From Our Own Correspondent

The financial crash has devastated the historic centre of Rome - Joanna Robertson talks of a favourite city now drained of community life; the perils of newsgathering in Sri Lanka: Fergal Keane meets journalists there determined to carry on reporting despite the risk of intimidation, assault and even murder. Jon Donnison's in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales where the wildfires are still raging and there's a heated debate about how much climate change is to blame; Steve Evans, on the row surrounding the bugging of Chancellor Merkel's 'phone, wonders what information the Americans have gleaned. And a travelling correspondent may carry a lap-top, a digital recorder, a camera but a two-month-old baby? Madeleine Morris has the story of what happened when a toddler came too.

As one of the last heroes of the Vietnam War is laid to rest, Rajan Datar hears young people there keen to move on from those years of conflict, to celebrate instead a land rich in culture and economic opportunity; Jonah Fisher talks of the debate in swiftly-changing Myanmar about what exactly makes a detainee a political prisoner; as Greece continues its punishing austerity programme, Alexa Dvorson has been finding out how they are coping out in the countryside, away from the main cities; 'let there be light' seems to be the message in Lagos: Neal Razzell has been to see a state government initiative in Nigeria's biggest city introduce street lighting to many formerly-dark and threatening streets and the BBC's bureau in Moscow has been celebrating fifty years of existence. Steve Rosenberg has been looking at news reporting there then and now. The producer is Tony Grant

The Via Roma in the Italian island of Lampedusa -- Alan Johnston says that for the migrants who make it in from the sea, this is the road which may take them to better lives in a richer world. Owen Bennett Jones studies the contrast between the lives of the women who present programmes on Pakistani TV with those who live in distant villages. There's a heated debate in France about what they should do about their seriously overcrowded prisons. Christian Fraser's been to one of the country's biggest jails. Lynne O'Donnell in Afghanistan finds out what can be learned in a visit to some of the world's oldest, most magnificent and archaeologically significant sites. And it's been a tense and anxious few days for some in the Senegalese capital, Dakar and all, Thomas Fessy tells us, because of the price of sheep. The producer is Tony Grant.

The traditional sad songs of Portugal have become sadder still as the government in Lisbon announces another tough, cost-cutting budget -- Andrew Hosken has been noting the reaction in Lisbon. The Indian authorities launch an inquiry into a stampede at a temple which killed more than a hundred people -- Andrew North says only days before they were being praised for the measures they'd taken as a cyclone battered the country's east coast. There's an election next week in Madagascar -- Emilie Filou wonders if it might bring improvements to the island's beleaguered education system. On St Kitts in the Caribbean, Orin Gordon finds people divided over plans to build luxury homes in some of the island's most celebrated spots. While in the Italian province of Puglia, the discussion's not so much about luxury homes as why rich foreigners are flying in to buy homes which once only the poor lived in. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Correspondents' stories: the Champs d'Elysees is an icon of Paris, a majestic piece of town planning. So why does our man in Paris Hugh Schofield suggest, rather forcefully, that visitors should avoid it? The news caravan may have moved on from Libya, but Tim Whewell's been finding out that the country's still in the midst of a revolution. Joanna Jolly has been to Uttar Pradesh in India to report on the aftermath of fighting between Hindus and Muslims. Listening to people's stories of violence and suffering, she found herself becoming involved in ways she hadn't expected; James Coomarasamy has been to Tajikistan in Central Asia where there's mounting concern about the future, when NATO troops leave neighbouring Afghanistan and Jonathan Head joins a group of well-heeled women in a luxury spa in Myanmar and hears stories of a country in the grip of dramatic change. Tony Grant is the producer of From Our Own Correspondent

