A midget street thug on a kiddy bike. Incompetent thieves who resort to stealing air-conditioning units. A woman too drunk to notice a police car heading towards her with all lights flashing. These are just some of the criminals and junkies, the faithful and forlorn encountered by one police officer cruising the streets of one Midwestern US city. But this policeman has an eye for the weird, an overdeveloped sense of humour and a talent for narrative. Which is why Officer Jay Chiarito-Mazarrella ...
Dec 30, 2009•23 min
Twenty years ago, on November 9th, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. The greatest symbol of the Cold War, which many never dreamt they would see disappear, was overwhelmed by people power. This momentous event precipitated largely peaceful revolutions across Eastern Europe as people shook off 40 years of communism. The BBC’s World Affairs Editor John Simpson, experienced it at first hand. He was in the thick of the action for the gun battles in Bucharest, Romania. Taking Romania as an example,...
Dec 25, 2009•24 min
The Canadian city of Vancouver is routinely named as one of the best communities in the world in which to live. But the city, which is to host the 2010 Winter Olympics in the coming weeks, is fast developing another reputation: one built on illicit drugs and guns. Bill Law reports for Assignment on the youngsters in the city who are exploiting legal loopholes to build a multi-billion dollar industry.
Dec 24, 2009•23 min
Back in the year 2000, the world's leaders did not seem to be troubled by the notion of global warming, so what has changed? Edward Stourton tries to make sense of a decade in which history has been put on fast forward.
Dec 23, 2009•23 min
What have been the defining moments of the decade? Edward Stourton explores Google's mighty impact on the internet and finds a world of complex moral and legal pitfalls beneath the promise.
Dec 23, 2009•23 min
Nick Baker is on a mission to connect people, stories and places via internet cafe. Via Kenya and France he finds a remarkable story in Benin of a young man for whom a single search changed his life.
Dec 23, 2009•23 min
It's estimated that up to one million people were killed during communism in Eastern Europe, but there's no clear figure for those imprisoned, persecuted or spied on. While few have been put on trial for those crimes, most countries have started to open their secret police archives and some have limited the participation of former communists and informers to public office. The whole issue of what to do about the past - forget, forgive, confront - is a live and contentious in Eastern Europe. All ...
Dec 18, 2009•23 min
Until recently, little Latvia appeared to have a rosy future. It was the fastest growing economy in Europe. But now that boom looks like a mirage. No country in the EU has been worse hit by the global recession. Its economy has been in freefall, property prices have collapsed, unemployment has been rising rapidly. Six months ago, Assignment visited several Latvians from various walks of life to see how they were affected by the crisis – now the programme returns to find out how these same indivi...
Dec 17, 2009•23 min
Nick Baker is on a mission to connect people, stories and places via the internet. His journey takes him to New York, China and London.
Dec 16, 2009•24 min
Quentin Peel, International Affairs editor of the Financial Times, looks at the communist regimes and movements orphaned by the collapse of the governments of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. In Programme Two Quentin looks at the new self-proclaimed "radical" governments in Latin America, such as Venezuela and Bolivia, which draw inspiration from that key "orphan of 1989", Cuba.
Dec 14, 2009•23 min
To what extent did communist regimes intrude into the lives of ordinary people? And how are they dealing with those transgressions now the files have been made publicly available?
Dec 11, 2009•23 min
Six years ago, the second Palestinian Intifada – or uprising – was raging in the West Bank town of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied territories. This was an era when Palestinian militants regularly battled the Israeli Defence Force in the streets. The BBC’s Alan Johnston reported from Nablus during those dark, dangerous days. Now, for Assignment, on his first reporting trip back in the Middle East since he was kidnapped in Gaza, he returns to Nablus to find out how life has changed for the town....
Dec 10, 2009•23 min
The second part of Jonathon Porritt's report from China, where, amidst the toxic power stations and burgeoning numbers of cars, he finds some extraordinary and pioneering green solutions. In two provocative and counter-intuitive programmes, Jonathon Porritt flies in the face of international protest and fear at what China is 'doing' to the world's environment in order to properly explore what's actually happening across the vast country. Although the Chinese are avid to grow their economy at all...
Dec 09, 2009•24 min
Quentin Peel, International Affairs editor of the Financial Times, presents the first of a two-part series looking at the communist regimes and movements 'orphaned' by the collapse of the governments of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.
