03/06/2012 Reporters

at the moment. -- as unexplained. Those are the main stories on BBC

Queuing for fuel in oil-rich Nigeria is another billion dollars

fraud. We report on the campaign to end corruption. The knock-down

politics of the Middle East. John Dobson sends a special report from

Israel's demolitions of Palestinian homes on the West Bank. And as

Koreans mark the birth of Buddha, Lucy Williamson finds the role of

Buddhist monks is under scrutiny. Hello and welcome to Reporters.

When evidence of endemic corruption was uncovered in Nigeria's dual

subsidy scheme last month President Goodluck Jonathan promised action

and he is under increasing pressure to deliver it as ordinary Nigerians

express their anger not only about the $7 billion fraud itself, but

the impact is having on their basic supplies. From the crack the top,

Will Ross reports. -- from the capital. Buying fuel in Nigeria can

give you a severe headache. Here hundreds of people after kerosene

for cooking. Even the police are in the queue. And yes, this is

Africa's leading oil producer. But Nigeria doesn't have the refineries

needed to supply the local market, so most of what's on sale is

imported. The government subsidises the price. But now an investigation

has shown how much the nation's losing in a fuel subsidy swindle.

The scale of the scam is nothing short of staggering. Over the last

three years almost $7 billion have been lost, a lot of that has been

stolen. That is about a quarter of Nigeria's total annual budget. So

while some fat cats are getting even fatter, for many Nigerians it

is a struggle just to get a enough fuel to cook their meals. A

governing party politician headed the committee that lifted the lid

on an industry that had been conveniently cloaked in secrecy. He

says he has made plenty of powerful enemies. We had so many threats

sometimes. In so many ways. We were going to finish the exercise.

were death threats? They were. Definitely death threats.

decades Nigeria's musicians have been vocal in the fight against

high-level corruption. The message hasn't changed. The looting of the

It can be better and it can be different. We don't have to live

like this, we don't have to accept it, we don't have to keep rolling

around in the same situation. We can make things better.

Nigerians expect President Goodluck Jonathan to take action as some of

those implicated in the fraud are his a Elias. I don't think there

will be any punishments. -- are his allies. I really would like to see

them in court. With people now learning more about how the

money's: The President may be risking street protests if heads

don't roll soon -- money's Tolman. Figures released by the United

Nations show there has been a big increase in the number of

Palestinian homes in the West Bank that have been demolished by

Israeli forces. In areas where Israel maintains a full presents

its influence stretches from security matters to building

control. The Israeli government says this is simply a matter of

enforcing planning regulations but critics say it is not an even-

handed policy. This is what Palestinians have called ethnic

cleansing. Demolitions and evictions carried out by Israel in

the occupied West Bank. Here in the tiny village in January this year.

Are you not scared that God will punish you for this, the woman

cries. The United Nations says more than 1,000 Palestinians were forced

from their homes last year. In most cases Israel says they failed to

get permits to build. This is the remote Palestinian village of

Kember. Life is pretty basic. With homes cut into the rock face. But

the families here are threatened with eviction. The Israeli army

once the area for a firing zone. Hamid tells me he was born in these

caves. He says the Israeli bulldozers will have to Bury him

alive if they come here. But some have already lost their livelihood.

This was a Palestinian restaurant near Bethlehem. A few days after

Israeli forces flattened it last month the owner, Ramsey, showed me

what was left. 12 years I have been here. And now? Finished.

Israeli government says Ramsay didn't have a permit to build here.

I do know that in other countries pulled restaurants in night's

pastoral places near the beach, without proper authorisations --

nice pastoral places. Israel says it also demolishes some illegal

buildings put up by Jews. But what infuriates Palestinians is that

while it's virtually impossible for them to build on land like this

Jewish settlements like this one continue to grow. Just about every

other country, apart from his role, says that's illegal under

international law. -- apart from Israel. The Israeli settlement

construction and the demolition of Palestinian homes is happening on

land where the Palestinian and Israeli leadership have said they

want to build a future state of Palestine. A state that many

believe is becoming increasingly unlikely.

