:00:00. > :00:19.ability to protect itself is tested. Now on BBC News - Reporters.
:00:20. > :00:27.Welcome to reporters. In a special edition of the programme, we are
:00:28. > :00:30.looking back at some of the highlights of the year from our
:00:31. > :00:37.correspondent across the globe. Coming up, as Sri Lanka hosted the
:00:38. > :00:42.Commonwealth suburb, we investigated allegations of culture and a
:00:43. > :00:45.deepening climate of oppression. TRANSLATION: They hung me up naked
:00:46. > :00:55.and beat me with iron rods. They don't be with cigarette arts. A
:00:56. > :00:57.nation in hiding, will report from the Central African Republic as
:00:58. > :01:04.thousands flee the escalating violence. TRANSLATION: They killed
:01:05. > :01:10.my father and took his body. I do not know what will happen to me now.
:01:11. > :01:15.The real great escape. The true life story of the World War II prison
:01:16. > :01:20.Break caught on camera. Only a handful may be back here -- made it
:01:21. > :01:25.back here to France, and only one survives.
:01:26. > :01:28.The legend of breaking bad. We report from New Mexico on what is
:01:29. > :01:32.being called the greatest TV show ever.
:01:33. > :01:36.This American tale may be fed on the myth of the west, but it is grounded
:01:37. > :01:44.firmly in the reality of the sleepless city.
:01:45. > :01:48.It was a brutal chapter in Sri Lanka is turbulent past. In the last few
:01:49. > :01:52.months of the country 's civil war, 40,000 people were killed and tens
:01:53. > :01:55.of thousands more simply disappeared. Their families are
:01:56. > :02:00.still left in the dark. An international enquiry was set up to
:02:01. > :02:03.find out exactly what happened, but even after controversially hosting
:02:04. > :02:07.this year 's Commonwealth summit, the Sri Lankan government says it
:02:08. > :02:11.has no intention of cooperating with this enquiry. It says its own
:02:12. > :02:17.investigation is enough. Just before the summit, we had this report from
:02:18. > :02:23.Sri Lanka. A warning, it contains some graphic descriptions of
:02:24. > :02:26.torture. In the Tamil north, the young are
:02:27. > :02:30.marching to welcome the Commonwealth. A local television
:02:31. > :02:33.station organised the rally. They passed the giant memorial
:02:34. > :02:38.celebrating the army 's victory over the Tamil Tigers. In this triumphant
:02:39. > :02:45.vision of Sri Lanka is present, peace reigns. The State rejects
:02:46. > :02:48.itself as firm but benign. These are civil defence members, Tamils
:02:49. > :02:55.employed by the government to provide local security. TRANSLATION:
:02:56. > :03:00.At the moment, the situation is good. The government has given us
:03:01. > :03:05.jobs. We are able to carry on with our day-to-day lives happily.
:03:06. > :03:10.Infrastructure is being repaired. There have been the first provincial
:03:11. > :03:14.elections in decades. As part of what the government calls it
:03:15. > :03:19.reconciliation agenda, some 12,000 former Tamil Tiger detainees have
:03:20. > :03:22.been released. Challenging that official narrative is the evidence
:03:23. > :03:28.of UN investigators and major human rights organisations. They described
:03:29. > :03:32.a country where repression is widespread and security forces can
:03:33. > :03:37.act with impunity. We have spoken with some of those who allege state
:03:38. > :03:42.brutality because they fear reprisal, we have agreed to protect
:03:43. > :03:45.their identity will stop allegations of torture have been levelled at
:03:46. > :03:50.successive governments here, but under the current administration,
:03:51. > :03:53.activists say the climate of repression has deepened. During the
:03:54. > :03:56.war, this man was detained on terrorism charges was the war, this
:03:57. > :03:58.man was detained on terrorism charges were only recently
:03:59. > :04:03.released, he says he was tortured to obtain a confession. TRANSLATION:
:04:04. > :04:06.They hung me up naked and beat me with iron rods. They don't be with
:04:07. > :04:13.cigarette butts and four or five people would squeeze my penis. Every
:04:14. > :04:19.time they asked a question, they would squeeze my penis. I used to
:04:20. > :04:23.crawl across the floor in pain. The group Human Rights Watch says rape
:04:24. > :04:26.and sexual violence are widely used against detainees, something the
:04:27. > :04:35.government denies. We travelled to a safe house where we met a former
:04:36. > :04:39.detainee. She alleges beatings and sexual assault and threats of rape
:04:40. > :04:44.and she says she will overdose if it occurs again. TRANSLATION: I do not
:04:45. > :04:49.want to be sexually molested by the army. If they take me, I know I will
:04:50. > :04:55.talk to -- I know I will be tortured and will not come back again. I keep
:04:56. > :05:02.these tablets because I do not want to be raped by them. She asked me
:05:03. > :05:06.who is going to protect her, for now she will be hiding in this safe
:05:07. > :05:11.house, but long-term, what guarantees are there when the people
:05:12. > :05:16.that she is in mortal terror of have the forces of law themselves? The
:05:17. > :05:21.greatest abuses are alleged to have happened at the war 's end. In this
:05:22. > :05:26.region, where people 's belongings are still scattered, a UN panel of
:05:27. > :05:30.experts says cop to 40,000 may have died amid fierce shelling of what
:05:31. > :05:35.were supposed to be safe zones. It is alleged civilians were
:05:36. > :05:37.indiscriminately shelled, prisoners executed and others vanished after
:05:38. > :05:43.surrendering to the army. Charges the government rejects. The
:05:44. > :05:46.government feels it should be congratulated for defeating the
:05:47. > :05:50.Tamil Tigers, an organisation accused by the UN of using civilians
:05:51. > :05:56.as human shields and shooting people who tried to flee at the Wallsend.
