The Interview

Hardtalk speaks to award-winning film star, Viggo Mortensen. Known to many for his starring role in The Lord of the Rings, he is not your average Hollywood leading man. Fluent in four languages and of mixed American and Danish background, he spent his childhood in three continents – so, what is his response to critics who say the American movie industry has contributed to the ‘Hollywoodisation’ of...

The crisis in Ukraine has put the spotlight on the relationship between Russia and the EU. How much carrot and how much stick should the EU wield when it comes to dealing with Moscow? The Baltic States, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were once part of the Soviet Union and all share a border with the Russian Federation. Hardtalk speaks to Urmas Paet, Foreign Minister of Estonia. Why does Estonia thi...

In December 2013 South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, became engulfed in a civil conflict which has claimed thousands of lives and prompted fears it could lead to genocide. A fragile ceasefire was agreed just over a week ago between the government of President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, who has led the rebel forces, but will it hold? In a Hardtalk exclusive, Stephen Sackur...

What can Western nations like the US do to stop Ukraine from breaking up or falling into civil conflict? Hardtalk is at the US Embassy in London to speak to Victoria Nuland, US Assistant Secretary of State. Now that pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine claim they have voted for independence, is Washington powerless to prevent further disintegration?

Zimbabwe's fortunes have for three decades been tied to one man - President Robert Mugabe. Now, once again, Zimbabwe is staring economic catastrophe in the face, less than a year after the ruling Zanu PF won another term in power. State coffers are virtually empty and potential investors are being scared away by seizures of land and foreign owned assets. Hardtalk speaks to Supa Mandiwanzira, Zimba...

In December 2013 South Sudan became engulfed in a civil conflict which has claimed thousands of lives and prompted fears it could lead to genocide. A ceasefire has been agreed between the government of President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, who has led the rebel forces, but the agreement is already looking shaky. Stephen Sackur talks to Riek Machar in Addis Ababa. (Photo: Riek Mac...

Belarus is Europe's last old-fashioned dictatorship - a country where political dissent gets you beaten up and locked up. Hardtalk speaks to one Belarussian who has refused to be cowed by President Lukashenko's iron fist. Natalia Kaliada co-founded the Belarus Free Theatre almost a decade ago. Directors, actors, even the audience have all faced arrest and imprisonment, but still their shows go on....

Nigeria's century has been described as "100 years of trauma". This is no more apparent than in the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by a militant Islamist group that perceives learning as an alien imposition by Christians and Europeans. Wole Soyinka is Nigeria's most prominent writer, the first African to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature. Persecuted by past governments for his commi...

Whoever dubbed Australia the lucky country was on to something - this vast, resource-rich nation has outperformed other rich world economies over the past decade. But Australia does not seem entirely at ease with itself or its Asian neighbours. Why? Hardtalk speaks to Malcolm Turnbull, communications minister in Tony Abbott’s right-of-centre Australian Government. Is Australia in danger of alienat...

What if we lived in a radically different world? An internet driven, smart world where individuals and communities generate their own free energy, produce and share the things they need and build an economy defined by collaboration, not competition. Hardtalk speaks to economist and author, Jeremy Rifkin. For him, this is no utopian fantasy - it is the unfolding story of the next century. Are we re...

Yemen is the Arab world’s slow motion car crash; a humanitarian, economic, and security disaster that makes few headlines in the outside world. The Yemeni government is supposed to be in the middle of a major programme of political and economic reform, but right now its focus appears to be a major military assault on local Al Qaeda strongholds. Hardtalk speaks to Yemen’s veteran foreign minister,...

It must have looked like a position of great influence in the new post-war Syria - Presidential Adviser to the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces - the government in exile planning to drive President Assad from power. Hardtalk speaks to Rime Allaf, who took on that role after a distinguished career in international think tanks. Now, Assad is so confident he is running fo...

