From Our Own Correspondent

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Dilemmas in Damascus Apr 26, 2014

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Despatches: Syrians, exhausted by a seemingly unending conflict, face agonising decisions over their future, as Lyse Doucet has been finding out. Misha Glenny's in Rio as violent protests continue less than two months before the Brazilian city hosts the World Cup. The far-right Front Nationale could emerge from next month's European elections as the best-supported party in France -- Emma Jane Kirby encounters Euroscepticism, verging on Europhobia, in the south of the country. Matthew Teller's in Qatar: its economy's growing at nearly twenty per cent a year but its people are finding it hard to cope with a rapid pace of change. And Simon Worrall in the United States hears a love song as he witnesses the annual migration of Hispanic workers to Long Island.

End of Era Apr 19, 2014

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Global insight and colour. In this programme: Russians or locals? Gabriel Gatehouse goes to meet some of those still occupying government buildings in the east of Ukraine. Lives and jobs start to disappear in South Africa as a bitter mining dispute continues amid a mood of deepening disenchantment, a despatch from Hamilton Wende; On one of Rome's holiest weekends of the year, Alan Johnston's been to a non-Roman Catholic corner of the eternal city which enchanted the poets Keats and Shelley; Carrie Gracie starts her new job as the BBC's China editor with a list of hard-to-answer questions while Owen Bennett-Jones is down on the banks of the River Ganges wondering how a journalist can sort facts from fiction. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

A Happy Ending Apr 12, 2014

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The stories behind the stories. In this edition: why Germany's ambivalence towards Russia may emerge as east meets west to discuss Ukraine next week; West Bengal plans to restore the lost glory of Kolkata - the idea is, we hear, to make it a bit more like London; life gets harder in the Gaza Strip as the interim government in neighbouring Egypt cranks up the pressure on Hamas; 'Isn't that you know who?' A chance meeting, in a Budapest hospital, with the man who is arguably Europe's most controversial leader. And what happened when our man in Marrakech asked the king to step in to save an ancient tradition from oblivion.

Underneath the Mango Tree Apr 05, 2014

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Despatches from foreign correspondents. Today: Tim Whewell on what's caused the savage breakdown in law and order in the Central African Republic. As Afghans go to the polls, Lynne O'Donnell reflects on the daily threats they face from the Taliban. Ritula Shah in Gujarat on how there's cake for SOME Indians as their mammoth election approaches. Will Grant meets migrants in Mexico preparing for a dangerous and illegal desert trek into the United States and it's a literary mystery that's baffled the brilliant for more than a century - Simon Worrall's been to study the controversial Voynich Manuscript.

Are the Russians coming? Mar 29, 2014

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Correspondents' stories. In this edition, Humphrey Hawksley's in a part of Europe where an increase in Russian influence would not be unwelcome. Twenty-five years after the fall of Communism, Monica Whitlock is in Romania where they are still unlocking secrets from the past. As election time approaches in India, Kieran Cooke's visiting Assam and finding remnants of a bygone, colonial era. And not far from high-tech Silicon Valley, Andrew Whitehead finds there's still enthusiasm for the old-style, printed book.

Hirsute History + Desert Verse Mar 22, 2014

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Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world. Today, Jamie Coomarasamy meets the man who once was Crimea's one and only President and dreams of a new landscape; James Menendez goes to the city where month-long demonstrations started in Venezuela; Shahida Bari find camels, dogs, four by fours, twitter and verse in the deserts of the UAE; Rajan Datar is in Goa, trying his best to help pick up the rubbish; and Stephen Mulvey's memories of Ukrainian independence don't match President Putin's.

Forensics and Scrummaging Mar 20, 2014

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Correspondents' stories from around the world, introduced by Kate Adie. Today: Will Grant meets El Salvador's only forensic archaeologist, with the unenviable task of unearthing and identifying murder victims; Emma Jane Kirby is in a French border town, discovering why the Front National is gaining support; Karen Allen visits the former Taleban capital of Kandahar where businessmen are in desperate need of more power; Alex Preston, in Sri Lanka, finds out why rugby is becoming so popular; and Susannah Knights is with the musicians and performers of Tunisia who are poor but flourishing in their new found freedom.

History, Aliens and Chicken Wings Mar 15, 2014

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Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. This week Mark Lowen is reminded of his days in the Balkans as he talks about history to people in Crimea; three years after the start of the uprising in Syria, Lina Sinjab catches up with those who once had so much hope; Sue Lloyd Roberts hears how a religious sect that believes in Aliens and the pursuit of pleasure is trying to help victims of female genital mutilation in Burkina Faso; In Serbia, Guy de Launey tells us how a political double-act could be replaced by Superman; and Tara Isabella Burton explains why chickens should avoid the Wing Bowl in Philadelphia.

Troubles in Paradise Mar 13, 2014

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Kate Adie introduces Correspondents' stories from around the world. Today Ukrainian journalist Andriy Kulykov wonders why silence is the order of the day with the armed men of Crimea. Peter Day is in industrious South Korea where they are trying to make the place more relaxed. Damien McGuinness visits a mega-brothel in Germany, where prostitution has been legal for over a decade, but he questions if much has really changed. We take a remarkly tourist-free ride down the Nile with Robin Denselow; it's good for him but not so good for Egypt. And Charlotte Ashton discovers why Singapore is at the bottom of the happy pile.

Courthouses and Codpieces Mar 08, 2014

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Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world. This week, with American and British combat troops soon to leave, the author and historian William Dalrymple gives his assessment of where the latest military intervention into Afghanistan fits into the country's troubled history. Quentin Sommerville attends the court hearing of some Al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt and finds the prosecution less than convincing. Linda Pressly is in Uruguay to see if legalising marijuana will help tackle the problem of hard drugs. In India, Ed Butler spends time with sleuths of a special kind - the wedding detectives. And Stephen Smith re-visits Italy's Renaissance with its ruffs, doublets and, of course, cod-pieces.

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