From Our Own Correspondent

Mishal Husain introduces pieces reflecting contemporary life across the United Kingdom. Alison Williams would regularly see a young middle-aged woman sitting outside the railway station she used. They returned smiles; Alison wondered about her back story. Then suddenly the woman was gone. What happened next is a parable of our times. Each summer in recent years, Dorset has welcomed children from areas of northern Ukraine and Belarus blighted by the radioactivity released by the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear site in April 1986. During their stay, the children receive health checks and enjoy the hospitality of local families. So how are they faring? Jane Labous has been to meet this year's visitors - and their hosts. Even the idea of Welsh wine to accompany haute cuisine used to bring a smile to many a face, not least in the country itself. But in fact wine-making there dates back to Roman times and is currently undergoing a revival. But can what was once a cottage industry - literally - become a money-spi

The protests at Hong Kong's international airport this week and the violence that resulted have been widely reported. Jonathan Head says not only was this the week that the protest movement lost its innocence, but also that the violence has handed the Chinese authorities a propaganda coup.Reporting from Indian-administered Kashmir has been especially challenging since the Indian government stripped it of its special status: no internet and no telephones. But Yogita Limaye finds one friendly Kashmiri who supplies both hot tea and functional broadband.If you're nervous about snakes then Gombe District in northern Nigeria is best avoided, warns Colin Freeman. He visits a hospital that specialises in treating bites, especially those of the carpet viper, an ever-present danger to the local farmers. Waterproof clothing made from the wool of the Bordaleira sheep has kept Portuguese farmers dry for centuries. Today, it's also the height of fashion, as Margaret Bradley reports; flying off the shelves of smart shops of

Fires are blazing in the far reaches of Siberia - an area the size of Belgium is on fire. Steve Rosenberg goes to have a look, a seventeen hour drive through forests of birch and cedar. But is Russia also burning socially and politically?The Italian island of Lampedusa - halfway between Tunisia and Malta - has long been at the centre of the "migrant crisis"; a welcome haven for the occupants of leaky boats. Dr Pietro Bartolo has been working with migrants for many years but now, as Emma Jane Kirby reports, he's adopted a different approach.The announcement from Delhi this week that Kashmir was losing its autonomous status took the world by surprise. The region has since been on lockdown, the residents left with few means of communication with the outside world. Rahul Tandon talks to young Kashmiris in Delhi, who oppose the new policy, and to Indians who support the government's move. Sex is often a delicate subject. Norms are often very different from place to place – and the penalties for living outside the

Television footage from Idlib in northern Syria continues to provide distressing evidence of civilian suffering. But the world's leading nations are unwilling or unable to intercede. Jeremy Bowen recalls his visits to the region in former, peaceful times but sees no end to the current violence.The protesters have been on the streets of Hong Kong for several months, their fury with their government undiminished. But what are they saying in Beijing, the real centre of power? Celia Hatton says they're preparing death by a thousand cuts.Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Somalia since the outbreak of civil war in the early 1990s. But a few brave souls have been going back to try and start the rebuilding process. Andrew Harding made friends with one of them several years ago, a man who became the mayor of Mogadishu.In Nicaragua it's now 40 years since the Sandinista movement overthrew a hated dictatorship. The man in charge then, Daniel Ortega, is still in charge now. But the movement is now accused of adop

It’s Martyrs’ Day in Myanmar and the country’s founding father, Aung San, is being honoured. His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi now leads the government, but with her reputation in tatters for her failure to condemn the excesses of the armed forces. Nick Beake reflects on the contradictions.50 years after the first man walked on the moon, India has been celebrating the successful launch of its own lunar mission. Rajini Vaidyanathan joins a group of schoolchildren basking in the glow of national pride.Thousands have been killed in the Philippines in President Duterte's “war on drugs.” He’s also got a reputation for a sense of humour that’s not to everyone’s taste. Howard Johnson wonders whether his jokes have conditioned people in the Philippines to accept atrocities. Greece has a new prime minister after elections earlier this month. He’s promised to end the country’s brain drain, to persuade the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve left in recent years to come home. Jessica Bateman asks if that’s what they’ll w

Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from writers and journalists which reflect the range of contemporary life in the United Kingdom.Writer and broadcaster, Ian McMillan, embarks on a high summer stroll along the bridle path that links his home with the post-industrial landscape of South Yorkshire, taking in a flattened colliery, a screaming mandrake, Peter Falk, the X19 bus to Barnsley and a magpie - or is it two? Journalist and part-time canoeist, Bob Walker, embarks on a "Three Men in a Boat"-style progress on the river Wye - which for much of its course marks the border between Wales and England. He quickly finds out that, just as in Jerome K. Jerome's time, there is often ferocious competition among the different users of the water space for access. And money often lies at the heart of the wrangling... With mental health issues finally commanding more attention at home, work and in society generally, Christine Finn returns to her home town of Deal to discover how those managing conditions are being helped

Jacob Zuma, the former South African president, has been in the spotlight all week – live on television responding to questions at a judicial inquiry investigating corruption at the highest level. Andrew Harding reflects on truth in the age of brandished kippers. The town of Kirkenes in northern Norway is a stone’s throw from the border with Russia. It’s now become the focus for a major spy scandal, as Sarah Rainsford has been finding out. Martin Patience was recently part of a BBC team that received a rare invitation to visit Iran, at a time when relations with Britain are strained. He says he was warmly received, although filming at a pop concert provided a moment of uncertainty. There’s been a long-running conflict in California over access to the beaches. On one side, the surfers, who need to be able to get to the ocean; on the other the tech millionaires, who’ve been putting up fences to keep people out. Sally Howard says the very soul of the Golden State is at stake. And Petroc Trelawny has been aboard

Algerians have been celebrating the fact that their football team has made it to the final of the African Cup of Nations. But in Algeria, football is more than a sport. It was in the country’s stadiums that the desire for political change emerged. The nation’s autocratic leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted earlier this year and since then people have been getting to grips with new levels of freedom of expresssion, as Neil Kisserli has found. In the United States President Trump’s tweets about four non-white members of congress have caused uproar among his opponents. Mike Wendling has been to a pro-Trump gathering in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he encountered some unusual supporters of the president: “monarchists”. Chile is home to one of South America’s fastest growing economies. The agricultural sector plays a significant role, and exports include fruit, wine and fish. Salmon farming has become a big industry, but it can also sometimes be a dangerous one for those who work in it, as Grace Livingstone

The President of El Salvador is calling on young men to leave the country’s criminal gangs, or perish with them. He said the gangs have terrorised the country for decades, and would be dismantled. Orla Guerin has been to the capital, San Salvador, to see how the gangs menace the city. Greece has a new Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the centre-right party New Democracy, defeating the socialist Alexis Tsipras. Mark Lowen was based in Athens at the height of the financial crisis, which led to Greece experiencing one of the worst peace-time depressions of the last hundred years. He returned to watch the old conservative party being brought back to power. Five years ago, Russian-backed forces seized control of the Crimean peninsula. Ash Bhardwaj gained permission to enter Crimea, to find out what’s changed in five year’s of Russian rule. A hundred years ago, the passing of the Addison Act spurred a huge expansion in council housing across the UK. Austria too has been remembering when it began building soci

There was an international outcry following the murder of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year. Saudi officials blamed rogue agents sent to persuade him to return to the kingdom. Frank Gardner reflects on his encounters with Jamal Khashoggi and the questions that still need answering. Germany has pledged to more than halve its greenhouse emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. But the country still relies on coal to provide 40 percent of its electricity. Tim Mansel visits a village in Rhineland that is being eaten up by a coal mine and encounters some activists at the forefront of the climate change debate. More than 25 years on from the Oslo Peace accords, close friendships between Palestinians and Israelis are still rare. Charlie Faulkner attends a Shabbat meal in Jerusalem where an Israeli woman invites a former Palestinian prisoner to her home. Maternal mortality rates in Ethiopia have been hugely reduced thanks to an innovative programme of medical training. Rut

