15/07/2012 Reporters

a knockout in the fifth round. Those are the latest headlines on

BBC News. Now it is time for On the smugglers trial. We joined

the hunt for the drugs trade is of Thailand's notorious Golden

Triangle. France's buried secret. Christian

Fraser grows beneath the battlefields to see what is being

done to preserve carvings by soldiers of the First World War.

And they are counting their sleeps until they are golden moment. We

are with the London schoolchildren gearing up for the Olympic Games.

Welcome to reporters. For centuries, the Golden Triangle,

where Thailand and Laos meat has been notorious for the production

of opium. While the amount of poppies grown there has more than

halved over the past decade production of the stimulant

methamphetamine has soared. Most of it is produced in Burma and much of

it ends up in Thailand. As our correspondent reports trying to

stop production is almost impossible.

Night patrol on the mighty Mekong river. The Navy is the first line

of defence in what has become a constant struggle to keep drugs

from crossing into Thailand. Heavily armed and with the latest

in night-vision technology these boats are responding to a tip off.

An informer has called to say that a package of methamphetamine is

about to be moved. The Navy has received some specific information

about the possible transfer of drugs from Laos, on that side, to

Thailand, over there. Officers were deployed on the river bank after a

short wait it was decided that this was a false alarm. Either the

smugglers had spotted the track, or more likely they had made it across.

With just one officer for every three kilometres of river all it

takes is a short boat trip to get the drugs across. TRANSLATION: It

fetches 50 baht in the Laos. It features 300 by the time it gets to

Bangkok. I don't want to say it is impossible job but we're just

dealing with the end result here. The Golden Triangle was once

notorious for its opium smuggling. But it is now methamphetamine that

is the region's biggest problem. Seizures of tablets like these have

quadrupled in the last four years. Prove experts say of an explosion

in both supply and demand. Both countries are major consumers of

methamphetamine. The population taking these drugs believe them to

be relatively safe, which they are not, and they help individuals

party until dawn and do back- breaking work in the fields and

roads. Most of South East Asia's methamphetamine is man --

manufactured in Shand stayed in them. From there they are smuggled

into China, Thailand, or Laos, and then back into Thailand. Thailand's

prime minister oversaw the incineration of the latest haul of

21 million tablets. New money is being made available to try to stop

the drugs getting in. But with long Burma's with -- but before long

borders with Burma and Laos, it is out of reach and the other side.

It imagine being forced to flee your home only to end up living in

a place where you are in more danger. That is exactly what

happened to a group of people who fled their island home of Zanzibar

off the coast of East Africa only to end up living in the Somali

capital Mogadishu. Now the first of 12 for families have been

repatriated back home. A reminder of a troubled past. Mogadishu's

airport is one of the most dangerous places on earth. The

snipers are no more and traffic flows easily. Today it is saying

farewell to some special passengers. These are some of the refugees and

their new families who fled Zanzibar in 2001. Close to two

dozen people were killed, mostly opposition supporters. This man was

among a group of 100 who arrived in Mogadishu to a life worse than the

one they had left behind. Now married to a Somali woman with two

children he is part of the first group of refugees the United

Nations is flying home. My of in Mogadishu was very tough. -- life

in. After we saw that the situation in our country was better we said

that there was no use in remaining in this country. It is their first

ever flight. For many it is the first they are seen their homeland

in 11 years. For their wives and children it will be an opportunity

to start again. -- for the men. There were more anxious looks and

smiles as Muhammad step on the home turf. Tanzania's government has

given assurances to be islanders that there will not be harassed.

their own volition they came to UNHCR when we established in

Mogadishu three years ago. They started talking about repatriation

will stop it took us the best part of two years to come to this point.

A mother's embrace for her son. Though the life Muhammad has come

back to won't be as bad as in Mogadishu it will not be easy.

Poverty is rife in this part of Tanzania. But this is home for

Mohammed and he hopes the remaining family is in Somalia will follow

suit. We have been promised by the government that the government will

not harass anyone. My message for them is to come back to their

country and cooperate to build the future of their country.

political climate of the silence has improved over the past ten

years. The peace and tranquillity that Zanzibar is famed for should

offer my Hamed and his family a second wind. -- Mahomed.

