Tennis in Baghdad

Available for over a year

Anyone for tennis? Not anymore in Baghdad, as the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen laments the loss of everyday freedoms in the Iraqi capital, which have been eroded by over two decades of war. Also: Over the past decade more than 80 inmates with mental health problems have died because of neglect in US jails and prisons. BBC Panorama reporter Hilary Andersson hears disturbing stories of what happens when punishment takes precedent over prisoner care. Myanmar is undergoing an uneasy transition since reforms were introduced in 2011, although President Thein Sein's government is keen to paint a picture of a country which is open for business. Alex Preston travels to Mandalay to see how locals and foreign investors alike are cashing in on the country's natural treasures, and visits the world's biggest jade market. In 1915, Aramaic-speaking Christians, known today as Syriacs, suffered the worst of many persecutions in their homeland of southeastern Turkey in a series of massacres known as the Sayfo - or Sword. Today, their increasingly active diaspora is returning to their ancestral homelands to rebuild a new community - which is why Diana Darke finds a little bit of Australia in Mardin province. It's a sad fact that many people these days are seemingly more interested in what's on the screen of their smart phone than the people and places around them. This so-called 'dumb walking' is a relatively new - but growing - phenomenon in Japan. But just how much is it undermining one of the world's most polite societies? Alex Marshall takes to the streets of Tokyo to find out. Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith.