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Putins Way

   2015    History
PBS FRONTLINE investigates the accusations of criminality and corruption that have surrounded Vladimir Putin's reign in Russia. Tracing his career back over two decades, Putin's Way reveals how the accumulation of wealth and power has led to autocratic rule and the specter of a new Cold War

Operation Condor

       History
Operation Condor was a campaign of political repression and terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of opponents, officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America. The program was intended to eradicate communist or Soviet influence and ideas, and to suppress active or potential opposition movements against the participating governments.

The Grasslands

   2011    Culture
Grasslands feed the world. Over thousands of years, we humans have learned to grow grains on the grasslands and domesticate the creatures that live there. Our success has propelled our population to almost seven billion people. But this episode reveals that, even today, life in the 'Garden of Eden' isn't always rosy. We walk with the Dorobo people of Kenya as they bravely attempt to scare off a pride of hungry lions from their freshly caught kill. We gallop across the Steppe with extraordinary Mongolian horsemen who were 'born in the saddle'. And in a perfect partnership with nature built up over generations Maasai children must literally talk to the birds! The honeyguide leads them to find sweet treats, but they'll have to repay the favour.
Series: Human Planet

Is Anybody Out There

   2015    Science
In August 1977, the Big Ear Radio-telescope in Ohio received a strange signal from the Sagittarius constellation while searching for intelligent extra-terrestrial life. It had a duration of 72 seconds and an intensity 30 times higher than usual. Named the Wow signal, it is still being considered as one of the best examples of having being sent by intelligent extraterrestrial life. But, nothing has revolutionised the search of extra-terrestrial intelligent life as much as the recent discovery by the Kepler Satellite, of thousands of Earth-like planets where life could be possible. Join the debate with this stunning documentary, as we ask Is Anybody Out There?

The Great Flood

   2009    Nature
The great flood in the Okavango turns 4,000 square miles of arid plains into a beautiful wetland. Elephant mothers guide their families on an epic trek across the harsh Kalahari Desert towards it, siphoning fresh water from stagnant pools and facing hungry lions. Hippos battle for territory, as the magical water draws in thousands of buffalo and birds, and vast clouds of dragonflies. Will the young elephant calves survive to reach this grassland paradise? The experienced mother elephants time their arrival at the delta to coincide with the lush grass produced by the great flood.
In a TV first, the programme shows the way they use their trunks to siphon clean water from the surface layers of a stagnant pool, while avoiding stirring up the muddy sediment on the bottom with their feet. Lechwe swamp deer, zebras, giraffes, crocodiles and numerous fish and thousands of birds arrive in the delta. And, in a phenomenon never before filmed in the Okavango, thousands of dragonflies appear - seemingly from nowhere - within minutes of the flood arrival, mating and laying eggs. As the flood finally reaches its peak, elephants and buffalo, near the end of their epic trek across the desert, face the final gauntlet of a hungry pride of lions. In a heart-wrenching sequence, a baby elephant is brought down by a lion in broad daylight.
Series: Nature Great Events

Escaping ISIS

   2015    Culture
In August 2014, ISIS militants raided a Yazidi village in Syria, kidnapping thousands of men, women and children. Hundreds of the kidnapped men were killed or forced to convert to Islam; the women and children were sold as sex slaves or to marry ISIS fighters. Many were raped or became victims of other forms of sexual violence. Escaping ISIS depicts 34 of those captured by militants last year — mostly women and young children — reuniting with their families as they escape to freedom". Some victims were brought to freedom through underground networks, guides inside ISIS and resistance fighters. Women contacted the resistance fighters, begging for rescue; some said the alternative is committing suicide. Many escapees walk for several days with little food and water, often barefoot, risking getting recaptured and killed. One resistance fighter was shot in the back of the head in ISIS territory after they found out that he was working against them. The documentary shows parts of this treacherous journey to freedom.