大象传媒

Pascale Harter introduces stories from the US-Mexico border, Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region, a Gazan family in Egypt and the sacred sites of voodoo in Benin.

After the economy, American have rated immigration as the second most important issue on their minds as they prepare to vote in the US Presidential election. While Donald Trump has suggested mass deportations for undocumented migrants, Kamala Harris has committed to speeding up permits for legal workers and unclogging the immigration courts. In Texas and in Mexico, James Menendez heard from unhappy landowners and frustrated would-be migrants about delays and dysfunction in the system.

When Russia invaded southern Ukraine in 2022, Nick Sturdee met local men in the town of Voznesensk near Kherson, getting ready to defend their homes. Now the military boot's on the other foot - as they contacted him again from their position inside Russian territory, in the border region of Kursk. They are defiant about taking the war to Russia - but Russian troops are still advancing ever faster in the Donbas region.

For more than a year, when trying to follow the news of Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the world has relied heavily on video shot by non-professionals. As the foreign media have been largely denied entry, ordinary Gazans have filmed their experiences and shown them to international viewers. Lara Elgabaly recently assembled an hour long documentary from footage like this, shot by four families over a year. What was it like to finally meet one of them in Cairo, after they'd managed to leave Gaza and find safety in Egypt?

Everything you think you know about voodoo is probably wrong. In its original form, there are no zombies, curses or dolls studded with pins; instead, it's a complex belief system which reveres nature and encourages people to behave ethically. Sam Bradpiece reports on how the West African country of Benin is drawing on its voodoo heritage to attract more tourists - and clear up some historic misunderstandings.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison

(Image: From an aerial view, a Texas National Guard soldier inspects razor wire along the bank of the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)