Historic Figures

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Around the world, countries glory in their history - but also interrogate it, rewrite it, and sometimes use it to cultivate current disputes. Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from BBC correspondents around the world touching on battles old and new: Andrew Harding explains why in a South Africa beset by unemployment and poverty, 'racist' statuary can still cause a campus rumpus; Steve Evans in Seoul sees many a sign of increased South Korean animosity towards Japan, whether it's over sea islands or alleged war crimes; Will Grant meets Cuban artist K-Cho, revolutionising the island's internet services as its leaders prepare to connect with the US at the Summit of the Americas in Panama; and in the USA itself, Owen Bennett Jones gets a case of the vapours - by talking to Californians who've taken up the trend for vaping instead of smoking. Photo: A statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes is tied by straps to a crane, before its removal from the University of Cape Town, 9 April 2015. South Africa's oldest university voted on April 8 to remove the monument from its campus after a month of student protests against a perceived symbol of historical oppression. (RODGER BOSCH/AFP/Getty Images)