Listen to Dispatches on CBC Radio One Vancouver 690 in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Dispatches December 3 2009 Cairo, Washington, Mongolia Gobi Desert, New Yor

Thu, Dec 3 Listen

The fossil thieves of the Gobi Desert. Who's poaching pre-history and stealing Mongolia's past? A Canadian's account of running with NATO's drug-dealing allies in Afghanistan, where the bad guys are also the good guys. A quest for relevance in the land of the Pharoahs. Why some Egyptians prefer the past to the present. And, an interview with the Pulitzer prize-winning author of "The Good Soldiers" of Iraq, an American memoir of the war that went sideways.

Dispatches November 26 2009 Sao Paulo, Naples, Johannesburg, Mumbai, NewYor

Thu, Nov 26 Listen

Latin American goes shopping for firepower. Since nobody expects it to actually fire the new guns, what are they for exactly? A look inside "the land of the fires." How toxic muck and the Mob are poisoning one of the most fertile regions of Italy. Africa is mad as hell and it's not going to take in the UN climate change conference if something isn't done about carbon emissions. And, why Mary Colaso can't go home. Mobility is changing tradition for the elderly of India

Dispatches November 19 2009 Washington, London, Washington, Peja Kosovo, Mu

Thu, Nov 19 Listen

Elections coming. Americans leaving. Tensions rising. A view from the barricades in Iraq. And from the land behind God's back, meet the "Burnesh" of the Balkans. Women who lead their lives as men. A year since the Mumbai attacks, some wounds have healed but life for one survivor has never been the same. Then, how Israel's military culture helps make it the start-up-company capital of the world And, India's tired of losing. We'll hear its plan for dominating the world in international sport

Dispatches November 12 2009 Prague, Milan, Denver.

Thu, Nov 12 Listen

Revisiting The Velvet Revolution when the streets of Prague rang with dissent 20 years ago. Plus Communism`s lingering legacy in the Czech Republic. American health care: it's the only developed country that hasn't accepted it as a human right. An Italian court humiliates the U.S. rendition policy by convicting 23 Americans for kidnapping.

Dispatches November 5 2009 Leipzig Germany, Budapest Hungary, Berlin, Londo

Thu, Nov 5 Listen

Twenty years since the fall of the Wall; Germany's revolution then and now. From the demonstrations in Leipzig to the present-day classrooms of Berlin, we'll look at some successes and ironic failures. And, what of Eastern Europe's other revolutions of the time? "A promise not fulfilled" says a correspondent who was there. We'll look at why they may not have realised their potential. And Inside the vaults of The British Spy Service.

Dispatches October 29 2009 Shanghai, Mexico City, Kep Cambodia, NewYork,

Thu, Oct 29 Listen

This Week China wants more folks drinking from the double-happiness cup because world's most populous nation needs more people. Kicked out of the factories and sent back to their farms; the crackdown on illegal workers is hurting America and illegals alike. Speakers in the trees; how Canada's contributed to creating town criers in rural Cambodia. "The Teeth May Smile But The heart Does Not Forget:" a new book revisits the crimes of Idi Amin that Ugandans had agreed to ignore.

Dispatches October 22 2009 Toronto/Kandahar, Monrovia Liberia, Berlin, Molo

Thu, Oct 22 Listen

The CBC's Afghanistan correspondent on covering the conflict, the dangers of a runoff election, and the soldiers of Generation Facebook. The country that became interesting for all the wrong reasons. How Iceland went from Cool, to the cleaners. So you think you know hula "Pops" Pilippo, he knows hula. And he teaches how to dance it with integrity And; soldiers spread the virus that causes AIDS. So why won't the U.N. test its peacekeepers? We look at the polemic and military policy.

Dispatches October 15, 2009 San Juan Batista, California, Kabul Afghanistan

Thu, Oct 15 Listen

California farmers find its short term gain for long term pain growing salad greens. Can anthropology help win the war in Afghanistan? The U.S. Army thinks so. Hear the sound of The Last Rango Master. How a forbidden instrument is finding a new global following. Reflections on Haiti's holistic economy. And, the plague of hairy, snarling crooks in Cape Town. It's like they're not even... human.

Dispatches October 8 2009 NewYork, Bonagobugu, Mali, Changmai, Thailand

Thu, Oct 8 Listen

The Torture Report, How classified U.S. documents about torture and rendition are being pieced together on the Web. Roosters, replenishment and repentance; how radio is bringing better farming to northwest Africa. J. Paul Getty once said "The meek shall inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights." But a new book says oil rights cause a lot of wrongs. The story of Krong and the Elephant Lords. The black business that's pushed elephants out of the jungle and into the streets of Thailand.