South Korea recently celebrated the birthday of Buddha, the biggest bet

it the Buddhist calendar. -- the biggest festival. Only about a

quarter of Koreans describe themselves as Buddhist. The role of

Korea's monks have been questioned after a recent video showed them

drinking and gambling in a hotel bedroom. For a religion that prizes

peace and quiet contemplation some things can seem a little out of

character. The yearly spectacle of this lantern parade, for example, a

bit of modern glitz to mark the Buddha's birthday, and a way to

compete with the gods of Christianity and capitalism. A bit

of marketing if you like. Which is something Korean Buddhism could use

more than ever this year. Earlier this month video footage appeared

of monks smoking, gambling and drinking in a hotel bedroom. The

tip of an iceberg according to the man who leaked it. A culture of

misbehaviour that he says includes senior figures in Korean Buddhism.

There are strict rules of Buddhist monks and some monks are going too

far outside them. -- for Buddhist monks. It is like a patient with

terminal cancer about to die. We don't have the doctors to fix it.

Korean monks have made the headlines here before for an

Buddhist behaviour like rioting at a temple in Seoul. Some say these

kinds of scandals are the results of political infighting career's

main Buddhist Order. Foreigners are still fascinated by Zen tradition,

but how do Koreans the EU their monks and the scandals they create?

-- a view their monks? They looked to monks for some inspiration. --

view their monks. They love to them for guidance and also they laugh at

them because they are human like the rest of us. As far... they are

as being feisty -- they are a bit feisty and part of their reputation

is that they are willing to fight for what they believe is truly good.

It helps the Korean People's. Korean monks have and their feisty

reputation over many centuries fighting Japanese and Chinese

invaders. But staying relevant here in modern-day career with its high-

speed internet and its long working hours is proving a lot harder.

These days it's stories about drinking, gambling and infighting

that get the public's attention. The main order has now begun 100

days of repentance to repair its image. At the parades and street

festivals, meanwhile, most Koreans we spoke to had already dismissed

the scandal as an isolated mistake. But no-one was planning on visiting

a temple. With the London Olympics not far

away campaigners in India are keeping up the pressure for Indian

athletes to boycott the Games in opposition to Dow Chemical being

one of the Olympic sponsors. The US company owns a company that was

responsible for the Bhopal gas leak in 1984. Nearly 30 years on it's

still provokes deep anger in India. Early morning training for the

Beautell hockey team. This was once a recruiting ground for India's

national squad. The coach, one of its star players, and on track to

play in the Olympics until the night lethal gas from the American

Union Carbide plant descended on its home. After that I could not

play hockey. I could not improve on my health because I felt a great

loss after that. The world's worst industrial disaster casts its

shadow to this day. The columns that spewed the toxic gas cloud

over though how still stand. The only sound, the wind in the trees,

which have had decades to grow for. Even toxic chemicals left in the

laboratory, as they were in 1984 -- to grow tall. Just the fact this

plant is still here nearly 30 years later, when not even the beginnings

of a clean-up has happened, is one reason why the disaster still

provokes so much anger. There's a widespread feeling that justice has

still not been done. Next door slums where thousands choked to

death, they have grown larger. This man lost his daughter -- this woman

lost her daughter to the disaster and his husband has got cancer. The

compensation money ran out years ago, if he dies today, I can't pay

for his funeral. Look at us, even dogs and cats have a better life.

Ever since it bought Union Carbide Dow Chemical has been under

pressure to pay out more compensation. It insists it has no

liability and that the law is on its side. But Dow's Olympic

sponsorship has given protesters a target and unless the company is

dropped they say India should boycott the Games. We are asking to

do the right thing, for people to stand up for 25,000 deaths, and say

we will not participate where a criminal Corporation is a part of

the games. Most wants India to be at the London Olympics. But they

Greek journalists are the latest group to decide to strike in

protest about their diminishing wages. They are not alone in taking

issue with the austerity policies. With no end in sight for Greece and

its problems, the people are coming to have -- coming up with their own

solutions. What looks like a healthy copy,

working hard on a vegetable patch, is a lifeline for people here. A

local dumping ground until recently, the town hall has transformed the

land into small allotments for 40 families hit hard by the economic

crisis in Greece. TRANSLATION: We are pensioners but the state has

cut the pensions because of the crisis. We had to do something. The

products here, more than 50% of our need so we don't need to spend

money in the supermarket. This allotment is one of a growing

number of examples increase of where people are giving up asking

for help from the outside, and starting to take matters into their

own hands, looking after themselves, their neighbours and communities.

