Newshour Extra

Thousands of Nicaraguans have been taking to the streets this week to protest against the killing of anti-government demonstrators. They say Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Front (FSLN) has betrayed the people in whose name it once fought. For President Ortega - a one-time revolutionary icon - the demonstrations highlight a significant shift. With the Castros out of power in Cuba, and other giants of the Left dead or in jail, Mr Ortega is the last of a generation of Latin American revolutionaries still in office. Ritula Shah and her guests discuss why left-wing politics lost ground in Latin America, and what the future holds for leftist politics in the region.

The world's population is ageing. According to the UN the number of people aged 60 or over is growing faster than all younger age groups. This is putting new pressures on relationships between generations. In richer countries, younger people are not accumulating the wealth their predecessors did and that's causing tensions. In the developing world, urbanisation and technology are challenging traditional family dynamics. So, how can the young and the old stay connected in a fast changing world? As part of the BBC's Crossing Divides season, Carrie Gracie is joined by a panel of expert guests in front of an audience of international students.

The decision by the US, France and Britain to bomb Syria after seeing evidence that President Bashar al-Assad had allegedly used chemical weapons on civilians has divided the international community. Are we living in a world where might, not right determines how states behave, or is a more moral legal framework in the process of being born? This week on the Real Story, Carrie Gracie and a panel of expert guests ask what can justify attacking another country.

The French President, Emmanuel Macron is taking on the country's powerful unions. The response to his proposed labour reforms has been a wave of public sector strikes across France. It's a battle that has played out many times over recent years in industrialised nations and trades unions have, without doubt, been losing influence globally. Why is this happening? Do workers no longer regard unions as an effective way of representing their interests? Have unions failed to adapt to the changing way we work? That's the Real Story this week with James Coomarasamy as he and his guests discuss the future of unions in the 21st Century.

We have a problem with plastic. We're making too much of it and not re-using and re-cycling enough of it. Plastic is contaminating our oceans and polluting our world. Until this year China took two thirds of the world's plastic waste, but now it's saying it will no longer be the world's dumping ground. The Chinese ban on low quality plastic has begun to bite with policy makers urgently looking for new solutions. So what happens now? What has the situation done to expose the way our plastics are recycled? And will developments result in a watershed moment where we finally re-evaluate our plastic consumption? Join Carrie Gracie and a panel of experts discuss how we cure our addiction to plastic.

When the first website went live just over 25 years ago, there was hope that the internet would change life for the better. These days, though, there is deep unease about the direction the internet is taking. Allegations that data firm Cambridge Analytica used personal information harvested from more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission to target US voters with tailored - sometimes misleading - messaging highlights how technology is infiltrating democracy. This week the US Federal Trade Commission said it would investigate Facebook's privacy practices and the company said it would overhaul its privacy tools. The internet is now controlled by a handful of companies and how they acquire and use personal data is poorly understood. They have disrupted the way we shop, work, and live. So how did we get to a place where so few players have so much power, and are these companies still serving the public interest? Carrie Gracie and a panel of experts discuss whether we can change direction. And if

The UN calls Yemen 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis'. It says more than three-fourths of the population - over 22 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance. Yemenis face hunger, disease, and the terror of a war which has pitted Iran-backed Houthi rebels against a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. This week marks the end of the third year of that Saudi campaign - with no end in sight. Yemen's Minister of State resigned Wednesday saying Yemen's President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was under house arrest in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. So what are the Saudi aims in Yemen and why are Yemeni civilians continuing to suffer so much? Carrie Gracie and a panel of expert guests bring clarity to one of the world's most complex wars.