Dispatches, October 1, 2009 Kandahar, Toronto, Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina,

Thu, Oct 1 Listen

some Afghans are being offered a fast-track into Canada. So why are some of them sceptical. Crisis in Fair Trade coffee; the worker-Priest who helped create the industry disses corporate bigshots and its own bad management. An interview with the correspondent who puts the horror back into war reporting from "the country of broken shapes." From Bosnia, the story of a school where ethnic factions get together in peace. Ladies Hour in Syria's ancient Bath of Roses, where they dip like the Romans

Dispatches, September 24, 2009 Salaya India, Kabul, NewYork, Toronto, Dogon

Thu, Sep 24 Listen

The new prisoners of piracy on the Indian Ocean. Why crews of small ships have become targets. The Canadian in charge of the count in Afghanistan's election. Tracy Kidder with a story of triumph over memory in Burundi. The Ramadan Blogs; two American-raised Muslims get their eyes opened when they venture into a different mosque every day for a month. And from a high plateau in Mali, the story of a trio of Canadians bring healing hands to people who've never seen medical care.

Dispatches September 17 2009 Kabul, Paris, Beruit Lebanon, NewYork, Bario B

Thu, Sep 17 Listen

This week: In Kabul, people are jumpy and guns are getting pricey. What does the Afghan street know that we don't? China's economic safari in Africa. The author of a new book documents Beijing's colossal ambitions on the continent. From Borneo, the "wild dreams" of the Kelabit people, struggling to survive like the rainforest. And from the Can't-Win-for-Losing Department; musicians in Lebanon win acclaim for singing in Arabic. Then lose it. For singing in Arabic. This is Dispatches

Dispatches, September 10, 2009 De Rochas Uruguay, New Delhi, New York, Tegu

Thu, Sep 10 Listen

the country where every schoolkid gets a laptop. You knew it would happen someday. You may be surprised as to where. How India lost a satellite but gained a land claim. On the moon. Obama's Afghan problem growing at Ground Zero. Roland Jarvis and human heads in the trees. How methamphetamine got a hold on the American heartland. And from Brunei, the gummy paste with the yummy taste. If you can get past the look of it. The tree that's making a snack comeback.

Dispatches September 3, 2009 from Isidoro, El Slavador; South Africa; Glod,

Thu, Sep 3 Listen

A Canadian mining company bets the farm on a gold play in El Salvador; but it didn't bet on he farmers' opposition. The South African play, and the actor who dares give voice to an unspeakable horror. Borat was only a movie, but to Romanians, it's a public humiliation they want to avenge. And, Israel at war. Some students prefer jail to fighting for their country. Others may have fought too hard.

Dispatches August 27, 2009 from New Orleans, Kigali, Washington D.C., Totne

Thu, Aug 27 Listen

The unsolved killings of Hurricane Katrina. Did white vigilantes get away with murdering blacks in New Orleans? The Rwandan festival that calls expats back to dance and remember. The end of oil is closer than we thought. An industry expert tells us we're in for forty years of bad road. And we'll visit the oil-free alternative called Transition Town, a community of high-energy people experimenting with a low-energy lifestyle in England.

Dispatches August 20, 2009 -- Caracas, New York, the Amazon, Sharjah (Unite

Thu, Aug 20 Listen

A revolutionary reading program in Venezuela. But for the people or the President? The Lost City of Z, and the obsessed explorer who vanished while searching the Amazon for it. Why Africa should reject foreign aid, embrace dictatorship and cosy up to China. A controversial prescription from economist Dambisa Moyo. And, snake charmers, dervishes and other disappearing figures, rediscovered in the middle East.

Dispatches, August 13, 2009 -- Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou, Berlin/South Africa

Thu, Aug 13 Listen

For gay women in Malaysia, new intolerance and a state they call "Taliban Lite". We'll hear from their world of risk and reprisal. China's "Chocolate City." It's the place Africans go for a bite at the world's biggest economy, only to find it sometimes bites back. Why there're no second acts in the lives of Haitian deportees. The fate of convict expats deported from Canada. And, emotional reconstruction in South Africa. meet the poet bent on unpacking the legacy of apartheid.

Dispatches, August 6, 2009 -- Gori (Georgia), Harlem (New York), Rome, Berl

Thu, Aug 6 Listen

Mummy goes to war. A reporter's memoir of her first contact with conflict, in Georgia. Baby college and the poverty trap: an experiment in education in New York City. Plus: who loses 50 nuclear weapons? An investigation into nukes gone AWOL during the Cold War. And: meet the mender of lost hearts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Finally: bottling the formula for greed. Who knew it smelled like perfume?

Dispatches, July 30, 2009 -- Nairobi, London, Myanmar, Tzaneen (South Afric

Thu, Jul 30 Listen

Mandela's thwarted legacy: why some South African blacks don't want the farmland he fought so long to get them. Learning Sheng in Kenya: the unofficial language of the streets makes its way to academia. A Quebec cartoonist relects on the frustrations of living under dictatorship in Burma, And the genteel decline of the British graveyard as it sinks into pleasant decay.

Dispatches, July 23, 2009 -- Aswan, Toronto, Rome, Zadar

Thu, Jul 23 Listen

The Nubians of Egypt, scattered like pearls for the sake of a dam. Around the globe on a bike: writer Dervla Murphy sees the world from two wheels. Punking North Korea: A filmmaker sets out to reveal the dark heart of a dictatorship and winds up part of it. How new immigrants are received in Italy, as chronicled in "Clash of civilizations over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio". And the story of the sea organ of Zadar, unique urban architecture that makes music from wind and waves.

