The French authorities acknowledge their intervention in Mali has made them terrorist target number one. In recent weeks, the country has raised its threat level - with high visibility police patrols at tourist destinations and government buildings - and a number of people suspected of planning to join Islamic extremists in Mali have been arrested.Jenny Cuffe examines concerns in France both about the rise of Islamist extremism and the tough action the authorities are taking in response. Last October, police uncovered bomb making equipment following a grenade attack on a Jewish butchers in Paris. Eight months earlier, extremist Mohamed Merah killed three soldiers and a rabbi and three children outside a Jewish school in Toulouse. Meanwhile more than 100 imams deemed to be dangerous have been deported in the last ten years and several more are currently under threat of being expelled.The programme also examines the threat to the UK. Jihadist groups in North Africa have warned that they will target supporters of the French action in Mali. The British Government is currently seeking to deport a number of Algerian terror suspects and authorities are also investigating reports that a British man has been arrested trying to make his way to join jihadists fighting in Mali.Presenter: Jenny Cuffe
Producer: Paul Grant.
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File on 4 Investigates Folgen
News-making original journalism documentary series, investigating stories at home and abroad.
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505 Folgen
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Folge vom 12.03.2013Mali: Europe's Terror Threat
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Folge vom 26.02.2013Britain in FloodHas the Government done enough to protect communities from flooding? Were cuts in river maintenance work responsible for farmers land in Somerset being underwater for months? Why are planners allowing developers to continue to build on floodplains? A committee of MPs accuses the Coalition of being woefully slow to bring in measures to combat the problem. Allan Urry investigates. Producer Nicola Dowling.
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Folge vom 19.02.2013Britain's Plutonium MountainThe Government is currently deciding what to do with the UK's civilian plutonium stockpile - the largest in the world. Some are concerned that it could become the target of terrorists intent on making a dirty bomb.The stockpile has come from nuclear waste that was reprocessed to extract plutonium which was to have been used to power a new generation of fast breeder reactors. But that project failed to be finished and now just over 100 tonnes of it is being stored at Sellafield in Cumbria. The stockpile grew even more when the UK received imports from Japan and Germany which it had hoped to convert into fuel - again this project has failed to deliver.The Government is considering a number of options.Convert the plutonium into mixed oxide (Mox) fuel and then burn the fuel in conventional, nuclear reactors. This would involve the construction of a second Mox fuel plant at Sellafield despite the fact the first plant failed to produce any significant amount of Mox and was closed in 2011.Burn the plutonium in a new breed of Prism fast reactors. But critics say the technology is not proven and therefore risky.Treat it as a deadly waste product and bury the plutonium currently stored at Sellafield deep underground for thousands of years. Again critics say burying waste is risky and even then the plutonium would have to be treated before it could go into the facility. Supporters of plutonium as fuel still claim that would be throwing away a potentially valuable asset. On top of that we are not likely to have a repository for decades and very few local authorities have volunteered to consider having it in their back yard.Rob Broomby investigates the difficult questions facing the Government whose decision will potentially bring in a bill for the taxpayer of billions of pounds. And how much of gamble will it be choosing what to do with this most deadly of substances?Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.
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Folge vom 12.02.2013The Bill for Brussels21 years after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, Britain is trying to cut the cost of the European Union.As the institution comes of age, Gerry Northam asks whether the EU's spending on itself has become excessive and - if so - whether member states do anything about it.In Brussels, hundreds of millions of pounds have been found for projects described by Eurosceptics as "self-aggrandisement". An art deco showpiece is being transformed into a new headquarters for the European Council at a cost of around 300 million Euros (£250m). A further 55 million Euros (£46m) is going to create a House of European History - a museum celebrating European integration. A new 20 million Euros (£17m) visitors' centre at the European Parliament, called the Parlamentarium, has been dismissed as a multimedia tribute to itself.Meanwhile alarm has been raised that money the United Kingdom designates as aid for developing countries is being diverted by Europe to encourage Turkey, Serbia and others to join the Union. MPs claim this money directly disadvantages Britain.Critics say Europe's expansion comes with an unnecessarily large price tag. Are they right?Reporter: Gerry Northam Producer: Chris Doidge.