Hardtalk speaks to Ahmed Kathrada, one of the big names of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. He was sentenced to life in prison alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, spending 26 years of his life locked up. On their release, Nelson Mandela persuaded him to join him in government - an experience he didn’t like. But he has never stopped campaigning for the ideals of freedom on which the a...

Hardtalk speaks to the French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier who was known as the 'enfant terrible' of the fashion world for his witty and daring designs. Now in his 60s, is he still as iconoclastic as ever? And, as an exhibition of his best known works continues at the Barbican Arts Centre in London, how does he answer criticisms that some of his designs, like corset dresses and cone bras, c...

Jose Padilha is one of Brazil's most successful and controversial film makers. His movies focus on violence and corruption in the favelas of Rio. Is his dark vision of Brazil fact or fiction? Picture: Jose Padilha, Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Healing a society traumatised by sectarian violence is hard - anyone doubting it should take a look at Northern Ireland today. The de facto war between the IRA and the British state is over, but a legacy of bitterness remains. Hardtalk speaks to Geraldine Finucane, whose husband Pat - a Catholic lawyer - was murdered 25 years ago. The killing exposed collusion between the British security services...

The British military pull out from Afghanistan will soon be completed. Digesting the painful lessons from a 12-year deployment will take a whole lot longer. Hardtalk speaks to Richard Streatfeild, a former infantry officer in Helmand during some of the toughest fighting with the Taliban. Back then he kept an upbeat audio diary of life on the frontline; now he takes a more jaundiced view of Britain...

Environment minister Izabella Teixeria's government says it is now protecting Brazil’s unique biodiversity. But agribusiness and urbanisation are still taking their toll. Is the rainforest safe in her hands?

Hardtalk is in Johannesburg to talk to the only black woman in South Africa to head a mining company. Daphne Mashile-Nkosi has made a fortune out of her business ventures, but with much of the mining industry beset by strikes over pay and conditions, how far has the country’s mineral wealth benefited its poorest people? (Photo: Daphne Mashile Nkosi, CEO, Kalagadi Manganese, SA)

In a special edition of HARDtalk broadcast live from London, as part of the BBC’s Freedom Season, Zeinab Badawi speaks to the acclaimed South Sudanese singer and political activist, Emmanuel Jal. He was captured and forced to fight as a child soldier during the Sudanese civil war. His country South Sudan - the world's newest nation - may now be independent but it has descended into vicious ethnic...

South Africa holds elections in May and complaints from workers are getting louder. Unofficial figures show that nearly half of the working population does not have a proper job. So what happened to the post-apartheid dream of work and education for all? Hardtalk is in Johannesburg to speak to Zwelinzima Vavi, the now suspended head of COSATU, the powerful trade unions alliance – is it holding bac...

As part of the BBC’s Freedom season, Zeinab Badawi speaks to Kenneth Kaunda – leader of the struggle for independence, he was sentenced to hard labour in prison by the British before he went on to become Zambia’s first president of the post-colonial era. It is a landmark year for Zambia – this is the 50th anniversary of its independence - and Kenneth Kaunda himself turns 90 in April. What has 50 y...

Tamara Rojo - artistic director and lead principal of the English National Ballet - talks about her new production, a ballet about one of the bloodiest conflicts in the 20th Century, which is part of an attempt to modernise what is often a rather conservative repertoire in ballet. She would like to do the same with training and technique too, but with some of the stars arguing that ballet should b...

Since the financial meltdown of 2008, China has been the key driver of growth in the global economy. In Beijing, it is easy to see how the country's brand of command capitalism has transformed infrastructure and generated unprecedented wealth. But suddenly confidence has given way to insecurity - at the heart of it is a debt bubble that would threaten the whole world economy if it turned toxic. Ha...

There has been widespread condemnation of Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin’s decision to absorb Crimea after its referendum to break away from Ukraine. But Moscow says that any further sanctions imposed against it by the EU over Crimea, will affect Europe as much as itself. Hardtalk speaks to the Bulgarian president, Rosen Plevneliev. Bulgaria is the EU’s poorest country and depends on Russia fo...