OCTOBER 2006
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Wednesday, 1st November,2006
BURMA: INSIDE THE SECRET CITY
The video journalists on this program often find themselves working in pretty difficult locations. But, now and then, an assignment comes along that really takes the cake. Imagine this scenario: you're on the job in a country where the government is so paranoid and secretive it wont have a bar of independent reporting. It's a country where the locals are petrified at being interviewed and using a secret camera is often the only way you can record what's going on in the place. That was precisely what Ginny Stein faced when she recently sneaked into Burma. Ginny's idea had been to report on Burmese dissidents who've lately begun to speak out despite years of harassment. Along the way, Ginny found herself in that pariah nation's new capital city. It's only been seen by a handful of outsiders and, according to many of the locals, is built on the regime's curious belief in astrology and numerology.
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A little over the top to be taken seriously? -
Wednesday, 1st November,2006
BOB BROWN, GREG HUNT INTERVIEW
Both overseas and in Australia this week it has been near impossible to turn on the television or radio or pick up a newspaper without hearing the loaded terms "global warming" and "climate change". They are definitely the hot ticket political items right now.
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From the UK, the Stern Report delivered a dire warning about the economic consequences of global warming. Coincidentally or otherwise, the Howard government reacted by announcing that the world's biggest solar energy plant would be built in Victoria, suddenly found a lazy $60-million for clean energy projects and telegraphed plans for a "new Kyoto" after repeatedly dismissing the original and refusing to sign its protocol.
Meanwhile, a former UK environment minister has described Australia's approach as "sleepwalking to oblivion". So are we doing too little too late? Earlier this evening, George Negus put that question to Greg Hunt, the Federal Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, and the Greens' Senator Bob Brown. -
Wednesday, 1st November,2006
IT'S IRAQ, STUPID
The pundits are forever telling us that opinion polls carry only so much weight. But when they're all saying the same thing, only a foolish politician would ignore them! Right now in the US, the polls - if, as we say, they can be believed - are predicting that the Republicans are in for a drubbing in next week's mid-term Congressional elections, a result that would drastically alter the last two years of George Bush's presidency. The big issue, of course, is Iraq and how to get out of there. Sophie McNeill reports from the vital swing state of Pennsylvania, where both sides are desperate to win.
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Wednesday, 25th October,2006
PAUL MCGEOGH INTERVIEW
The US military commander, General George Casey, told a media conference in Baghdad overnight that Iraq's own forces could take over the country's security within 12 to 18 months, presumably allowing for a big reduction in foreign troop numbers. This to say the least is a fairly optimistic assessment coming as it does on the same day that a prominent Republican senator said Iraq was on the verge of chaos and the current US security plan just was not working. Author and correspondent Paul McGeogh knows the situation on the ground in Iraq better than most.
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Wednesday, 25th October,2006
DESERT DUST
Speaking of the Solomons, as we just were, on a visit to Honiara back in 2004, John Howard said that RAMSI, the regional assistance mission, would stay there "until the job is done". Probably not coincidentally, that's precisely what he's been saying - until very recently, that is - about when our troops will get out of Iraq. Dateline's own David Brill has just come back from Iraq after his second exclusive "tour of duty" with the Australian troops there. David joined them as they prepared for what turned out to be a pretty eventful day at the office, or should that be desert.
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Wednesday, 25th October,2006
HUGH WHITE INTERVIEW
It is fair to describe relations between Canberra and the likes of the Solomons leader and Michael Somare as tricky. Hugh White is the Professor of Strategic Studies at the ANU and also a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute. Earlier this evening, George Negus asked him what he made of all this.
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Wednesday, 25th October,2006
THE SOMARE EXPRESS
This Dateline is particularly topical and with an Australian edge. Well, while it looks like John Howard had a win this week at the Pacific Islands Forum, despite the fancy diplomatic footwork over in Fiji, there is still plenty of regional animosity towards this country at the moment. Some even argue it is intensifying, with the likes of PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare branding Canberra arrogant and insulting towards Pacific leaders like himself. Tonight, another trenchant critic, Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, embroiled in a slanging match with John Howard and Alexander Downer over his former attorney-general wanted by Australia on child sex charges. After Sogavare left Honiara for the forum last weekend, police raided his office and there are now rumours that the Solomon Islands leader could be arrested when he returns home tomorrow. Dateline's Mark Davis has been with the Pacific leaders all week.
