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Season 2019
Perched high above the Qadisha valley in northern Lebanon, not far from the Syrian border, is the centuries-old Hamatoura monastery. In an intimate and revealing film Our World follows
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Perched high above the Qadisha valley in northern Lebanon, not far from the Syrian border, is the centuries-old Hamatoura monastery. In an intimate and revealing film Our World follows eighteen Greek Orthodox Christian monks, who make up the community here, as they go about their traditional and almost silent way of life: communal prayer, making cheese, candles, incense and farming. The monks reveal the personal journeys which brought them to the monastery.
It is arguably the most extraordinary story of reform in the world today. Africa's youngest leader, Abiy Ahmed, is transforming Ethiopia after decades of autocratic rule.
It is arguably the most extraordinary story of reform in the world today. Africa's youngest leader, Abiy Ahmed, is transforming Ethiopia after decades of autocratic rule.
ince the country's 2011 protests sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia has been the country most willing to publicly engage with the issue of women's rights. Now, with the President leading
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ince the country's 2011 protests sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia has been the country most willing to publicly engage with the issue of women's rights. Now, with the President leading the way, Tunisia's Sharia based inheritance laws, under which women are only entitled to half of what men receive, are being challenged. But, there is fierce resistance from Tunisia's conservative religious community. They've been blocking reform efforts for more than 30 years. Nada Issa finds out if the time has finally come for Tunisia's women to get their fair share.
Finland has just completed a two-year trial of so-called 'basic income' for the unemployed. Two thousand people, who had been receiving unemployment benefit, were instead given 650
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Finland has just completed a two-year trial of so-called 'basic income' for the unemployed. Two thousand people, who had been receiving unemployment benefit, were instead given 650 dollars a month, with no strings attached. Our World followed four people over the two years to see what impact the experiment has had on their lives.
Our World spent the New Year party season in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Haifa documenting the personal views of young Palestinians on the Israeli occupation, and how it impacts their music.
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Our World spent the New Year party season in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Haifa documenting the personal views of young Palestinians on the Israeli occupation, and how it impacts their music. The rave scene, with its vibrant electronic music and dance culture has, for some Palestinians, become a focus for political dissent and protest, for others an escape. It's also a source of tension between some conservative parents and a younger generation.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded 33 years ago in Soviet Ukraine. The cause, and who was to blame, is still being debated.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded 33 years ago in Soviet Ukraine. The cause, and who was to blame, is still being debated.
Critics say the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has not done enough to stop hate crimes against India's Muslim minority, with a rise in 'cow vigilantism'. Disturbing content.
Critics say the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has not done enough to stop hate crimes against India's Muslim minority, with a rise in 'cow vigilantism'. Disturbing content.
This week's Our World tells the story of a South African journalist's attempts to save a family friend from drug addiction.
This week's Our World tells the story of a South African journalist's attempts to save a family friend from drug addiction.
Since the election of Donald Trump, rival groups of far-right and far-left activists have battled in the streets of some American cities. Violence has broken out in New York, Berkeley
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Since the election of Donald Trump, rival groups of far-right and far-left activists have battled in the streets of some American cities. Violence has broken out in New York, Berkeley and Charlottesville. But perhaps most affected is Portland, Oregon, a liberal, progressive city in the Pacific Northwest. For our season on Crossing Divides, Mike Wendling has been there to meet activists from both sides.
Australia is suffering the hottest summer on record. Water is often scarce but growing demand, mainly from farming, and higher temperatures linked to climate change, have created the
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Australia is suffering the hottest summer on record. Water is often scarce but growing demand, mainly from farming, and higher temperatures linked to climate change, have created the country's worst ever water shortage. With a general election just weeks away revelations of government bungling, corporate greed and corruption have thrust water to the forefront of Australia's political debate.
A wave of far-right politics is sweeping Europe, with parties promising to smash the ruling elite, end migration and re-shape the EU. With elections just days away the BBC’s Jean
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A wave of far-right politics is sweeping Europe, with parties promising to smash the ruling elite, end migration and re-shape the EU. With elections just days away the BBC’s Jean Mackenzie travels across the continent to find out why the Right is on the rise, meeting those celebrating its success, and those fighting to stop it. Could Europe, as we know it, be about to change?
Nafiseh Kohnavard travels to Iraq and Syria to hear from the Yazidi women forced into sexual slavery by so-called Islamic State, and who had children with their IS captors.
Nafiseh Kohnavard travels to Iraq and Syria to hear from the Yazidi women forced into sexual slavery by so-called Islamic State, and who had children with their IS captors.
Documentary about night runners - the elusive figures who sneak around at night in villages across Kenya, throwing stones and carrying out small acts of vandalism.
Documentary about night runners - the elusive figures who sneak around at night in villages across Kenya, throwing stones and carrying out small acts of vandalism.
For centuries, a significant Sikh minority has grown in relative safety in Afghanistan. But, in the last decade, persecution has seen the population drop.
