Crossing Continents

Farhana Haider investigates the prosecution of alleged war criminals and asks if the trials are being used to target the opposition.There were numerous reports of atrocities during the brutal war of 1971 between Pakistan on one side and the new state which was to become Bangladesh, which had support from India. The Pakistani Army and Islamic sympathisers in Bangladesh were accused of rape and of mass killings which some have described as genocide. In 2010 the governing Awami League set up war crimes trials which have started to hand down convictions this year, attracting strong public support. However, many international observers have criticised the conduct of the trials as less than free and fair. And supporters of the largest Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami have reacted furiously to the conviction of several of their leaders, saying the process is politically motivated.Farhana Haider asks whether the legal process will really enable Bangladesh to come to terms with its bloody beginnings.Producer: John Murphy.

On 1 January 2014 Indonesia will launch the largest public health insurance scheme in the world. It will unite a bewildering array of current schemes to cover the entire population, with the poor getting their health care free. Former BBC Jakarta Correspondent Claire Bolderson asks whether the world's fourth most populous country has the resources and organisational skills to make such an ambitious scheme work? Producer: Mike Gallagher.

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 younger wine producers, many of whom bought out former state enterprises, fear their investment may have been a mistake. Workers are concerned they may lose their jobs with little chance of alternative employment in the poorest country in Europe.For Moldova this is symbolic of a bigger problem - it wants to join the EU party and become part of Europe but its economy remains heavily dependent on Russia for gas and cash. Meanwhile the 14th Russian army is based just miles from their capital in the disputed territory of Transnistria.Moldova faces difficult choicesProducer: Jane Beresford.

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 anything profitably, and have left a legacy of massive red tape. The housing sector has been hit particularly hard with years of under-investment. Ed meets one retired couple unable to reclaim a rented apartment in their own property, who now are forced to live in their own garage.

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 openly for political rights and that they must find happiness in the personal sphere. Mobeen discovers that while urban Pakistanis may easily be able to find sex, being in a relationship is far more difficult. Reporter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Helena Merriman.

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.