Whether old or young, or before the economic crisis, rich or poor. This

is an unemployed cinematographer. He describes his allotment as a

microcosm of Greek society where people from all walks of life

reduced to the same economic misery are joining together to try to make

things better. Every month the family is working the land hand

over some of their produce to others in need. Using so-called

social supermarkets cut, like this one. You are beginning to see them

all over Greece. Thanks to donations, low income families can

shop at cut down prices. The money they pay is used to provide the

most destitute with goods for free. There are some families that

without our help cannot survive, cannot keep their children at home.

There are waves of people who, and ask for help. -- who can't.

child and family group commands an Army of volunteer social workers,

doctors and dentists, helping more than 4,000 Greek family. Like Maria.

She tries to shield her children from the desperation of their

situation. To hide from them, they will need these handouts for a long

time to come. She like so many here find themselves unemployed,

abandoned by a crippled state, and reliant on their neighbours.

As China's economy continues to thrive, so does its building boom.

Urban skylines are in a state of flux and major cities are

retracting the world's top architects. But in the race for

modernisation some are questioning whether China is sacrificing too

much of its heritage. China's cities are constantly changing. As

its economy has boomed its skylines have soared. Beijing is at the

cutting edge of architecture. This is the capital's latest offering, a

futuristic office building symbolising the new Beijing. The

billionaire behind the project is amazed by the pace of change.

thing about the urbanisation in China is that it has happened so

fast. Before people realise, it is already forgone. The speed has

surprised people with the newly built buildings. At the same time,

the destruction of the old ones. the last ten years more than half

of Beijing's or old neighbourhoods have been demolished. They have

made way for office buildings, shopping malls, and apartment

blocks. This is the battleground for China's development. In the

last decade the cities have been transformed in the name of

modernisation. But now people are saying that more must be done to

protect the country's past. This is the latest ready for demolition.

John Wei is an activist. He spent the last decade documenting the

destruction of old Beijing. TRANSLATION: Beijing is losing its

soul. We always said that this was a city of history. But we now have

no culture left. There are pockets of preservation.

This traditional Beijing alley way is now a major tourist attraction.

I like it here, she says. We don't have anything like it in my home

town. But hard cash often trumps heritage. For Beijing it is about

finding a balance between the old and the new.

The struggling economy and years of storm damage have created a major

housing shortage in Cuba. Many of the existing buildings are in a

perilous state. The government has begun providing grants to the most

needy families to do repairs and is taking steps to increase the amount

of construction materials on the market. But it -- but the task

ahead is enormous. Have than that is beguiling from a distance. Its

buildings are bathed in Caribbean sunshine. But close up, this is a

city that is crumbling. Houses are falling apart at the seams. Storms,

salt spray, and years of neglect have all taken their toll. This is

the staircase in this building. If I make my way under this enormous,

massive electric cable, and up here, you can see the state of this place.

It obviously has not been painted for years. There are huge cracks in

the walls. It is incredible that anyone is living here. But they are.

Up at the top I've found a Olga. She has been waiting two years to

move out. But you that does not have enough housing. She is worried

the war could collapse soon. -- the war. It's TRANSLATION: People ask

me whether I am afraid to live here. I am, but this is my home. Where

can I go? Solving the housing problem is a huge challenge for the

government. It started by/she is -- by slashing subsidies for

construction materials. Now builders' yards like this are

filling up again. Those who have money are spending it. Before you

had to hunt for building materials however you could. TRANSLATION: Now

they are on sale legally. It is expensive but at least you can find

things. With a profit, the government is giving grants to

those who really need help with their housing. Like an idea's

family, who build his heart when her parents' home got too crowded.

-- Nabis are's. She shows me inside, to where she now sleeps with her

husband and two children. The couple have applied for the new

government funds to build a separate room for their daughters.

They cannot afford that on their own. So cute that is working to