For centuries, a significant Sikh minority has grown in relative safety in Afghanistan. But, in the last decade, persecution has seen the population drop.
In northern Europe's Lapland, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else in the world, threatening the livelihood of its indigenous Sami people.
In northern Europe's Lapland, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else in the world, threatening the livelihood of its indigenous Sami people.
In a country where it is expected that your extended family will look after you in your old age, what do you do if they long ago rejected you? That is a question for most of Pakistan’s
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In a country where it is expected that your extended family will look after you in your old age, what do you do if they long ago rejected you? That is a question for most of Pakistan’s transgender community. They have often spent their lives ostracised by their families, scraping a living together by dancing at weddings or as sex workers. Now, one member of the community, Guru Ashee, is setting up Pakistan’s first retirement home for transgender people. Mobeen Azhar has been to Lahore to meet her.
Denmark’s efforts to better integrate its migrant population are attracting controversy, both at home and abroad. Twenty-nine housing districts, known as ‘migrant ghettos’, are now
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Denmark’s efforts to better integrate its migrant population are attracting controversy, both at home and abroad. Twenty-nine housing districts, known as ‘migrant ghettos’, are now subject to special measures to tackle crime and unemployment, and encourage greater mixing between migrants and wider Danish society.
In the run-up to Denmark's recent landmark election, Sahar Zand travelled to Copenhagen to witness how immigration is shaping the campaign debate and question the country's politicians and migrants about these controversial policies.
In December 2018, the people of Sudan rose up against the thirty-year dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir. He stood down in April, but his supporters remain in control and in June they
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In December 2018, the people of Sudan rose up against the thirty-year dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir. He stood down in April, but his supporters remain in control and in June they launched a vicious attack on unarmed protestors leaving over a hundred dead and scores raped and beaten. Namak Khoshnaw follows a young Sudanese doctor, who took part in the protests, as she celebrates the uprising’s success only to watch it collapse in the face of terrifying violence.
China is now thought to be holding more than a million Muslims in giant camps in its far west region of Xinjiang. The authorities insist that the facilities are not prisons but schools,
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China is now thought to be holding more than a million Muslims in giant camps in its far west region of Xinjiang. The authorities insist that the facilities are not prisons but schools, where ‘thought transformation’ is taking place to combat violent extremism. Reporter John Sudworth gets rare, highly controlled access to go inside and, despite official supervision, uncovers important evidence about the nature of the system.
Safa and Marwa are twin girls who were born joined at the head. They were brought, by their family, from Pakistan to London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital for a series of
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Safa and Marwa are twin girls who were born joined at the head. They were brought, by their family, from Pakistan to London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital for a series of highly complex operations to separate them. The BBC’s Fergus Walsh has followed them through the dangerous nine-month process aimed at giving independence to the girls, who have never been able to see each other's faces.
This week's Our World tells the story of a South African journalist's attempts to save a family friend from drug addiction.
This week's Our World tells the story of a South African journalist's attempts to save a family friend from drug addiction.
In 2017, 25-year-old Anna Campbell travelled in secret from the UK to northern Syria. She was heading for Rojava, the Kurdish territory in the north of the country. Anna went to the
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In 2017, 25-year-old Anna Campbell travelled in secret from the UK to northern Syria. She was heading for Rojava, the Kurdish territory in the north of the country. Anna went to the front line to fight with the Kurdish armed forces, YPJ. A month later she was killed by a Turkish air strike.
This film follows Anna's father Dirk as he travels to Rojava one year after her death. By meeting her YPJ comrades and talking to those displaced by the war, he learns about the Syrian Kurds and the cause his daughter was willing to die for.
Thirty years ago, the fall of the Iron Curtain was heralded in Europe as a new era of freedom and democracy. But for Russia, it marked the loss of an empire. For Our World, Steve
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Thirty years ago, the fall of the Iron Curtain was heralded in Europe as a new era of freedom and democracy. But for Russia, it marked the loss of an empire. For Our World, Steve Rosenberg explores how Moscow views the tumultuous events of 1989 and how Vladimir Putin’s Russia is trying to regain its influence.
In 2010, the UK government embarked on a major programme of public spending cuts, chopping tens of billions of pounds from many services, including policing, local government and public
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In 2010, the UK government embarked on a major programme of public spending cuts, chopping tens of billions of pounds from many services, including policing, local government and public health. Local communities were expected to find other ways of providing vital services, but in some places it has been a struggle. Amid government claims that the decade of austerity is over, Michael Buchanan meets people in Hartlepool in the North East of England to find out how the cuts have affected them.
America’s love affair with opioids has had a devastating impact. Every 25 minutes a baby is born suffering from opioid withdrawal and a new generation is growing up with addicted
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America’s love affair with opioids has had a devastating impact. Every 25 minutes a baby is born suffering from opioid withdrawal and a new generation is growing up with addicted parents. For years pharmaceutical companies made billions from the drugs, but now lawsuits are piling up and so are questions for regulators who should have prevented the crisis.
