In Moscow, US Basketball star Brittney Griner is on trial on the charge of "transportation of drugs".
The hearing began today - four months after she was first arrested while travelling to play basketball in Russia. Griner was detained at a Moscow-area airport after cannabis oil was allegedly found in her luggage in February. The drug charges Griner faces carry a sentence of up to 10 years.
Marc Lamont Hill challenges the former spokesperson for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
As the Philippines kicks off its presidential campaign to replace outgoing leader Rodrigo Duterte, many human rights groups say the president’s so-called war on drugs is a stain on his legacy. Thousands have been killed in the violent crackdown on alleged drug dealers and users that was one of Duterte’s main policies since taking office in 2016.
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is at the heart of the latest case of Indian authorities taking Bollywood to task.
Aryan Khan, the son of one of India’s biggest movie stars, Shah Rukh Khan, was charged with possessing and trafficking drugs. We take a look at the drug bust that tells a story of the conflict between the Indian authorities and Bollywood.
How much is a human life worth? An innovative cancer therapy promises to save lives. But it is extremely expensive. Will the insurance companies pay for it? What is the manufacturer's return on investment? And do lobbyists drive up prices?
In the first country in Asia to legalise medical marijuana, some promise it will alleviate poverty and even cure cancer.
For decades, Thailand was at the forefront of the war on drugs.
Known for flooding the world with drugs from the Golden Triangle, Thailand's laws became so tough, the country now tops the list in Asia for the rate of incarceration.
But recently, the military-led government shocked the world by announcing plans to legalise medical marijuana, or cannabis.
Investigating why Myanmar has become the world's biggest meth producer, driving a meth explosion in the region.
Methamphetamines are flooding into countries across Asia.
But where do the drugs come from, and who is profiting from feeding the world's addiction?
101 East travels to the notorious Golden Triangle to investigate what is driving Asia's meth boom and why authorities are powerless to stop it.
With rare access to the borderlands of Myanmar, the world's largest meth producer, 101 East meets leaders of rebel armies who are often blamed for the country's drug production and explores whether the nation's military could be involved.
We ask Abdullah Abdullah about US-Taliban peace talks and debate the so-called US war on drugs.
Abdullah Abdullah: The Taliban is 'the obstacle'
Negotiators from the United States and the Taliban have now held several rounds of talks to discuss a possible peace deal in Afghanistan, but there is still no agreement on when foreign troops will withdraw from the country.
The role the Taliban will play after a possible peace deal has also not been defined, and the group is refusing to negotiate with the Afghan government, deeming it illegitimate.
Despite this, Chief Executive of Afghanistan and presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah says the Taliban can "absolutely" run in the 2019 elections, but only if they stop fighting and helping groups like al-Qaeda.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine and the US is the largest consumer of the drug. Cocaine comes from the leaf of the coca plant which is harvested and processed in Colombia. Despite the Colombian government’s effort to eradicate the plant, coca cultivation is at an all time high. In this episode we go deep into the cocaine economy and discover why this problem is so hard to solve.
How the war on drugs is pushing Filipino jails to breaking point as they operate at 600 percent their capacity.
"The first time I set foot inside here, I felt like I was being choked," says Manila City Jail inmate, Guillermo Busano. "I thought, 'Where am I? Why am I here?' I was so scared."
Almost 160,000 people like Busano have been arrested in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed the 'war on drugs' in 2016.
Jails across the country are in crisis. Some are 600 percent over capacity, with the vast majority of prisoners jailed for years without conviction as over-burdened courts struggle to process their cases on time.
Drug lord Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippos into his own personal zoo during the 1980’s. But wild hippos are usually only native to Africa and their escape after Escobar’s death has left Colombia with an unexpected problem. Due to reproduction, there are now dozens roaming around one of the country’s rivers.
People and Power investigates how an astonishing flow of arms from the US has exacerbated crime and conflict in Mexico.
The United States's constitutionally enshrined love-affair with firearms has given it the highest levels of private gun ownership in the world, a truly staggering rate of gun-related deaths (from high-profile "mass killings" to more routine daily homicides), and a hugely powerful and wealthy arms industry dedicated to preserving the status quo.
Following the latest appalling calamity in February, when 17 people were slaughtered at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the pro and anti-gun ownership lobbies have been engaging in a now familiar debate about the extent to which US gun laws should be tightened up - with the notoriously pro-gun President Donald Trump pledging to stop such carnage happening in the future.