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Wednesday, 18th October,2006
UNCLE SAM'S COUP?
Hugo Chavez, the unapologetically left-wing President of Venezuela, has never been one of George Bush's political pin-up boys. And for his part, Chavez is not exactly a gigantic George W. fan either. Last month at the UN, Chavez used his address to the General Assembly to bag the US President, calling him "the devil". Back in 2002, when Chavez was briefly ousted in a coup, many wondered out loud if the US was involved. Now, an American lawyer says she has proof of Washington's involvement, including a swag of incriminating top-secret documents from the CIA. Dateline reporter Aaron Lewis tracked her down in Caracas.
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Wednesday, 18th October,2006
DAVID SUZUKI INTERVIEW
This week - for reasons best known to the Federal Government's spin doctors - our sense of urgency about global warming has gone up a notch or two. And now that the drought and its disastrous impact on the nation's farming community are official, John Howard has let it be known he thinks nuclear power should be included in our response to climate change. By total coincidence, Dr David Suzuki, the man famously regarded by many as the greatest environmentalist of our age, is in Australia and yesterday George Negus talked with him from Canberra. As usual the now 70 year old Canadian scientist was not exactly short of a word.
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Wednesday, 18th October,2006
OUT OF AFRICA
When you slap on the old sunscreen and head down to the beach for the day, it is probably fair to say that the last thing you would expect to see is a life-and-death drama being played out right before your eyes. But that is exactly what has been happening in the Canary Islands this summer, as thousands of refugees desperately seeking a better life arrive from West Africa in leaky, overcrowded boats. Dateline's Thom Cookes went to the Canaries and to Senegal to chart their perilous journey.
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Wednesday, 4th October,2006
CAMPING IN THE DUST - EAST TIMOR'S REFUGEES
With their leaders continuing to bicker over their political differences, there's no end in sight to the troubles of the hapless East Timorese. The conflict goes on, albeit sporadically these days, though just last week, the ruling Fretilin Party's headquarters in Dili were torched. But what about the ordinary East Timorese? They're among the poorest people in the world, and after the recent violent upheavals, some 150,000 of them are surviving in refugee camps. David O'Shea spent some time with them.
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United Nations World Food Programme -
Wednesday, 4th October,2006
PROFESSOR GEORGI TOLORAYA
North Korea, where overnight, the regime of the so-called Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il, dropped its own bombshell, announcing that it was planning a nuclear test some time "in the future". No time frame mentioned. Predictably, the news has been condemned by the US, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. So, how should we react to this latest nuclear rocket fired by the North Koreans? Is it another classic display of the Dear Leader's brinkmanship or the real McCoy? Earlier this evening, George Negus spoke with Professor George Toloraya, the Russian Consul-General in Sydney. He's also an acknowledged expert on North Korea, having lived and worked there for six years, and is currently director of the Centre for Contemporary Korean Studies in Moscow.
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Wednesday, 4th October,2006
GUNNING FOR IRAN
In recent days, you must've heard the howls of protest from the International Atomic Energy Agency after the release of a US House of Representatives report on Iran's nuclear program. The IAEA branded the American report "outrageous and dishonest" for asserting that Tehran's nuclear plans were geared towards weapons. This, of course, was just the latest flare-up in the running debate over Iran's supposed nuclear ambitions. So where is Washington getting its information? Try an Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq - MeK for short. Given the debacle over Saddam's non-existent WMDs in Iraq, you'd reckon there'd have to be a touch of caution where Iranian exiles peddling nuclear secrets are concerned. But as Bronwyn Adcock tells it, when the MeK speaks, Washington hardliners listen.
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