Crossing Continents

Corruption in Syria is commonplace. You can see it almost everywhere you go: from a small tip for a government worker to process paperwork, to customs officials requiring payments to allow goods into the country. The single-party government says it's stamping out corruption and that it's determined not to let it stand in the way of the country's economic development. But with economic reforms opening Syria up to foreign investment, it's claimed corruption is getting worse. And those who raise the issue in public can find themselves thrown in jail. The BBC's Damascus correspondent Lina Sinjab investigates the impact of corruption and bribery in the country, and looks at whether Syria's drive to modernise is being hampered by the millions of dollars lost in graft.Producer: Duncan Crawford.

It is called "Laamb" or "La Lutte Sénégalaise". Originating in the countryside as a test of strength for farmers and fishermen, Senegalese wresting moved to the city with the migrants. It took on punching to become "La Lutte avec frappe". It involves special charms, singers, drummers and excited crowds, with the champions now earning huge amounts of money. In Crossing Continents David Goldblatt examines how wrestling has become Senegal's most popular sport, deposing even football. Producer: John Murphy.

Bahrain projects itself towards the world as an Arab state that is open to investment, progressive about change and moving confidently toward democracy. But there is another Bahrain where dissent is suppressed and critics jailed. It is a country where allegations are rife that political prisoners are routinely tortured. Bill Law investigates both sides of the Bahrain story and asks what lies behind the apparently heavy-handed repression of those who criticize the ruling al Khalifa family Producer: Caroline Pare.

Rosie Goldsmith profiles Nichi Vendola, the governor of Puglia and the hope for the Italian left. Can this gay, Catholic poet and environmentalist challenge Silvio Berlusconi? Producer: Helen Grady.

The Christmas tree industry is worth almost a billion pounds a year in Europe alone. Most of the ones around us now, covered in baubles and tinsel didn't start life in the UK or even Scandinavia, but in one small village, in the mountains of Georgia close to the border with Russia. Angus Crawford travels to the small town of Ambrolauri in the shadow of the Caucasus mountains. There men risk their lives climbing the big firs to harvest the seeds of Abies Nordmanniana, the Nordman pine. More than forty million are sold in Europe every year. The harvesters are paid little and many are given no safety equipment. If they fall they may be injured or killed. The pine cones they gather are sold abroad and it's foreign companies that make profits from growing and selling the crop. Meanwhile Georgia's villages are dying. Families can't make enough money from farming and move away. Most of those who remain have to live on less than three pounds a day. But things are changing. One Danish firm is working with local people to put more of the profits from the business back into their hands. They pay their workers above the market rate, process the seed locally and for every tree sold abroad money is sent back for development projects. There's talk of starting nurseries near Ambrolauri to feed growing markets in Eastern Europe and bring more foreign capital into the country. Money that Georgia desperately needs. Its economy is still only 60% of what it was in Soviet times, and it now imports eighty per cent of its food. The rusting hulks of abandoned factories litter the countryside. But now some Georgians are asking if the pine cone trade can provide a model of how to breathe new life into their country's crumbling economy.

Russia's police are out of control. They are often referred to as "werewolves in epaulettes" because so many officers prey on the public rather than protect them. Even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin complains about the lawlessness of the country's law enforcers. He once said upstanding citizens cross to the other side of the street as soon as they see a man in uniform. The crimes police commit range from bribe taking to kidnapping, drug trafficking, torture and murder. This brutality is accompanied by corruption. Illegal raids of businesses by police are commonplace as well as the subsequent jailing of their owners on false charges. Victims of police abuse are often helpless in a system of cover-ups long established in the law enforcement forces. Earlier this year, a group of six young men in Primorye, the remote Maritime region of Russia's Far East, decided to fight back. They declared a guerrilla war against the police with the sole purpose of killing as many cops as they could. Their attacks have included shooting of traffic policemen on roads, raiding a village police station and stabbing to death the officer on duty. Bare-chested and brandishing pistols, the 'Primorsky Partisans' posted videos on the internet to explain the motives behind their actions. This summer the gang's exploits gripped the Russian public's imagination. Many people in the Far East and beyond supported them: a poll on Ekho Moskvy radio indicated that 60-75 percent of listeners sympathised with the "young Robin Hoods" and would offer them help. In June the authorities launched a manhunt with tanks and helicopters. Eventually two members of the group died in a shoot-out with police while the rest were captured and are now behind bars awaiting trial. The local government of the Maritime Region is jittery about the case and is reluctant to comment. Local police and the prosecutor's office dismiss them as gangsters. Lucy Ash visits Kirovskiy, the home village of the young men, to investigate what drove the men to act in such an extreme way. Producer: Ibrat Jumaboyev.

Millions of people die on our roads each year. Hundreds of children are killed as they try to get to school each day. Road deaths threaten to overtake malaria and HIV in how many lives they take around the world, particularly in poorer countries. Sheena McDonald visits some of the world's most dangerous roads in Kenya and Costa Rica to find out why the death toll in developing countries is rising, when the solutions to road accidents are so simple. Kenya's poor record improves and then falls again as new transport ministers come and go; while Costa Rica struggles to implement the road safety plan it so confidently launched over 5 years ago. When there's not much money, should reducing road deaths be a priority? The Millennium Development Goals push countries to work hard to improve the mortality rates for children under 5, but there are no goals to stop those same children being knocked down when they start school. Sheena McDonald, who was nearly killed by a speeding police car just over 10 years ago, visits accident blackspots, meets victims and people campaigning for better road safety and challenges those in power who don't believe it's important enough. Producer: Kirsten Lass.

This year's Commonwealth Games will be held in October in the Indian capital Delhi, the largest sporting event ever to be held there. No expense is being spared to build the appropriate facilities and infrastructure. But many are questioning whether spending billions of dollars hosting a two-week sporting event is the best use of resources in a city where poverty is entrenched. As the budget for the games spirals, the organisers are being accused of hiding the true cost, and of diverting funds intended for the very poorest. They're also accused of condoning the displacement of thousands of poor families and a blatant disregard of the rights of the workers building the stadiums. Rupa Jha asks who are the winners and who the losers in Delhi's attempt to turn itself into a "world-class" city. Producer: Tim Mansel.

Christopher Landau explores the explosive growth of christianity in China, with millions flocking to the official Protestant and Catholic churches. The country has the world's largest bible printing press while some factories are run on Christian principles. Why has the Communist state, which is formally atheist, endorsed this transition? There is official interest in the idea of a "Protestant work ethic" aiding the country's economy while some branches of government hope that the church's social services will help care for an ageing population. Producer: Caroline Finnigan.