:05:57. > :06:00.The Foreign Minister insists enquiries are independent, not a
:06:01. > :06:08.whitewash, as human rights groups claim. They are questioning our
:06:09. > :06:12.intention to appoint an investigative body. It is something
:06:13. > :06:18.that is already happening and is ongoing. There are circumstances
:06:19. > :06:23.warrant an investigation, not circumstances that warrant a
:06:24. > :06:25.preconception of guilt. If there is any attempt to settle an
:06:26. > :06:30.international investigation, Sri Lanka will not co-operate? We have
:06:31. > :06:37.been saying that it is unwarranted, there is no reason to do this. It is
:06:38. > :06:42.entirely without justification. There is peace of a kind now in the
:06:43. > :06:51.north, but it is accompanied by the silence of absences, unanswered
:06:52. > :06:55.questions and of fear. From Sri Lanka is human rights
:06:56. > :06:59.record to a warning of genocide in the Central African Republic. The UN
:07:00. > :07:04.says this country is on the verge of chaos. More than 400,000 people,
:07:05. > :07:10.nearly a 10th of the population, have fled their homes as a violence
:07:11. > :07:13.escalates, mainly by Muslim militias against Christian communities, the
:07:14. > :07:21.country has been in turmoil since a coup last March. 40,000 refugees are
:07:22. > :07:28.seeking shelter in a town. You may find this report distressing.
:07:29. > :07:39.The silence is haunting and unbroken. It lasts for hundreds of
:07:40. > :07:51.miles. Abandoned villages, burned villages. The eerie sense of a
:07:52. > :07:57.nation in hiding. Finally, we spot three nervous, ghostlike figures. On
:07:58. > :08:05.the right, the man says we thought you were the rebels. He says his
:08:06. > :08:08.family, six kids and the rest of the village are all hiding out here in
:08:09. > :08:15.the bushes, too scared to come back towards the road. We will see them
:08:16. > :08:20.now. As word spreads, others cautiously approached us. Months of
:08:21. > :08:26.conflict here in the Central African Republic have forced perhaps 400,000
:08:27. > :08:33.people to run for their lives. They are stranded, increasingly desperate
:08:34. > :08:41.and far from help. Disease killed this woman's youngest daughter. The
:08:42. > :08:50.rebels killed her brother. We live like animals, says the local
:08:51. > :08:57.teacher. No clean water, no food. Back on the road and far to the
:08:58. > :09:02.south, we run into the rebels. They are mostly Muslims, some foreign.
:09:03. > :09:06.They seized power in the country weeks ago, but their rebellion, no
:09:07. > :09:12.means the first year, has collapsed into a murderous free for all. It
:09:13. > :09:23.now seems no one is in charge. The violence is surging.
:09:24. > :09:31.Suddenly, we stumble across the latest bloodshed. They bring out
:09:32. > :09:36.their dead. Rebel fighters attacked a few hours ago. A young Christian
:09:37. > :09:41.farmer, one of five killed here. Religion now fuelling the violence.
:09:42. > :09:50.TRANSLATION: The international community, the French, must protect
:09:51. > :09:56.us. The Muslims are terrorising us. Now the Christians are hitting back.
:09:57. > :10:04.Nearby, we meet members of a self defence militia. The weapons are
:10:05. > :10:07.home-made. The desire for vengeance is growing. These groups have
:10:08. > :10:16.already carried out brutal reprisals against Muslims.
