Host Carol Castiel and other panelists interview best-selling authors, analysts, politicians, US government officials, ambassadors and foreign heads of state about critical issues facing the US and the world.

BANGLADESH - RANA PLAZA FALLOUT

Host Carol Castiel and Roquia Haider, Chief of VOA’s Bangla Service, speak with T. Kumar, Director for International Advocacy at Amnesty International USA & Charles Kernaghan, Director of the Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights, about the significance and impact of an international agreement signed by several top global clothing retailers as well as measures that the government of Bangladesh agreed to implement to improve working conditions in the country’s garment industry in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse.

DANNY BEN-MOSHE, DIRECTOR OF SHALOM BOLLYWOOD

On the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema, host Carol Castiel and Shegoftah Nasreen Queen, broadcaster in VOA’s Bangla Service, talk with filmmaker Danny Ben-Moshe about his forthcoming film “Shalom Bollywood,” which recounts the prominent role Indian Jews played on stage and behind the camera in Indian cinema.

MOLLY MELCHING, TOSTAN (FGM)

Host Pam Dockins, International Broadcaster in VOA’s Central News, and Harun Maruf, Senior Editor of VOA’s Somali Service, speak with Molly Melching, the founder of TOSTAN, an organization based in Senegal which has developed a community-based approach to educate people about the potential health dangers of female genital mutilation

MARINA OTTAWAY ON IRAQ

Host Carol Castiel and Dakhil Shammo, broadcaster with VOA’s Kurdish Service, speak with Marina Ottaway, a Senior Scholar with the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, about the growing sectarian tensions that threaten the territorial integrity of Iraq, 10 years after the US-led invasion was supposed to have ushered in stability and democracy.

PETER EICHSTAEDT ON AFGHANISTAN

Host Carol Castiel and Chief of VOA’s Dari Service Akmal Dawi speak with former Afghanistan country director of the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Peter Eichstaedt, about his new book, “Above the Din of War: Afghans Speak About Their Lives, Their Country, and Their Future – and Why America Should Listen.”

MWANGI KIMENYI, DIRECTOR OF THE AFRICA GROWTH INITIATIVE, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION

Host Carol Castiel and Host of Africa 54, Vincent Makori, speak with Dr. Kimenyi about the aftermath of the Kenyan election as Uhuro Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, is sworn in as President. Kimenyi tells Carol and Vincent that the vote represented, in part, a repudiation of the ICC. But he also believes that Kenyatta and his deputy, Ruto, no matter how controversial internationally due to ICC indictments, have a legitimate mandate to govern. Kimenyi discusses the challenges that face Kenyatta and how he is likely to interact with the United States and other western nations, many of whom had hoped his challenger, Raila Odinga, would win the election. Kimenya also offers thoughts about China’s push into Africa.