Major Western powers are united in their conclusion. Russia, they say, carried out the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War Two. The attack happened in the English city of Salisbury, where former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent. This Sunday, the Russian people are expected to elect Mr Putin for a fourth consecutive term. So as Russia and the West begin a new diplomatic showdown, what does President Putin want to achieve - for himself, for Russia, and abroad?(Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin sunbathes during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia by Alexey Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to put 'America first'. In his first year in office the policy was pursued in a number of areas including immigration and national security, but, when it came to the economy, despite threats, the status quo more or less remained the same. Now that's changed. President Trump has signed an order imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminium imports. So will the move rebuild and protect the US steel industry, as the president has pledged? Will it result in a trade war? And is American economic nationalism pushing its closest trading partners away from the US - towards free trade with each other? (Photo: Getty Images)

The announcement was low key but the implications are big. The Communist Party of China has recommended that the constitution be amended to allow President Xi Jinping to serve longer than the currently mandated two terms. The move would sweep aside a system of power-sharing that's been in place for decades and the 64 year-old could now be China's president for life. So, what is behind the decision? Is it a legitimate attempt to safeguard and bolster Xi's campaign against corruption and ensure essential economic reforms? Or is it a big step towards authoritarian leadership? Xi has created a powerful cult of personality, but as the example of Chairman Mao suggests, a charismatic ruler for life can bring disaster to China. Carrie Gracie and a panel of expert guests unpick the latest developments inside one of the most opaque nations on Earth.(Photo of a decorative plate featuring an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen behind a statue of late communist leader Mao Zedong by Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

The first edition with our new name: Newshour Extra is now The Real Story with Carrie Gracie. Has Russia changed the rules of the game with the use of fake accounts on social media to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election? The US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has now filed numerous charges against Russian individuals and entities in connection with Donald Trump's presidential campaign. But US spy agencies have themselves practised disinformation and interference in other countries over many decades and so critics say Russia is now delivering the US a dose of its own medicine. Has Moscow transformed modern information warfare? And behind the headlines, what other countries and forces are manipulating information and politics in open societies? Answering these questions is our challenge on the real story this week with Carrie Gracie and her panel of expert guests.Photo: Computer hacker typing on keyboard with binary code abstract background. Credit: Getty images

As European intelligence chiefs meet in Germany calling for greater co-operation to tackle common security threats, we take a look Europe's move towards a more unified defence strategy. Since the Second World War, the NATO alliance has provided the West's defence umbrella. But there are those within Europe calling for the greater integration of national forces and less reliance on the United States and NATO to resolve Europe's defence problems. Russia's annexation of Crimea and the influx of migrants across Europe's southern borders have renewed this security debate on the continent. Would a Trump administration in the US provide NATO military support for crises such as these in the future? What role will Britain play in Europe's common defence policy after Brexit? This week on Newshour Extra, James Coomarasamy and a panel of guests discuss whether greater European military integration is really feasible - or even desirable.Photo: a Polish officer follows a military training exercise, the 'Strong Europe Tank

Our pay is still largely a private matter - but why is that? What would happen if pay was transparent? Would it be good or bad for business? Would employers have to address inequality and discrimination? Would workers feel demoralized or empowered? And what effect would such a cultural shift have on society? On Newshour Extra this week Ritula Shah and a panel of experts consider what happens when companies or entire countries dare to reveal all.

January has been bloody in the Afghan capital Kabul, where more than 130 civilians have been killed and many more wounded in a series of attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State group. Suicide bombers have targeted not only security forces but also a hotel, and a crowded shopping street. Does this latest spike in violence mean their tactics have changed, and if so why? The US has recently committed a few more troops to Afghanistan, but after 16 years of fighting, is a military solution credible? Is it time, once and for all, to make peace with the Taliban? At what price, to whom? Does any answer inevitably depend on Pakistan? On Newshour Extra this week Razia Iqbal and a panel of experts discuss the war in Afghanistan and the prospects for peace.(Photo: an Afghan man holds a wounded child, after a car bomb exploded near the old Interior Ministry building in Kabul on January 27, 2018. Credit: Getty Images)