Dispatches - July 16, 2009 - Manila, London, Modena (Italy), Tehran, Makeni

Thu, Jul 16 Listen

Meet a mother in the Philippines who had 21 children in 26 years. Whether there will be more families like hers depends on a confrontation between contraception and the Catholic Church. Plus: the looming crisis of human waste - it's causing the deaths of millions. And, a financial institution in Italy avoids bad paper by taking in good parmesan. From Iran...would it surprise you to know the clerics there encourage sex-change operations? And we'll visit the seeing-eye kids of Sierra Leone.

Dispatches - July 9, 2009 - New York, Puerto Lopez (Ecuador), Rome, Jordan,

Thu, Jul 9 Listen

We hear about Luis Jiminez, a victim of the growing American practice of "patient dumping" - deporting seriously ill patients who can't pay their hospital bills. And a debate rising from the middle Eastern dirt about the truth of one of the world's oldest dispatches - the Bible. We visit the accidental shark fishery of Ecuador. And opera without all that singing: Italy takes a cultural touchstone up a notch to try and keep up with the times. Also,the record-setting record setters in Malaysia.

Dispatches, July 2, 2009 -- Washington, Phnom Penh, Beijing, New Delhi, Zim

Thu, Jul 2 Listen

American self-hate: author Dick Meyer on American discontent in the new millenium. A look inside the Butterfly Mind of CBC veteran Patrick Brown: insights from a career covering the world while nearly destroying his life in the process. Make-believe in food in Zimbabwe - a sure sign the country's in trouble. A musical renaissance in Cambodia, and the backstory to the Mekong Delta blues. Plus, plastic as a way out of poverty and into fashion, in India.

Dispatches - June 22, 2009 - Rio de Janeiro, Port-au-Prince, Sana'a (Yemen)

Mon, Jun 22 Listen

This week: Brain drain in Haiti - how Western countries are picking off the country's best and brightest, and why Canada may be contributing to that country's poverty; a 10-year-old girl in Yemen whose divorce case is challenging the culture of child brides there; and the group that swapped guns for guitars in the Sahara.

Dispatches, June 15, 2009 -- Rio de Janeiro, Goma (Congo), Washington, New

Mon, Jun 15 Listen

Unofficial help in an unofficial war - medical help comes to the badlands of Rio de Janeiro. The unsettling experience of shaking hands with a warlord in Congo. A report from a campfile jail in the Australian outback where nature is the jailer. A nuclear family vacation, or travel through the history of atomic weaponry. And why is the Philippines exporting nurses when it needs them itself?

Dispatches, June 8, 2009 -- Kandahar, Ghotki (Pakistan), London, Jakarta, T

Mon, Jun 8 Listen

The quiet Canadians - our new correspondent in kandahar on why Cnadian soldiers won't talk the walk. In Pakistan, suspicion about the genetically modified seeds that bring wealth to some and ruin to others. Trouble in paradise - how Jamaica's turbulent history shapes its troubled future. Marjinal rock meets marginal kids in Jakarta. And conflict poems, from troubled countries that have become a Canadian poet's muse.

Dispatches, June 1, 2009 - Washington, Kabul, New York, Budapest

Mon, Jun 1 Listen

Tales from the journalist who went behind Taliban lines inside Pakistan. Taking Afghanistan's measure - a progress report as the troubled country heads into a summer election. Revisiting fascist paramilitaries, intimidation marches and the angel commandos battling on Hungary's radical right. And the Age of Aquarius is back in New York. If you can remember it, you probably had "Hair".

Dispatches, May 25, 2009 - Chiang Mai (Thailand), Beirut, Tripoli, Ottawa,

Mon, May 25 Listen

The black business that's pushing Thailand's elephants out of the jungle and into the streets. Lebanon votes, the Middle East tenses. Will the vote be pro-western, or a breakthrough for Hezbollah? What if you could raise billions to fight poverty, and hardly anybody would miss it? And a story of Muslim makeover - how fashionistas are changing traditional Islamic dress.

Dispatches May 18, 2009 from Bangalore, Kalahare Desert, Northern China, We

Mon, May 18 Listen

China vsersus the churches. Christianity offends the Communist Party and the churches strike back. How to exploit Africa in just a few easy steps. A Canadian journalist exposes the simple rules of a cynical game. The untouched ballots in the world's largest democracy. Why so many Indians don't dare vote. And, revisiting the Bushmen of the Kalahari, just declared perhaps the oldest population in the world. But will they survive their own government?

Dispatches, May 11, 2009 -- Cambodia, Toronto, Washington, London, Nairobi

Mon, May 11 Listen

Pop a pill, get high, kill a tree. The drug trade is damaging the forests of southeast Asia. Punking North Korea. How a filmmaker sets out to reveal the darkheart of dictatorship and winds up a part of it. Kenya's women declare a sex strike over political unhappiness. The genteel decline of the British graveyard as it sinks into pleasant decay, And the big lie that crushed a small people. How the British and the Americans conspired to drive the local population from Diego Garcia

Dispatches (Documentary)