Italy - The Italian Solution

For two days, an inflatable dinghy packed full of young African men floats in the middle of the Mediterranean, its occupants unsure if they will live or die. Suddenly, the San Giusto � an Italian naval ship - looms into view, plucks the jubilant men from their sagging rubber boat and they join the 140,000 people rescued at sea by Italy, so far this year. When the San Giusto has collected its capacity of human cargo, they're taken to a southern Italian port, subjected to health tests and passed through a processing centre and, for some, on through the gates to town and onto to a new life in Europe. Italy's Operation Mare Nostrum is starkly different to Australia's Operation Sovereign Borders and it has also has its fair share of critics. In an Australian television first, Foreign Correspondent takes you aboard this high-risk, politically controversial exercise conducted, as you'd expect, with plenty of Italian passion and dedication.

Kenya - Inside Out

What can you do when a dysfunctional, often corrupt and malevolent justice system sees you charged with a crime you claim you never committed, denies you adequate legal support then puts you inside a violent, Dickensian prison for the rest of your life? In Kenya, you can either accept your fate or fight. In this remarkable, access-all-areas journey through some of the country's toughest jails, we examine an unorthodox program enabling convicts to school themselves in criminal law and become advocates aiming to set themselves and other inmates free. And don't think they're being set up to fail. They've put together a pretty imposing record, winning 3,500 cases in the past decade.

China - Crackdown

As Australia lifts its terrorism preparedness to high and despatches planes and personnel to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq, China is intensifying its crackdown on a resident Muslim community in the remote northwest of the country in what it claims is its own war on terror. The Uighurs have inhabited the sprawling and spectacular Xinjiang province for centuries, but cells of violent separatists have brought a crackdown from Beijing that's making life extremely difficult for the law-abiding majority. Amid claims the Communist Government is trying to erase the Uighur heritage and as authorities impose new barriers to reporting in China, Stephen McDonell heads into Silk Road territory and one of China's most sensitive issues. Which explains the shadowy, ever-growing team sent to follow him.

South Africa - Symphony in Soweto

Soweto. It was once a byword for oppression, suffering and squalor as South Africa's Apartheid policy sought to segregate and confine blacks to their own precincts. But Soweto has always had an unassailable spirit. It was home to Nelson Mandela before he was despatched to Robben Island prison for 27 years. It was home to the apartheid resistance � a force that ultimately couldn't be denied. Now, in a distinctly different South Africa, Soweto has transformed dramatically. Ritzy shopping malls, flashy cars rolling down the main street - there's money around. A new generation in Soweto enjoys a very different life and thanks to a remarkable woman and an amazing music program, it's possible some very gifted children will become world class musicians.

Northern Ireland - The Disappeared

Off an isolated country laneway on a remote area of Irish bog, sophisticated forensic technology is being rolled out in an attempt to crack a now notorious cold case. 21st century science is being used to search for the remains of Belfast man Brendan Megraw who went missing 36 years ago without a trace. Accused by the IRA of being an informer, he was murdered, his body hidden, and the story of what happened suppressed for more than 30 years. It's now known he is one of a group of victims referred to as The Disappeared - there were 16 of them all together, and to date only 9 have been recovered. Foreign Correspondent follows the search for Brendan Megraw and the quest for answers. Where are the bodies, and just what happened all those years ago and how has Gerry Adams one of Ireland best known political identities become embroiled in the affair?

Nepal - The Road

It's a place out of bounds for many of those who know it as home. Tibet. Seized by the Chinese and now tightly controlled, Tibet is out of reach for Tibetan refugees around the world who are left with distant memories of their homeland. They can only dream of its return to them and their return to it. Australian musician Tenzin Choegyal has the very vaguest recollections of Tibet. He was spirited out by his mother and father as a young boy. But he feels it's defined his spirit and now, he's determined to see it once again. To do that he has to travel though the hitherto hidden kingdom of Upper Mustang, and along a time-honoured trail that's now in competition with what passes for the 21st century up here. A major, transformative road rolling up to the Tibetan border. Will Tenzin fulfil his dream?

Palau - Take a Long Line

The world is eating a once mighty, abundant wild fish into oblivion. And with million dollar price tags on exemplary specimens it�s no wonder international fishing fleets are scouring the Pacific in search of Bluefin tuna and their relatives the Yellowfin and Bigeye. Many of those vessels will fish where they�re not supposed to and take catches they�re not entitled to. That�s made the tiny island nation of Palau hopping mad. But what can it do about one of the world�s more pressing environmental and sustainability questions? Can one of the world�s littlest countries help save the beleaguered tuna of the Pacific?

