Dateline (AU)

Children stolen by their parents' killers during Argentina's dictatorship are finally being reunited with their families. Imagine being told your parents are not your real parents. Even worse, the people who raised you had in fact helped to kidnap, torture and murder your real mum and dad. It's the truth facing as many as 500 people born during the late 1970s in Argentina, when the country's military dictatorship detained and killed thousands of political opponents. After their parents 'disappeared', the children were given away to supporters of the dictatorship to raise as their own. Video journalist David O'Shea has been to meet a group of determined grandmothers leading the fight to reunite those children with what's left of their families, and he hears the stories of some of the 101 stolen babies reunited so far.

The images of brutaility on Iran’s streets made headlines around the world a year ago, as huge protests took place in Tehran over the disputed election of President Ahmadinejad. But a new investigation shows that all was not well within the country’s leadership too… three members of Iran’s military elite, who have since fled the country, have told of deep rifts and open dissent in the ranks. They also describe the measures used to crush the protesters, including rape and torture, and the leaders with a plane on standby to get them out of the country if their regime collapsed. The men were tracked down in Turkey and Thailand by UK-based Guardian Films and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Click here to see their report by Angus Stickler and click here to replay our live online chat with Producer Chavala Madlena.

The Middle East Peace Crisis has played out very publicly over the years, but the details of a behind-the-scenes world of spying and secrecy are also coming to light. As video journalist Sophie McNeill reports, it’s a tale of undercover assassinations, bugged cars and clandestine meetings. Experts say the disclosures are the unravelling of a huge Israeli spy network in neighbouring countries like Lebanon and Syria. But exactly what can be traced back to the Israeli Government and its Mossad intelligence agency? And what’s their response?

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stunned the world this week when he leaked more than 90,000 secret Afghan war files. Dateline's Mark Davis was filming as Assange prepared to release his massive cache of highly classified US documents and as he weathered the media storm that followed. The documents reveal hundreds of civilian casualties, secret hit squads to track and kill Taliban leaders, a steep increase in Taliban attacks, and collusion between Pakistan's intelligence service and the Taliban leadership. Davis first connected with the mysterious whistleblower in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Australia for a story broadcast in May, called The Whistleblower. This time he has been filming in London where Assange was working with journalists from The Guardian, The New York Times and Germany's Der Spiegel. The release of the documents has rocked the White House and drawn comment from Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Some of the classified reports refer to Australia's military operations in Afghanistan. In a move that will further shake governments and top military brass around the world, WikiLeaks says they have delayed the release of a further 15,000 reports, but these will eventually be released in full.

They’re known as Argentina’s ‘living dead’… people who’ve become addicted to the drug, paco. They wander the slums of Buenos Aires desperately looking for money and their next fix. Paco is made from the impure waste of cocaine production and sells for less than a dollar a packet. Some addicts need up to a hundred hits a day, with devastating consequences for them and their families. Video journalist David O’Shea meets some of the Mothers Against Paco, who’ve joined forces to try and save their children from the drug and the violent culture that goes with it. And he talks to the director of the film, Paco, about how the problem is moving from the slums to Argentina’s middle classes. But there is also some hope amid the desperation.

The murder of South African white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche has reignited divisions between white and black in a reminder of the country’s bitter struggle over apartheid. Zoé de Bussière reports from Terreblanche's home town of Ventersdorp in the aftermath of the killing, as two black men appear in court charged with his murder. She sees first-hand the hatred between the two communities, which frequently threatens to turn violent.

The number of babies born with severe deformities and children developing leukaemia is rising dramatically in parts of Iraq. US forces used depleted uranium weapons to attack the city in the war, which locals say has left them with this devastating legacy. One report even says the number of such illnesses in Falluja is higher than that recorded after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Walkley Award winning video journalist Fouad Hady returns to his home country to see some of the deformed and desperately ill children, and meets some of the people battling against the odds to rebuild their lives, and their city.

Norwegian journalist Paul Refsdal risked his life to become the first Westerner to film behind Taliban lines in Afghanistan, and see the war between the allied forces and the insurgency from the Taliban’s viewpoint. Now Dateline brings you his remarkable story, as Paul witnesses several ambushes of US troops on the Khyber Pass, and films celebrations over the death of a US soldier. But he also captures a human side of the Taliban, as insurgents relax, pray, eat together, and look after the children of Taliban commander, Dawran. Paul comes under threat himself too, as a US gunship attacks and he’s kidnapped by one of the Taliban group which took him in.