People and Power investigates how an astonishing flow of arms from the US has exacerbated crime and conflict in Mexico.
The United States's constitutionally enshrined love-affair with firearms has given it the highest levels of private gun ownership in the world, a truly staggering rate of gun-related deaths (from high-profile "mass killings" to more routine daily homicides), and a hugely powerful and wealthy arms industry dedicated to preserving the status quo.
Following the latest appalling calamity in February, when 17 people were slaughtered at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the pro and anti-gun ownership lobbies have been engaging in a now familiar debate about the extent to which US gun laws should be tightened up - with the notoriously pro-gun President Donald Trump pledging to stop such carnage happening in the future.
What's behind the Philippine president's war on the media and NGOs? Plus, reporting on the working class in the US.
Duterte's war on drugs and those reporting it
Since coming to power last June, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been on a mission to eradicate what he claims is the country's pandemic drug problem.
The brutal crackdown on the drug trade in the country is showing no signs of slowing down. Last week, 58 alleged drug dealers and users were killed in and around the capital, Manila. One of the victims, a 17-year-old, made headlines. Police say he was killed in a two-way firefight. Eyewitnesses, backed by CCTV footage, tell a different story.
President Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed the killings of children as "collateral damage" while labelling anyone who criticises his deadly approach as an "enemy of the state".
The inside story of Mexico's drug war as seen through the work of two newspapers in Sinaloa state back in 2011.
The daily headlines in the Mexican media are filled with the litany of death and violence that is Mexico today.
The Deadliest Beat is the inside story of Mexico's drug war as seen through the work of two newspapers in Sinaloa, northwestern Mexico. As the journalists risk their lives to cover - and uncover - the story, the dangers of their work unfold.
Photojournalist Ernesto Martinez reflects on the personal cost to him and his family of his work, while he follows and films the grim fallout of drug wars. And the newsmen of the weekly paper Riodoce tackle the complex politics behind the war on drugs, chasing stories that more than hint at collusion and corruption in high places.
In an exclusive interview, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte discusses his war on drugs and foreign policy.
It's been about 100 days into the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte.
Since he took power, the Philippine president has overseen the killing of more than 3,500 people in his war on drugs, offended world leaders and strained relations with the US.
In an exclusive first interview since he was sworn in, we talk to Duterte about his controversial war on drugs and foreign policy - including deteriorating relations with the United States and potentially warming relations with China.
"We have three million drug addicts, and it's growing. So if we do not interdict this problem, the next generation will be having a serious problem ... You destroy my country, I'll kill you. And it's a legitimate thing. If you destroy our young children, I will kill you. That is a very correct statement. There is nothing wrong in trying to preserve the interest of the next generation."
Indonesia's drug laws are some of the strictest in the world, but are long jail terms and capital punishment working?
Once only a transit point for drugs, Indonesia has become one of the key narcotics markets in the region.
The country has some of the strictest narcotics laws in the world, including capital punishment for drug traffickers.
The government argues that tough laws are needed because it claims that four million Indonesians are drug users and more than 30 addicts die from an overdose every day. But critics say the country is failing to address the issue.
Users and dealers are subject to the same harsh penalties - filling an overcrowded, corrupt prison system that is also awash with drugs.
Now, the country wants to rehabilitate 100,000 addicts a year using forced therapy, but can it work?
Afghan authorities are struggling to control the resurgence in poppy farming that feeds the habits of addicts worldwide.
It is the frontline of the war on drugs - and it is a battle authorities are losing.
Afghanistan's poppy fields, which feed the habits of drug addicts worldwide, are thriving, with cultivation of the crop hitting record highs last year.
With NATO troops pulling out and local law enforcement agencies ill-equipped and underfunded, production looks set to increase even further.
The number of Afghan addicts is soaring, and with the Taliban funded by the drug trade, security fears are paramount.
101 East travels to Afghanistan's poppy fields to investigate how Afghan authorities are struggling to control the resurgence in poppy farming, the implications for the global war on drugs, and what the future holds for this fragile nation.
The report, in particular, signalled out Russia, which it said should be banned from athletics competition for running a "state-supported" doping programme.
Now, there are calls for the Russian athletics federation to be banned - and its athletes barred from next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The latest scandal follows others in world football, rugby league, cycling and other sports.
There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