Across the globe statues and monuments serve as reminders of the

human toll of war but beneath the battlefields of the First World War

in France there are memorials which remain largely unknown. Hundreds of

caves have carvings edged out by frontline troops which serve as

tributes to their fallen comrades. Now as Christian Fraser reports the

fight is underway to preserve a neglected piece of history.

Searching such an inviting looking meadow it is hard to picture the

misery of the 1914 battlefield. But in the trees of Confrecourt there

is a tangible link to the French Army that fought here. It is

written in the darkness of a medieval stone quarry. These are

the murals and carvings of the frontline troops, the insignia of

their regiments, a roll-call of the comrades who fell. This one on as a

guard gassed at the entrance to the caves. There is an artistry in here

that belies the horrors of the Great War. Such an elaborate

portrait of Marianne, an image as dear to French hearts as the

vineyards the soldiers still dreamt of. Displayed on the walls are the

innermost emotions of a soldier, the hope, the fear, the torment,

the patriotism. But from the comparative peace of this century

it was just a short distance up these steps to the chaos of the

frontline whether two opposing armies faced each other for four

years. -- Sanctuary. The quarries were first used as hospitals. In

the depths of winter they were valuable shelter for the troops

rotating from the front. They also use them to hold German prisoners

whose shoes can still be found on the floor. There are carvings of

loved ones, some that were drawn, some that were never finished.

Normally they are anonymous, he says. Sometimes the artist signs in

pencil or lease the name of his village, children or wife. They all

wanted to leave a mark of their passing. There are 500 such caves

now being considered for UNESCO status. All are at risk from

looters and vandals. It is not a regular part of the battlefield

tour, but those who do come are amazed. Boys, men, 15, 16 years of

age... No mothers, fathers. They have to go to the tunnel to their

deaths. The in 1914 there was no place for fear. In November that

year French regiment lost a position to the advancing Germans.

Six of the men who had retreated were chosen and executed as an

example. It is these stories of the few that honour the many. And they

are stories worth preserving. Wherever they are found.

Now to the present day conflict playing out in many American cities

and a most unusual by-product. Every year the city of Los Angeles

holds a gun amnesty to get weapons off the streets and hopefully

reduce violence there. This year those guns are the basis for a

unique art project. We went to have a look. From the hands of criminals

into the studio of an artist. Guns from the streets of Los Angeles

transformed into sculptures. A portrait of crime, their creator

calls them. This is a special piece. It is made out of, this one a man

has 50 shotguns. You can see the profile. Can you see the nose? This

is the profile. The LAPD collected, decommission, and then delivered

two tons of weapons and left the rest to Victor Hugo's science.

aim is to take these guns, break them down, change them, transform

them into something us. But they still have a powerful image. People

identify with them. -- something else. They know what it is

immediately. It is may be a secondary reading. You get closer

and you see they are made out of instruments of death or violence.

There is no shortage of supply in Los Angeles for the budding artist.

The police recover thousands of weapons every year from crime

scenes, or from buying them back off the streets. Most of them are

simply destroyed. But for the high- powered weapons that end up here,

many more are still out there are feeling gang related violence.

is a problem in LA. But it is not like it was years ago. In the early

90s we had something like 1,200 murders every year. We are down to

less than 300. It is still quite a huge number. But compared to Howard

was we have had and nine you decrease in violent and gun crime.

The guns have gone full circle, returning to the police

headquarters to be unveiled in an exhibition to highlight what has

been done to reduce the violent I think the message is so positive.

If fighting get people to look at the differently, then I have

achieved something. A solid artistic reminder of the violence

with which historically the city has been so closely connected.

The city of Rome already offers visitors an almost overwhelming

variety of things to see and do. It is about to show one more

remarkable exhibit. The air raid shelter of Benito Mussolini. It has

been shut for years because of a build-up of dangerous gases. But

now the problem has been resolved and visitors will soon be able to

return and they are likely to come away with a full understanding of

the dictator's last days. The Villa Torlonia and its gardens.

