SEPTEMBER 2006
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Wednesday, 27th September,2006
THAILAND - SMILE, IT'S A COUP
Last week's military takeover in Thailand would have to rank as one of the strangest coups in recent memory. Not only were the troops welcomed on the streets with flowers, but the bulk of the nation's elected politicians - including those shouting loudest about human rights - appeared to welcome the coup, even if they professed private reservations about the method used to get rid of the country's billionaire ex-leader, Thaksin Shinawatra. Now, one week on, with the generals announcing further restrictions - not to mention plans that would see them hanging around in government longer than promised - the coup is becoming more of a worry as each day passes. So what is actually going on in Bangkok and beyond? Ginny Stein sent Dateline this report earlier today.
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Wednesday, 27th September,2006
MARTIN WALKER INTERVIEW
Needless to say, George Bush and his right-wing supporters weren't exactly overjoyed by the lambasting the US President copped from his testy Venezuelan counterpart. To get a handle on that and other things American, earlier today George Negus caught up with a long-standing colleague, Martin Walker. Martin is the United Press International bureau chief in Washington.
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Wednesday, 27th September,2006
UNRAVELLING VENEZUELA'S REVOLUTION
Seven years ago, Hugo Chavez swept to power on the explicit promise of rescuing the tens of millions of Venezuelans who live in abject poverty, despite their country boasting some of the world's largest oil reserves. Dateline's Aaron Lewis went there to check out the so-called Chavez revolution. Aaron eventually spent months in the barrios, the slums of the capital, Caracas, talking to Venezuelans who'd looked to the socialist Chavez for a way out of their miserable lot. The result, as you're about to see, is a cast of real characters. Settle back and enjoy, if that's the word, a raw, rare view of Latin American life in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.
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Wednesday, 27th September,2006
HUGO CHAVEZ'S UN SPEECH
Over the years, you would have to say there have been some pretty remarkable characters address the UN General Assembly in New York. To name just a couple - Fidel Castro in his military fatigues and Yasser Arafat with a pistol on his belt. Well, last week, another one emerged, Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, the people's hero of Latin America.
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Wednesday, 20th September,2006
PHIL BURGESS
One thing you can say for sure, with that sort of US pay-out, Sol certainly didn't take the job at Telstra for the dough. Dateline did seek an interview with Sol Trujillo so that he could respond to some of the strong claims made in Chris's report. He wasn't available, but one of his amigos was. Phil Burgess is in charge of public policy and communication at Telstra. Like his boss, he's no stranger to controversy. Last year, for instance, he said he would not recommend Telstra shares to his mother. And recently, he was moved aside by Telstra from commenting on the forthcoming T3 sale after he'd defied a Federal Government plea to stop criticising industry regulation. His comment, that only "someone from another planet would stop agitating about government regulation,” caused a major falling out with the Howard Government. He's speaking here with our reporter Chris Hammer.
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Wednesday, 20th September,2006
SOL TRUJILLO ON THE LINE
Now to something simultaneously local and international. If, as they say, the share price is the ultimate measure of corporate performance, then Telstra boss American Sol Trujillo should be in big trouble. Since he took over the reins at Telstra last year, the giant Australian telco's share price has fallen by about 30%. As well, in an action-packed 12 months, the Telstra chief and his top 'amigos', as they're known, have conducted an aggressive campaign against the country's corporate regulator, the ACCC, put plenty of noses out of joint in Canberra and left shareholders shaking their heads in confusion and dismay. Tonight, Dateline asks the question who is the controversial Mr Trujillo and what is his business record? Before he arrived on our shores, he'd spent many years heading up a major US telephone company. Here's Chris Hammer with more.
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Wednesday, 20th September,2006
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVAN
Just when Dateline thought it was safe to put a toe in the newly democratic waters of South-East Asia, the Thai Prime Minister leaves for the UN and whammo! an overnight military coup at this stage, thankfully, bloodless. The world's media are calling this one "the festive coup" with young Thai women in miniskirts posing for pictures in front of the tanks. Obviously, this is not your run-of-the-mill nasty military coup d'etat. In recent months, talk of a coup had gone from idle Bangkok cafe gossip to a matter of serious concern. So, why the coup, and why now? And what will its impact be on the so-called democratic evolution in Thailand? Until last night's coup, Kraisak Choonhavan was an independent Senator in the Thai Parliament and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Earlier this evening, George Negus spoke to him from Bangkok.
