This week's episode of International Dateline features three segments:
Interview with Richard Branson
Host George Negus interviews CEO and founder of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson.
The eccentric billionaire heads up one of the biggest and well known brands in the world, dominating the financial, retail, music, soft drink and travel industries. However the 236th richest person in the world shows no signs of slowing down his massive empire. Currently Virgin Galactic is developing the world's first commercial space aircraft, allowing anyone to fly to space – for a price of $US 200,000.
India's Free Lunch
This week Amos Roberts travels to India's Bangalore and reports on an inspiring story of how the nation is feeding almost 150-million school children - many of whom would otherwise go without lunch.
Following a landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 2001, India’s state governments were ordered to provide free meals for all primary school children aged 10 and under. Last year, the scheme was expanded to include children up to the age of 13 and now some states have even gone further, providing meals for children up to 10th grade.
Prior to the free lunch program, parents living below the poverty line often sent their children to work and as a result, about one million kids were out of school.
One of the program administrators tells Roberts that the initiative has seen a significant spike in school attendance in all grades. While the some schools take responsibility for providing the food, others schools handover the job to the Hare Krishna movement, which provides meals for 820,000 children every day.
So while Western governments and celebrity chefs agonize over how to improve nutrition for children, India has actually gone ahead and done something about it.
Thailand's War on Drugs
Video Journalist David O'Shea travels to Thailand where another war on drugs is about to start.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawartra launched one of the world's toughest crackdowns on illegal drugs in 2003, which ultimately resulted in over 2,500 deaths. A government inquiry later found that over half of the dead were innocent people.
Now Thailand's new pro-Thaksin government is set to launch a second war on drugs, and some critics believe the authorities have ulterior motives.
"There are pockets of organized opposition, long term opposition to Mr Thaksin, and these people could be affected - targeted - I would not rule it out", says Thai MP, Kraisak Choohaven. Has the government learned from its mistakes? Or will history repeat itself?
Watch these segments online at SBS:
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.
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