麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces stories from Thailand, Senegal, Germany and the United States.

Once Thailand was riven by the rivalry between the "red shirts" - supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - and the royalist, pro-military, "yellow shirts". But in 2024 the political landscape has changed: Shinawatra's party is now in power and its rival Move Forward the target for legal action. Still, says Jonathan Head, recent events in Bangkok show one constant: the enduring power of the constitutional court to limit elected governments.

The Great Green Wall - a giant belt of newly-planted trees spanning the African continent, from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east - was one of the most ambitious plans of the century. It hoped to reforest a vast swathe of land, provide millions of jobs and save thousands of communities from desertification. But is it working? Nick Hunt met the people trying to nurture fragile hope - and thousands of seedlings - for the project, in the village of Linguere.

During the 1970s, the Baader Meinhof gang terrorised what was then West Germany, with a string of bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and armed robberies. Its members called themselves the Red Army Faction and said they were fighting for freedom - while police tried to track them down, without success. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the group went to ground, and lived in hiding for years on end. Tim Mansel went on the trail of two people allegedly involved.

And in Washington DC, one correspondent looks beyond the opinion polls to another indicator of public enthusiasm in the American presidential contest: election-themed memorabilia. From baseball caps to bobble-head dolls - not to mention the lurid political T-shirts - how much do the collectibles on sale mirror the people's passions?

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Production Co-ordination: Katie Morrison

(Image: Thailand Prime Minister-elect Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her father, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, at a royal endorsement ceremony in Bangkok. Credit: REUTERS/Panumas Sanguanwong)