02/10/2011 Reporters

That is the latest BBC News. Now it Syria's brutal crackdown claims

dozens more lives six months after the unrest. We have an exclusive

report from the town where it began. The Co has of caste division in

India. We discover that it is driving low-

caste medical students to take their eye lives. And country music.

Why for many fans the tune of economic were it is hitting too

close to home. Welcome. During the final days of

September human rights campaigners in Syria say that at least 50

people have been in killed -- had been killed in protests. The UN

estimates that more than 2,700 people have been killed since the

crackdown began. Foreign journalists have been restricted

from reporting in Syria but our correspondent was granted a rare

access to the country. She was taken by the Government under armed

escort to Deraa, the town where the protests began in March. Troops now

guard the entrance to Deraa, where Syria's uprising began and the

violent crackdown to end it. Neither has stopped. It is rare for

foreign journalists to come here. We were given permission to visit

accompanied by our government minder and a posse of police and

intelligence agents. We cannot show you, but they are here. Our first

stop was the former studios of Syrian state TV that now lie in

ruins. The government says that this was the work of armed gangs.

The station directors shows me the bullet holes to prove it. Inside

what used to be his office, he told me that terrorists opened fire from

a nearby hill. They threw in petrol-bombs which destroyed this

room. They wanted us to see these footage of the building on fire in

what they say are armed protesters in the valley below. A different

story is told in this footage from the BBC's Panorama programme that

was provided by activists. They say that it shows an attack on an

ambulance by security forces. This is also a battle for the trees.

Wherever it lies, a new governor was brought in a few months ago. I

asked him whether troops had orders -- had orders to shoot.

TRANSLATION: There is no shooting orders at all. Until this very

moment, there have been no shooting orders. We have tried to use

dialogue. But clearly somebody has been shooting around this square.

The bricks are full of bullet holes. This square next to the old mosque

has been a focal point of protests in the town where it all began. We

asked to come here. It took a lot of convincing to get here but now

with a growing number of mind as we are here and all is quite. -- a

growing number of minders. But there are protests almost daily

somewhere here. These pictures filmed by protesters show clashes

at this mosque. These families know what happens here. They did not

want to speak. Just being in a Deraa told us a lot more. But it

did not tell us everything. In Libya it has been one month

since Colonel Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli was overrun by forces

opposed to him. But although many of his family have slipped across

the borders, Colonel Gaddafi's whereabouts are not known. Across

the vast country there are plenty of claims of sightings. The latest

is in a western town close to the Algerian border. Deep in the Sahara,

Libya's revolutionaries are pushing on, hunting for Colonel Gaddafi and

his henchmen. They are chasing rumours fly into the desert. One is

that Colonel Gaddafi is near this place. People here say that Colonel

Gaddafi's number two was here last week. He is also wanted by the

International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. From here

there is nothing but stand for three or 400 kilometres up to the

border with Algeria and Niger. It is said that Colonel Gaddafi could

be out there somewhere protected by a band of mercenaries. Nobody

really knows. He simply vanished into the desert. He wrote down

there is the one Colonel Gaddafi's family fled along. His number two

was in this area a few days ago, confirms this man. He has known

Colonel Gaddafi for 15 years and says that the former dictator is

probably in the desert where he will fight to the end. He said that

he would choose death for victory. Victory is very difficult. Some of

the soldiers who fought for the Army have now switched sides. This

man says that his commanders fled as the revolutionaries advanced but

Colonel Gaddafi cannot survive long without help. Anyone suspected of

being a mercenary for Colonel Gaddafi is being seized. These men

are all from Nigeria. They insist they are just migrants looking for

work. One of the charges against Gaddafi is that they brought in

African mercenaries to kill unarmed protesters. The revolutionaries

accuse the number two of hiring those mercenaries. I have never

dealt with the issue. Never in my life. It is not in my conviction.

