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Europe’s super-trawlers have fished their own waters clean. Now, they have appeared to the south off the coast of Africa. One West African nation is ready to fight for its fish stocks. The government of Gabon has teamed up with a militant conservation group called the Sea Shepherd, whose members are notorious for employing extreme tactics to thwart marine poaching.

After 5 years of war, Islamic State’s de-facto capital, Raqqa, has been surrounded. On the east side of the city, the road to Raqqa passes the base of the Kurdish women’s protection units and a base for foreign volunteers, as well as a field hospital. Our film crew came here to obtain exclusive frontline footage and talk to the people fighting ISIS militants.

As Peru’s president in the 1990s, Alberto Fujimori introduced a surgical contraception programme to fight poverty – purportedly on a strictly voluntary basis. However, thousands of indigenous women from Peru’s poorest villages are now coming forward with horror stories describing forced sterilisations. 

Russian paratroopers aren’t called the “winged infantry” for nothing – their forte is surprising the enemy from above. Anna and Pavel join the servicemen at an airborne training complex for pre-jump training and to learn parachuting safety skills. 

Pavel and Anna are sent on a crash-course in alpinism. Scaling the climbing wall turns out to be much more difficult than it first appears, although one of them does succeed in reaching the top. Afterwards, they head to an obstacle course in a snow-covered forest. So much for a seaside holiday.

Anna and Pavel join Russian paratroopers in Novorossiysk – a Hero City on the shores of the Black Sea. They want to test several myths, such as whether every paratrooper gets a special tattoo, and whether it’s possible to parachute out of a plane inside an armoured assault vehicle.

Today is D-Day, when Anna and Pavel must demonstrate what they’ve learnt with the marines. Pavel leaves in a boat, tasked with clearing the area of mines. Anna follows him accompanied by an assault group in an armoured vehicle. Together they must neutralise a threat in the hills where a “terrorist stronghold” is based.

You awake in a country where you know no one, where crime lurks behind every corner, and where you barely speak the language. Is it a nightmare? For those deported back to Mexico after decades living in the US, this horrific situation is very much a reality. Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, Americans are engaged in a fierce debate over whether Trump’s ‘Wall’ is a symbol of security and sovereignty, or racism and oppression. 

Anna and Pavel start the day with a gruelling early-morning exercise session, and that’s just the beginning of a long day full of challenging training! Pavel must learn how to locate landmines without stepping on them, while Anna sacrifices her manicure in the name of preparing an armoured vehicle to go into water. Finally, they get to ride this amphibian Navy machine. Will they sink or swim?

Anna and Pavel are in the city of Vladivostok, the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet. They join a group of marines known as “The Ussuriysk Tigers” in a bid to earn the right to wear their distinctive black berets. They’ll also learn the trick to keeping a large armoured vehicle afloat, as well as how to make a bed to perfection.

 Anna and Pavel are still in the woods, and it’s beginning to take its toll on them. After a sleepless night, they are jaded, cold and hungry. An attempt to eat some army food is interrupted by the enemy fire. They both are at a breaking point and agree it’s the worst time of their lives. 

It’s time for Anna and Pavel to apply the military skills they’ve learnt in the “survival school” and test their endurance. The recruits are sent into the woods. For two long days, they’ll fight-off attacks, dig trenches, get gassed, drink marsh water and sleep in the forest. See if they survive.

Having survived the dreaded “psychological assault course” in Tajikistan, Anna and Pavel now join a “survival school” in Nizhny Novgorod region. It’s a place where former conscripts are trained to become contract soldiers. There are a lot of women here, which is surprising as they are normally exempt from military service. 

The day Anna and Pavel have been training for is finally here! Everything they’ve learnt while serving in the 201st Motor Rifle Division was to prepare them for this moment. It’s time to pass the legendary and highly-demanding psychological assault course. Are they ready?

It’s Anna and Pavel’s chance to learn to drive and shoot from an armoured vehicle! They’re being transferred to the 191st Motor Rifle Regiment, based 100 km away from the capital of Tajikistan. First, they’ll undergo individual training and then apply their new skills in a joint operation.

Anna and Pavel explore the BM-21 a.k.a. “Grad” – a truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher system. They are eager to find out about how “Grads” make use of drones, and whether it is possible to survive a “Grad” attack.