Crossing Continents

One year on from the horrific attack in Delhi, Joanna Jolly hears from three women who've chosen to report a rape in a country that is at last waking up to the problem. The authorities have introduced tougher laws since the young student was raped on a bus last December but is the experience of women who choose to prosecute their attackers getting any better? Three women talk about their struggle: reporting rape to a not always sympathetic police, being examined in the government's often overcrowded hospitals and finally standing up in court. Joanna Jolly talks to the senior policewoman running the Delhi's Women and Children's Unit, a leading gynaecologist who has treated rape victims in the city and to those who've worked in the Indian legal system.Will the public outcry over the attack over a year ago make it easier for women to report rape and will their experience of India's overburdened courts be any better?Producer: Mark Savage.

Vladimir Hernandez follows the Mexican priests who believe they can fight the evil of drug trafficking through the ancient Catholic practice of exorcism.It is estimated that 60,000 people have died in Mexico in the "drug wars" linked to the narco-traffickers, who are among the most vicious criminals in the world. To some Catholic priests and believers, this is clear evidence that the Devil has taken hold among much of the population. They also point to the popularity of cults like that of "Santa Muerte", the saint of death, who is a figure of popular veneration among some of the narco-gangs. The priests are responding by practicing exorcisms, both in private and public, as they seek to expunge this evil. Vladimir watches dramatic individual and mass exorcisms, hears from those who have been through the rite and talks to critics and supporters of the practice.Producers: Keith Morris and Mark Savage.

Wine making in Moldova is a source of national pride - they have been growing vines for centuries. During Soviet times the country was encouraged to become one of the USSR's major wine suppliers and it has remained so ever since. But recently Russia banned the importation of Moldovan wine for the second time in a decade.Tessa Dunlop visits the prestigious Cricova winery - whose cellars have 120km of underground roads and holds bottles for the likes of Angela Merkel and President Putin - to see how the ban is affecting the poorest country in Europe. Moldova fears that a continuing embargo will devastate its fragile economy. The Moldovan president has condemned it as an aggressive move by Russia to bully Moldova into reconsidering its comittment to forging closer relations with the European Union. Many Moldovans believe Russia wants to make their country reconsider ratifying an agreement with the EU at the end of November.The result is that growers have vats maturing wine that may have no market. Enterprising y

Up to 20% of the world's gold is produced by informal mining, with millions of people in the developing world relying on it for a living. The quickest and easiest way for them to extract gold is by mixing finely ground rock with mercury, a highly toxic metal, and burning it off. Linda Pressly visits Indonesia, and finds gold workers and communities who are already showing signs of mercury poisoning. There are paddy fields with the highest concentration of mercury ever tested in rice. Experts tell her this is a slow-burn disaster, which could lead to irreversible harm to the health of people across the globe. Producers: Emil Petrie, Nina Robinson.

According to a recent study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 24 million Chinese men will be unable to find wives by 2020 because of the country's gender imbalance. Before the mass migration from the villages to the cities, young men could rely on their parents to find them a wife. Now many of those single women live in the cities, working in factories. They only see their parents during the spring festival so the chances of finding a wife are limited. It's a particular challenge for men with low income, who don't own their own apartment or who don't have a good job. In some parts of rural China there are several communities with so many single men they've been labelled 'bachelor villages' The trend has led to a growth in internet dating while at the high end, rich men join 'single entrepreneur' clubs that run competitions to find them that someone special. Lucy Ash reports from China on the ways in which both parents and the single men are attempting to make the perfect catch. Producer: Julie Ball.