A visit to an IS women and children's camp in northern Syria where the residents face an uncertain future. Anna Foster visits the Al Hawl camp to talk to those who are trying to salvage some form of life beyond the caliphate The rape and murder of an eight-year old girl last year in Indian-administered Kashmir had reverberations across India. As they awaited the verdict of the trial of the eight accused, Divya Arya went to speak to the nomadic Muslim community trying to come to terms with their loss. The rate of destruction in the Amazon rainforest has increased by 60 percent in the last two months, and the impact of deforestation is being heavily felt by Brazil's indigenous people. David Shukman, the BBC's Science editor, went to visit the Uru-eu-wau-wau people and learned how they were trying to balance their traditional way of life with the pace of change and development in the region. A local village mayor in south-West France has launched a campaign for rural noises, such as the sound of cicadas and roos

European leaders have finally decided who should fill the top jobs in EU organisations. They have nominated German defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen, as the new President of the European Commission. She must now be approved by MEPs in Strasbourg, which has meant some serious train travel for Adam Fleming. The shocking picture of a father and his daughter lying dead in the Rio Grande recently highlighted the risks for migrants trying to cross illegally into the United States. As Chris Buckler found, others stranded on the border have a long wait. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women often have to queue for hours for water. But a new high-tech scheme in one village in Tanzania is transforming access to clean water. Chloe Farand went to see the project. Tarkhan Batirashvili grew up in Georgia’s Caucasus mountains. He became one of the most notorious terrorists in the world, ruling northern Syria for Islamic State until his death in 2016. Tarkhan’s cousin Temuri wants to combat the radicalisation that set Tarkhan on

After his party lost the Istanbul mayoral election where does Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, go from here? Mark Lowen considers whether this could be the start of his political decline. Katie Arnold reports from Kyrgyzstan where hot dry summers in the former Soviet republic are leading to drought and cross- border tension over water supplies. Alastair Leithead, the BBC's Africa correspondent, is leaving the continent 17 years after he filed his first piece for From Our Own Correspondent. How much has his role changed since then? In the United States where fourteen parents have pleaded guilty to fraudulently getting their children into top universities, Laura Trevelyan considers the lengths some parents will go to help their offspring get into their preferred college. And as much of Europe swelters under a heat wave James Reynolds takes the temperature in Rome and finds out what hot weather means to its citizens.

After an aborted missile strike, Washington insiders are scratching their heads over the President's modus operandi on Iran. Barbara Plett Usher looks at the new normal of the Trump administration. Vladimir Putin has cancelled Russian flights to Georgia after anti-Russian protests in Tbilisi, a move which will heavily impact the country's tourism industry. Rayhan Demytrie assesses the impact of President Putin's warnings on Russians holidaying there. The Armenian community was once a thriving hub in India's Chennai, running trading companies, shipping lines, coal mines and real estate developments, but their numbers have dwindled since then. Andrew Whitehead attends a service in the eighteenth-century Armenian church in the city attended by those that remain. Rocket attacks on foreign oil companies' compounds in southern Iraq may have grabbed headlines, but the citizen's of Basra are more concerned about power cuts, rubbish strewn streets and job shortages. Years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Lizzie Porte

In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom that reflect the range of contemporary life in the country. Alison Holt considers with a Somerset family why adult social care is the policy reform no UK government does anything about. In the week of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, Martin Smith asks how far the Welsh heritage in singing is endangered and whether it might yet be part of Wales' economic future. With the time-worn quips over an Essex town ringing in her ears, Jo Glanville discovers that established notions of Southend as a seaside resort with its best days behind it are out-of-date. Andrew Green looks at the idea of the bird celebrated in the most popular piece of classical music in Britain and the reality of its existence today on the Chilterns. And Dan Johnson contemplates the personal and social links between a stately pile near Barnsley and those who live in the communities close to it.Producer: Simon Co

