Unreported World - Season 24 / Year 2023

Krishnan Guru-Murthy reports on the political paralysis gripping Lebanon, where public services are in tatters, power cuts are routine, and because of hyperinflation medicine is expensive and in short supply. Across the nation, over a million people have been locked out of their bank accounts, able only to withdraw a few hundred pounds of their own money a month. Guru-Murthy interviews Riad Salameh, long-serving governor of the Central Bank, who since their discussion has charged with money laundering, illicit enrichment and embezzlement.

Guillermo Galdos follows Brazilian federal police cracking down on illegal mining in protected Indigenous regions and the network of companies dealing in the precious metal. Officially Brazil exports a hundred tons of gold a year. But efforts by police, academics and non-governmental organisations reveal evidence that possibly almost half of Brazil's gold trade comes from an illegal source, raising serious concerns for tech companies using gold in their products.

Reporter Secunder Kermani explores a community of North Koreans living in Japan who feel a close bond with one of the world's most repressive states. He spends time with Koreans born and raised in Japan who have their own unique schooling system, complete with portraits of North Korean leaders in every classroom. In Kyoto, Japan's cultural capital, Secunder gains rare access to a grouping known as the Chongryon, a powerful residents association with strong links to the North Korean regime.

Symeon Brown investigates how one influential preacher in Kenya could have led hundreds of men, women and children to their deaths. So far 429 bodies have been exhumed from graves in Shakahola Forest, where Pastor Paul Mackenzie is accused of inviting his followers to meet Jesus and witness the 'end of days'. Mackenzie denies any wrongdoing, but Symeon tracks down the survivors and the families searching for loved ones to find out if this was mass suicide - or mass murder.

Anja Popp goes inside Mexico's illicit exotic pet trade, investigating how owning a lion or tiger has gone from being the indulgence of drug lords to a mainstream obsession. The Mexican state of Sinaloa is home to the notorious Sinaloa cartel. Exotic pets have become a trapping of Mexico's wealthy elite here, in what has become the world's fourth largest illegal trade after drugs, guns and people trafficking. Popp meets Jesus, who built a house in uptown Culiacan around his young tigers Simba and Nala, but as they grew up, they became riskier to manage. Jesus bought his tigers legally, but lax law enforcement means that many people don't. And it becomes clear that pet owners across Mexico have bitten off more than they can chew, with many resorting to extreme medical practices to make their dangerous pets less dangerous. At a pet sanctuary on the outskirts of Culiacan, Popp discovers hundreds of big cats rescued from the illicit market. In Mexico City, she meets a smuggler who claims that corruption is making their job all too easy.

Taiwan is currently living in limbo as the self-ruling island is viewed by China as a renegade province, with Beijing vowing to unify by force if necessary. As Taiwan's autonomy strengthens, the threat of war grows. Krishnan Guru-Murthy follows the democratic nation's civilians, who are learning how to shoot weapons and save lives, as the Island prepares to protect its way of life. These 'preppers' are determined to defend their country against a Chinese invasion.

On the outskirts of Bucharest lies the family home of a woman claiming to be Europe's most powerful witch. It's here that Miheale Minca is planning an ambitious but controversial establishment that she hopes will give women from her minority Roma community a new chance at life. Ashionye Ogene reports on this coven of self-proclaimed witches, determined to open Romania's first ever witch school. She meets one of its first trainees, who is learning the art of rituals and potions that she hopes will win her wealthy clients at home and abroad.

The once-quiet suburbs of Sweden's major cities are the epicentre of a vicious turf war between rival gangs competing for the drug trade. The fierce competition has resulted in a series of tit-for-tat killings with almost daily shootings and bombings. More than 45 people have been shot dead so far this year. Paraic O'Brien steps onto the frontline of Sweden's deadly gang war, as the country becomes one of the most lethal for gun crime in the whole of Europe.