This International Dateline episode includes three segments: Lebanon - Tearing Itself Apart?, Fouad Siniora Interview, and China's Struggle Street.
Lebanon - Tearing Itself Apart?
Burning tires, deadly shootouts, tanks on the street, a city on fire: This was Beirut just three weeks ago. It started as a national strike, called by the Opposition, but quickly became a bloody conflict between Sunnis and Shias, many of them young men. And filming it all was Dateline video journalist Sophie McNeill. To make sense of this new sectarian strife, Sophie has scored a rare interview with Sheikh Noradeen, a senior member of Hezbollah's political council. She's also interviewed the US Ambassador to Lebanon, as well as mixing it with Shias and Sunnis on the streets.
Is the sectarian divide a proxy war between the US and its enemies? And will it escalate into a widespread battle between Shias and Sunnis?
Fouad Siniora Interview
So, how troubled is the Lebanese Prime Minister over this recent sectarian strife? Does he fear it could become an all-out civil war between Shias and Sunnis? And what does he say to Sheikh Noradeen's claims that he's in cahoots with the United States to abolish Hezbollah? Find out when George Negus interviews the Lebanese PM, Fouad Siniora.
China's Struggle Street
China's economy may be booming but what's life like for those at the bottom of the food chain? Video journalist Chris Hammer goes in search of the so-called 'migrant workers', who've moved from inland China to places like Shanghai, looking for work. Chris finds a street sweeper, two garbage sellers, a restaurant owner and a waitress, who all work long hours for little money but say they're happy.
About International Dateline
SBS Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program. It has a well-earned reputation for authoritative and incisive reporting. Dateline has taken the traditional way of producing TV current affairs and turned it on its head. Reporters who used to travel with a cameraperson and sound recordist now travel alone and have the responsibility of both filming and reporting their stories. The reporters became video-journalists, gaining access to people and places that the conventional camera crews cannot.
