From Our Own Correspondent

Reporters. Today: Alan Johnston on the richness of the past lying in the bones of the buildings in the historic heart of old Naples; Hugh Sykes in a minibus taxi in Tunis after an election which proved a victory for the secularists; Shaimaa Khalil in Lahore visits a palace of beauty which has been forced to face up to some ugly attitudes; Jon Donnison in Sydney talks to Muslims about the wave of Islamophobic attacks in cities across Australia; James Coomarasamy meets an unconventional mayor in Kentucky as the USA gears up for the mid-term elections

Correspondents'despatches: Gabriel Gatehouse with the medical team who have collected hundreds of Ebola patients from their homes in the Liberian capital, Monrovia; Andrew Hosken on the extraordinary efforts made by the people of Baghdad to clear up amidst a new wave of bombings; once a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the city of Trieste now has an independence movement which believes the place would be better off severing its ties to Rome - Tara Isabella Burton's been there to listen to their argument; how can a herd of cows indicate the economic health of a nation? It's a question Damien McGuinness has been addressing in the German capital, Berlin; and three-solid-meals-a-day man James Jeffrey's been getting to know about the extreme fasting traditions of Ethiopia.

Reporters around the world. Misha Glenny says surely it's a national emergency -- but it's one the candidates in Brazil's election campaign have largely ignored. The civil war drags on in South Sudan - Tristan McConnell visits a town that's changed hands, between government troops and rebels, six times and has left its people shattered. Chris Morris was with the sub-hunters on the Stockholm Archipelago. They didn't find a submarine, but it's clear there are security implications. Who do you call when you see little green men in the sky? In France, you can phone the government, as Chris Bockman's been finding out. And Bethany Bell has been visiting a lake which is much-loved in Austria and not just because of its unique rose-scented breezes.

War may still be raging in the east, but Ukraine's gearing up for elections -- and Jamie Coomarasamy says there are some unexpected candidates; Michael Bristow in Indonesia meets a former jihadist who now works for the government and has become something of a celebrity; not far from California's information hub, Silicon Valley, an old Native American language faces extinction - Caroline Davies explains why it's being allowed to go; a civil war rumbles on in South Sudan -- James Copnall's been meeting some who were forced to flee into the bush, living off wild animals and water lilies; the European Union's spent billions on programmes aimed at integrating the Roma people, but many remain out on the margins of society, as Lucy Irvine's been finding out in Bulgaria.

The past looms large over Afghanistan's new leader -- Fergal Keane says the scale of the task he faces is immense; as civil war rages in Libya, Tim Whewell finds a corner of calm and tolerance amid a country full of discord and violence. Do institutions like the European Union make nationhood increasingly irrelevant? That was on Martin Buckley's mind in Corsica where an armed struggle for independence seems to be losing support. As Tehran and the West sit down to talk about Iran's nuclear ambitions, Diana Darke's been finding out how Iranians revel in the words of a poet who's been dead for six hundred years. And Hugh Schofield knows how to unearth the secrets of a stately home with a history -- he asked the butler!!

Correspondents' tales: why they're arguing about Macchiavelli on a rubbish tip in Rio as the second round of the Brazilian election approaches, Neil Trevithick; Shaimaa Khalil investigates the upsurge in violence on the India/Pakistan border in Kashmir; Julia Macfarlane accompanies a group of British doctors who've gone to help out Palestinian medics in Gaza; has the historic city of Timbuktu recovered from a brutal period of conflict and occupation by Islamic extremists? Chris Simpson has been finding out. And the Star Wars film crew have been to the remote Irish island of Skellig Michael and so too has our man Vincent Dowd.

'Caught between the demands of the masses and the stern imperatives of Beijing's control': Fergal Keane on the Hong Kong authorities' reaction to the demonstrations which have brought parts of the territory to a standstill. Nick Thorpe is in Bulgaria hearing ever-louder demands for a new European union, this one to be centred on Moscow. A spotlight on La Paz - Katy Watson's in the extraordinary capital of Bolivia as people prepare to vote in a general election. The verdant hill town of Zomba in Malawi is said to be one of the most attractive places in the heart of Africa -- but Jonathan Fryer's been learning that, for many locals, making a living's not easy. And Horatio Clare's in the Danube Delta's archipelago of waters, marshes and sighing trees listening to stories of conservation, propagation and extinction.

The European Union's announced plans to support, but not replace, efforts being made by Italy to save lives at sea. Emma Jane Kirby's been to the port town of Syracusa to see the difficulties the Italians have been facing. Will Ross has been meeting children in Nigeria who've been separated from their parents by the war against the militants of Boko Haram. What's it like when a family discovers that a loved one's gone to fight with extremists in the Middle East? Linda Pressly's been finding out in Kosovo. Jamie Coomarasamy's been to the west of Ukraine, hundreds of miles from the fighting in the east of the country, to find out what they think there of the struggle between government forces and the pro-Russia rebels. And the hair industry is big business in China and most of the customers, as Sam Piranty has been finding out, are Africans. But is that human hair they're buying or something else?

The questions arising from a week of protest in Hong Kong are asked by the BBC's China editor Carrie Gracie; the Yangon River in Burma, now Myanmar, doesn't have the mightiest of reputations. But on its banks lay one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities. Andrew Whitehead caught the ferry to see how Rangoon, as it used to be known, looks in today's era of political and economic change; Lyse Doucet is in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital where residents heard this week the militants from Islamic State were only a few miles away; the Turkish parliament has voted to take the fight to IS and Mark Lowen's been to the border between Turkey and Syria to consider the consequences; Wyre Davies is covering the Brazilian election and wonders if it can be won by the environmentalist daughter of a rubber tapper from the Amazon jungle.

Global despatches: some are pleased at what President al-Sisi's achieved in his first months in office in Egypt - others say that when it comes to repression, he's outdoing even his hardline predecessor Hosni Mubarak. Predicting what's about to happen in President Putin's Russia has become difficult now the country seems to have embraced an 'anything goes' philosophy. We're in the far north of Sweden learning that the Sami people believe widespread mining will ruin their traditional lands. The introduction of some democracy in Myanmar and the lifting of some western sanctions has not brought the predicted business boom, but for many citizens, the quality of life is slowly improving; and the sad story of the lonely baboon who's become trapped on a river island in Zimbabwe and is resisting all attempts to reunite him with his family.

Despatches from around the world: Kevin Connolly on how Western policy makers, trying to respond to developments in the Middle East, are grappling with difficulties created by their own predecessors. As American warships prepared to fire missiles at targets in Syria, out in the Pacific Ocean two US carrier battle groups were carrying out the biggest live fire exercise in years. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes wondered if they had a target in mind. Iona Craig on a revolution in Yemen and how the nation was surprised when a previously marginalised militia group swiftly seized control of the capital, Sana'a. The economic news just gets gloomier and gloomier in France. Hugh Schofield says one area everyone agrees should be confronted is the so-called regulated professions. And the mushrooms, aided by a long wet summer, have been bursting out in the woods in Hungary. Nick Thorpe has been out to pick them. But which ones will lift his dinner to gastronomic heights and which ones might kill?

Few French restaurants offer a menu without meat, so John Laurenson's been finding out why one of the country's top chefs has decided to do just that. Paul Adams explains why the government in the Ukrainian capital Kiev might have given up trying to seize back control of rebel-held eastern parts of the country. Misha Glenny talks of plans to establish a global parliament of city mayors taking powers away from 'tired old nation states'. One of Europe's most wanted men is thought to be hiding out in the mountains of central Greece - Jeff Maysh has been talking to people about this fugitive with a Robin Hood reputation and Antonia Quirke talks of Sicily where there's widespread exasperation about the corruption still pervasive in Italian society and where the Mafia continues to wield influence.

The kissing's had to stop in west Africa - a despatch from Mark Doyle about the Ebola crisis, which is now having a profound effect on people's lifestyles throughout the region. The United States Senate has approved President Obama's plan to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State militants - Jeremy Bowen, in Damascus, tells us this means a wide range of forces is lining up to combat the jihadists. Shabnam Mahmood's been to a society wedding in Pakistan - it was an opportunity to note some of the details of that country's social hierarchy. The controversial mayor of Toronto is in hospital battling cancer - Lee Carter says this latest chapter in Rob Ford's colourful life has brought a rare show of unity to a city Mr Ford was accused of dividing. And Will Grant tells us a story from the Latin American capital where the streets are clogged with vehicles yet many of the drivers haven't even taken a driving test!

Kate Adie introduces Correspondents' stories. This week Paul Wood hears warnings of civil war returning to Lebanon; Andrew Harding reflects on the Pistorius trial; Darius Barzagan can't get the images of MH17 out of his head; Niall O'Gallagher joins Catalans celebrating their National Day and calling for independence; and Lucy Ash meets Ivory Coast's most famous actress to talk about infidelity.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents stories from around the world. This week Gabriel Gatehouse takes a nerve-wracking drive, trying to avoid IS forces in Iraq. Shahzeb Jillani explains what Pakistan's political turmoil is about; John Sweeney comes face to face with President Putin after 14 years of trying. Claudia Hammond discovers that many patients in Israel remain on life support for years; and Steve Evans has the story of how a German board game took off in the trenches of WW1.

Global despatches. In this edition, Australia's tough immigration policy comes under the spotlight as a group of asylum seekers goes to court; why the mark which writer Ernest Hemingway left on Paris is now beginning to disappear; how the militants of Islamic State have affected Kurdish dreams of a state of their own; the tourists have returned to the beaches of Greece but, we learn, there's one correspondent who might not be so welcome in the country. And we hear from the reporter who's had second thoughts about wearing the headscarf, or hijab.

Foreign correspondents. Today: can a meeting of presidents halt the fighting in eastern Ukraine? Why the international health workers who've come to tackle the Ebola virus in west Africa are not always welcome. Deported from the US - and back home in Guatemala; why life is difficult for many of the returnees. On leaving Pakistan, there are many happy memories -- but none of them, one departing correspondent says, feature the national airline PIA. And it may be a cool damp summer in Switzerland, but the stories coming from parliament are distinctly hot and steamy.

Despatches from correspondents: Why should the west intervene with aid or arms? It's a question asked by our reporter in northern Iraq. The six-year-olds in Gaza who've already lived through three wars. Awesome sights and stressful moments as the Panama Canal celebrates its centenary. The militants of al-Shabaab use film and social media to get their message across - they also like to telephone a certain BBC editor. And why did another reporter pack an orange bottle of cleaning fluid along with the tennis shoes? She talks of a frantic shopping run before a return to Cuba.

Foreign correspondents tell their stories - in this edition, discussions in Israel about the conflict in Gaza, Tim Whewell; why the Turkish prime minister seems set to become the country's new president, Natalie Martin; why Argentina's demanding that global financial systems be overhauled, Katy Watson; tourists start to return to parts of The Philippines battered by storms and an earthquake, Rajan Datar and Reggie Nadelson visits a seaside town on America's east coast where African Americans traditionally took their summer holidays.

Despatches by reporters around the world. In this edition, Chris Morris, who was in Gaza twenty years ago, returns to chronicle how things 'have got worse, much worse'. Claudia Hammond, in Cyprus, on the latest attempts to find out what happened to those who went missing decades ago during fighting between the island's Greek and Turkish communities; Tim Mansel is in Sierra Leone amid growing alarm over the spread of the Ebola virus in west Africa. Why a seagull observed in Vatican City could be a disturbing omen for peace - that's from Alan Johnston and Petroc Trelawny finds out where the newly-weds like to go in Guangzhou, one of China's fastest-developing cities.