rachel Harvey, who's been there to meet the former Thai prime minister, says he's still dominating discussion about the upcoming Thai election. And is the Amazon a resource to be exploited or one simply to be protected - questions Robin Lustig's had in mind during his travels in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. | 2 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Grainger in Caracas on the state of Venezuela's chaotic prison system. Chris Hogg's in Shanghai where, ninety years ago, the Chinese Communist Party was formed. He examines some of its founding principles and assesses how relevant they are today. And it's been a sad week for supporters of the Argentine football club River Plate. Their team has been relegated to a lower division. But isn't football just a game? Daniel Schweimler, who's in Buenos Aires, says that in Argentina, it's much more than that! | 30 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Wingfield Hayes has an account from inside the Bahrain courtroom where a number of people were sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of trying to overthrow the country's royal family. And Andrew Martlew's been walking in the mountains of northern Italy tracking down some rarely visited British war graves. | 25 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 and crime. But, she wonders, is the price of development the loss of the district's soul? It's all change on the buses in Malta. Jake Wallis Simons has been finding out that the island's getting rid of its fleet of characterful and individualistic buses and replacing them with something altogether more modern and efficient. But, it seems, not all the islanders welcome the change. | 23 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 that's lifting parts of Poland; one port city's described as the future Sydney and Dubai of the Baltic. The worst drought in fifty years has hit Texas. Jonny Dymond finds one rancher whose fortunes are suffering -- but he says he's battling on: it's the American way. And she's called the Miss Marple of the Himalayas; Joanna Jolly meets the woman who keeps climbers in Nepal roped to the truth. | 18 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 as a place where people go to kill themselves. Claudia Hammond's been there finding out how the local community is trying to change all that. Need to cure a headache? Or impotence? A remedy can be found at a traditional medicine market in Johannesburg. Stewart Maclean's been there to see what's on offer. And Rajesh Mirchandani enjoyed what some would consider the perfect posting - as our man in California. And yet, he has some rather controversial views to share with us about the sunshine state. | 16 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 divorce in the Philippines, but Kate McGeown tells us, there are ways around the ban, particularly if you have money; one of our most seasoned travellers, the reporter and presenter Robin Lustig's visited 75 countries without losing his luggage. Surely his luck can't last ...? | 11 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 bogs, is being widely flouted. Tom Blass takes a walk in a Belgian village which has been swallowed up by the inexorable growth of Antwerp's docklands. And South Korea's a country which takes recycling very seriously -- it's causing our correspondent there, Lucy Williamson, some difficulty. | 9 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 tunnels. And there's joy and some plum brandy in the foothills of the Carpathians as Caroline Juler joins a cheerful crowd of farmers at their annual measuring of sheep's milk. | 4 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 discovering that their customers are no longer keen to pay for the product. Picturesque Street in Moscow isn't as lovely as it sounds, according to our man there Steve Rosenberg; but it does have a tale to tell about Russia itself. And why does the sight of a foreigner riding a bike make Cambodians laugh? Guy Delauney, a keen cyclist and resident of the capital Phnom Penh, is well placed to provide an answer to that one! | 2 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 community and Tim Ecott paints a portrait of the Faroe Islands out in the north Atlantic, a place where men are hardy, the sheep hardier and where there might just be puffin on the lunch menu! | 28 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Product! Mark Tully's been talking to the prime minister there about whether this is the most profitable way for the country to move forward; the war in Sri Lanka may now finally be at an end but Peter Meanwell, who's been there making a music programme for Radio 3, says its legacy can still be seen throughout the north ... and as Europe prepares for its biggest football match of the year, Pascale Harter tells us why the fans of FC Barcelona believe it's a club with a difference! | 26 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 visits a power station on the River Danube in Romania. The American president's on his way to Ireland but Kieran Cooke's been finding out that thousands of Irish, prompted by a tottering economy, are preparing to emigrate. And Kevin Connolly visits the casbah in Algers walking, he assures us, in the footsteps of Tarzan of the Apes. | 21 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 their country still united. Matthew Teller visits the city of Taif in Saudi Arabia, a place where many Saudi people spend their holidays while James Painter's in Peru asking questions about the freshwater Amazon dolphin including: why is it pink? | 14 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 earlier, our correspondent Paul Adams was there with his two young sons who had awkward questions to ask about that day when the Twin Towers came crashing down. There's a new predator in the Caribbean -- the Lionfish. Tim Ecott's been to the Cayman Islands to get an idea of the scale of the problem it's brought with it. And Jonathan Fryer waits and waits for the