But now the fighters say they will stop here, can set it could be

recaptured from them. Then they will move on seeking out the mirage

that is their former dictator. Getting a place at one of India's

top universities or colleges is often seen as a passport out of

poverty for lower caste students. But when they get there for some

young people it is not always a happy environment. In the past four

years there have been 18 cases of suicide by a lower caste students,

two this year. Their families say harassment based on their vote cast

the status was the main reason that drove their children to take their

own lives. It has been one years since the

death of his woman's 25-year-old son. He was the first in these

remote village in central India to have made it to the country's top

college for medicine. Caste discrimination is rife in rural

India serve and his family it was a dream come true. But that dream

turned sour. TRANSLATION: He used to tell us that he was humiliated

for belonging to a lower caste by his professors. He sat at the back

of the class. He said that he was looked down upon because of who he

was. This is one of India's top medical institutions. Like other

state run colleges it reserves places for lower caste students,

offering them a new start. But this is where he ended his life. Almost

one quarter of places have to be reserved for lower caste students

so they can get entry with slightly lower mark. But these policies have

caused tensions. Lower-caste students say that they are made to

feel unworthy of their place. TRANSLATION: The teachers' mindset

is that lower caste students do not study hard, so let's fail them.

They do not understand that unlike others, everything in our life

rests on our selection. But college officials reject this. They say

that teachers make sure there is an atmosphere of Help the interaction

on campus. Some students suffer from depression. So was the case in

this one. We take precautionary steps. We have started anti-stress

counselling for the newcomers. Despite these denials, three years

before his death, a government inquiry concluded that students

faced bias on the base of their -- on the basis of their caste. Other

suicides have been reported at other institutions. There is still

some way to go it to prevent more students taking their own lives.

This has to be a measure of the economic distress in the United

States. Country music has long reflected the everyday concerns of

working men and women, but while some songs are inspired by cheating

Hearts and lost love, these days they are filled with tales of

closing factories and honest people doing their best to struggle

through. The BBC's Paul Adams has # I used to love this town and this

neighbourhood... #. Country-music and Hard Times. A

cliche perhaps but not for those living on the frontline off of

America's economic woes. Life just keeps getting tougher.

For the fans gathering here, it is all part of the draw - a certain

see that somewhere among songs celebrating girls, p GUS and

drinking, their deepest anxieties will find a voice. -- pick up so.

# I am 100% made in America... #. This is a tale of patriotism and

productivity made under a low -- under threat in the heartland.

That is what I think of when I write. That is what I sing to -

that man or woman. They know what is happening. Songs

are written about it. For the first time in my life, I

feel very vulnerable. I am 53 years old and I feel totally replaceable.

TRANSLATION: -- # Everything about me is written on this page... #.

This song is about a guy trying to get a job.

# Yes, I served in the army... #. It gives me a spiritual lift. It

helps me keep it up and get going again.

# I could start this job at any time... #.

It reminded me of my husband. He could not find a job and he was a

hard worker and all he wanted to do was get a job.

For this woman hosts the local town's breakfast show on radio. She

says the new songs resonate with her listeners. They are voicing

what we all feel, what we want to say.

Hard living and hard luck, flags and family values, fear and the

Bible. It is a winning formula for a community living in uncertain

times. # Made in America... #.

For 25 years, one man has devoted his life to defusing thousands of

bombs and mines in northern Iraq. He has become such a local

celebrity that masks, streets and schools have been named after him.

-- mosques. They say that mines are silent

soldiers that never sleep and never rest. This man has been clearing

mines for 25 years in Iraqi villages bordering Kurdistan. But

he has lost both of his legs in explosions. In 1988, five people in

this town were gassed by Saddam Hussein's regime. This area has one

of the densest concentrations of land mines.

TRANSLATION: two people were killed here and another paralysed. One of

the debt was my 15-year-old brother. 22 years ago, but are lost one leg.

Within one year, he had lost the other.

If TRANSLATION: In 1989, I lost my right leg to a US made a mine. I

lost the other one to an Italian mine in 1993. Now the region is

named after me. This Liam was made in Japan. I can

hold it like this. I can use it as a dining table and also have tea. I

have no problem. Five it was a Japanese NGO that came to his

rescue. He was taken to Tokyo for surgery and artificial lakes.