Many people would probably dismiss Dutch politician Geert Wilders as a right-wing extremist for his anti-Islam manifesto, in which he says Islam is retarded and vows to ban the Koran. But his ‘Freedom Party’ has come from the fringe of politics to gain significant support in the Dutch Parliament, increasing its seats to 24, placing him in a position where he could now decide the future of Holland’s government. Like Australia, the Netherlands has a hung parliament. At first the parties said they wouldn’t negotiate with Wilders, but after two months of failed talks, he may now have the deciding vote on who rules the country. Video journalist Mark Davis tries to get inside the mind of this controversial politician as he works under 24 hour protection to spread his word in the Netherlands, and prepares to travel to the United States to pass on his anti-Islam message at the September 11th anniversary in New York.

As India prepares a show of wealth at the Commonwealth Games, Dateline reports on the poor who say they're missing out in the race for riches. India is preparing to welcome the world to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but behind the show of wealth, at what's being dubbed the most expensive games in history, Dateline's Yalda Hakim discovers a different story. Thousands of slums have been demolished and the residents moved to outside the city, while the poor earn a few dollars a day building luxurious apartments for competitors, which will eventually sell for up to a million dollars. Out in the slums of Mumbai, Yalda finds children as young as five combing polluted rivers and dirty alleyways for junk they can sell to survive, amid claims that money has been diverted away from schemes to fight poverty to pay for the games.

It has to be one of the world’s worst jobs… digging the tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt to smuggle supplies across the border into the Palestinian enclave. With the constant threat of bombs and collapse, French filmmaker Alexis Monchovet follows Palestinian tunnel workers as they work in the dead of night to move bag after bag of goods through the narrow winding passageways. The trade continues even though the Israeli blockade has been partially lifted and the crossing from Egypt into Gaza opened since nine activists were killed on a recent peace flotilla. Israel often bombs and destroys the tunnels, but the workers somehow manage to smile through as they build more and keep the goods and their own black market economy moving.

Killer comets, global tsunamis and super volcanoes might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but some people in the United States are taking such threats to the planet extremely seriously. Video journalist David Brill has been to meet the Kramer family in California, who've already bought space in an underground shelter, ready for the 'cataclysmic disaster' they believe could happen when a 'galactic alignment' takes place in 2012. He also meets shelter owner, Robert Vicino, whose website counts down the seconds to the end of the world, and offers space in his hotel-style solution to survival for tens of thousands of dollars per person. Others are approaching the future differently, believing the biggest threats we're facing are problems that we've caused ourselves. Richard Heinberg is one of the world's foremost peak oil experts, who warns that we're addicted to fossil fuels and must adapt before they run out. David takes us to a Los Angeles suburb to meet the Dervaes family of so-called 'urban homesteaders'. They've already adapted and are living self-sufficiently and almost entirely off-grid. But are they all being over cautious, or will the rest of us be under prepared?

Meet the parajumpers risking their lives to rescue seriously wounded soldiers from the Afghan battlefield. When soldiers are injured on the frontline in Afghanistan, it's the para jumpers that have to go in by helicopter and rescue them from the battlefield. It's a nightmare job - retrieving horribly injured colleagues, while coming under more attack themselves. Sean Smith from The Guardian spent a month and a half in Afghanistan, seeing first-hand what they have to go through and getting a no holds barred look at life on the frontline. He also followed United States marines on foot patrol, in 55 degree heat and under frequent attack; they're trying to reach Pakistan to secure the border, but it's taken them a year to move just 20 kilometres.

Meet the Iranian lawyer, forced into exileafter defendinga womansentenced todeath by stoning. The most well-known political exile in the world right now has to be Mohammad Mostafaei, the Iranian lawyer who spoke out against Tehran's plans to stone an allegedly adulterous woman to death. But as he fought for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's life, he found himself forced to flee his beloved Iran and President Ahmadinejad's regime in an effort to save himself and his young family. Now exiled in Norway, he speaks to video journalist Yalda Hakim about saving scores of people from execution in Iran, his journey of survival and his plans to continue fighting for the rights of Iranian women and children.

Dateline gets unique access to a school for young defectors from repressive North Korea, who arrive without the skills needed to survive in the modern world. There are 20,000 defectors from North Korea in South Korea, but escape from the repressive communist regime in the North is only the start of their battle for a better life. As video journalist Amos Roberts discovers, defectors arrive without the skills they need to survive in one of the world's most technologically advanced and competitive societies. Amos was given unique access to a special school set up for young defectors to help them adjust. They talk about their old lives in North Korea - stories of famine, public executions and dramatic escapes; and the challenges of their new lives - relentless study and an uncertain future. We also revisit one of Dateline's most celebrated stories, a report 10 years ago about defectors living in hiding in China, and catch up with a woman who has now made it to South Korea. Her family is reunited and she feels safe for the first time - but is life in the South all she hoped it would be?