night bus to Bolivia. But at least he has some company in the shape of a large, and affectionate, wild pig! | 7 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 investigating. Richard Wilson makes a return trip to Antarctica and is shocked at how the continent's changing. Gareth Armstrong visits an Indian classroom and hears the students voice outrage at how the British regard the work of the children's author Enid Blyton. | 30 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 which is losing its doctors - many of them are leave the country to work elsewhere. Claudia Hammond's been talking to some of the young people there who've now been charged with taking healthcare out into the wideopen spaces of the Ethiopian countryside. And why is it city dwellers in France are happy to live in apartments while their counterparts in the UK opt, where possible, for houses? Hugh Schofield in France wonders what this division tells us about the development of two neighbouring peoples. | 23 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 will ultimately prove a boon for the economy -- or a drain on it. A long running strike at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has finally come to an end and Petroc Trelawny's been hearing that it could be a long time before the wounds are healed. And Kathy Flower finds that chemists' shops in the French Pyrenees offer much more than just aspirins - they're places you can visit for advice on wild mushrooms: will they kill you or prove a tasty topping on your omelette? | 16 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 and how it's facing extinction on the River Danube. | 9 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Paul Adams. Linda Pressley travels deep into the forests of Ecuador to find out how oil exploration is threatening a way of life. Anu Anand is in Delhi where traditional story-tellers have been tempting people away from their flatscreen TVs. And Owen Bennett Jones is in Cairo wondering if he's just been ripped off by a canny taxi driver. | 2 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 bicycles. | 26 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Monhammed Hanif has been touched by the miseries of a splendid snow leopard which has been removed from its home among the craggy peaks of Pakistan. | 19 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 life in what will be Africa's newest capital city. On the anniversary of Italy's unification, David Willey meets the Italians who would rather dismantle the state than celebrate its foundation. And, enjoying a rare glimpse of Russia's pioneering spacecraft, Richard Hollingham wonders whether Russia might prove to be the real winner of the space race. | 17 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 in a series of under-reported insurgencies and Martin Patience spends a morning being amazed at Mr Wu's robot factory in China. | 12 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 driver battling against corruption. And Jonny Hogg spends time with a group of musicians who are attempting to play their way out of poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo. | 10 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 trip in the Amazon, Justin Rowlatt finds himself wearing not much more than a string of feathers....and a smile. | 5 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 3 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 behind the political impass in Belgium. And Mark Lowen reports on the end of the BBC's Serbian Service after more than seventy years of broadcasting. | 26 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 country's former Prime Minister. Jonathan Fryer meets the Mennonites of Paraguay, members of a Christian religious sect that set up home in the vast "green desert" of the Paraguayan Chaco. And Paul Miles takes part in the World Kick-sledge Championships where the sledges are propelled by people. | 24 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: Feb 19, 2011 | The unrest sweeping north Africa and the Middle East reaches Bahrain and Bill Law explains some of the tension in this island kingdom. Paul Adams travels through Egypt to see if calm is returning after the recent disturbances. As a momentous election approaches in Ireland, Fergal Keane says there's a sense of betrayal among the electorate. Robin Lustig travels through Italy in the week its prime minister is told he's facing serious criminal charges and Martin Plaut is in Sudan as the country prepares to split in two. There's a large unresolved question: what will happen to the cattle? | 19 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 emerging market; Peter Day meets the Indonesians hoping for economic change; that their country might become the next Asian Tiger. And Trish Flanagan takes a trip along Ireland's rural roads to see the sport that stops the traffic. | 17 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 well and Justin Webb muses on the effect the changing shape of the Middle East might be having on American foreign policy. | 12 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 the immigration debate. A group of prominent Indians recently praised the country's media for exposing corruption. Mark Tully considers whether India's media is itself a part of the problem. And the Russian woman whose baby workout shocked the blogosphere has some advice for her critics. | 10 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 honour and glory in rural South Africa. | 5 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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, Anna Cavell finds Kampala's gay community in defiant mood. Pripyat in the Ukraine is a ghost town, abandoned within hours of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power-plant in 1986; Richard Hollingham explores the ruins of a model Soviet settlement frozen in time. Tea is a popular brew in both Britain and India but it's really not the same drink at all. Indian chai is something