Looking behind the news. In this programme: David Loyn examines the claim that NATO has achieved nothing but suffering in Afghanistan; Louisa Loveluck on controversy surrounding the Egyptian military offensive in Sinai; there's a book boom going on in Iceland and Rosie Goldsmith has been finding out why; gun-toting gangsters on the streets of Acapulco as Mexico tries to deal with the aftermath of two deadly storms - Will Grant's on that story and what makes a war memorial memorable? Steve Evans ponders that question in Leipzig. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Colour and analysis from around the world: Kevin Connolly says as much as a quarter of the population of Lebanon is now Syrian - and the cost of hosting so many refugees is soaring; Mark Lowen in Athens on the reaction of Greek men and women to the authorities' campaign against members of the far-right Golden Dawn party; there's been an economic revolution in The Seychelles and Tim Ecott's been finding out how it was achieved; Kirsty Lang talks about the day a six metre long snake brought terror to the streets of a small town in Brazil while Joanna Robertson has been observing the French easing their way into autumn with the help of some particularly exotic cakes. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents with colour and analysis from around the world: Theopi Skarlatos in Thessaloniki on the authorities' crackdown on the far right; Alex Preston is in what he calls one of Africa's most expensive and charmless capitals, Abuja in Nigeria; distant La Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, is a popular destination for well off French tourists -- Robin Denselow's been learning that's causing resentment among some local people; Tessa Dunlop discovers how a photographer's work is teaching residents in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, what happened to their city centre during the days of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. And among correspondents there are many tales about daunting dishes -- here, Mark Bosworth in Finland talks of a national favourite: licorice shot through with ammonium chloride. The programme is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents' stories: behind the scenes at the UN General Assembly in New York - Nick Bryant says it's been about so much more than the keynote speeches in the assembly hall. Andrew Harding was covering the seige in Nairobi in which more than 60-people were killed. Many of the city's residents, he says, feel personally scarred by the horrors of what happened at the Westgate Centre. Havana Marking talks of her bid to track down the Pink Panthers, the gang thought responsible for a string of daring jewel heists in the south of France this summer. There's a visit to Dushanbe in Tajikistan: Jamie Coomarasamy takes a look at the president's spectacular building programme while Nick Thorpe is in Austria where hydropower is a major issue and the hills are alive with the sound of disagreement.

Global despatches. Today: it was Gabriel Gatehouse's local shopping mall but now the Westgate Centre in Nairobi has become known as a place of fear, suffering and death; did Angela Merkel do TOO well in the German election? Chris Morris on why forming a new government there could be a protracted business. As the Egyptian authorities move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, Quentin Sommerville talks of the country's increasing polarisation. China's wealthy elite have found their own solution to the country's girl shortage - Lucy Ash has been meeting 'The Love Hunters' in Shanghai. And John Pickford has been finding out if there are still beachcombers to be found in the faraway islands of the South Pacific. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Correspondents' despatches: Jeremy Bowen in Damascus reflects on the lessons a reporter learns after more than twenty years covering conflicts around the world; Steve Evans meets a lady down on her luck in a Baltic port city as Germany prepares for new elections; Diana Darke looks at Turkey's huge 'GAP' water project and wonders if it will work for or against the country's Kurdish population; near Toulouse in France they've found a crashed German wartime aircraft in a cave -- and some locals, it seems, weren't all that keen on digging up its history and can Emma Thomas really get to grips with the Danish language without looking at textbooks or going to classes? All will be revealed. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Kate Adie introduces reports from correspondents around the world. Following the death sentences handed down to four men in India for the rape and killing of a young woman, Rupa Jha reflects on her own personal experience of some disturbing events from her childhood. Linda Pressly is with the gold miners of Kalimantan in Indonesia and sees the high price they have to pay as they try to earn a living. Mary Harper is in Somaliland, where books have a more powerful draw than guns. Lindsay Johns reflects on the culture of the Caribbean island of Martinique and what it means to be French by accident. And Emma Jane Kirby is with the former Casanovas of Italy who are still hoping for a return to better days.

Kate Adie presents correspondents' stories from Syria, the US, Australia, South Africa and Italy. Lyse Doucet hears how Syria's mosaic of cultures is being shattered; Humphrey Hawksley visits the big brains of America's Ivy League who have been thinking about how to put a country back together again; James Fletcher rides the Australian economic engine, and listens to the roar of Harley Davidsons; Mark Lowen discovers the anti-apartheid pedigree of his grandfather; while Tom Carver is in Italy, celebrating his father's escape from a POW camp in 1943 and the brave family who helped him.

