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June 9, 2011 Jun 09, 2011

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Amid uproar in and around Syria, Kevin Connolly considers suggestions that there have been attempts by the authorities in Damascus to manipulate the news agenda to distract the world from events going on in their country. A year after violent disturbances in the Kyrgyz town of Osh Rayhan Demytrie, who covered those events, considers the difficult legacy they've left in their wake; Tracey Logan is in the Republic of Ireland examining how an EU directive, aimed at protecting Ireland's peat bogs, is being widely flouted. Tom Blass takes a walk in a Belgian village which has been swallowed up by the inexorable growth of Antwerp's docklands. And South Korea's a country which takes recycling very seriously -- it's causing our correspondent there, Lucy Williamson, some difficulty.

June 4, 2011 Jun 04, 2011

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A mysterious encounter with the sinister Colonel Tariq, thought to be from Pakistani Intelligence, is described by Aamer Ahmed Khan. Tim Whewell's in the Sinai Desert finding a roaring trade in rifles. A guided tour of Benghazi with Andrew Hosken: he is told that Colonel Gaddafi couldn't make the railways run on time -- he couldn't make the railways either! An acute housing shortage in Beijing is described by Martin Patience - it's meant people living in air raid shelters, bunkers and tunnels. And there's joy and some plum brandy in the foothills of the Carpathians as Caroline Juler joins a cheerful crowd of farmers at their annual measuring of sheep's milk.

June 2, 2011 Jun 02, 2011

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The E.coli outbreak in Germany is the subject of a despatch from Steve Evans in Berlin who's been finding out how it's sending ripples throughout Europe, affecting sales of fruit and vegetables and altering families' eating habits. As General Mladic prepares to face war crimes charges in The Hague, Nick Thorpe's been touring Bosnia meeting family and supporters of the man who was the military leader of the Bosnian Serbs. It's crisis time for the pornographers of Los Angeles: Ed Butler's been discovering that their customers are no longer keen to pay for the product. Picturesque Street in Moscow isn't as lovely as it sounds, according to our man there Steve Rosenberg; but it does have a tale to tell about Russia itself. And why does the sight of a foreigner riding a bike make Cambodians laugh? Guy Delauney, a keen cyclist and resident of the capital Phnom Penh, is well placed to provide an answer to that one!

May 28, 2011 May 28, 2011

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Fin de Siecle Deauville hosts the G8 summit of world leaders where there have been clear signs of a different world order emerging -- Bridget Kendall's been taking note. Andrew Harding tells us what it's like in Misrata which endured a two month seige by Libyan forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi; Conor Woodman is in a town in Laos which has been taken over by Chinese investment; there's a picnic under the palms in Algiers for Chloe Arnold as she charts the decline of the city's Russian community and Tim Ecott paints a portrait of the Faroe Islands out in the north Atlantic, a place where men are hardy, the sheep hardier and where there might just be puffin on the lunch menu!

May 26, 2011 May 26, 2011

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The Roman Catholic Church is accused of running a dirty campaign as the people of Malta prepare to vote in a referendum on divorce. Jake Wallis Simons has been gauging the mood in and around the capital, Valletta; Anna Cavell, who's in Kampala, Uganda, tells us how the continuing series of protests is heaping pressure on the long-standing president Yoweri Museveni; Bhutan, the Himalayan mountain kingdom, is a place said to be more interested in Gross National Happiness than Gross Domestic Product! Mark Tully's been talking to the prime minister there about whether this is the most profitable way for the country to move forward; the war in Sri Lanka may now finally be at an end but Peter Meanwell, who's been there making a music programme for Radio 3, says its legacy can still be seen throughout the north ... and as Europe prepares for its biggest football match of the year, Pascale Harter tells us why the fans of FC Barcelona believe it's a club with a difference!

May 21, 2010 May 21, 2011

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The carrots and sticks which the authorities in Saudi Arabia hope will persuade their people that protest is not a sensible option -- Michael Buchanan is gauging opinion in the desert kingdom. Who'll be the next president of Russia - Putin, Medvedev or someone else? It's a question preoccupying correspondents in Russia, among them the BBC's man Steve Rosenberg. As nuclear power plants around the world check their safety procedures after the apparent meltdown in Japan in March, Nick Thorpe visits a power station on the River Danube in Romania. The American president's on his way to Ireland but Kieran Cooke's been finding out that thousands of Irish, prompted by a tottering economy, are preparing to emigrate. And Kevin Connolly visits the casbah in Algers walking, he assures us, in the footsteps of Tarzan of the Apes.

May 14, 2011 May 14, 2011

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Assisted suicide: as the people of Zurich in Switzerland prepare to vote on the issue, Imogen Foulkes tells a moving story about a couple who believed they had a right to decide on a date for death. Fergal Keane considers the historical significance of the forthcoming visit, by Queen Elizabeth 2, to the Republic of Ireland. Andrew Harding is in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi where, he says, people are determined to continue their fight against Colonel Gaddafi and to emerge with their country still united. Matthew Teller visits the city of Taif in Saudi Arabia, a place where many Saudi people spend their holidays while James Painter's in Peru asking questions about the freshwater Amazon dolphin including: why is it pink?

May 7, 2011 May 07, 2011

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Weeks of violent confrontation in Uganda: Will Ross is in Kampala where lawyers are the latest group to protest against the regime of President Museveni. Mishal Husain is in the Pakistani town of Abottabad, where the life of Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, was brought to an end last Sunday. Mishal talks of the new interest in this location which she remembers as a place her family went on holiday. President Obama was at Ground Zero this week and coincidentally, a little earlier, our correspondent Paul Adams was there with his two young sons who had awkward questions to ask about that day when the Twin Towers came crashing down. There's a new predator in the Caribbean -- the Lionfish. Tim Ecott's been to the Cayman Islands to get an idea of the scale of the problem it's brought with it. And Jonathan Fryer waits and waits for the night bus to Bolivia. But at least he has some company in the shape of a large, and affectionate, wild pig!

April 30, 2011 Apr 30, 2011

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A very French murder story: Hugh Schofield tells how France has been transfixed by an appalling human drama -- the killing of a mother, three sons and a daughter. Owen Bennett Jones questions whether depicting the news from Syria as 'brutal suppression of peaceful protestors' might be, to some extent, misleading. A climate of fear is stifling discussion about Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws -- that's the contention of the BBC's Jill McGivering who's been touring the country investigating. Richard Wilson makes a return trip to Antarctica and is shocked at how the continent's changing. Gareth Armstrong visits an Indian classroom and hears the students voice outrage at how the British regard the work of the children's author Enid Blyton.

April 23, 2011 Apr 23, 2011

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Students aren't revolting in Qatar and Oman -- Robin Lustig's been to the Gulf states to see what effect the uprisings in parts of the Arab world are having there. Justin Marozzi's in Libya as questions are being asked about who will run the country in the future. More journalists lost their lives this week in the fighting in Libya. Stuart Hughes reflects on the dangers a reporter can face covering conflict. Ethiopia is one of the least urbanised countries in the world; it's also a place which is losing its doctors - many of them are leave the country to work elsewhere. Claudia Hammond's been talking to some of the young people there who've now been charged with taking healthcare out into the wideopen spaces of the Ethiopian countryside. And why is it city dwellers in France are happy to live in apartments while their counterparts in the UK opt, where possible, for houses? Hugh Schofield in France wonders what this division tells us about the development of two neighbouring peoples.

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