:10:17. > :10:21.In the middle of the mayhem, this streetsmart child has found a
:10:22. > :10:25.sanctuary in the church compound in town. He ran from his village when
:10:26. > :10:34.the rebels came last month and read -- left him as an orphan. 40,000
:10:35. > :10:43.people have now joined him here. He fights back the tears. TRANSLATION:
:10:44. > :10:57.They killed my father and took his body. I do not know what will happen
:10:58. > :11:03.to me now. It is fear that is trapping tens of
:11:04. > :11:07.thousands of people in one spot and that will not change until people
:11:08. > :11:11.are sure it is safe to go home. French and African forces are poised
:11:12. > :11:17.to arrive here in the next week or so, and things could change or
:11:18. > :11:22.improve quite quickly. But can they protect everyone, and for how long?
:11:23. > :11:29.This is a chronically unstable nation. With trust absent, the only
:11:30. > :11:32.currency that counts is fear. Things have never been this band. -- this
:11:33. > :11:43.bad. To break out of a German prisoner of
:11:44. > :11:46.war camp is remarkable in itself but to escape and capture it all on film
:11:47. > :11:51.is possibly one of the most amazing true stories of the Second World
:11:52. > :11:54.War. The BBC obtained in new footage depending -- depicting an audacious
:11:55. > :11:59.escape by French prisoners filmed by the inmates of themselves. As we
:12:00. > :12:06.report from Paris, it gives us a chilling view of life inside a
:12:07. > :12:13.German prisoner of war camp. 1940. The bleak surroundings of a
:12:14. > :12:19.prison camp in north-east Austria holding 5000 French officers. This
:12:20. > :12:23.rarely seen footage is a 30 minute documentary shot in secret by the
:12:24. > :12:28.prisoners themselves. Risking death, they recorded it on a secret
:12:29. > :12:32.camera that was smuggled into the camp in sausages. The team concealed
:12:33. > :12:37.in a hollowed out dictionary. The 8mm reels were hidden in the heels
:12:38. > :12:40.of their shoes. It is an extraordinary story but it is what
:12:41. > :12:45.they filmed which makes it all the more remarkable. This lieutenant was
:12:46. > :12:52.a former inmate and part of the escape committee. TRANSLATION: We
:12:53. > :12:56.dug a number of tunnels from the huts in which we were barracked. The
:12:57. > :13:01.guards always found them, looking for the dearth -- the Earth we dug
:13:02. > :13:06.out. They did eventually find a way. The father of this meant was a
:13:07. > :13:11.prisoner and he showed us the plan. The Germans allowed them to build an
:13:12. > :13:14.open air theatre. They had now half the distance to go and with the
:13:15. > :13:21.crudest tools, the malnourished men set to work. TRANSLATION: They were
:13:22. > :13:24.university professors, mathematicians, geologists, and
:13:25. > :13:33.architects so they can't you let the length and direction of the tunnel
:13:34. > :13:38.exactly. -- they cut elated. The tunnel was ventilated with empty
:13:39. > :13:44.tins of Pisa stuck together. They are had teams to get civilian
:13:45. > :13:55.clothes and false identity papers. By September 1943, they were ready
:13:56. > :13:59.to go. TRANSLATION: There was so little space that we were forced to
:14:00. > :14:03.lie in faecal positions. There was little air. Some fainted and all the
:14:04. > :14:06.time, we imagined the worst, the German firing squad that would be
:14:07. > :14:08.waiting at the end of the tunnel. That would be waiting at the end of
:14:09. > :14:15.the once they had gone beneath the wire,
:14:16. > :14:22.they were still deep inside German occupied territory. Of the 132
:14:23. > :14:26.escapees, 100 35 were recaptured in a week. Only a handful made it back
:14:27. > :14:35.to France and only one survives to this day. To celebrate his 100th
:14:36. > :14:41.birthday, John was honoured by Paris. He found his way to Vienna in
:14:42. > :14:45.1943 where he worked as a nurse. He eventually secured a weekend pass
:14:46. > :14:48.back to Paris. The homecoming was not enough. Within weeks, he
:14:49. > :14:56.rejoined the war effort and was now fighting for the resistance.
:14:57. > :15:04.This may sound rather like life in a prisoner of war camp, working 13
:15:05. > :15:09.hours a day with four hours of sleep but it is a typical day for South
:15:10. > :15:16.Korean children. It is the secret of syrup -- success in their schools.
:15:17. > :15:19.The country was ranked fifth in the OECD league table of educational
:15:20. > :15:28.outcomes. We have been speaking to schoolchildren in Seoul.
:15:29. > :15:33.South Korea wary child's life revolves around education. Regular
:15:34. > :15:36.school is problem -- followed by private school. This makes them some
:15:37. > :15:44.of the most formidable pupils in the world. This 16 -year-old goes to
:15:45. > :15:53.school in Seoul, made famous by the popstar. After school, she leaves
:15:54. > :16:00.with her brother are far from relaxing at home, she sets off again
:16:01. > :16:04.for her second round of study. Even the little ones do it double shift,
:16:05. > :16:07.long after what might be considered bedtime the UK, these tots are still
:16:08. > :16:20.working. She then spend hours here at the
:16:21. > :16:26.private crammer, just like the majority of Korean children. Eight
:16:27. > :16:35.get tired usually but I can forget about this when I see my results.