TRANSLATION: In Japan, people were friendly. I was given artificial

legs. It helps me at home, drive a car, even helped me to get married.

Even gave his daughter a Japanese name. I asked her if she worries

about her father. TRANSLATION: Whenever she is asked about my

safety, she gets emotional. This is not a real minefield. It is

the sharp's backyard. Here is a whole collection of mines and

explosives. He wants to be reminded every day that in every corner of

his land, a silent mine is waiting for its prey. TRANSLATION: As long

as I have these hands, I will continue clearing land mines. I

will not stop for a moment. Where I have cleared land mines, people are

dancing, farmers are pulling their fields. When I dismantle a land

mine, I feel like I have saved a young life.

Given all the problems in the eurozone at the moment, you might

not expect countries to be queuing up to join the EU. But Iceland is

doing just that, having launched a bid to join up its economy crashed

three years ago. Now, opinion polls suggests that a growing majority of

Icelanders are now against EU membership.

Icelanders are used to isolation and a stormy weather - literally

and economically. Doing the worst times three years ago, many were

drawn to the EU as a port in the storm. But times change. Formal

negotiations to join the EU come in the middle of the eurozone crisis

and the banking collapse that seemed to bring Iceland to its

knees appears to be old news on the streets of the capital now.

Building work on the showpiece conference centre ground to a halt

in 2008. These days, it is open and is booked years in advance.

Iceland's economy is growing again. It is easier to turn a small boat

around rather than a large ship. We are small, vibrant in our Icelandic

economy. We have our own currency and that makes the adoption of

recovery quicker. If what the Icelandic krona does not offer is

stability. Many of that the euro does. Shaken by its internal crisis

but still rock solid on international markets. Only one

country in the world does business in the Icelandic krona and that is

Iceland. Here, I am on my way to a series of islands to explore why

traditionally Icelanders have been hostile to the idea of joining the

EU. That reason is the ocean, their rights to it and the fish they

catch from it. Iceland's fishing industry has replaced banking as

its mainstay. There is support for sustainable fishing here, as

opposed to the EU's fishing policies which have ended reserves

in Europe. The main concern is that other

nations will be able to take from our fishing stocks and that would

mean less fishing for Iceland. These workers are not willing to

risk the EU putting their jobs on the line but Brussels is apparently

keener than ever to tent is Ireland into the club and is offering

concessions and exemptions. -- to entice Iceland into the club. But

it is Icelanders who will eventually decide in a referendum

if familiar, cold isolation will continue to serve them best.

Now to a feature of Aboriginal life in Australia, which has been going

strong for 60 years. Coming out balls with debit cards. 12 teenage

girls took part in a ceremony that has been seen as a symbolic first

step into adulthood. Organisers say it gives these girls and experience

they would not have had in their own communities.

It is a special day at the school near Melbourne. The final practice

of their dance steps for a night to remember. At this college, a young

Aboriginal women are about to come out as young women. Their families

want to make sure that there girls are getting exposure to other

experiences that they would not otherwise have in their own

community setting. The teenagers are marking 60 years of Aboriginal

debutants. Just like any others, they make up -- the make-up, hair

and detail means everything. Especially for young women who have

been exposed to dysfunctional lives in their communities. Not attending

school, running away from home, getting into a bad situation. My

mother is proud of me because before I came here, I missed out on

heaps of school. The first Aboriginal debutantes came out in

the 1940s, shocking many in what was a more racist society. This was

how they lived in hearts and in poverty. Debutante balls where as

rare as shoes and sanitation. Many families cannot afford the dresses

so local people in Melbourne held out for free. The address builds

confidence for the gales and also for others previously alien to them.

This is integration with a state get in its debt. She has undertaken

AFL umpire training and hopes to become an interpreter with the

police force. It is a room full of pride. The school has given her the

opportunity to look forward to what she wants to do in the future and

that was one of the main things that I wanted her to have. Five

Aboriginal people make up 2% of Australia's population and have

many social problems. The hope here is that these young women will step