The Documentary Podcast: Archive 2008

The United States has long been home to violent gangs, from the Mafia to the Bloods and Crips. But recently, US authorities have warned of the dangers of a transnational, ultra-violent gang with its origins in Central America. The FBI has now opened an office in El Salvador to deal with the threat of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. For Assignment, Maurice Walsh travelled to Washington DC's suburbs and San Salvador to take a look at MS-13, dubbed "The Most Dangerous Gang in America."

For Iraqi Kurds these are the best times they have ever known. But can the desire for full independence be contained? Michael Goldfarb goes to Kirkuk disputed heart of northern Iraq's oil industry and the future source of wealth.

Programme one: The Road From Tiananmen charts John Simpson's return to modern China 19 years after he witnessed the massacre of June 4 1989

Shazia Khan investigates the agony of forced marriages in the UK and the risks of trying to escape it.

Is it possible to legislate against deeply held beliefs? That's what the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are hoping to do. They want to make it a criminal offence to accuse a child of being a witch. Many of the hundreds of children who are sleeping rough on the streets of the capital city Kinshasa have been accused of being witches. But can such a law be enforced and can it really make a difference in a country that has been so fractured by war? For Assignment Angus Crawford spends time with the street children of Kinshasa to see if they think the new law can work.

John Simpson looks at the how the Iraq War has affected America's international role and reputation.

In the first part of the series Return to Kurdistan, Michael Goldfarb follows the upheaval of Kurdistan through the eyes of his translator Ahmad Shawkat.

With climate change bringing new threats of rising sea levels and increased rainfall, will luck and ingenuity continue to save the Netherlands from submersion?

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 hundreds of young American recruits were sent by Washington to help run the Coalition Provisional Authority, the body set up to administer Iraq. The CPA's tenure was widely criticised, as were its staff who, critics say, were simply political appointees with little or no experience relevant to the massive task they faced. Five years on Pascale Harter speaks to some of the so-called Brat Pack of US recruits to find out if they feel proud of what they achieved.

Nick Rankin enters cyber space to explore the world of intellectual piracy - the stealing of ideas.