From Our Own Correspondent

Questions and answers beyond the headlines. Little urgency apparent as the factions from the bitter war in South Sudan gather in Ethiopia to talk about peace. President Putin's been attending another peace conference, this one in Minsk - we've been considering how his standing at home has been affected by the worsening conflict in eastern Ukraine. Our Middle East Editor has a face to face interview with Bashar al-Assad of Syria -- but was it really the BBC audience the president was hoping to reach with his answers? Three years after the sinking of the cruise ship the Costa Concordia, we return to the Italian island of Giglio to find out what effect the wreck has had on the local economy. And it's one of the windiest regions on earth -- so is China's new bullet train across the Gobi Desert in danger of being blown over?

The news behind the news. In this edition Paul Adams is in Jordan as the country takes the fight to Islamic State. Sian Griffiths in Ottawa talks of the plight of homeless people in an icy winter. Nick Thorpe in Hungary on why a little baby's at the centre of a storm over racism. Chris Bowlby has been trying to find details about the killing of an ancestor in China. And Christine Finn on how a pack of howling dogs helped her appreciate the Northern Lights

Around the world in 28-minutes. Residents of eastern Ukraine fear the war raging around them is set to intensify. A life in hiding -- how the husband of a Pakistani woman accused of committing blasphemy fears for his life and wants the international community to intervene. We visit the heart of the Tata empire in India and, in the wake of the release from an Egyptian prison of the former BBC-correspondent Peter Greste, examine allegations that the justice system there is unfair, unjust and heavy-handed. And in the Malian capital Bamako, some are concerned about what's going to happen to a set of priceless manuscripts. Others, however, seem more concerned about football.

The human stories behind the headlines. Like any war, the one against Ebola is leaving scars which will take generations to heal, as Grainne Harrington has been finding out in Guinea. Mark Rickards on how, at last, the outside world has found a way to infiltrate the hidden Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The Chinese are calling for the UK to return art looted by the British soldiers who destroyed the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 - Chris Bowlby's been investigating. After the Syriza victory in Greece, Podemos in Spain reckons it could be next to win an election on left-wing policies; Tom Burridge has been with party activists in Valencia. And how was the poet W.B.Yeats associated with bizarre goings-on at a cemetery near Paris? Hugh Schofield tells a story of the mysterious forces some believe govern the universe. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

What are they talking about? In Germany there's emotional debate about Pegida; Libyans try to lead normal lives amid violence and instability; left-wingers from around Europe descend on Greece hoping a revolution's underway; surprise, subterfuge and misinformation swirl around the fighting in eastern Ukraine while Brazilians explain why they are proud to be the only nation in the region speaking Portuguese.

'Crisis' and 'Hope,' two words which have continually cropped up in the Greek election campaign. Chris Morris has been out with campaigners from the leftist Syriza party. Kamal Ahmed talks of chasing the stories in the bubble that is the World Economic Forum in Davos. Devastating floods in Malawi, Rosie Blunt's been meeting families who've lost everything. Kevin Connolly's in Auschwitz where they are getting ready to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp. And the birds are doing well. So are the whales and the seals too. But Juliet Rix, far away in the South Atlantic, finds these are difficult, indeed fatal, times for the rats of South Georgia.

Correspondents' stories: in this edition Maria Margaronis on the keenly-awaited Greek election; Will Ross meets soldiers who've been dismissed from the Nigerian army and asks them for their views on the battle against Boko Haram; Susie Emmett's in South Africa talking to farmers about controversial government plans for land reform; Richard Fleming's in Haiti where he's been meeting a photographer who found himself caught up in the devastating earthquake five years ago and Lucy Daltroff is on one of the many thousands of islands sprinkled along Chile's skinny coastline hearing magical legends and fears about what the modern world might bring once that community is joined to the mainland by a new bridge.

Story-telling from the world of news and current affairs. In this edition: Shaimaa Khalil in Pakistan meets relatives and survivors of last year’s army school massacre in Peshawar, on the day the school reopens; Ruth Sherlock in Lebanon on how Syrian refugees are struggling in the snow; Caroline Wyatt flies to Sri Lanka on the Papal plane; Martin Fletcher in Vietnam on how an unusual scaly creature has become the most poached mammal in the world. And Aidan O’Donnell meets the cash-strapped Burundian national cycling team as they prepare to cycle home - from Rwanda.

Looking beyond the headlines: correspondents with insight and analysis consider: Charlie Hebdo and the way life used to be in France; the rallies in Germany for and against the influence of Islam on society there and the arguments over free speech in Turkey. Also in this edition one correspondent, leaving Mexico, pays tribute to the country's brave mothers while another, visiting Antarctica, wonders if tourists should be allowed even to set foot in this, the earth's last great unspoiled wilderness.

Insight, colour, analysis: in this edition, the once impregnable Rajapaksa camp is suddenly looking vulnerable as the Sri Lankan election approaches, Charles Haviland; Russians are enjoying their extended Christmas break but for their president, Vladimir Putin, difficult times may lie ahead, Sarah Rainsford; the Ethiopian government faces accusations over its plans to create huge new agricultural complexes, Matthew Newsome set off towards the southern lowlands to investigate and a journey of a lifetime in the US: Jonathan Izard points his car towards the sunset and ponders the meaning of life itself.

Seasonal stories and festive fables: Mike Wendling strongly disagrees with the thought that New York City is the world's most magical place at this festive time of year; why Yolande Knell in Bethlehem is looking forward to two MORE Christmases in the coming weeks; Nick Thorpe meets a Gypsy 'Santa Claus' on an allotment in southern Hungary; Petroc Trelawny on how the glittering New Years's Day ball in Vienna has its roots in a dark era of Austrian history and in Paris, Joanna Robertson tracks down a seasonal delicacy which, while delicious, carries the unmistakeable whiff of ... gunpowder!

Story-telling from the world of news and current affairs. In this edition: Shaimaa Khalil on the mood in Peshawar after the Taliban attack on a school in which more than a hundred children were killed; Barbara Plett-Usher on how Cubans are reacting to the prospect of improved relations with the United States; Quentin Sommerville visits the Iraqi army frontline as it tries to stop the militants from Islamic State seizing strategic Anbar province; Malcolm Billings is in a little-known Anglican place of worship hidden away in a web of cobbled streets in Istanbul and Hugh Schofield's doing some seasonal research involving whisky and chocolate biscuits in a remote corner of central France.

Story-telling from the world of news and current affairs. 'For God, Tsar and Nation'. That's the motto of some of those fighting with the pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Tim Whewell's been to talk to them about their dreams of a new Orthodox autocratic state; Mary Harper, in Mogadishu, has been finding out why there's a love affair going on between Somalia and Turkey; South Koreans are big believers in plastic surgery but Steve Evans, in Seoul, says there are now negative headlines after a string of news reports about botched operations; Bangladesh is known as a prolific producer of clothes for the mass market but Caroline Eden's been discovering it also makes saris so fine they're highly coveted and hugely expensive. And after more than a quarter of a century Justin Marozzi has mixed feelings as he bids farewell to the Moroccan town regarded as being the hashish capital of the world.

Reporters tell their stories: in this edition, Carrie Gracie travels to China's most troubled region Xinjiang - it's in the midst of a crackdown on what the authorities describe as 'terrorism driven by religious extremism'. Fergal Keane, just back from Ukraine, examines the circumstances which led to one of Europe's bloodiest conflicts in decades. Mike Wendling's in the United States where a campaign to persuade the Washington Redskins football team to change its name is gathering pace. Will Ross is in north eastern Nigeria where bows and arrows, magic and ancient hunting rifles are now being used in the battle against the Boko Haram jihadists. And David Mazower's at a festival in Poland where it's clear a growing number of Poles feel profound loss about the Jewish nation in their midst which was ripped apart in the Second World War.

Despatches. Steve Rosenberg sets out to discover who the Russian public holds responsible for rising prices and the ailing rouble? Owen Bennett Jones has a series of encounters in Tunis which offer clues to the direction in which the country's heading. Germany takes in more refugees than any other EU country - Jenny Hill in Munich says it's costing a huge amount and there's uncertainty over who will pay the bills. The giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands may be used to playing a long game but Horatio Clare, who's just been visiting, says the islands' human residents are having to prepare for change. And Carolyn Brown has been finding out why a steady stream of travellers is choosing to stop off at a small town in the north of France

Foreign correspondents. Nick Thorpe on the Russian speakers in Ukraine who want the future of their country linked to western Europe, not to Moscow; Thomas Fessy examines how the Islamist fighters of Boko Haram are extending their operations out of Nigeria into neighbouring Cameroon; Shaimaa Khalil in Karachi on the difficulties and the dangers health workers face trying to convince people to be immunised against polio; Chris Bockman in Montpellier has been learning what an exiled Syrian billionaire has to do with the local rugby club and what's the correct etiquette for an American woman keen for a swim in Iran? Amy Guttman has been finding out.

Despatches from correspondents worldwide. In this edition: Mishal Husain's in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley talking to refugees from the war in Syria and learning how a generation of Syrian children is no longer able to go to school; the waters off Somalia aren't the world's piracy hotspot any more - Mary Harper's been finding out how Nigeria's trying to counter an upsurge in maritime crime off the west African coast; with towns and cities expanding across India, Anu Anand has been seeing how animal habitats are being gobbled up, and it's the animals who're suffering; Victoria Gill is in Malawi where powerful motorbikes are now helping out in the country's battle against HIV/AIDS and ... empty that hot tub, do NOT fill the jacuzzi: David Willis says desperate times call for desperate measures in California, now in its third year of drought.

Despatches from around the world. In this edition: Will Grant on the protests in Mexico City as families try to find out what happened to a group of students seized by the police; the Indian prime minister may have called for more protection for the country's women but Razia Iqbal, in Western Harayana, says many still suffer appalling violence; what's Qatar really up to in Syria? Frank Gardner sets out over a flat featureless desert in his attempt to find out; Hamilton Wende visits the casbah in Algiers and explains why he finds it filled 'with half-remembered pockets of history and of war' and where in these islands is the very best place to take a look at Venus and Mars? Christine Finn boarded a ferry and went to find out.

Foreign correspondents. Today, Kevin Connolly on tension in Jerusalem:- a reminder, he says, that the very thing that makes the city one of the glories of human civilisation makes it difficult and dangerous too; a walk through the Menin Gate towards Flanders fields - Chris Haslam on the storm of commercialisation sweeping through the memorial sites of World War One; some of the Russian republics want independence but Mark Stratton, travelling through the Middle Volga lowlands, finds others happy to be part of Moscow's empire; students in India have been talking to Craig Jeffrey about their right to cheat in university exams and as Berlin marks the anniversary of the Wall coming down, Jenny Hill tells us the story of one young couple's 'forbidden journey'.

Reporters. Today, from Sierra Leone: why covering the Ebola outbreak is an assignment like no other, Andrew Harding; did the now-deposed leader of Burkina Faso ignore warning signs that an extension to his rule wouldn't be tolerated, Chris Simpson; Malta's an island rich in history and heritage, but it isn't only rooted in the past, Juliet Rix; Germany has its own views on immigration - official policy says the incomers must be made welcome, Jenny Hill; Germany and Korea were once BOTH divided countries; Steve Evans who's lived in Berlin and in Seoul finds these are nations which have much in common, yet they're very different too.