Main content

Facts on the Ground

Stories from inside a Chinese 'thought reform' camp; the crumbling buildings of Marseille; Army vs Boko Haram in NE Nigeria; and how Indian workers are making new lives in Goa

John Sudworth has repeatedly tried to gain access to China's 're-education' facilities in Xinjiang, where up to a million people from the minority Kazakh and Uighur ethnic groups, who're mostly Muslim, are being held. The government in Beijing insists they're not prisons but centres for combating extremist thought. Finally allowed inside, what would a 麻豆社 team find?

Pascale Harter introduces this and other stories from reporters and authors around the world.

When an unsafe building collapsed in Marseille last year, the deaths amid the rubble didn't just shake the neighbourhood, but also the whole city's faith in its housing regime - and in some of its local luminaries. Lucy Ash digs into the details of how and why so much accommodation is in such a poor state - and who's been raking in the profits.

Nigeria's government likes to claim that its Army has beaten the Boko Haram jihadist group and snuffed out a regional insurgency in the Northeast. But recent attacks there, and the sense of high alert he felt recently in the town of Monguno, gave Colin Freeman the impression that this war is by no means over yet.

And while many tourists, both Indian and foreign, like to get away from it all on the beaches of Goa, author Sonia Faleiro points out that it's not just an escapist paradise for holidaymakers. Many of the workers staffing its hotels, bars and restaurants are breaking away too - from the restrictions and traditions of village life, to build themselves brighter and more global futures.

Photo: scenes from inside a 'thought reform' camp in Xinjiang, western China (c) 麻豆社 News

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sun 23 Jun 2019 16:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 22 Jun 2019 21:06GMT
  • Sun 23 Jun 2019 03:06GMT
  • Sun 23 Jun 2019 08:06GMT
  • Sun 23 Jun 2019 16:06GMT