Foreign Correspondent

Tuesday's Foreign Correspondent, a film by Channel News Asia, looks at the legacy of China's strict one-child policy and the unwanted girls given away to foster families.

In regional provinces in China tens of thousands of women are looking for their families. They are the legacy of China's strict one-child policy aimed at controlling population growth. They were abandoned by their parents who wanted their only child to be a son. Many of these unwanted girls were given away to foster families. But their foster parents weren't acting out of kindness. Instead, they had a clear goal: one day the girls were to marry their sons.

On Foreign Correspondent, a film by Channel News Asia captures the stories of these women who are now trying to reclaim their lives. Many have struggled due to lack of education and social stigma and have never adjusted to being married to their foster brothers. As they search for clues to their past, DNA programs are helping them reunite with their biological families.

Throughout the northern summer anti-immigration protests have taken place across the United Kingdom. But while angry crowds have scuffled with police outside hotels housing asylum seekers, the most shocking confrontations have occurred in Northern Ireland.  It's the least diverse region of the UK and racial hate crime is at record levels. This week Foreign Correspondent reporter Barbara Miller travels to the town of Ballymena where some locals are waging a war on migrants, attacking their homes and cars and running them out of town. 

Ballymena is no stranger to violence. During the conflict between the Protestants and the Catholics known as the Troubles, Ballymena saw violent attacks on Catholic homes, schools and churches. Now attention has turned to the Roma community who have moved there in large numbers.   In Ballymena there's speculation paramilitary groups active during the Troubles are behind the mob violence as hit lists of migrants' addresses circulate throughout the community. 

For Gaza's one million children growing up isn't guaranteed. For almost two years more than 18,000 kids have been killed as Israel wages war to destroy Hamas. An intimate look at the toll the war is taking on Gaza's littlest.

In Iran's capital Tehran an uneasy calm has returned to the streets. For 12 days in June the world held its breath as Israel and Iran - two mortal enemies - traded blows. Israel's main targets were Iran's nuclear facilities, key Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists. The US joined in, dropping bunker bombs on Iran's underground nuclear facilities.  

On Foreign Correspondent reporter Jonathan Miller has been granted rare access to the Islamic Republic to find out whether Israel, the region and the world is any safer. He visits the places bombed by the Israelis and meets family members and neighbours of those killed in the attacks. The accuracy of Israel's targets inside Iran were evidence of what Iranian authorities called "unprecedented infiltration" by the Israelis. Now the regime is relentlessly hunting for spies with trials and executions being fast tracked. The Foreign Ministry spokesman tells Jonathan the executions are justifiable because "no nation allows betrayal."     

Jonathan also travels to Israel where a former senior Mossad chief explains how Israel's intelligence operates on the ground in Iran. It's not deep cover agents, he says, but "expendable" people who are willing to work for money.  

What becomes clear as Jonathan travels between the two nations is that no-one believes this war is over.