An oasis of calm in the heart of Rome. It is a park now, but this

used to be the playground of one of the great dictators, Benito

Mussolini. The Bilal was his home for 18 years. This is the place

where he relaxed. Here, he was surrounded by his wife and children.

But amid all this luxury, perhaps in his bed in the quiet of the

night, the dictator began to worry about his safety. What if he were

the target of an air raid? TRANSLATION: He had a need for

security. But there was also an attempt to imitate Hitler. He had

been to Germany and seen the bunkers. So he decided that he

needed to go down, not just into his basement area, but down much

deeper still. He wanted to go into the depths of the Earth, below the

foundations. This is the bunker that Mussolini began to build.

Cylindrical corridors for maximum strength. The walls are four metres

thick. Layers of concrete reinforced with iron. Also an

escape route up into the garden, in case bombs demolished the house and

blocked the bunkers' main entrance. In the start, the date and he

replays, Mussolini hoped that he and his children would be safe. As

the work dragged on and on, he wrote in his diary that he was

worried it would not be finished in time. It seemed to add to a growing

sense of unease. Indeed the work was not finished by the time the

dictator fell from power. Today it looks as grand as ever. But it

hides a Haing -- a stranger struck doubt that his evidence of the

darkest fears of Benito Mussolini. There is a major push in South

Korea to get more people into work. The country's labour force is

shrinking because of their ageing population, and the pressure is on

to get more employment hours for mothers returning to work. That is

proving to be a bit of a challenge. Hwang Jin-Young does not look like

a woman about to go into battle, but this class is part of a quest

that will Peter again some of South Korea's most entrenched cultural

values. She is looking for a job, specifically one that will also

allow her to see her three-year-old son. TRANSLATION: I need to work

around my child's schedule. He goes to nursery but there is a limit to

how long he can stay there. The company is looking for people who

can work until 9pm at night, so it is difficult to find a job. Less

than half of South Korea's female workforce is currently employed.

The government is keen to get more mothers working. It needs the taxes

to pay for its ageing population and expanding welfare. The South

Korea's stubbornly long working hours are only one part of the

problem. Long working hours are not only for grown-ups. Academic

achievement is a National vocation, and the saying goes, a big part of

South Korea's academic success is down to the so-called helicopter

mum, who hovers over her children night and day as they study. It is

something else the government would like to change. TRANSLATION: The

reason why South Korea's education is so high is to support children

get from their mothers at home. Now there are new demands for women to

withdraw it -- rejoin the workforce. It is important to have shorter

working hours, not just for women, but men as well, so they can be

there to help bring up the children. Shorter working hours, raising the

minimum wage and be more flexible could boost the numbers of women in

work, but the changes are likely to cost companies more, and in the

current economic climate, many businesses find that idea

unattractive. But as its ageing population starts to grow, South

Korea faces a choice between its economic health and its corporate

culture. The simple choice may end up changing a whole lot more.

The London Olympics I just days away and lots of schools in Britain

had had Olympic themed sports days, including Colegrave Primary, our

chosen school of 2012. The children can see the Olympic Park from their

playground. They are going to be doing a lot more than just watching

the games. They are living by the Olympics,

they had been learning about it, and now they are holding their own.

Sports days are a great opportunity for them to take part in events

that they will be seeing at the Games. What you will always see is

a sense of joy. I just like being at sports day because it is great

fun. Also the feeling of participating, and feeling good

that you have done something. would love to be any Olympian one

day. All these events looks so far. Doing them for your country must be

the best feeling in the world. only thing that could surpass your

very own at in the school day is being part of the real thing. For

some kids, that is no longer just a dream. More than 30 of them had

been selected to take part in the opening ceremony. They will hit the

headlines. Danny Boyle came to Colegrave and fell in love with the

children. I was really excited. I was jumping up and down and running

around the school. I was amazed. I did not know that I was going to be

chosen. My family were so happy. We went out for a special meal. I feel

excited. Excited because my family will see me on television. They

like seeing me on television. in the opening ceremony has had a

positive effect on the whole school. It has really inspired our children.

Their confidence has blossomed over the last few months. They say eat

is not the winning but the taking part that counts, but the children