Crossing Continents Folgen

Myanmar is now in a state of civil war. What started in February 2021 as a mass protest movement against the military coup is now a nationwide armed uprising. The junta is under attack across the country from a network of civilian militias called the People’s Defence Forces who are fighting to restore democracy. The BBC gained rare access to the jungle training camps where young protests are being turned into soldiers. We follow a single mother and a student who have sacrificed everything to join the fight. They're up against a well-trained military that’s willing to use brutal tactics to stay in power. As the death toll mounts and the world looks away, can they restore democracy? Reporter, Rebecca Henschke. Produced with Kelvin Brown, Ko Ko Aung and Banyar Kong Janoi.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians – mainly young and well-educated - have fled abroad since their country invaded Ukraine. It’s the biggest brain drain in a short period of time in Russian history. Some fear a political crackdown. They worry they could be arrested for expressing opposition to the war, and young men might be drafted into the army. Others are escaping economic sanctions, trying to keep their businesses afloat now it’s become hard to transfer money into or out of Russia. Tim Whewell travels to Russia’s southern neighbour, Georgia, to meet some of the 25,000 Russians who’ve fled there. Some are strong opponents of Vladimir Putin, who are now showing their support for Ukraine by volunteering for a new project by Russian exiles, ‘Helping to Leave’, that organizes evacuations of Ukrainian civilians from the war zone. Others are business people – often in IT, who try to steer clear of politics, but hope they can help Georgia’s economy by creating a new ‘silicon valley’ there.But Georgia, itself invaded by the Kremlin’s forces in 2008, has a tense relationship with Russia. Georgia’s a hospitable country – but the new arrivals are not universally welcome. Georgians worry that the exiles – often wealthier than local people – will force them out of the property market. And they fear the Russian influx may include spies and provocateurs who might provide Putin with a pretext to intervene there again. The new exiles may sympathise with Ukraine – but do they understand Georgia’s long struggle with Russia?Reporter: Tim Whewell Produced by Tim Whewell and Rayhan Dmytrie. (Image: Russian exile, Katya Lapsha Credit: Lago Gogilashvili /BBC)

Just before Christmas, 2021, Joel Vilard was driving his cousin home on a dual carriageway just south of Rennes in Brittany. Suddenly, a bullet flew through the window and hit the pensioner in the neck. He later died in hospital of injuries accidentally inflicted by a hunter firing a rifle from a few hundred metres away. A year earlier Morgan Keane, was shot dead in his garden, while out chopping wood. The hunter says that he mistook the 25 year old man for a wild boar. Mila Sanchez was so shocked by her friend Morgan’s death that she collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to change the hunting laws. She gave evidence to the French Senate and put the topic on the political agenda. The Green Party is now calling for a ban on hunting on Sundays and Wednesdays. But the Federation National des Chasseurs, which licenses the 1.3 million active hunters across France, is fighting back. It argues hunting is a vital part of rural life and brings the community together. Its members were delighted when President Macron recently halved the cost of annual hunting permits. Yet public opinion, concerned about safety and animal rights, is hardening against hunting and the battle for la France Profonde is on. On the eve of presidential elections, Lucy Ash looks at a country riven with divisions and asks if new laws are needed to ensure ramblers, families, residents and hunters can share the countryside in harmony.Presenter, Lucy Ash. Producer, Phoebe Keane. Editor, Bridget Harney