Despite its massive natural oil wealth, Venezuela is a country sliding into recession, and has one of the highest inflation rates in the world. With prices of some products rising as much as 50% or more annually, the crisis presents a simple human predicament - how to lay your hands on the ever-dwindling supply of price-capped essentials that government shops pledge to provide. The trouble is that many of these basic goods like milk and toilet rolls, are disappearing from the supermarkets within a few minutes of getting there. Ed Butler explores how gossip and the black market have become a part of the answer for many ordinary citizens. He follows one consumer's quest for goods across the capital, and examines the rumours of smuggling and massive corruption, especially in the west near the border with Colombia. And he hears how the Socialist legacy of the former President Hugo Chavez still casts a big shadow over the nation. Businesspeople complain that his policies have made it almost impossible to produce a

Mobeen Azhar investigates gay life in urban Pakistan and despite the country's religious conservatism and homosexuality being a crime there, he finds a vibrant gay scene, all aided by social media. He meets gay people at underground parties, shrines and hotels and finds out what it's really like to be gay in Pakistan. As one man tells him, "The best thing about being gay in Pakistan is you can easily hook up with guys over here. You just need to know the right moves and with a click you can get any guy you want." At a gay party he meets an NGO worker who then takes him to one of Karachi's prime cruising locations - a shrine to a 9th Century Muslim saint. Mobeen meets a "masseur", who works on the street advertising his services. The masseur's real job is selling sexual services to men - with the full knowledge of his wife. And with great difficulty, Mobeen speaks to a lesbian couple, who conceal their relationship from their own parents. One of them argues that it is too soon for gay Pakistanis to fight openl

Change is in the air in Turkey following anti-government protests centred on a park in Istanbul - but where will it end? Emre Azizlerli of the BBC Turkish Service explores the strange new alliances forged in Turkey's anti-government protests, and asks if this diverse movement can hold together. He meets the anti-capitalist Islamists who have made common cause with environmentalists and secularists as well as gay and lesbian groups. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refers to the protesters as "piteous rodents". The government has reacted by clamping down and sending in the riot police. Can the very different groups which oppose Erdogan really make common cause?Producer: Mark Savage.

The Kazakh steppe was once home to the infamous Soviet forced labour camps which formed part of the Gulag. Today, the Gulag system is said to live on in Kazakhstan's jails where a growing prison population faces daily torture, humiliation and lawlessness. Despite its poor human rights record, many developed nations, including Britain, are rapidly strengthening relations with Kazakhstan. BBC Central Asia Correspondent Rayhan Demeytrie investigates why the Gulag violence persists and asks why the international community stays silent. Producer: Nina Robinson.

Since the fall of Ceaucescu's dictatorship, the Romanian Orthodox Church has flourished. It has built thousands of new churches across the country and is now constructing a huge new cathedral in the capital Bucharest. The Cathedral is right next to Ceaucescu's gargantuan "Palace of the People" and, when completed, is intended to be taller - a physical manifestation of the Church's power and influence. Much of the money for the construction of these new churches and the cathedral has come from state funds - national, regional and local - as well as donations from congregations. While the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC) argues that the churches are needed and wanted by most Romanians, there are those who feel that the ROC has too great an influence and is costing too much. Tessa Dunlop hears from believers, politicians, monks and an Archbishop, about how religious the country is, and whether or not the Church is too powerful and too rich.Producer: John Murphy.

Dr Kermit Gosnell had a reputation as the 'abortion doctor of last resort' along the East Coast of the United States - until his arrest in 2010. He regularly performed abortions well past the legal limit of 24 weeks with the help of untrained staff. At least two women died because of the treatment they received at his Philadelphia clinic. He has now been sentenced to three life sentences for the murder of three babies born alive. But authorities only acted against Gosnell when they suspected him of selling prescription medicines. Warnings about the dangers to women and children were ignored. The gruesome story has renewed the abortion debate across the United States. Neal Razzell travels to Philadelphia to find out what went wrong and how his case is being used to change public policy - in ways, some say, will make women less safe. This programme contains some extremely disturbing content. Produced by Smita Patel.

In Barcelona, a doctor offers reconstructive surgery to women who had female genital mutilation when they were children. Recorded over 6 months, Linda Pressly hears the stories of Rosa and Wenkune - Spanish women of African origin. FGM has caused them both a good deal of trauma. Will the operation change how they feel about themselves? What difference will it make to their intimate relationships? And what motivates Dr Barri Soldevila - a busy surgeon in a private hospital - to prioritise these procedures and offer them free of charge?Reporting FGMThe police are there to help if you have been a victim of Female Genital Mutilation or have any information about this crime taking place. They advise that you call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 11 or the NSPCC's FGM helpline on 0800 028 3550 to report this crime or for help, advice and support. Be reassured calls will be dealt with sensitively and you can remain anonymous.Foreign and Commonwealth Office Information from the FCO about female genital mutilation, and what

Writer Andrew Brown tries to find out if the rural heart of Sweden still lives on in the modern age. In an entertaining and unpredictable journey he goes in search of wolves, egg-tossing merrymakers and the ideal of the Swedish summer.

