The Real Story

Zimbabwe’s economy is in severe crisis and President Robert Mugabe’s opponents are growing increasingly bold with widespread public sector strikes and protests on the streets of the capital Harare and other cities. As ever, Mr Mugabe remains defiant, and has recently made it clear he intends to be president of Zimbabwe until he dies. He’s now 92 and has led the country since independence in 1980 so it’s hardly surprising that even his most loyal allies are starting to look to the future. In this week’s programme, Rebecca Kesby and her guests discuss who might take over as Zimbabwe’s next leader and how the country can escape from its latest economic crisis.

(Picture credit: Getty Images)

“The important thing in life is not to win but to take part, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well”. So said the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, at the end of the 19th Century. How does his noble ideal fit with the modern phenomena of professionalism, doping, individual financial gain, nationalistic pride, huge corporate sponsorship? Is the Olympic ideal still alive? In this week’s edition of the programme, as the Rio Games approach, join Owen Bennett Jones and his guests as they discuss the present and future of the Olympics.

Photo: Athletes at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Credit: Getty Images

This week, Owen Bennett Jones is in Istanbul for a special edition of the programme looking at the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in Turkey. We ask who was really behind the putsch and what will be the impact of President Erdogan’s purge of tens of thousands of people from the armed forces, the judicial system and from academic institutions. With Owen will be a panel of guests from across the political spectrum, as well as a former senior member of the military. They’ll discuss the future of Turkish democracy after the violent upheaval and uncompromising government response.

Photo: Pro Erdogan supporters at a rally in Istanbul following the failed military coup attempt of July 15. Credit: Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images

Is Bangladesh losing control to violent fundamentalists? That’s the question Razia Iqbal and her guests are discussing on this week’s Newshour Extra. In early July Islamist gunmen took hostages in a Dhaka cafe, leaving 20 dead. That’s part of an upsurge of deadly violence across the country that has included the brutal murders of many bloggers, atheists and secular intellectuals. Who is to blame? How much of the violence can be pinned on international groups like so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda? And what should be done to bring stability back to Bangladesh?

(Picture shows secular activists holding a torch-lit protest against the killing of blogger Niloy Chakrabarti. Credit: Getty Images)

British politics is in turmoil following the EU referendum result, and the American political establishment has been turned upside down by the rise of populist candidates. Is this a sign that democratic institutions are being successfully wrested from the grip of established elites, or that democracy itself is in crisis? Join Owen Bennett Jones and his panel of experts as they discuss whether there's a better way of doing democracy - and whether we should still be promoting it worldwide as the best form of government.

(Picture shows ballot boxes in the United States. Credit: Getty Images)

Google famously said "don't be evil" in its mission statement. But what does this actually mean in practice? The giants of the internet such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have transformed our world by creating a virtual space within which we express our personal thoughts and satisfy our consumer demands. But in using them, we also reveal huge amounts of information about ourselves. This week, Owen Bennett Jones and his guests consider the duty of large technology companies such as these to act responsibly and use this power wisely. Join Owen and his guests for this edition of the programme recorded in front of a live audience at the ‘How the Light Gets In’ Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales.

(Photo credit: AP)

What does the UK leaving the EU say about the strength of the organisation going forward? Can it perhaps accomplish more with a reluctant partner gone? Or is the ambition of ever-closer political and economic union doomed?

Owen Bennett Jones is in Brussels with a panel of European politicians and experts to reflect on the implications of the UK voting to leave the European Union.

On the panel: journalist Tom Nuttall, Lithuanian MEP Antanas Guoga and Rosa Balfour, senior fellow in the European Programme at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel.

With contributions from former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, Italian MEP Laura Ferrara, German MEP Beatrix von Storch,

This week Owen Bennett Jones and his guests on Newshour Extra explore the reasons behind the shocking level of fan violence at the Euro 2016 football championships in France. English and Russian supporters clashed both on the streets and inside the stadium, there were serious injuries, and tear gas was used by the police the break up the riots. We ask what motivates groups of young men to participate in group acts of violence, and to what extent they are organised by political groupings intent on fomenting unrest and confrontation with the police.

(Photo: a tear gas canister explodes as England fans clash with police in Marseille. Credit: Getty Images)

What might foreign policy look like under the next president of the United States? This week, Ritula Shah presents the programmes from Washington, asking how President Trump or President Clinton might face up to the big global challenges: multi-dimensional war in Syria; Putin flexing his muscles in Russia; Beijing's territorial claims in the South China. These headaches and more await the next occupant of the White House, but how much do we know about how they’ll tackle them?

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Will future wars be fought online? Just how much damage can be done by cyber terrorists hacking into to top secret military sites, secure government networks, or perhaps vital public utilities running our power and water supplies? And when does a hack become true cyber-warfare, requiring a military response? Join Owen Bennett Jones in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, as he talks to some of the world’s leading experts gathering for a conference on cyber conflict, discussing what measures can be taken to minimize these risks, and how much we really know about the secretive world of cyber-attacks.

(Photo: Composite image of technology interface. Credit: Thinkstock)