Sierra Leone - Into the Hot Zone

The deadly disease, Ebola, has swept across West Africa and is now threatening communities on the east coast as well. It�s the deadliest outbreak in history and doctors have no drugs or vaccines to stop it. This special Foreign Correspondent report, from ground zero of the ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, shows a country with some of the worst rates of infections and deaths. Our team, which was the last camera crew into the hardest hit areas before a Government lockdown was introduced, has been at the frontline for one of the worst weeks in the Ebola crisis. The story reveals how health workers, some of whom are Australians, are battling the outbreak, which includes finding homes for newly orphaned children whose whole families have died from the disease.

Japan - Return of the Samurai

Ever since it surrendered to the allies at the conclusion of WW2 Japan's military effort has been homebound. The Japanese Self Defence Force has been precisely that � remaining vigilant to outside threats but constitutionally restrained from striking the first blow. Now, with an assertive China throwing its weight around in North Asia, there's a developing inclination among Japan's leadership to take its tactical lead from another playbook: that the best form of defence is attack. Many in Japan � young and old � worry that's leading their nation down a path to war.

East Timor - The Clinic

As doctors and healthcare workers continue the challenge of treating preventable diseases in East Timor, Foreign Correspondent reporter Sophie McNeill spends time in Dili's Bairo Pite Clinic, with an inspiring medical team providing free health care services to thousands. Diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, heart failure, severe malnutrition, and infant diarrhoea are common and widespread - and over 50% of children under the age of five are said to be underweight and stunted for their age. Meanwhile, deaths in childbirth are among the highest in the whole of Asia. Meet team leader Dr. Dan, who came from the U.S, set up the clinic, and decided to stay.

Norway - The Gender Mission

On a remote but vitally important frontier, a ground-breaking experiment is underway aimed at erasing the gender divide in the armed forces, eliminating intimidation and abuse and encouraging more and more women into service. On Norway's border with Russia - more tense now NATO and Russia are sharply at odds over Ukraine � men and women are training together, patrolling together and sleeping together in a counter-intuitive effort to build a unisex force in which women are just as likely to command men in the barracks and on the battleground. Many nations are taking a close interest in this radical program, including Australia...

Scotland - You Take the High Road and I'll Take the Low Road

In Glasgow, the Commonwealth Games may be the biggest show in town right now but Scots have a much bigger play underway that will define their economic and political future. Very soon they�ll be asked if they want to say goodbye to England and go it alone. The independence movement is gathering support but will it be enough to carry Scotland out of the United Kingdom? And does Scotland have the wherewithall to survive let alone prosper on its own? Europe correspondent, Scottish-born Barbara Miller heads home to test the water.

Syria - A Gangster Goes To War

Syria�s civil war has become a magnet for jihadis from all over the world. And while nations like Australia wrestle with the threat of those dangerously radicalised warriors returning home, Foreign Correspondent presents an extraordinarily intimate and confronting journey as a violent, criminal king-pin leaves his drug-running turf behind to head to Syria�s frontlines to fight a war he doesn�t really comprehend. This is a searing insight into the many different motivations inspiring foot-soldiers to Syria�s conflict and beyond, into the fold of the super-violent radicals of ISIS, wreaking terror in Iraq. Michael Brissenden narrates a Guardian Films production.

Laos - The Legacy

The locals call them �bombies� � small bombs only about the size of a tennis ball. But, these tiny munitions have left a deadly legacy in Laos. The United States dropped a staggering 260-million bombies on Laos during the Vietnam War - the equivalent of a bombing mission every eight minutes for nine years. Many didn�t explode on impact, leaving Laos contaminated with millions of unexploded ordnance. Forty years after the end of the war, the �bombies� are still taking lives and limbs � many of the victims are children. Now, a brave band of women is going where others fear to tread, to find and destroy the explosives that litter their precious land.

Myanmar - A New Dawn

What happens when a vacuum-sealed, strictly-controlled nation loosens up, opens its doors and ushers in aggressive international businesses, hungry global developers and hoards of curious tourists? Can Myanmar�s sensitive culture, fragile & beautiful heritage and infant democracy cope with this strange, invasive and transformative surge? It�s too early to tell. But it turns out some enterprising locals aren�t just standing by waiting for change. They�re taking their opportunities now and they include a power-pop princess with world charts in her sights and a former US based Google exec who�s returned home to build a business. Myanmar�s even letting in nosey reporters so we sent our own Sally Sara to witness this historic collision of past, present and future.

Cairo - Ordeal in Egypt

International reporting can sometimes be about being in the right place at the wrong time. A time when a fascinating foreign location can be a very dangerous place - life and death can be determined by centimetres and freedom can be snatched arbitrarily. Peter Greste knows this all too well. In Somalia, a colleague standing right beside Greste was shot and killed. Later in Egypt, Greste and two colleagues from news operation Al Jazeera found themselves targeted by forces trying to reassert their authority in the restless nation. They had declared one side of the story in Egypt not just just out of bounds but a crime and despite an absence of evidence, accused the Al Jazeera trio of spreading false news and helping terrorists. With access to family and key players in the saga, this is a special Foreign Correspondent report.