The Documentary Podcast Folgen

The Olympic Games now look certain to go ahead in Japan in July. However, some people in the country are against holding the event, as it tackles a fourth wave of coronavirus cases, low vaccination and the extension of a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas. Two doctors in Tokyo share their observations, experiences and concerns. As some countries, including Japan, struggle to vaccinate older members of their populations, host Nuala McGovern also hears from two 12-year-olds in Canada and the United States. They were among the first children in the world to receive a Covid vaccine.

Syrian born reporter Lina Sinjab presents a special series from Assignment’s award winning archive on the 10 years of civil war in her country.This week an extraordinary story from 2016, reported by Mike Thomson, about a secret library stored in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Darayya. The library was home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily braved snipers and shells to fill its shelves. In the town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson revealed how this literary sanctuary proved a lifeline to a community shattered by war. And now, 10 years on, Mike brings Lina up to date on the fate of some of those volunteers. Produced by Michael Gallagher and additional research and translation by Mariam El Khalaf.(Image: 14 year-old Chief Librarian Amjad in the Secret Library, Credit: Daraya Council Media Team)

Globalisation is about open trade, open doors and open borders. It is the way that Asia has grown its economy for the better part of the last half century. But the pandemic and tensions between the US and China have seen globalisation go into reverse - with many now saying it hasn’t benefited everyone. One of the biggest beneficiaries of globalisation has been Singapore. But the city-state is now an increasingly lonely voice calling for economies to stay open. It is being forced to reinvent itself and find new ways to grow its trade dependent and global economy. What lessons does Singapore have for the rest of us? Join Karishma Vaswani as she explores that question and many others in a wide-ranging interview with Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong