From Our Own Correspondent - Locust Swarm Chasers

Stories from Kenya, Italy, Russia, Syria and Portugal. For the past few months, swarms of desert locusts have been eating their way across the Middle East and Africa. As Joe Inwood finds, stopping the swarms has so far proved nigh on impossible for people in the region - with many resorting to yelling, blowing whistles or even firing guns at them.

Italy’s anti-mafia police do their best to catch the big shots in clans like the Camorra. Dominic Casciani spent an evening with battle-hardened officers in unmarked patrol cars tackling organised crime in Naples.

In the southern Russian city of Rostov on Don, Anastasia Shevchenko is facing six years in prison for political activism. Several human rights groups have declared the activist a prisoner of conscience and now the Russian authorities have eased the conditions of her detention in her small flat. Sarah Rainsford witnessed Anastasia’s first taste of freedom.

Last October President Trump abruptly withdrew US forces from North East Syria, abandoning the Kurds, who had been a key American ally in the defeat of so-called Islamic State. Turkey took advantage of the power vacuum by launching an air and ground offensive to occupy Kurdish territory. An estimated 300,000 people were forced to flee their homes. Since then, some have tried to go back but as Nick Sturdee discovered with dire consequences.

In the early 16th century, Jews made up a fifth of the population of Portugal - most of whom were forcibly converted. Margaret Bradley finds a remote Jewish community which, against all the odds, remained secretly faithful to their religion.

Presenter: Kate Adie
Producer: Lucy Ash

Published on Thursday, 20th February 2020.

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