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Wednesday, 13th September,2006
VANUATU – CLASH OF THE PROPHETS
The Pacific paradise of Vanuatu has been a glossy destination for the adventure traveller for years now, but how much do its entranced visitors get to learn about the local culture and customs? Dateline sent Bentley Dean - who, by the way, filmed the award-winning documentary 'The President versus David Hicks' - to the Vanuatuan island of Tanna, where the age-old belief in the notion of a cargo cult still has its followers. And this belief has led to a clash between a chief and a prophet over who's the best person to lead a revival of traditional custom on the island.
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Wednesday, 13th September,2006
LYON – VELOV CITY
Next up Dateline is in France to take a look at an intriguing collaboration between private enterprise and the city of Lyon, where the aim is to reduce car use and promote the humble bicycle as the vehicle of choice. Ginny Stein reports that the innovative scheme is working like a charm.
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Wednesday, 13th September,2006
EV1 - THE ELECTRIC DREAM
The program tonight has a recognisably green tinge to it and it is pure coincidence that Al Gore has been hanging about here this week promoting his film about the effects of global warming. Yesterday in the US, the General Motors Corporation unveiled a prototype without a motor that they claim will run 300km on a single tank of hydrogen converted to electricity. The critics are already off and running, warning this new technology is far too expensive and that a hydrogen car won't be mass-produced during our lifetime. The prototype, that GM claims is the most significant development since cars were invented, comes a decade after GM was also involved in another radical, vehicular experiment that saw the makers produce solar-powered electric cars. As you're about to see, these snazzy, clean, green machines were loudly touted as the solution to the globe's ever-increasing pollution problems, not to mention America's unrelenting dependence on Middle East oil. But that grand experiment came to a sudden, shuddering halt. Dateline's David Brill travelled to California to see if he could get to the bottom of this motoring murder mystery.
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Wednesday, 6th September,2006
PAKISTAN'S DAME EDNA
Now for something entirely different, as they say. In fact, probably the last thing you would expect to see when you turn on a television set in Pakistan. Ginny Stein frocked up and went to see TV host Ali Saleem in his... um, her element tackling issues a Muslim society like Pakistan would much prefer to leave right alone.
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Wednesday, 6th September,2006
TERRORISM DEBATE
With the fifth anniversary of September 11 on Monday, US President George W. Bush today announced a renewed strategy to combat terrorism, as he called it, in the process claiming, "We'll accept nothing less than complete victory." But how do you define victory in the so-called war on terror and how far off might that victory be? Two-thirds of all Americans are presently unconvinced that the US is winning the terror war at a time when Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez is warning that another attack on the US is a case of not if, but when. Just before Dateline went to air, George Negus spoke with two experts from very different backgrounds. From London, Italian writer Loretta Napoleoni, has spent decades studying terrorist movements around the world publishing 'Terror Inc' and more recently 'Insurgent Iraq' - and one-time sniper Malcolm Nance, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq with US forces. He's a specialist, with two decades of experience in global counter-terrorism. He was here in our Sydney studio. Malcolm Nance actually witnessed the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11.
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Wednesday, 6th September,2006
CURITIBA - CITY OF DREAMS
Now if you got stuck in one of those rotten traffic jams on the way home from the office this evening, you'll find this next report either a real pain or an inspiration. According to a Brazilian urban planning guru, Jaime Lerner, getting a city to run well is actually nowhere near as difficult as we've been led to believe. Indeed, the way Lerner has transformed his southern Brazilian home town of Curitiba has got planners around the globe sitting up and taking notice. Olivia Rousset toured Curitiba with Mr Lerner, an engagingly positive character, who reckons the key is simplicity.
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Wednesday, 6th September,2006
REINADO ON THE LINE
It has been a week now since East Timor's most wanted man, rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado with 56 other prisoners somehow managed to just walk out of Dili's jail, it has to be said, under extremely curious circumstances. As it happens, Dateline's David O'Shea was with Reinado and got caught in the cross-fire when the rebel leader fired the first shots of the violence. He was also on hand when Reinado was arrested, three weeks ago. And now, earlier today, still on the run, Reinado out of the blue, called David by mobile from wherever it is that he's hiding in the hills above Dili.
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