Turkey has sent tanks and warplanes into northern Syria. Their stated target is a Kurdish militia group, the YPG, regarded by Ankara as a terrorist organisation allied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey for decades. It's an indication of the complexity of this conflict is that while Turkey regards the YPG as a serious threat, the same group has been a key ally of the United States in the battle against the so-called Islamic State in Syria. If Turkey were to achieve its stated aim of destroying the YPG - or even just loosen its hold in the border region - who would fill the vacuum? On Newshour Extra this week Ritula Shah and her guests discuss Turkey's war aims in Syria and ask whether Ankara can persuade Washington to abandon the Kurds.Photo: a Syrian woman and child who fled from the Turkish offensive on the Afrin enclave. Credit: Getty Images

President Trump says he is a friend of coal country. He promised to end the "war on coal" and bring back jobs in the coal mines. A year on from his inauguration and he seems to have made good on some of his pledges. Late last year his administration overturned several Obama-era regulations on mining and energy production. But can coal really make a comeback? Coal production remains a source of cheap electricity around the world but it's up against the rising availability of natural gas and increasingly competitive renewable energy. Could clean coal technology help re-brand a dirty fossil fuel? And how will China's move away from coal affect the picture?(Photo: a coal miner in Ukraine. Credit: Getty Images)

Gaming is big business. More that 2 billion gamers around the world generated more than 100 billion dollars in game revenues last year. But for some people all the fun is coming at a cost. The World Health Organization wants to classify gaming addiction as a mental health condition for the first time. The addiction is described as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour that takes 'precedence over other life interests'. So how concerned should we be? What's the evidence that people can become addicted? And how severe can the addiction become? Do the types of games that are played - role playing vs. shoot'em up - and the environments they're played in make a difference? And how will improvements to augmented and virtual reality technology change the picture? This week on Newshour Extra Jonny Dymond and a panel of experts look at gaming addiction: serious problem or moral panic?(Photo of addicted gamer by Getty Images)

It's the first week of the new year, which means many people are recovering from consuming large quantities of meat over the festive season. In fact, people around the world are eating more meat than ever. The average American man now eats more than his own weight in meat every year. And in China meat-eating is rising sharply as people grow richer. But all this meat comes at a cost. The WHO has linked red and processed meats to cancer, and the intensive raising of livestock and the growing of the grains required to feed the animals is doing significant damage to the environment. So what should be done? Calls are coming for meat taxes and a move to more sustainable farming. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are looking into lab grown meat and meat substitutes. But others point out that animal products can be part of a healthy diet and that livestock can eat things that people can't. Razia Iqbal and a panel of experts discuss whether the pleasures of eating meat are worth the costs.(Photo: A butcher holding up cuts of

Donald Trump's announcement that he's formally recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and setting in motion a plan to move the US embassy there has been condemned by many world leaders. So where does it leave the Palestinians? The decision has motivated some to take to the streets in protest. Others wonder how peace can now be achieved. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, has said that the US has lost its right to act as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and Saeb Erekat, his chief peace negotiator, has said 'the two-state solution is over'. So, is that right? Could a one-state solution now be a viable alternative and what would that look like? And how does the peace plan envisaged by Donald Trump's son-in-law and Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, fit in? Owen Bennett Jones and a panel of experts discuss the options left for the Palestinians. (Photo of Palestinians sitting on a wall overlooking the Dome of the Rock inside the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount by Ahmad Ghara

In March you could buy a Bitcoin, one of a number of ‘cryptocurrencies’, for about US$1,200. Since then its value has increased more than tenfold to over US$15,000. So why the excitement? Is it yet another irrational speculative bubble driven by what John Maynard Keynes used to call ‘animal spirits’? Or is the excitement really about the de-centralised technology that underpins Bitcoin? Some argue that this technology, known as blockchain, is as revolutionary as the internet and will change how we bank, work, and live. On Newshour Extra this week, Owen Bennett Jones and his guest discuss whether Bitcoin and blockchain are leading us to a brave new world or towards another financial crash.