Crossing Continents

Anna Cavell investigates the human trafficking of Ugandan women to Iraq. They were lured there by promises of well-paid jobs - but instead found themselves effectively in slavery, beaten and in some cases raped. She hears the story of how a Ugandan security contractor and an American officer together organised a courageous freelance raid which freed nine of the women. And she discovers that despit...

Gabriel Gatehouse hears the extraordinary tales of the people coming into and out of Iraq - and paints a portrait of a still troubled country through its international gateway. It's not been the safest of places: one worker describes seeing a car bomb attack on the airport road and you still need to pass through five checkpoints to enter the terminal. Gabriel meets the people entering the country...

The paddy fields of impoverished Cambodia have suddenly become a prime slice of global real estate. But will the rural poor pay the price? This tiny Asian nation has just begun to recover after dictator Pol Pot's reign of terror, in which around 2 million Cambodians died, and the brutal civil war that followed. But now a very different story is unfolding in the agricultural heartland which once be...

It's estimated that nearly one million Indians with conditions like cancer die in acute, unnecessary pain because of the lack of palliative care. Restrictions on morphine prescription are being lifted, but too slowly. One of the most sophisticated systems of palliative care in the developing world has been established in the Indian state of Kerala. The grassroots movement to create a much-valued a...

Corruption in Syria is commonplace. You can see it almost everywhere you go: from a small tip for a government worker to process paperwork, to customs officials requiring payments to allow goods into the country. The single-party government says it's stamping out corruption and that it's determined not to let it stand in the way of the country's economic development. But with economic reforms open...

It is called "Laamb" or "La Lutte Sénégalaise". Originating in the countryside as a test of strength for farmers and fishermen, Senegalese wresting moved to the city with the migrants. It took on punching to become "La Lutte avec frappe". It involves special charms, singers, drummers and excited crowds, with the champions now earning huge amounts of money. In Crossing Continents David Goldblatt ex...

Bahrain projects itself towards the world as an Arab state that is open to investment, progressive about change and moving confidently toward democracy. But there is another Bahrain where dissent is suppressed and critics jailed. It is a country where allegations are rife that political prisoners are routinely tortured. Bill Law investigates both sides of the Bahrain story and asks what lies behin...

Rosie Goldsmith profiles Nichi Vendola, the governor of Puglia and the hope for the Italian left. Can this gay, Catholic poet and environmentalist challenge Silvio Berlusconi? Producer: Helen Grady.

The Christmas tree industry is worth almost a billion pounds a year in Europe alone. Most of the ones around us now, covered in baubles and tinsel didn't start life in the UK or even Scandinavia, but in one small village, in the mountains of Georgia close to the border with Russia. Angus Crawford travels to the small town of Ambrolauri in the shadow of the Caucasus mountains. There men risk their...

Russia's police are out of control. They are often referred to as "werewolves in epaulettes" because so many officers prey on the public rather than protect them. Even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin complains about the lawlessness of the country's law enforcers. He once said upstanding citizens cross to the other side of the street as soon as they see a man in uniform. The crimes police commit rang...

Millions of people die on our roads each year. Hundreds of children are killed as they try to get to school each day. Road deaths threaten to overtake malaria and HIV in how many lives they take around the world, particularly in poorer countries. Sheena McDonald visits some of the world's most dangerous roads in Kenya and Costa Rica to find out why the death toll in developing countries is rising,...

This year's Commonwealth Games will be held in October in the Indian capital Delhi, the largest sporting event ever to be held there. No expense is being spared to build the appropriate facilities and infrastructure. But many are questioning whether spending billions of dollars hosting a two-week sporting event is the best use of resources in a city where poverty is entrenched. As the budget for t...

Christopher Landau explores the explosive growth of christianity in China, with millions flocking to the official Protestant and Catholic churches. The country has the world's largest bible printing press while some factories are run on Christian principles. Why has the Communist state, which is formally atheist, endorsed this transition? There is official interest in the idea of a "Protestant wor...