World in Progress

With more than five million inhabitants, Alexandria is Egypt's second largest city, facing typical urban problems like overpopulation, and crushing poverty. Until the 1950s, Alexandria was a cosmopolitan idyll, dubbed the "Paris of the Middle East." During the Arab Spring, it was a hotbed of political activists and visionaries. Today, many are disillusioned. What happened to people's dreams?

Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morroco, is a European town on African soil. It's often the frontline of clashes between Africans trying to reach Europe in search of a better life, and a European Union desperate to keep them out. It's also a port town where 85,000 people live, providing livelihoods for many Moroccans.

This week on the show: How three brothers are bringing the internet to rural Zimbabwe, the young entrepreneurs building a future for themselves in Kigali, and we meet activists working to improve human rights in the DRC, China and Brazil.

Fighting fake news in Kenya - How Brazil's election has divided the country

- Populism and the narrative behind it - we talk to an expert on storytelling

An isolated village in South Africa launches its own internet service provider to give young people better opportunities, how resourceful students in Greece are creating their own jobs, and why some Indian schools have started happiness classes.

Topics: Training to fight youth uneployment in Kenya / Solving global Problems: Interview with Prof.Dirk Messner / Bringing WiFi to Georgia's remote mountains

The reality for many children in Chicago’s notorious West Side is a short life in the fast lane. Gangs, drugs and crime are always present and so is the possibility to end up in prison or dead. Vera Bünten got to know some of these kids – and people trying to help them change their lives around.

TOPICS: Inside a re-education camp for Chinese Muslims -- Human Rights Watch's Sophie Richardson on surveillance of Uighurs -- How South Africans defy the country's high unemployement rates

This week on the show: Why Finland's efforts to eradicate homelessness are working, poor neighborhoods in northern Brazil fear for their survival, India makes massive progress in lifting people out of poverty, and how fair is "Fairtrade"?

As more than one million people are leaving their homes in the US to escape Hurricane Florence, we take a look at disasters and disaster preparedness around the globe. What can you do to prepare yourself? What should you have at hand in case there is an earthquake or hurricane? We also hear how people are coping a few years after forces of nature wreaked havoc in their home towns.