Dec 07, 2009•23 min
Did I turn out to be the son you wanted? What was the saddest moment of your life? Questions like these have arisen out of StoryCorps - an American oral history project described as "a story-foraging mission of epic proportions".
Dec 04, 2009•23 min
Twenty-five years ago, a gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal killed 8000 people. Allan Little returns to the scene of the disaster to find out why people are still suffering.
Dec 03, 2009•23 min
Jonathon Porritt reports from China, where, amidst the toxic power stations and burgeoning numbers of cars, he finds some extraordinary and pioneering green solutions. In two provocative and counter-intuitive programmes, Jonathon Porritt flies in the face of international protest and fear at what China is 'doing' to the world's environment in order to properly explore what's actually happening across the vast country. Although the Chinese are avid to grow their economy at all costs, Porritt is c...
Dec 02, 2009•24 min
In the final part of this series, Owen Bennett-Jones examines the Islamic leader who confronted the might of the British Empire. The Mahdi was a devout man, who developed a huge following. This programme examines his rise to power and his clash with the British General, Charles Gordon.
Nov 30, 2009•23 min
How would you like to leave a record of your life for your great-great-great-grandchildren? That's the future for participants of StoryCorps, an American oral history project. What do people choose to talk about?
Nov 27, 2009•23 min
Twenty seven years after Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falklands, or the Malvinas islands, Argentine army officers are facing prosecution. Not for the way they treated the enemy, but for crimes allegedly committed against their own troops.
Nov 26, 2009•23 min
In Assignment Peter Greste investigates whether Rwandans in France and Germany are controlling a deadly African militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For the last 15 years, the rebels of the FDLR have enforced their control through a series of brutal atrocities. Now Assignment has secret intelligence suggesting that they were taking orders from political leaders living openly in Europe.
Nov 26, 2009•23 min
The BBC World Service has been investigating the controversial issue of whether poor countries have ever seen all of the money promised by industrialised countries in 2001. According to some less than 10 percent of it has been paid: others disagree.
Nov 25, 2009•23 min
In the third instalment of The Crescent and the Cross, Owen Bennett Jones examines one of the most important Muslim empires in history - the Ottoman Empire. In particular, it focuses on the time of Suleiman The Magnificent, a towering figure in the rivalry between Christianity and Islam, and a crucial battle - the 1565 Seige of Malta.
Nov 23, 2009•26 min
The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson tells the story of 20 years of post-communist life. Through personal stories, he traces the different roads that East Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania have taken since 1989. In part two John returns to Prague to speak to those who lived through the Velvet Revolution.
Nov 19, 2009•23 min
In Nepal, severe drought and unreliable monsoon rains have led to acute food shortages. The impact is felt most by people like Charuri who is struggling to feed three children and cannot afford the medical help she needs.
Nov 18, 2009•23 min
Owen Bennett Jones explores five crucial battles in the relationship between Christianity and Islam. This episode looks at the Crusades.
Nov 16, 2009•25 min
Seventy years after the start of the Second World War the overwhelming impression is of a conflict fought on the battlefields of Europe by white troops. Britain’s war effort was bolstered by soldiers from the white Commonwealth – Australia, Canada and New Zealand and later by the United States. The war in the Far East is often overlooked, as is the fighting that took place in Africa. Yet one million African troops participated in the conflict, fighting their way through the jungles of Burma, acr...
Nov 12, 2009•23 min
As governments struggle to curb the so-called “casino-banking” practices which some blame for the global financial meltdown, Michael Robinson now reports on growing concerns over super-fast, computerised share-dealing systems which are earning massive new profits for banks.
Nov 12, 2009•22 min
Thrown off nearby farms at the time of Namibia’s independence, the squatters of Otjivero lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Last year a scheme was established to give every inhabitant a basic cash grant of US$10 a month, to spend as they wanted. School enrolment has shot up, small businesses are springing up, and the nurse at the local clinic says malnutrition rates amongst the children have dropped.
Nov 11, 2009•23 min
The Crescent and the Cross, a four-part series, presented by Owen Bennett-Jones, examines several turning points in the relationship between Christianity and Islam covering Muslim Spain, the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire and the struggle for Africa. Part One starts by look going back over 1,000 years ago, in what we now call Spain, but was then known as al-Andalus.
Nov 09, 2009•23 min