Correspondents tell their stories: Mark Mardell in Washington on difficult decisions for President Obama: Charles Haviland, off for dinner with the departing president of Pakistan, ponders over the milk pudding on the legacy Asif Ali Zardari leaves behind; a different perspective on the state of Chinese justice comes from John Sudworth, who was covering the trial in Jinan of ousted politician Bo Xilai; as immigration tops the election headlines in Australia, Jon Donnison tells the story of a refugee who made it from the civil war in Syria to the offices of a women's magazine in Sydney and Nick Thorpe's unearthed the reason why, somewhere in the dry Hungarian soil, the heart of Suleiman the Magnificent is beating a little faster. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents' despatches: the wealthy principality of Liechtenstein is forced to face up to the idea of belt-tightening, Alex Marshall; Alastair Newton Brown strolls through the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran where he finds people keen to engage with the West; Rajini Vaidyanathan in Washington considers the implications of the jail sentence handed down to secrets leaker Bradley Manning; Justin Rowlatt may have struggled to appreciate traditional Vietnamese music but more and more Vietnamese, he says, are keen to learn it. And Kevin Connolly is in Cairo where he's been hearing members of the Muslim Brotherhood explain why they believe they're a force that's not about to go away. Producer: Tony Grant

Correspondents' stories. Today: Hugh Sykes is in Cairo where the mood, at the end of a troubled week, is bleak and the outlook, apparently bleaker. Syrians caught in the cross hairs - Hannah Lucinda Smith on the real story of Aleppo's war: one of people trying to carry on with their lives amidst a conflict they never chose; Petroc Trelawny is on a bridge in Hanoi. The Vietnamese city, once the capital of French Indochina, is growing fast and economic forecasts are optimistic. Celeste Hicks suffers a head injury in Chad. It gives her a chance to see whether any of the country's extensive oil wealth has trickled down as far as the local hospital emergency room and David Stern has been in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where he walked in the footsteps of the man accused of killing President John F Kennedy and ended up facing something of a quandary. The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant

Will the Egyptian army move in to break up the camp in Cairo set up by supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi? Caroline Wyatt has been meeting residents of a city which is bitterly divided. Christians are leaving Syria in their thousands. Diana Darke's been learning that they're being greeted with enthusiasm in neighbouring Turkey. Jonathan Head says there's been a conciliatory mood in Burma as people gathered this week to mark the anniversary of an uprising which launched the country's pro-democracy movement. There are some in Gibraltar who feel the British government's not doing enough for them - Tom Burridge is on the Rock as the latest chapter in a 300-year-old row unfolds and the BBC's new man in Australia, Jon Donnison, explains why he's finding it hard coming to terms with the sheer size of his new patch. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Indians living in the shadow of the Himalayas are being told they could face further life-threatening weather events -- Jane Dyson tells the story of a man and a mule who were unable to contend with the power of nature. Jake Wallis Simons drinks beer with an Israeli settler who tells him that whatever the outcome of the current John Kerry peace initiative, he and others like him still believe in their rights to the land. Shaimaa Khalil is in Libya, meeting the founder of a well-known militia group and asking him about al-Qaeda and about the Libyans who've gone to join the fighting in Syria. There's much talk in Latin America about legalising marijuana and liberalising other drug laws - Will Grant in Mexico takes a look at who might make money from the change. And Frederick Dove travels to China to find out if it's true that the Chinese are falling in love with the game of cricket.

Albania, not so long ago a redoubt of hardline Communism, is now hoping for EU membership. Julia Langdon's been assessing its chances during a visit to the seaside there. Emma Jane Kirby's visiting a company which makes men's pants in France. She's looking into claims that it's harder than ever for French businesses to prosper. Wyre Davies is reporting on the papal visit to Brazil - gauging the impact it's making in a country buoyed up by economic optimism but still, in many places, very poor. Prashant Rao tells us about a favourite supermarket in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and how its luck finally ran out when it was targeted by bombers. And John Pickford, in the kingdom of Tonga, finds Chinese aid to this archipelago in the Pacific plentiful but sometimes, a mixed blessing. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent.

"He knew nothing about politics." A father talks to Humphrey Hawksley about his only son, killed in a street protest in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Will Grant in Mexico on the Central American migrants who face abuse at every turn as they try to make their way to the United States. A fishing community in Alaska is engaged in a bitter battle with the mining industry - Stephen Sackur says it's dividing opinion in this wild and sparsely populated territory. Sarah Toms on the mums and dads in Singapore going to school so they can help their children with the homework. And Lyndsay Johns crams into a minibus taxi in South Africa and finds out about the highs and lows of a morning commute in Cape Town. The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant.