From Our Own Correspondent

People in the news. Today, how the policeman's helping the opium farmer in Afghanistan. The president’s critics say democracy's under assault, freedom of speech is being stifled - but amongst some in Turkey, President Erdogan is more popular than ever. Young women in Malawi explain how sanitary protection is not affordable -- and that means they miss school for several days every month. The corner of Venice where one of the world's most hateful words was coined -- today the place is among the city's more fashionable neighbourhoods. And the news media may love an anniversary, but some of its senior correspondents have dates they'd sooner forget ...

Insight, analysis, description and colour. Today, death on a dusty highway in Baluchistan and what that might mean for neighbouring Afghanistan; how the people of Hiroshima, where America set off an atomic bomb in 1945, feel about the imminent visit by President Obama; the Swiss have never joined the European Union so why are they so interested in the result of the in/out referendum in Britain next month? We hear how Turkey's Kurdish population fits into the President Erdogan's plan to continue being the dominant force in the country's politics and finally there's an account of a day delightfully wasted on a slow train journey across the south-eastern tip of Australia

People in the news: it's a hundred years since the signing of the secret Sykes-Picot agreement under which the British and French agreed to divide up the Middle East, and now the President of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, says it's time for outright independence for the Iraqi Kurds. Jim Muir considers the Kurds' flight from Saddam Hussein 25-years ago and what has happened to some of the people he encountered back then. Bethany Bell is in Austria where voting could result in the country getting Europe's first far right president. The French leader Francois Hollande's again said he wants the new nuclear plant in the English county of Somerset to go ahead. It's to be built by the French. David Shukman's been to a construction site in Finland where the French are building a similar reactor - amid some controversy. Have you had a 'camelccino' yet? Hannah McNeish in Kenya tells us camel milk could be the next big thing and that could mean huge benefits for the country's economy, and it

Insight, colour and analysis. In this edition: the authorities deny IS or al-Qaeda is active in Bangladesh but others believe a spate of vicious killings there is the work of Islamist extremists; after Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, American schools are now having to rehearse what they'll do if their place of learning comes under gun attack -- but the precautions aren't always a comfort to parents; there are now hundreds of thousands of Syrians taking shelter from the war in neighbouring Jordan - their presence is having a marked effect on the Jordanian economy and on its peoples' eating habits; we meet a man in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania who tells us how the country's new president is providing his country with inspirational leadership at last. And surely covering the Cannes Film Festival is a thoroughly pleasant experience? Only up to a point, apparently. We hear a story of status anxiety and snobbery, indignity and humiliation

The newsmakers. In this edition: a foul-mouthed despot or a man to grapple with the problems of the Philippines? Jonathan Head considers the country's controversial choice for president. A mock funeral at a migrants' camp in Greece - Theopi Skarlatos finds patience with the governments of northern Europe wearing thin. They may have put the clocks forward recently, but Paul Moss reckons time in Venezuela is actually going backwards. Andrew Hosken is in the building in Tirana which was once the headquarters of the country's feared secret police while Sara Wheeler take a look at a way of life on the South Atlantic island of St Helena which many there fear will vanish forever once the long-awaited airport finally opens for business

What's life like in North Korea? Our reporter Steve Evans gets rare access, but wonders if all is as it seems. Gabriel Gatehouse meets Hungarians once so keen to tear down barriers between them and their eastern European neighbours who now believe it's time to put up fences. Katy Watson witnesses poignant scenes on the US/Mexico border as families enjoy a brief reunion amid speculation about what a Trump presidency might mean for Mexicans. What's trash-talking got to do with playing chess? David Edmonds has been finding out on a visit to the American state of Missouri. And Emma Jane Kirby's in Istanbul learning why a gentle novel from the 1940s is striking a chord with today's young Turks

It's been a momentous week in South Sudan, where a national unity government has been formed under President Salva Kiir as his old enemy, the rebel leader Riek Machar returned to the capital Juba for the first time since the civil war broke out in December 2013. Can these men now lead their country to a much longed-for peace? Imagine being fined four years' salary for having a second child. That's what used to happen in China. We meet a rare family in Beijing with two daughters. Cuba's Fidel Castro is celebrating his 90th birthday this year. Last week he effectively said goodbye to his key supporters, but there is no sign that his fellow revolutionaries, now well into their eighties, are going to retire any time soon. If you'd suffered the kind of radioactive contamination that came with the fallout of the accident at Chernobyl, would you risk building a nuclear power plant? Ukraine's neighbour Belarus is hoping that atomic lightning won't strike twice. And if you're going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in th

The plane where even the paper napkins sport the presidential seal, and where exclusive little boxes of chocolate sweets feature a picture of Barack Obama: it's America's presidential Air Force One, and you're only allowed on board if you're in "the bubble". In the West Bank a roundabout encapsulates what's going on, and going wrong, in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Libya has seen much chaos and suffering in the last five years. But one family now wants to embrace the future optimistically again, despite losing several of their relatives in the fighting. The beautiful trekkers’ destination with tea houses and stunning mountain landscapes that was turned into a sea of rubble. For the survivors of the Nepalese village obliterated by the earthquake a year ago, the suffering is still raw. And on a trip to China to take tea in a picturesque garden and haggle with antiques dealers, our correspondent's local guide lets slip more than she had perhaps planned.

Colouring in the spaces between the world headlines. In this edition, trouble for ladies who lead - with Brazil's President Dilma Roussef facing impeachment and a traditional chief in Malawi going into battle against child marriage. No ordinary kitchen-sink drama: we go inside the recording studio where they make a radio soap opera beamed into war-ravaged Syria. Has child protection in Norway become overzealous? And why's the subject hit a raw nerve in the former Communist countries of eastern Europe? And is it a case of wanderlust lost as Germans seemingly fall out of love with the foreign holiday?

In this edition: a greyish sticky dough called fufu from the Democratic Republic of Congo; pesto Genovese from Italy, made as it used to be, with a pestle and mortar; there's a dish of smoked puffin from Iceland and some of the finest cannabis lollipops in the American west. All this culinary exotica comes as part of this weekly insight, analysis, colour and description served up by reporters covering some of the week’s big news stories around the world

Insight, colour, analysis. Steve Evans visits a cemetery which poignantly illuminates present day politics in the troubled Korean peninsula; Owen Bennett Jones has the story of a young Pakistani man who left home to see a film and ended up with the Taliban in Afghanistan; Jonah Fisher in Myanmar explains how Aung San Suu Kyi has turned the tables on the generals and taken for herself a string of top government jobs; Rachel Wright has been in Colombia where they're preparing a case for the UN saying the war on drugs isn't working and it's time for a radical change and Neal Razzell's been talking to cowboys out in the canyonlands of eastern Oregon. There's a plan to turn huge tracts of them into a national park. So why are the ranchers far from keen?

The lives behind the headlines. In this edition: forty years in prison for the former Bosnian Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic, found guilty of war crimes. Does it send a signal to those in positions of power that they will, ultimately, be held accountable? Brussels -- not just a city of Eurocrats, but one where people and families live and grow up and where's there's been a phlegmatic response to Tuesday's bomb attacks there; Mexicans are increasingly angry about the level of corruption in their country - organised crime's now said to be deeply embedded in the country's legal and political establishment and the police can't be trusted either; the nine hundred-plus clumps of rock which make up the Solomon Islands may now be independent but, we find, old ties with Britain have not been entirely severed. And while some might regard Cantonese cooking as a little old hat, our correspondent says it is in fact one of China's most exquisite cuisines, with many of its delights unknown to outsiders

There's dancing in a nightclub in Damascus, though some remain seated during the songs played in honour of the leaders of Syria and Hezbollah. And not much dancing in the suburbs. How are locals coping after five years of war? He started out as a caring psychiatrist, and before his capture he lived as an alternative healer. Yes, it's the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. who may be convicted of genocide next week. Playing chess with God - or rather, in a stunning part of Ethiopia called the Chess pieces of God, is it check mate for some very rare animals, or the local mountain people? In Romania, shepherds cloaked in sheep skins are on the war path, and we sail past the remotest island in the world, Bouvetoya. It is only inhabited by penguins, but has its own internet domain.

Refugees stuck in Greece keep trying to cross into Macedonia even though the border is now closed. One man has got through the fence, and then been taken back, fourteen times. In the meantime, new Syrian refugees keep arriving at the other end of Greece, on the island of Lesbos. We hear about hopes that a Basque pro-independence leader newly released from prison can bring about real peace in his region, and not just a permanent ceasefire. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in drought-stricken eastern Kenya, cattle herders feel they have no option but to let their animals graze in game reserves. Who says Americans haven't been able to go to Cuba legally? In Florida's Key West, we hear how despite the embargo, some US citizens have been doing it for decades, without breaking the law. And if you fall for a money-making scam of a boy begging near the rock-carved churches of Lalibela in northern Ethiopia, don't feel too bad.....

Turkey and the EU are hammering out a deal that would turn Turkey into the gatekeeper of Europe, to stop undocumented migrants from reaching the West. But will the refugees agree to stay in Turkey, or try to reach the EU by any means possible?They have lost limbs, parents, homes, and favourite dolls. But not their bravery and spirit. We meet the children who have been affected by the five years of war in Syria. If you're an American, your annual tax return form 1040 has an instruction booklet that's over 100 pages long. Luckily, help is at hand, not just from accountants, but also from specially trained volunteers, like our correspondent. We go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of the Mourides brotherhood in Senegal, where offering hospitality is such an honour, that some believers ask people at the bus stop if they'd come and be their guest. And Paris fashion - for those with no interest in sartorial trends. Was it the universe that pushed our correspondent to brush up on his 'overcast shell hems', and 'poodl

In China, customers are staying away from the pearl and jewellery shops, but lingerie sales are soaring. The strange effects that the clampdown on corruption is having on the country's economy. Fighting elephant poachers can a dangerous business in the Democratic Republic of Congo where part of who you're up against appears to be a neighbouring country's army. We travel on the ancient Via Egnatia that used to join two great empires. Though on the modern Greek version of the route, you don't get quite as far as you hope. Though it's nothing to do with closed borders. And, with the zika virus outbreak in Brazil, would you want to try for a baby there now? What if you're at an age where you can't afford to wait too much longer?

They are coiffed, lacquered, expensively attired and perfumed - and that's just the men in a Donald Trump audience in Florida. And while our North America editor expects the unexpected from Donald Trump, he is surprised to find him in a conciliatory mood. Spending four months on a single page of A4 - the art of calligraphy and other skills are being revived in Kabul, and now exhibited in Washington. They're both in their nineties, and now the former Auschwitz guard comes face to face with an Auschwitz survivor in a German courtroom. Germany confronts its past just as violent anti-migrant attacks are on the rise. In Pakistan, thousands turn out at a funeral to mourn their hero, a killer. He was executed for murdering a provincial governor who had wanted to reform the harsh blasphemy laws. And the road to Mandalay - in a right-hand drive taxi, on a left-hand drive road. So what were the passengers talking about?

Having reached Greece after often perilous journeys, many migrants now find that their hoped-for route north is blocked. Danny Savage meets some of those who have to live in tents in Athens, and on the Greek-Macedonian border with little hope of reaching their final destinations. Many refugees have come from Syria, where neighbourhoods in some cities have been reduced to rubble. Warda al-Jawahiry visits Homs, parts of which have been completely bombed out. Yet there are those who still live there, and bear emotional scars that are as real as the physical destruction. In the Ethiopian capital Addis Abeba, James Jeffrey goes for his early morning run, and finds he's not alone. For early dawn is the time when hyenas finish their night time scavenging in the city. Chris Bockman is in the Spanish enclave of Llivia - a small town completely surrounded by France, but with surprisingly few French speakers. And in Mongolia many young people are giving up the outdoor life of herding sheep on the steppe, and reading nov

The human stories behind the headlines. In this edition, we hear from India, where protests deprived ten million Delhi residents of their water. Members of the Jat caste want to force the government to reclassify them as lower-caste, so they can get quotas for government jobs and study places. Used Field Marshall for sale - the things you find on eBay in Egypt, when locals take the president at his word. What happens when a Trump supporter meets a young Muslim refugee for brunch in Alabama? Our Moscow correspondent gets a distinctly chilly welcome in Siberia, and no, it's nothing to do with the weather. And arriving at the airport in Havana, it's an event in itself.

The stories behind the headlines. In this edition, we hear from Turkey, where the authorities are blaming a Syrian Kurd for a bombing that killed 29 people. Turkey is unhappy at US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, who combat so-called Islamic State there. The complexities of the war in Syria are becoming mingled with those of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. Sri Lanka suffered almost 30 years of civil war, and many an autocratic regime, yet now the country seems set on a path of reconciliation. But will a former President and his supporters try and scupper it? In Ethiopia, our correspondent faints at the sight of eyelid surgery - performed on sufferers of an infection that risks turning them blind. The Galapagos islands are home to wondrous wildlife, but there are fears that this year's seal pups might not survive the effects of the El Nino phenomenon. And Detroit, once known for its motors and recent bankruptcy, is now reinventing itself as a place that makes bicycles, and attracts crowds of hipsters.