Our World traces why so many Americans became addicted and meets children and workers on the front line who are now picking up the pieces.
In a country where it's expected that your extended family will look after you in old age, what do you do if they rejected you a long time ago? That's a question for most of Pakistan's
.. show full overview
In a country where it's expected that your extended family will look after you in old age, what do you do if they rejected you a long time ago? That's a question for most of Pakistan's transgender community. They've often spent their lives ostracised by their families, scraping a living by dancing at weddings or as sex workers. Now, one member of the community, Guru Ashee, is setting up Pakistan's first retirement home for transgender people. Mobeen Azhar has been to Lahore to meet her.
Google, Apple and Facebook-owned Instagram are enabling an illegal online slave market by approving and providing apps used for selling domestic workers in the Gulf.
For Our World,
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Google, Apple and Facebook-owned Instagram are enabling an illegal online slave market by approving and providing apps used for selling domestic workers in the Gulf.
For Our World, BBC News Arabic’s undercover investigation exposes the people in Kuwait breaking local and international laws on modern slavery, including a woman offering a child for sale.
At the centre of this powerful investigative film is Fatou a 16 year old
in Kuwait City who has been there for nine months. We follow her rescue and journey back home to Guinea, West Africa and ask what’s being done to control these apps?
For five months protests have rocked Hong Kong, pitting hundreds of thousands of young, idealistic demonstrators against the authorities and the might of China. The clashes between
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For five months protests have rocked Hong Kong, pitting hundreds of thousands of young, idealistic demonstrators against the authorities and the might of China. The clashes between police and protestors have become increasingly violent and neither side shows signs of backing down.
Our World goes beyond the frontline to tell the stories of some of those involved, what drives them - and their hopes and fears for the future.
The Great Barrier Reef is in danger - it is now officially declared to be in a very poor state. Yet the battle to save a national icon has sparked furious clashes and opened up deep
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The Great Barrier Reef is in danger - it is now officially declared to be in a very poor state. Yet the battle to save a national icon has sparked furious clashes and opened up deep divides in Australian society. As Australia wrestles with the effects of climate change, Nick Lazaredes meets those who are fighting to preserve the reef and those being blamed for its sudden decline.
Russia faces a deadly epidemic of domestic violence. For years it has been hidden from view, but now a new generation of women are fighting back. Lucy Ash meets the families whose
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Russia faces a deadly epidemic of domestic violence. For years it has been hidden from view, but now a new generation of women are fighting back. Lucy Ash meets the families whose extraordinary stories have sparked a national debate and the politicians who are campaigning for changes in the law and better protection for those at risk.
In 2007 the BBC film Bulgaria's Abandoned Children exposed tragic levels of neglect in Mogilino Social Care Home, an institute for mentally and physically disabled young people. Since
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In 2007 the BBC film Bulgaria's Abandoned Children exposed tragic levels of neglect in Mogilino Social Care Home, an institute for mentally and physically disabled young people. Since then, more than a quarter of a billion euros has been given by the EU to Bulgaria to replace the country's institutes with smaller family-like Group Homes. Filmmaker Kate Blewett returns to Bulgaria to find out what's happened to the children she met in Mogilino and reveals the reality of life for children in some of the new Group Homes. A member of staff in one of the homes said, "The world must see what is happening."
In 2016 Pakistani social media sensation Qandeel Baloch was murdered in her bed, the victim of a so-called honour killing. Her brother and five other men, among them a celebrity cleric,
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In 2016 Pakistani social media sensation Qandeel Baloch was murdered in her bed, the victim of a so-called honour killing. Her brother and five other men, among them a celebrity cleric, were charged with her murder. As the court prepares to deliver its verdict, Hani Taha - who has followed the story in two previous Our Worlds - returns to Qandeel's home town. Will there be justice for Qandeel? And how has her life and death changed Pakistan?
How has a small place in northern Finland managed to become Europe's most eco-friendly town? Ii has slashed its CO2 emissions by 80% and is producing 10 times more renewable energy than
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How has a small place in northern Finland managed to become Europe's most eco-friendly town? Ii has slashed its CO2 emissions by 80% and is producing 10 times more renewable energy than it consumes. This community project could be an inspiration for us all - but such rapid change is not without opposition.
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Season finale
Two Brains, One Skull - Separating Conjoined Twins
Episode overview
Safa and Marwa are twin girls who were born joined at the head. They were brought, by their family, from Pakistan to London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital for a series of
.. show full overview
Safa and Marwa are twin girls who were born joined at the head. They were brought, by their family, from Pakistan to London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital for a series of highly complex operations to separate them. The BBC's Fergus Walsh has followed them through the dangerous nine months process aimed at giving independence to the girls, who've never been able to see each other's faces.
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