The death of Mohammed Morsi throws into sharp relief the challenges facing modern day Egypt, and the bigger struggle to embrace democracy. Kevin Connolly reflects back on the defining moments of his presidency.Colin Freeman visits a town in the heart of Boko Haram territory in Nigeria's north-east, and learns about a new faction which has formally declared allegiance to so-called Islamic State - and adopted a new strategy.20 years after Nato peacekeepers entered Kosovo, James Coomarasamy meets the war widows who are challenging local norms by working for a successful pickling company.Germany is grappling with the possibility a man with far-right extremist links was responsible for the shooting of one of Angela's Merkel's pro-refugee allies. Reha Kansara meets a woman who spends hours each day tackling online hate speech in the country.The warm-blooded manatee makes its way each winter to the USA's Sunshine State, but its steadily rising population was recently blighted by one of the worst cases of Red Tide -

An accident in the historic centre of Marseille in the south of France has sent shock waves through the city. Two apartment blocks collapsed late last year with the loss of eight lives. Lucy Ash asks who is to blame - slum landlords, corrupt politicians or a combination of the two? There's growing evidence of China's attempts to control its Muslim minorities and suppress their beliefs. John Sudworth was given rare access to some of the secure facilities where hundreds of thousands of Muslims are being held in the western region of Xinjiang, even though they've committed no crime nor faced trial. In Addis Ababa, Theo Leggett hears from the boss of Ethiopian Airlines who's fighting to defend the company's reputation - he says the fatal crash of one of its Boeing 737 Max aircraft in March was not the fault of his pilots. What's it like to return to a South African township school where you taught twenty seven years earlier? James Helm makes a very personal journey. And Sonia Faleiro observes the life-changing na

Ebola has spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda as the authorities struggle to control it. Olivia Acland visits an Ebola zone in the DRC. Russian journalist, Ivan Golunov, this week was let off drug dealing charges after a public outcry. Steve Rosenberg looks at why the case has been so embarrassing for the Russian authorities. The protests in Hong Kong this week have seen some unlikely allies - and foes. Gabriel Gatehouse witnesses a rare stand off between a Hong Kong legislator and the police. Italy's Prime Minister is arguably less well known than his deputies. James Reynolds unpicks a complicated web of Italian politics. Whether you are visiting New Zealand's volcanoes or its spectacular fjords, getting around without a car in the country can be difficult. Christine Finn finds out why hitchhiking is popular for tourists.

This week has seen the biggest protests on the streets of Hong Kong since Britain handed the former colony back to China in 1997. Demonstrators are angry at a proposed new law which would allow extradition to mainland China for trial. As Danny Vincent reports it's considered by many in Hong Kong to be the latest example of the erosion of freedoms that Hong Kong was guaranteed during the handover. As Pride events take place all over the world this month to recognise the impact of LGBT communities and to highlight on going campaigns for equal rights, Yolande Knell reports on Pride in Israel. There are demonstrations in the heart of Europe too. Rob Cameron reports from the streets of the Czech capital, Prague where there have been protests against the prime minister. What should happen to the Chagos Islands and its former citizens now Britain has been told by the UN to hand the territory back to Mauritius? Rosie Blunt has been talking to members of the Chagossian community living in the UK. And Monica Whitlock m

Mexico takes a tougher approach to migrants as it comes under pressure from the US. Will Grant returns to Chiapas in Southern Mexico, where he travelled with the migrant caravan last year, and finds it a very different place.Sudan has been heavily criticised for the crackdown by its military on protestors in Khartoum this week, killing dozens of people. Fergal Keane, the BBC’s Africa editor looks at how far the country has changed over the years.Kevin Connolly, the BBC’s Europe editor looks back at Poland’s first big step towards democracy in the late 1980s and why it went largely unnoticed.Amy Guttman meets the female chefs in Japan who are blazing a trail for Prime Minister Abe’s plans to get more women in the workplace.Monkey puzzle trees are an endangered species in Chile, but Sarah Wheeler finds they still have special significance for the Mapuche people.