of a surprise to taste buds accustomed to the less spicy English preparation, but Judy Swallow soon fell in love with it. | 3 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 course in how to get streetwise in Senegal. And a correspondent goes in the footsteps of a master as he learns how to survive on the streets of Dakar.... | 29 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 27 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Parkinson makes a very important purchase in South Africa -- with a herd of cows! | 22 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 country's communist traditions. Christian Fraser visits the school outside Paris that has opened in the former barracks of the Hussars; with fencing and horse-riding on the curriculum, can a traditional education offer something new to France's frustrated teens? And in Moscow, Steve Rosenberg hears a history of modern Russia from a cleaning lady who has lived through it all. | 20 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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, Michigan, in search of an answer; and Clive Lawton was soaking up the atmosphere on a holy day in an ancient centre of Jewish mysticism. | 15 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 remote Indian Ocean island that brings together some scientists, a hundred thousand turtles and the occasional stranded Somali pirate. | 8 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 correspondents' dining tables, an eventful rail journey in Zimbabwe and another on an Indian train with a strange choice of name, buying a drink in an iconic Irish pub and whether French can ever be the language of rock. | 1 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 where she she saw Muslims and Christians praying alongside each other. | 18 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 and Hugh Schofield has been on the hunt for the wild raiders who've been tormenting farmers in France. | 11 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 politics Egyptian-style and Pascale Harter's learning how to endure endless thirst in one of the hottest places on the planet. | 4 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 with a tale of shame and horror at a BBC office there. | 27 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Moss goes on patrol with the peacekeepers who have the challenging task of trying to maintain order in the Democratic Republic of Congo; while deep in the Amazon jungle, Justin Rowlatt finds himself confronting the jungle snack he’ll never forget … | 20 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 he make of the Americans? | 13 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 11 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 passion for sausages, cold beer and a game that you may well have never heard of..... | 4 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 Halloween. | 30 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 right for rock and roll. | 28 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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. | 23 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 from the Japanese one; and our correspondent Jonah Fisher is in the burning Kalahari, with his charcoal pickles. | 21 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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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 tragedy and hope after a week spent on the road covering the story of toxic sludge leak in Hungary. | 16 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 14 Oct 2010 | The Colombian fighters who've given up the struggle, opting for education instead -- Robin Lustig has been to meet them; Gideon Long in Chile on what the rescue at the Copiapo mine tells us about the Chilean character; a flowering of democracy in Kyrgyzstan, but Rayhan Demytrie finds it's all too complicated for some; Chris Hogg's in Pyongyang as President Kim Jong Il annoints his son as successor and Jennifer Pak discovers even the heat can't melt the enthusiasm for ice hockey in Malaysia. | 14 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 7 Oct 2010 | A mesmerising speech from a great South African churchman: the retirement of Archbishop Tutu is marked by Allan Little; Ian Pannell on the increasingly unsafe roads of Afghanistan; Farhana Dawood is in Leipzig noting the continuing divisions between Germans from the east and west of the country; Martin Patience tells us how the Chinese government is having to consider the implications of an ever-older population while Christine Finn is in the Northern Irish fishing village of Ardglass tasting one of the "silver darlings" on which the port has built its reputation. | 12 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 9 Oct 2010 | Why some pro-democracy candidates in Burma won't be contesting the forthcoming elections; Pascale Harter's in Spain examining worries about the economy and the changes which a wave of immigration has brought to Spanish culture; In Srinagar, Kashmir, Chris Morris finds that local journalists, trying to report on a wave of unrest, have become targets themselves; Mark Mardell's in Nevada examining the reasons for the electorate's febrile mood ahead of November's midterm elections and a story about grandmother's chest of drawers and a mountain of red tape. That one's told by Chloe Arnold in Algiers. | 9 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 2 Oct 2010 | Who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour? Steve Evans is in the east of the country as the anniversary of reunification approaches. Baghdad once had dozens of cinemas playing to full houses and even hosting glittering premieres. Gabriel Gatehouse discovers why the cinema in Iraq is dying. Hamilton Wende in Johannesburg explores one consequence of the biggest influx of immigrants since the gold rush: a babble of new languages on the streets of this South African city. Kevin Connolly looks at the