Crossing Continents

Tim Mansel spends a week with Rwanda's national cycling team to see how one of the world's most physically challenging sports is helping Rwandans confront their traumatic past

The Aeropuerto Don Quijote in central Spain is brand new with one of the longest runways in Europe. But it's closed. What can it tell us about Spain and the economic crisis?

China's main microblogging site, Sina Weibo, has more than 300 million users. Shanghai-based journalist Duncan Hewitt finds out how the service is changing China.

Following the route taken by illegal migrants who are risking their lives to reach the Europe Union, which - despite all its troubles - they still see as the Promised Land.

China's natural aging process has been accelerated by the One Child Policy. Mukul Devichand asks whether Shanghai's aging population could be undermining economic growth.

Vladimir Putin's political survival depends on increasing oil and gas extraction in Russia's Yamal region but the area also boasts the world's biggest reindeer herding community. Lucy Ash visits Russia's Arctic where reindeer herders and gas companies compete for land.

Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. Linda Pressly profiles the People's Funeral Service - a unique organisation offering succour in a sea of violence.

In Bangladesh, 20% of girls are married before their 15th birthday. Angus Crawford joins campaigners trying to persuade rural villagers not to marry off their daughters so young.

Nigeria, the giant of West Africa, has the largest population of any African country. It's a country that could - perhaps, should - be a significant player on the world stage. But Nigeria's communities are torn apart by communal and religious violence and in recent years a new, radical Islamist group, Boko Haram, has emerged to challenge the power of the state across the north of the country. BBC Correspondent Mark Doyle asks whether Nigeria will grow into a confident democracy or whether it will collapse into a state of semi-permanent violence.

All Turkish men have to complete a period of military service, unless they are sick, disabled or homosexual. But for gay men, applying for exemption is a humiliating process.

The conflict in Syria is transfixing the Middle East, but it is transforming it too. Barbara Plett, the BBC's UN Correspondent, returns to her old patch in the Middle East to examine how the future of Syria could also shape the future of the region. She charts the influence of neighbouring states over the conflict in Syria, with the Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia and newly assertive Qatar supporting the rebels. Meanwhile Iran and its allied Lebanese force, Hezbollah, are firmly behind the Syrian regime - and there's likely to be an increasing role for the new Arab democracies.

Natalia Anteleva uncovers evidence that women in Uzbekistan are being sterilised by the government, often without their knowledge.

Tim Franks looks at the case of two prison inmates who have been held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for 40 years - believed to be the longest period of time in US history.

On the First Nations reserves of Canada, addiction to prescription pain-killers is rife. Linda Pressly investigates the devastating impact of such widespread abuse.

The inside story of the Euro crisis. Allan Little examines the key decisions which brought the EU to the current crisis, focussing on the last 18 months. Countries like Greece and Italy have had both prime ministers and austerity measures imposed upon them by an executive in Brussels that voters did not directly elect. Other member states like Finland are seeing the rise of nationalist movements which are resisting increased control from Brussels. Some even believe that this crisis was engineered as a means of deepening the grip of the European institutions. Opinion polls in Turkey show the lowest support for EU membership ever. Even Germany - one of Europe's greatest advocates and beneficiaries - is expanding its exports to non-traditional markets like China. What will the EU look like in 10 years time?