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Saving the world's wetlands

Iran hosted the first convention to save the world's wetlands in1971.

• 9 mins

Fighting forced marriage in war

Why a court in Sierra Leone ruled that forced marriage was a crime against humanity.

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The strike that shocked India

The Indian railway workers’ strike of 1974 prompted mass arrests and a state of emergency

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The first Arab woman pilot

Egyptian Lotfia Elnadi made history when she gained her pilot licence in 1933

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Amilcar Cabral: An African liberation legend

Amilcar Cabral led the armed struggle against Portuguese colonial rule in West Africa

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Rock concert for Chernobyl

The first charity rock concert ever held in the USSR raised money for Chernobyl survivors

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The Tulsa Race Massacre

In 1921, a white mob destroyed an affluent African-American neighbourhood.

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The war on drugs

President Richard Nixon was the first US President to try to wipe out illegal drug use

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The killing of Pablo Escobar

The Colombian drug lord was shot dead by police in December 1993

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When Peru mistook missionaries for drug traffickers

The Peruvian Air Force shot down a light plane carrying American missionaries in 2001

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Afghanistan's poppy problem

Laila Haidari set up Kabul's first independent drug rehab centre in 2010

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How Switzerland defeated its heroin epidemic

In the 1990s, the Swiss tried radical new policy ideas, including heroin on prescription

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When Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor

Israeli warplanes launched a surprise attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor in June 1981

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Tunisia’s legal brothels

For decades, Tunisia has had a system of legal brothels.

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Benjamin Britten's War Requiem

The emotional first performance at the newly-built Coventry Cathedral in 1962

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The elections that Hamas won

Palestinians voted to elect a new government in 2006. The outcome surprised everyone.

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The Fall of Madrid

How the Spanish capital fell to General Franco's forces in 1939, ending a civil war

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The Confederate flag and America’s battle over race

Why an activist removed the Confederate flag from South Carolina's state house grounds

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Mindfulness for the masses

Scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered a meditative approach to treat pain and depression.

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The police rape interview that shocked Britain

The documentary that changed the way British police treated women reporting rape.

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The Trabant

The iconic East German car that dominated the roads of communist Central Europe

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China's 'Economic Miracle'

Massive economic growth has been possible because of migrant labour, but at what cost?

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The Stonewall Inn

How a protest outside New York's Stonewall Inn inspired the modern gay rights movement.

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Woubis, yossis and travestis: LGBT activism in Côte d’Ivoire

In 1992, a group of LGBT Ivoirians stormed the office of a national newspaper

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The secret diaries of 'Gentleman Jack'

How the sexually explicit journals of a 19th-century English lesbian came to light

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China's LGBT 'cooperative marriages'

Thousands of gay men and lesbians in China hold fake marriages to avoid family pressure

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The repeal of 'Don't ask, don't tell'

For decades LGBT people in the US military had to keep their sexuality secret

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Zimbabwe's mass UFO sightings

Around 60 children said they saw 'aliens' near their school playground in September 1994

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The Syrian playwright who challenged the regime

A play staged in Damascus undermined official propaganda after the 1967 Six Day War

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The world's first offshore wind farm

The world's first offshore wind farm was built off the coast of Denmark in 1991

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