Brazil is getting ready to host the 2014 World Cup. But the preparations have become marred in controversy. And leading the charge against over-budget stadiums, vested interests and corruption is an unlikely figure: Romario. Brazil's World Cup-winning footballer has transformed himself into a serious, hard-working politician. Tim Franks meets him for Crossing Continents. Is this a genuine transformation for one of Brazil's most notorious celebrity bad-boys? Producer: Linda Pressly.

Two and a half years ago, oil started flowing from Ghana's first commercial offshore oilfield. Shortly after the taps were turned on, Rob Walker visited the hub for the new industry: the once sleepy port of Takoradi. He found a mixture of ambition and uncertainty in a rapidly expanding boomtown. Rob now returns to Takoradi to meet people he met last time and find out whether their dreams have been realised. Producer: Katharine Hodgson.

Mobeen Azhar travels to the Pakistani city of Quetta to investigate how it has become the scene of violent and indiscriminate attacks by Sunni militants against the local ethnic Hazara community. It's a city which has become effectively a no-go area for foreign journalists due to the persistent and intensifying violence. Mobeen tells the story of a single day in January of this year when over 100 people lost their lives in twin bombings in Quetta. Claiming responsibility was the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Mobeen retraces the story of the bombings, and examines the growing security concerns in a district dominated by the Shia Hazara community.He speaks to Fayyaz Mohammed, a candidate in the forthcoming elections who has links to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and talks with Paul Bhatti, who until recently was the Pakistani Minister of National Harmony. Bhatti blames the government's inability to enforce "effective policy" on Pakistan's long history of military dictatorship. Azhar meets blast survivors and the

Belarus has been described as the last dictatorship in Europe. Few dare speak out against President Alexander Lukashenko and his ruling elite. But the opposition has found a way of making its voice heard through an academic community which has taken refuge abroad. Lucy Ash visits the European Humanities University which teaches Belarusian students on its campus in neighbouring Lithuania. She talks to teachers and students, many of whom commute back and forth across the border. Is the EHU devoted to intellectual freedom and training future leaders of Belarus or is it a "trampoline for emigration" to the west?Producer: Tim Mansel.

Insecurity dominates the lives of millions of Mexicans, who are caught between the murderous drug cartels and absent or corrupt law enforcement. So, communities have begun to take the law into their own hands, and Crossing Continents reporter Linda Pressly travels to the southern state of Guerrero to meet a fledgling vigilante force which has grown into an organisation numbering thousands of members.Since coming into force earlier this year, dozens of arrests made by untrained, armed civilians hailing from local pueblos and the local community has largely been supportive of their work. But these community police organisations, as they are known, have no legal authority, and should not be carrying guns in the street - and amid claims that some are using violence to enforce the law, Crossing Continents asks who is keeping the vigilantes in check?Reporter: Linda Pressly

Twelve years ago Lucy Ash investigated Ukraine's fight against HIV infection, which was mainly caused by injecting drug users. After the Orange Revolution in late 2004, the government promised to do everything it could to fight the disease and the situation seemed to improve. But now Ukraine has the second highest infection rate in Europe, surpassed only by Russia. Around the world, other countries are managing to reduce rates of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths. Lucy Ash travels to Kyiv and Odessa to see why fighting HIV is so difficult in Ukraine. Producer: Julie Ball.

The fate of hundreds of people who went missing during Nepal's brutal civil war is threatening to undermine the country's fragile democracy. Around 100,000 people were displaced during the bloody insurgency and an estimated 17 thousand were killed. A peace agreement was signed six years ago in which both sides promised that war crimes would not go unpunished. But relatives are still waiting for justice. Joanna Jolly finds out why the scars from the conflict are still raw despite attempts by both sides to bury the past. Producer: Mark Savage.