The Sydney Morning Herald's Paul McGeoughasksif Iraq's oil reserves will shape its future for the better, orcause more problems for the fragile country. Can the huge reservoirs of oil under Iraq bring it prosperity and security at last? Or will it further divide the country between those who have the oil and wealth, and those that don't? Sydney Morning Herald Chief Correspondent Paul McGeough tries to find the answers in a special guest report for Dateline. He's been speaking to those in charge of turning round the country and its oil industry, and meeting the ordinary Iraqis struggling with chronic electricity, gas and water shortages, all in scorching 50 degree heat. They all tell of a crumbling infrastructure, security concerns, corruption and still no government at the top to get things moving - locals describe themselves as 'powerless' in every sense.

A dozen villages have been swallowed up by a volcano of mud in Indonesia, but four years on from the start of the eruption, the dispute over what's causing it bubbles on. Some experts say a drilling accident at a nearby gas site has caused gas to constantly push mud to the surface from a depth of 3,000 metres, but the energy giant Lapindo Brantas blames an earthquake. The company was cleared of responsibility by Indonesia's Supreme Court last year, but was still ordered to pay compensation. People in East Java though say they've seen little help. Video journalist Adrian Brown visits the vast lake of mud, which can even be seen from space, to hear the blame game that's left villagers living in makeshift huts and an ecological disaster that seems to be growing bigger by the day.

Burma's election on 7th November has been described by world leaders as a 'sham', 'deeply flawed' and 'lacking credibility', and Dateline has arranged for hidden cameras in Burma to capture vision and interviews to prove it. Over two months, the Democratic Voice of Burma gathered evidence of elaborate election rigging to ensure the military maintains power; strict controls and surveillance of political parties and meetings; and punishment for anyone speaking out in opposition. This is on top of the ban on foreign journalists entering Burma, which meant video journalist Evan Williams had to meet his contacts in Thailand to put together his report. He also follows the efforts by human rights groups to broadcast to people inside Burma to try and break the military's control of information and ultimately its 50 year rule.

In June this year, hundreds of people were killed and thousands were displaced in ethnic clashes in the Central Asian region of Kyrgyzstan. The violence prompted Kuranda Seyit, an Australian with Uzbek heritage, to travel to Kyrgyzstan to find out more about the killings. He discovered burned-out buildings, scores of fresh graves, and obtained secretly-filmed video of violent attacks, which he smuggled back to Australia. Kuranda spoke to Dateline about his journey, and provided us with the hidden-camera footage for a view of what happened.

As UN peacekeepers begin preparations for leaving their largest and most expensive mission - in the Democratic Republic of Congo - there are sharply differing views on how well-equipped that African nation is to fend for itself against violent militia groups there. The Congolese government has requested that United Nations peacekeepers withdraw in 2011, but many fear that the withdrawal of the 'Blue Helmets' will lead to an escalation of fighting in a conflict that has already led to the deaths of more than five million people. Reporter Sam Benstead, from the UK-based ORTV, travelled to Congo to see for himself how well prepared the country is for the UN's departure. His report raises the question: can Congo really stand alone or could the UN's departure push the country towards a new humanitarian catastrophe?

Replay Dateline's 2010 interview with two of the Bali Nine, as they speak publicly for the first time about their crimes and facing the death penalty Two of the Bali Nine have been speaking publicly for the first time; just days ahead of final hearings on whether their death sentences for drug trafficking will be carried out. Dateline reporter Mark Davis gained exclusive access to Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in the 'death tower' at Indonesia's Kerobokan Prison. They talk openly about their lives then and now, what they think of their crimes, and the prospect of facing death by firing squad. Mark also hears first-hand of the heartache for their families back in Australia, as they wait to hear if their pleas for clemency will be granted. Mark's report was one of the finalists in the 2011 Logie Awards, in the category of Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report.

Just a few kilometres from the gleaming centre of Paris, live some of France's 400,000 Roma people, or gypsies, but for how much longer? French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to clear them off the streets and out of the country - they're being forcibly removed from their illegal campsites and paid to return to their native Romania or Bulgaria. But the move has prompted worldwide criticism and accusations of ethnic cleansing. 95% of them hold French citizenship, but are excluded from working and claiming benefits, and they ask where they're supposed to go and how they're supposed to survive. Filmmaker Alexis Monchovet has been out on the streets of Paris to capture their struggle against poverty and persecution, in a story narrated by Victoria Strobl.

Dateline video journalist Nick Lazaredes has an international tale of intrigue that's worthy of a spy novel; It concerns a nondescript Maltese cargo vessel called the MV Arctic Sea, which was reportedly hijacked off Sweden and later disappeared. But if it was really carrying nothing more than a load of Finnish timber, why was the Russian Navy sent to find it? Could Israeli forces have intercepted it, concerned that weapons on board were being taken from Russia to the Middle East to be used against them? And how did it end up off Cape Verde in West Africa, when it should have been heading for Algeria?