When a Lebanese Sheik angrily blamed Australia for the drowning of asylum seekers off the coast of Indonesia in Dateline’s Village of Tears story two weeks ago, viewers were outraged.
18 people from his village of Qabeit died in the tragedy, including a mother and her eight children, and he demanded to know why Australia hadn’t rescued them.
Only the father of that family survived, and in this report Yaara Bou Melhem travels with him as he returns to his home village near the Syrian border.
Walking through his empty house, Hussein Khoder tells Yaara he’s been left with nothing, but is still determined to leave Lebanon and make a new life.
And what about laying the blame at Australia’s door? There’s a surprising apology from the Sheikh who caused so much anger.
The Australian Government is directly to blame for the deaths of at least 39 asylum seekers in a boat sinking off Indonesia last week, according to leaders in one of their home villages in Lebanon.
Yaara Bou Melhem reports from Qabeit, near the Syrian border, on the anger over the deaths of 18 local people including a mother and her eight children. Only the father survived.
In an angry tirade, local Sheik Ali Khoder says Australia has gone from being a land of dreams and freedom to killing people for election propaganda.
And Yaara spends time with the family who lost nine members, hearing how poverty drove them to flee, despite the pleas of their loved ones not to make the perilous journey.
In a poignant moment, she’s shown photos of the children and pictures they sent from their travels, including one aboard the ill-fated boat as it set sail for Australia.
Sectarian violence between extremist members of Pakistan’s majority Sunni and minority Shia communities has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people since the 1980s.
Analysts say Pakistan is increasingly becoming the battleground in a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
They claim the bulk of the violence more recently has been committed against the Shia community.
Bomb blasts this year alone have killed hundreds of Shias, with Sunni hardline group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claiming responsibility for most of the violence.
The extremist group has an openly anti-Shia agenda and is banned in Pakistan. It is classified as a terrorist organisation by several Western nations.
Rights group Amnesty International says the Shia Hazara community is particularly vulnerable to being targeted. The Hazara tribe is ethnically Mongolian and its people have oriental features that make them easily identifiable from the rest of the country’s population
So, can the Pakistani authorities protect its minorities and if so how?
101 East speaks with the families of victims of sectarian violence, from Pakistan’s Shia as well as Sunni communities. We also speak with Hazaras who have survived attacks in Quetta, and those who are fleeing the insecurity they face while living there. We film with counter-terror police and the government and talk to them about efforts to end sectarian violence.
Environmentalists race to save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as port expansions threaten its World Heritage status.
Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef is at risk of being put on UNESCO’s World Heritage danger list due to proposed port expansions.
The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, sits off the coast of Queensland in Australia’s northeast. It brings in almost two million visitors and about $6bn from tourism every year.
But one of Australia’s top export earners is coal and Queensland is the country’s top coal producer. Many coal ports and coal shipping routes are close to or within the Great Barrier Reef.
The UN has alerted the Queensland and federal governments that this natural wonder of the world will be placed on the 2014 danger list in the absence of a firm and demonstrable commitment to protect the reef from pressures of mining and port development.Now, there are nine proposals for coal mines and port expansion in the vicinity of the heritage listed reef.
Greenpeace says coal terminal expansions will lead to increased ship traffic, port infrastructure and dredging that will threaten the ecosystem that is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.
The environmental activist group has sent in the Rainbow Warrior to tour Australia to raise awareness about concerns for the coral reef. The vessel is a custom-built, environmentally-friendly ship that tours the world, docking near sites of environmental dispute.
101 East joins the crew of the Rainbow Warrior as it docks in the Great Barrier Reef to raise awareness about its fight against coal mining and new port construction close to the coral reef.
We journey with the ship as it makes its last stop close to one of Queensland’s largest port terminals. We speak with Great Barrier Reef authorities, scientists and the resources sector about development needs and environmental concerns and ask: who will win the race to the reef?
Learn more about this issue on the 101 East website.
The comparison between politicians and clowns isn’t new, but one Brazilian congressman has managed to make a career of both, and earn huge support along the way.
In the morning, Francisco Silva is renowned for his diligence in attending parliament, where he was elected with around 1.5 million votes.
But in the afternoon, Tiririca is in his clown costume to present a popular slapstick chat show, well known for its vulgar humour.
Yaara Bou Melhem profiles this unique politician and sees first-hand his huge popularity.
That support is credited to his rise from humble beginnings and his anti-corruption stance, with the election slogan ‘If you vote for me, it won’t get any worse’.
But does he feel he’s really been able to make things better in the three years since his election?
Our film, ‘Australia’s Lost Generation‘ about Aboriginal youth suicide has won Bronze Medal in the ‘Cultural Issues’ category of the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards.
Congrats to the 101 East team! Producer, Tiffany Ang; Cameraman, Lee Ali; Editor, Badrul Hisham and Programme Editor, Sharon Roobol.
Rio de Janeiro is preparing to be the centre of the world’s attention… with Brazil hosting both the World Cup and the Olympics.
But Dateline has found that behind the grand plans for stadiums, tourist attractions and new transport links, lie whole communities being forced from their homes.
Yaara Bou Melhem meets people who say they were told to move out in the morning, then by the afternoon their homes had been flattened.
The slum dwellers claim they can’t afford to go elsewhere, and the compensation or relocation offered by the government are no replacement for their bulldozed homes.
With protests continuing and a legal challenge looming, will Rio be ready for kick off in just over a year’s time?
Two thirds of the refugees in Lebanon are women and children… many struggling to survive in makeshift refugee camps after escaping from Syria.
But Yaara Bou Melhem has found that some women are also facing sexual harassment from men, sometimes as the only way of receiving desperately needed aid.
Yaara gains the confidence of the women to hear their distressing stories, and takes their accusations to those involved in arranging aid supplies.
She hears stories too of girls being pressured into marriage at a young age as a way of escaping poverty and an uncertain future.