:16:36. > :16:39.They are kind of good. She gets home after 11:00pm, having spent a
:16:40. > :16:46.mammoth 13 hours studying. It is better to look p.m. And then up at
:16:47. > :16:50.6:30am to do it all over again. TRANSLATION: Korea has few natural
:16:51. > :16:54.resources, we any have people. Anybody who wants to be resourceful
:16:55. > :16:57.has to stand out. I'm not comfortable about this as a mother
:16:58. > :17:02.but it's the only thing she can do to achieve her dream. For the
:17:03. > :17:06.economy, this huge investment has taken the country in just two
:17:07. > :17:12.generations from mass illiteracy to technological powerhouse. Korea's
:17:13. > :17:16.success has come at a cost. The pressure on young people is huge and
:17:17. > :17:20.the suicide rate is the highest of all developed countries. Is this
:17:21. > :17:25.pressurised environment and sustainable? TRANSLATION: I don't
:17:26. > :17:30.think any other country has achieved such a rapid growth as South Korea
:17:31. > :17:33.in the past 50 years. We focused on school achievement and that has put
:17:34. > :17:37.a lot of people under stress and that is why we have a high suicide
:17:38. > :17:40.rates. We have long way to go but we are doing some soul-searching and we
:17:41. > :17:47.are trying to make our people happier. In many ways, Korea is the
:17:48. > :17:51.envy of the Western world. Ministers in Westminster and beyond that look
:17:52. > :17:54.longingly at the education record but the phenomenal success has come
:17:55. > :18:00.at a price which is that people are now gradually starting to weigh up.
:18:01. > :18:10.It has been called the best thing on television or year, groundbreaking
:18:11. > :18:17.and Shakespearean. Breaking Bag is the story of an American maths
:18:18. > :18:22.teacher -- and strategic who turns to cooking crystal meth for his
:18:23. > :18:26.family. Fans have been hooked on the winning formula for five seasons. As
:18:27. > :18:31.the legend came to an end, Johnny Diamond sense us this spoiler free
:18:32. > :18:43.report from the so-called Breaking Bad land of Albuquerque.
:18:44. > :18:50.New Mexico. This is the landscape of bad. Drug deals gone wrong and
:18:51. > :19:01.shootouts at twilight. Very Dusty Rhodes. -- dusty roads. This is just
:19:02. > :19:09.part of Breaking Bad. This is the epic, the mesa, the space will man
:19:10. > :19:14.can lose himself. There is another Breaking Bad, car washes and fast
:19:15. > :19:26.food joints, ordinary and banal. It seems that they are the unlikely
:19:27. > :19:32.stars. This is banal. In the show, this chicken restaurant and crystal
:19:33. > :19:39.meth nerves centre. In reality, and not too bad burrito joint. For some,
:19:40. > :19:44.that dreary as location is a cause for celebration. The locations by
:19:45. > :19:48.and large have not been set decorator. They are what they are.
:19:49. > :19:52.They are authentic. It shows that we have a quirky side to this place
:19:53. > :20:03.which we call home in the high desert south-west. It has become an
:20:04. > :20:12.organic element that we are, even natives to Albuquerque will say it
:20:13. > :20:20.looks pretty cool. And when locations are this good, white dress
:20:21. > :20:25.them up? A car wash in real life. In Breaking Bad, this was a car wash.
:20:26. > :20:32.Not just any car wash, of course. It was also the vehicle for laundering
:20:33. > :20:38.great big bricks of drug money. This is crystal meth candy. We call it
:20:39. > :20:44.Breaking Bad candy. The media dubbed it blew meth. Cooking up television
:20:45. > :20:49.-based candy is bring together to real-world addictions. Is this is
:20:50. > :20:57.very good. You don't think it is in our tastes? Not at all. Walter
:20:58. > :21:02.White's character is what they are developing and progressing. Did not
:21:03. > :21:05.-- it is not about this. It is about the development of the character and
:21:06. > :21:14.what happens to him. This is just a prop.
:21:15. > :21:28.The contemporary Western has no heroes, just doubt and death in
:21:29. > :21:31.equal measure. This American tale may be fed on the myth of the West
:21:32. > :21:35.but it is grounded firmly in the reality of the sleepless city.
:21:36. > :21:43.That is all from the special edition of Reporters, looking at some of the
:21:44. > :22:04.best stories from 2013. Goodbye. Have a happy New Year.
:22:05. > :22:11.Aloe once again. It looks like we will see further spells of wet and
:22:12. > :22:13.windy weather. Over the next two or three days or so. If you have any
:22:14. > :22:14.concerns about