Four Corners

Last year Australians watched in disbelief as the financial markets of Europe and America faltered and collapsed. What started as a credit crunch on Wall Street spread round the world, plunging economies into recession, destroying trillions of dollars of wealth and putting millions of people out of work. Now it's finally hit home in Australia. For months we were told it couldn't happen here, that China's hunger for our coal, iron ore and nickel would shield us from the worst of the financial storm. But now we know that China's economy is in deep trouble too — its steel industry cutting back, its factories closing. And our resources boom has gone bust. In the last six months, prices for the metals Australia exports to the world have fallen by half. Suddenly, being linked to China looks like a minus not a plus. Against this backdrop, business reporter and author, Paul Barry travels to Queensland, a state which has been growing as fast as the Asian Tiger economies, to see what's happening at the coal face.

They had been warned, and they thought they had made the necessary preparations - but nothing could prepare the people of Victoria for the fireball that swept through their state.

Talk to any major western leader and they will tell you Pakistan is a key ally in the war on terror. If that's true this week the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari had some bad news for his strategic partners. He told the world his police force and army has been unable to control Islamic extremists in his country, warning Pakistan had under-estimated the strength of the Taliban. To judge just how bad the situation really is reporter MATTHEW CARNEY has travelled to key areas of Pakistan, teaming up with a senior local journalist to investigate the Taliban's expanding reign of terror.

BBC Reporter Tom Mangold tells the remarkable story of Victor Bout, the man Western governments claim was the world’s biggest arms dealer. Not only does the program reveal the extent of Victor Bout’s allegedly murderous activities, it also details his pursuit and capture by international authorities.

For six years John Darwin pretended he was dead. Drowned in a canoeing accident in the North Sea off the coast of Britain. With the assistance of his wife Anne he cashed in six hundred thousand dollars of insurance and pension entitlements and lived a fantasy life, changing his name, altering his appearance and hiding from the world he had left behind. Now using police tapes, interviews with family, friends and police investigators the full extent of John Darwin's fraud is revealed. The program reveals how John tried to explain his dramatic return to Britain just when it looked as though he had pulled the scam off, and how Anne's lies to her sons were "the most difficult" deceit of all.

Children across Australia talk about the alarming impact of bullying on their lives. Despite major efforts from governments, schools and teachers, bullying remains an intractable problem made worse by modern technology. Once it was fists, rocks and personal abuse - now bullies have the net, mobile phones and Facebook as their playgrounds for brutality. This isn't just concerning - it can be lethal, as reporter Quentin McDermott reveals.

The shocking story of a respected Aboriginal leader in outback Western Australia who was locked in a metal cell in the back of a prison van and driven through the desert in the searing heat. Four hours later he was dead.

Reporter Quentin McDermott tells how up to ten per cent of art that's resold across Australia could be problematic. This crisis of confidence has led art lovers to demand that any fake unfairly traded should be destroyed or registered, to avoid it being traded again.

Australia may be one of the most internet-connected countries on earth, with a super-fast broadband network on the way. But now the experts are warning there's danger with cyber crooks roaming the super highway. In a story that will make you review the use of your home computer, reporter Andrew Fowler tells how foreign online crooks took down a multi-million dollar Australian business. He explains how you can have your identity stolen, your phone disconnected and your bank accounts emptied in just hours. Perhaps most alarmingly, Four Corners reveals first-hand how wireless connections are an invitation to thieves.

Reporter Matthew Carney goes inside to see first hand the conditions young offenders in juvenile detention are forced to endure. He goes with them when they're out of jail and trying to go straight and he asks why there aren't better support services to help them keep on the right side of the law.

Reporter Liz Jackson travels to China and the United States, the world's two big coal burning countries, to find out how far they've come in creating a technology that will trap and store greenhouse gases. What she found will shock you.

"Facing Dennis Ferguson", ... A district court judge late yesterday allowed well-known sex offender Denis Ferguson to walk free, ... LIZ JACKSON: Tonight on Four Corners, Dennis Ferguson pleads that he has changed - but who will believe him?

Reporter Sarah Ferguson goes inside the conservative parties to find out what the party members really think about climate change and why they're so reluctant to back their leader.