On Assignment

Rohit Kachroo is in Puerto Rico to discover what people feel about the possibility of their country becoming the 51st state of America, Juliet Bremner explores how extreme surfing has transformed the Portuguese seaside town of Nazare, and Debi Edward attends an ice and snow sculpture festival in China.

Rageh Omaar presents this month's reports from around the world. John Irvine reveals how the Sea of Galilee is full of fresh water for the first time in 30 years and discovers how Israel plans to distribute this precious resource. James Mates attends Venice's virtual carnival, and Nina Nannar meets San Francisco residents who are downsizing to live in 'tiny homes'.

Geraint Vincent heads to Warsaw to explore how Poland and the EU are increasingly at odds when it comes to the rule of law and human rights, while Dan Rivers is in Georgia speaking to the country's Prime Minister about her plans for transforming one of the former Soviet Union's flagship spa resorts. Emma Murphy travels to California - the prime location for catching a glimpse of grey whales as they make their annual migration up the US West Coast.

Rageh Omaar is in Mali for the hugely popular Hippodrome horseraces, exploring the country's deep historical links to horses and how the races are an important lifeline to many. Lucy Watson is in Bosnia, where she meets a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide who has made it his life's mission to find the remains of those that did not survive. Debi Edward is in Sichuan China to witness the ingenious ways its scientists are encouraging pandas to mate.

Lucrezia Millarini travels to the Spanish island of Ibiza to find out how they might be able to welcome back British tourists this summer. Steve Scott travels to Qatar to see why the falcon continues to be the most highly prized and looked-after bird in the Gulf. Plus, Rageh Omaar is in Montenegro, home to some of Europe's last free-flowing bodies of water, to find out if small hydropower plants that promise cleaner energy also be polluting the pristine waterways of this Balkan state.

Ben Chapman in Gran Canaria, where the pandemic has left many tourism businesses close to collapse. There, he finds many are also worried about the impact of the continuing influx of migrants arriving by boat from Africa - both on the authorities' ability to cope and on the island's image once the holidaymakers return. Paul Brand travels to the Shetland Islands to find out why they are exploring options for more autonomy away from Scottish and UK governments. James Mates witnesses the devastation caused by a deadly bacteria in Italy's ancient olive groves.

Romilly Weeks travels to Malta to investigate the country's a water scarcity crisis, as experts warn that the country is becoming too dry to support its population. Plus, 100 years on from the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Debi Edward looks at China's journey to the modern communist state it is today, and the challenges it faces at home and abroad.

Robert Moore investigates why so many US veterans struggle on their return to civilian life, with more than 40 per cent suffering mental health issues. Rageh Omaar analyses Iceland's relationship with its beautiful but deadly volcanoes, and Rachel Younger travels to Ireland to explore the joys and pitfalls of life on the road, as the country experiences a campervan boom.

Ahead of Great Britain hosting the COP26 International Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, On Assignment looks at three stories with climate emergency at their heart.

Rageh Omaar reports from Israel where the country's first coalition government without Benjamin Netanyahu in more than a decade has just passed its first budget. Carl Dinnen visits Rome to find out why the Eternal City is being declared the sink-hole capital of Europe. Debi Edward reports from China, a country famous for its culture, pivoting into the coffee market.