challenges facing President Obama in the run-up to the Midterm elections while Justin Rowlatt finds that a song from our own correspondent can break the ice in Angola. | 2 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 30 Sept 2010 | After years of conflict in Uganda, the people of Acholiland are returning home; but Richard Dowden finds memories of war are straining the Acholi tradition of forgiveness. Peter Marshall meets the British woman on death row in Texas, and considers whether she should be there. Martin Patience goes for a drive with the young people of China in search of new friends on the open road. Charles Haviland is in Sri Lanka, where people are sharing their memories of the long civil war. And a man with a shopping trolley attracts the attention of our man in Johannesburg, Andrew Harding. | 30 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 25 Sept 2010 | A corner of old Germany is unearthed in Latin America as Will Grant follows Venezuelans preparing for a crucial vote. Jonathan Head travels to the east of Turkey where there’s been, according to the government, a gesture of reconciliation towards an Armenian minority, subjected to mass killing during the First World War. Fifty years on from independence in Nigeria, Anna Horsbrugh-Porter meets up with two men working there back in 1960. Paul Harper’s in a Yemeni town which comes to a standstill after lunch as its men grow euphoric, chewing the leaves of the qat plant. And why are numbers so sharply down at the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas? Kevin Connolly muses on the attractions of conspicuous consumption in a time of recession and the transience of fame. | 25 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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135 |
FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 23 Sept 2010 | Why is China restoring a British railway in Angola? Justin Rowlatt boards the Benguela Railway. A new generation is shaping the future of Afghanistan: Lyse Doucet finds out how. Just back in Russia, Steve Rosenberg considers the country's future. Annie Caulfield visits a Kenyan reptile sanctuary and discovers the role snakes play in the environment. And Christopher Landau explains why he's giving up journalism to pursue a more spiritual vocation. | 23 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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136 |
FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 18 Sept 2010 | Why are America's new breed of soldiers studying philosophy? David Edmonds is in New York state finding out. Jon Leyne has been monitoring speculation in Cairo about who will succeed President Mubarak. There's a significant diplomatic development, Mark Lowen tells us from Belgrade, in Serbia's stance towards its breakaway province of Kosovo. Which are the countries who'll be having their say on world affairs in ten years'time? It's a question Bridget Kendall poses ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York. And some say it was Africa's biggest market. But Louise Redvers says the site, in Angola's capital, Luanda has been closed down and its traders moved on. | 18 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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137 |
FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 16 Sept 2010 | A big week for the Turkish Prime Minister. Jonathan Head gauges reaction to his growing power. Jennifer Pak finds out what sex education is like for teenagers in Malaysia. Angus Crawford meets the children of Senegal made to beg for money by their teachers. Lorraine Mallinder is in Mauritius finding out what happened to the Chagos Islanders exiled there. And Zeb Soanes goes to Hollywood and gets a shave from the barber to the stars. | 16 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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138 |
FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 11 September 2010 | Will economics force the French to rethink their lifestyles? It's a question Christian Fraser in Paris answers in the week a million French people took to the streets to protest at the government's plans to raise the retirement age. On the anniversary of 9/11 Laura Trevelyan in New York's been talking to the Manhattan Muslims about the furore surrounding plans to build an Islamic cultural centre and mosque close to Ground Zero. Mark Tully visits a hill station -- it's the sort of place the British, back in colonial days, would go to escape the heat of summer. Today, it seems, they have a rather different character. Jane Beresford's in the fields of Sierra Leone finding out why women there welcome the sight of new tractors at their farms and Ella Fitzgerald sang of eating baloney at Coney. Today, as Antonia Quirke has discovered, the city has plans for the amusement district of Coney Island ... and not everyone's happy. | 11 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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139 |
FOOC: BBC Radio 4, 4 Sept 2010 | There's a dilemma for Jill McGivering, covering the floods in Pakistan; Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad on the changing lexicon as America redefines its mission in Iraq; Wyre Davies is in Jerusalem and detects little optimism for the Middle East peace talks which have restarted in Washington; James Reynolds is at the mine in the Atacama Desert where 33 miners are trapped far undergound and Andy Kershaw visits the arena in Kinshasa which was the site of the world's greatest boxing encounter. | 4 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 139 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Mr
Great podcast,would be great if you could put a little description of what each episode is about as i have to listen to the start of each one to decide if i want to download it,thanks
Really Top Drawer Stuff
Absolutely amazing series. My favourite radio anywhere!
Great stuff
My favourite podcast,great reports very informative
