MARCH 2007
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Wednesday, 28th March,2007
HICKS LATEST
After five years in Guantanamo Bay, this week, finally Hicks faced his accusers. Mark Davis was there for a recent twist in this drawn-out saga.
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Wednesday, 28th March,2007
VIP CRISIS MANAGEMENT
To be honest, it is not often one get’s a stellar gathering of former world leaders, foreign ministers, and disgustingly loaded philanthropists captive, as it were, under the same roof. But that's precisely what Dateline has got here at the International Crisis Group's meeting here in Vancouver. But a bit of background mightn't go astray. The ICG has 130 staff spread across five continents, field offices in 17 countries and analysts - like Alex Anderson we just saw with in Kosovo with Thom Cookes - working out in the field in something like 60 crisis spots scattered around the globe from Darfur to Iraq.
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Wednesday, 28th March,2007
KOSOVO CRISIS
A gathering of seriously prominent world figures from the International Crisis Group, the ICG as it's known, a bunch of former prime ministers and presidents, diplomats and philanthropists trying, despite the odds against them, to find solutions for the conflict currently plaguing the world. For example, places like Kosovo in the Balkans - one of the worlds largely forgotten conflict zones - which, earlier this month, erupted again, and the ICG were there. Recently in Kosovo, in the Balkans, tempers have been rising again, and being into conflict prevention, the situation is tailor-made for the ICG. Earlier this month Thom Cookes spent a week on the ground in tinder-dry Kosovo with one of the groups analysts.
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Wednesday, 21st March,2007
JEREMY LEGGETT AND CATHY ZOI INTERVIEW
Unless you have been holidaying on Mars, you would have noticed that, of late, there have been a few major developments in what many regard as the greatest environmental challenge of them all - cutting greenhouse gases. The Europeans have really bitten the bullet, agreeing to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. Meanwhile, Tony Blair has committed the UK to cutting their emissions by as much as 60% by 2050, with 20% of all their energy to come from renewable sources. Over in the US, states are sidestepping what they regard as the Bush Administration's "flat-earth" inertia on the whole issue and have set up carbon trading schemes among themselves. Earlier today, George Negus spoke with two leading figures in the global warming debate. Jeremy Leggett - in London - has been described by 'Time' magazine as "one of the key players in putting the climate issue "on the world agenda." These days, he heads up Britain's largest solar energy company. Cathy Zoi is CEO of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection. She recently returned to San Jose in the States after working here in Australia for 12 years.
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Wednesday, 21st March,2007
SINGAPORE'S TASTE TEST
Welcome to a special "environmentally friendly" Dateline, coming to you on the eve of World Water Day. In this drought-hit continent of ours, mention the subject of 'water' and you are sure to find yourself in a decent verbal stoush about what is best for consumers, for the environment, indeed for the nation. It's even an issue in this weekend's NSW State election. Well, in literally "water-tight" Singapore to our north, the great water debate's been over for some time. Here's David O'Shea.
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Wednesday, 21st March,2007
THE SUN KING
These days, just about everyone accepts that the world's truly big economic story is the phenomenal rise of China. That said, they may be surprised to learn that the richest man in mainland China - worth a cool $3 billion and still counting - is not Chinese, he's Australian. Well, Australian-Chinese! Dateline's Chris Hammer travelled to the People's Republic to meet a tycoon whose solar-powered vision for that vast nation is based on years of research he did here in Australia. Indeed, the Sun King is convinced his business plan could actually change the world.
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Wednesday, 14th March,2007
GORILLAS IN OUR MIDST
As they hurtle about the globe, intrepid Dateline video journalists often find themselves in tricky situations. But Ginny Stein's recent trip to Africa may take the cake. As Ginny trekked into the mountains of Rwanda in search of the great apes, her guide's instructions were emphatic - "If a gorilla charges, sit down!" A bit implausible? Maybe. But that is what they also tell the big-spending ecotourists whose dollars are actually helping the famously endangered creatures to survive.
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Wednesday, 14th March,2007
AAYAN HIRSI ALI
When Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh was brutally assassinated in Amsterdam in 2004, following his film about the abuse of Muslim women, a 5-page death threat was impaled on his chest addressed to his Somali-born co-producer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A one-time Dutch MP, Hirsi Ali fled to Holland 14 years ago to escape an arranged marriage. She's subsequently styled herself as a "Muslim infidel", hell-bent on highlighting the plight of Muslim women. Curiously, she has become the darling of the right for her condemnation of Islam and popular with the left for her stance on abuse of women - all of this under 24-hour protection and security surveillance. Unperturbed, Hirsi Ali's book 'Infidel' continues to trumpet her one-woman campaign. On a recent Dateline assignment in Washington, George Negus spoke with her.
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Wednesday, 14th March,2007
WHO KILLED LITVINENKO?
A story that would stretch the imagination of even the most creative Hollywood screenwriter - the mystery death of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, dramatically poisoned with a radioactive substance late last year in the heart of London. On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused the Russian President, Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder, a politically-loaded statement that's kept his story in the headlines ever since. And as you'll hear from our reporter, Nick Lazaredes, Litvinenko is just one of many Kremlin critics to die mysteriously. Here's Nick, who actually knew Litvinenko, with his investigation of the bizarre death, and the persistent claims that Russia's secret service, the FSB, was behind it.
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Wednesday, 7th March,2007
TACKLING THE TALIBAN
In the past 24 hours, things have really been hotting up in the south of Afghanistan where around 370 members of the Australian army are based. Yesterday, supported by Canadians, Americans and other members of the coalition - no Australians at this point - British-led forces launched an offensive to try and drive the resurgent Taliban out of Helmand Province. The question is can they be defeated by military might alone or is a more subtle strategy required to wean the locals away from the Taliban's fundamentalism? With the Taliban clearly on the rise again, John Martinkus choppered into the dangerous southern region of the country to see for himself which tack the Australians should take against the Taliban - the carrot or the stick?
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Wednesday, 7th March,2007
WASHINGTON INSIDERS
In Washington D.C. where George Negus found himself two weeks ago, it's still freezing but the political temperature there is definitely on the rise. The leading contenders for the White House have already hit the campaign trail, despite the fact that the US elections are still 20 months away While Dateline were there, George Negus had a pleasant dinner with a bunch of senior correspondents and analysts - two from the Republican side of the political spectrum, two from the Democrat side, plus a couple of "free spirits. Over a glass or two, they chewed the fat on US politics, Iraq, Iran, Hillary versus Barack Obama and of course - how could you not raise it? - Barack Obama versus, of all people, John Howard.
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Wednesday, 7th March,2007
SARAH'S STORY
No-one knows the exact number, but depending on who you talk to, somewhere between 60,000 and 600,000 civilians have died in Iraq since the occupation and resultant insurrection began. In the past 24 hours alone, 100 more Iraqis have lost their lives. Dateline’s first report tonight gives a name to and tells the story of one of those anonymous statistics. It was filmed in Baghdad by an Iraqi, Fouad Hardy. Fouad currently lives in Melbourne, but as an Iraqi, Fouad was able to move around the hell-hole that's Baghdad in a way that would be just too dangerous for outsiders. On a recent visit to that battered city, Fouad came across a youngster with an incredibly sad story to tell. Fouad's footage is pretty raw, but working with Dateline reporter Aaron Lewis he has produced a very moving report.
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Sarah's Story If you would like to make contact with the Hamdne family, send an email to [mdateline@sbs.com.au">Datelinem] Dateline will pass your details on to film maker, Fouad Hady. Write Sarah's Story in the subject line. Fouad is independent of SBS.
