Foreign Correspondent — Season 29

Aired 18 February 2020 • 30 min

While Australia ponders opening new coal fields, Germany has reached an agreement between government, mining and energy companies and unions to phase out brown coal by 2038 in return for a $60 billion injection of funds.

Aired 25 February 2020 • 30 min

Sam Hawley gains rare access to the reclusive kingdom of Saudi Arabia as it begins a campaign to become a tourist destination. But is the notoriously repressive, brutal regime ready to open itself up to the outside world?

Aired 3 March 2020 • 30 min

Reporter Sally Sara travels to Nepal to uncover an ugly truth: many children living in the more than 500 orphanages across the country are not orphans but victims of traffickers, who prey on poor families in remote areas.

Aired 10 March 2020 • 30 min

A young Syrian leader fighting for peace and prosperity for her country is brutally murdered, soon after President Trump pulled US troops out of north Syria. Reporter Yalda Hakim asks, who killed Hevrin Khalaf and why?

Aired 17 March 2020 • 30 min

Sex, drugs and people smuggling. Emma Alberici braves a no-man's land near Naples to report on a ruthless new criminal group moving in on the Italian mafia. Will the Nigerian mafia be as hard to root out as the local mob?

Aired 24 March 2020 • 30 min

Europe's Coronavirus epicentre and a system at breaking point. Italy in lockdown with thousands of new cases reported every day, hospitals in the north swamped and patients young and old are dying. Emma Alberici reports.

Aired 31 March 2020 • 30 min

While the world shuts down, Singapore has been open for business. Learning from the SARS outbreak Singapore acted on its pandemic plan even before the new virus arrived. Eric Campbell explores the secrets to its success.

Aired 7 April 2020 • 30 min

Take an epic journey across Antarctica with a crack team of scientists on a mission to unlock earth's secret history. They plan to drill hundreds of metres deep to find atoms in a bid to illuminate our climate future.

Aired 14 April 2020 • 30 min

After years of war the US government and the Taliban are making a 'peace deal'. But what does the Taliban's return to power mean for Afghan women? Will migrant Afghani workers returning home from Iran spread COVID-19?

Aired 21 April 2020 • 30 min

New York City is the epicentre of the US fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. We follow paramedics, police, ICU nurses, overworked doctors and volunteers on the frontline despite a lack of personal protective equipment.

Aired 28 April 2020 • 30 min

A deeply divided nation in the throes of a culture war. The Polish government and Catholic Church are forming a holy alliance to denounce Western-style liberalism. Now feminists, gay people and liberals are fighting back.

Aired 5 May 2020 • 30 min

Lebanon's young and old, rich and poor, Muslim, Christian and Druze have united to try and overthrow corrupt and incompetent leaders. They face hyperinflation, currency collapse, high unemployment, power cuts and COVID-19.

Aired 12 May 2020 • 30 min

A secret war on Australia's doorstep. Sally Sara reports from inside the escalating conflict in Indonesian-ruled West Papua. There have been protests, fighting, a security crackdown, hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

Aired 19 May 2020 • 30 min

India has enforced the world's biggest lockdown. When the government ordered people to stay home, millions of migrant workers left the city for their villages so they wouldn't starve. Is the cure worse than the disease?

Aired 26 May 2020 • 30 min

Coronavirus has hit Britain hard with the highest death toll in Europe and forecasts of the deepest recession in 300 years. We look at England through the lockdown and hear people's fears and hopes for life after corona.

Aired 2 June 2020 • 30 min

She's a young doctor. He's the Russian President. He insists he's got the virus under control. She says he's lying. We follow the medic who's learned to fight without fear and the leader who's afraid of losing control.

Aired 9 June 2020 • 30 min

The laid back, self-proclaimed 'rainbow people' of Trinidad and Tobago are dealing with an increase in illegal migration, gang crime and piracy on-sea. Andy Park visits during peak party season, the festival of Carnival.

Aired 16 June 2020 • 30 min

What began as a hashtag seven years ago has transformed into a global movement for justice for black people. Sally Sara reports on #BlackLivesMatter, the force galvanising rage and grief sparked by George Floyd's death.

Aired 23 June 2020 • 30 min

Being a single man in China is tough. Young men face pressure to provide a family heir but finding a bride isn't easy. With 30 million more males than females, many bachelors are taking desperate measures to get hitched.

Aired 30 June 2020 • 30 min

Sweden is doing COVID differently. Its high-risk strategy allows cafes, schools and gyms to stay open, trusting citizens to do the right thing. But with over 5000 dead, many are asking - is the Swedish model working?

Aired 7 July 2020 • 30 min

Born in Timor, raised in Indonesia, a group of East Timorese stolen during wartime is now returning home. But will reunion with long lost family heal old wounds? This is a moving story about the power of blood and memory.

Aired 14 July 2020 • 30 min

Foreign Correspondent investigates North Korea's secret fishing fleets, exposing smuggling operations which make millions for leader Kim Jong Un. As they illegally fish further out to sea are they breaking UN Sanctions?

Aired 21 July 2020 • 30 min

Falun Gong has morphed from fringe quasi-religious group into a powerful player in America's conservative media landscape. Using social media they try to get Trump re-elected so he can continue his war of words with China.

Aired 28 July 2020 • 30 min

US Bureau Chief David Lipson travels through the northeast swing states to speak with voters about the coming presidential election. Will this fractured country survive the ultimate democratic stress test?