From Our Own Correspondent

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.

The Bulgarian establishment under threat from a million smartphones - Nick Thorpe on the protestors demanding their government steps down. Ahead of election day in Cambodia, Annie Caulfield goes to the circus and finds happy children and painful memories. Peter Day is in Zambia where diarrhoea is a major killer of children - medication works, but getting it to remote villages presents a huge challenge. John Pickford's in the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific, and tells us why the arrival there of two large canoes caused great excitement. And Simon Wilson has discovered that baseball's not just a metaphor for life in the US, it's also a way of preparing Americans - for failure! FOOC is produced by Tony Grant.

Quentin Sommerville talks to protestors on Cairo's streets; Andrew Harding returns to Burma and this time he doesn't need a disguise! Linda Pressly visits a unique community of sex offenders in Florida, Leo Johnson is blasting for gold in Ecuador and David Chazan learns how to be a cyber-hacker in Lille.

The recent feuding within Nelson Mandela's family has reminded us that within the anti-apartheid hero's myth is a man and a family with very human frailties, as Gabriel Gatehouse ponders when he visits a play in Johannesburg. Yolande Knell pays a visit to the deported cleric Abu Qatada's new home - Jordan's al-Muwaqar Prison. Jo Fidgen joins the crew of a Norwegian whale hunting boat. Ed Stocker finds out why some poorer Bolivians can't afford to eat their staple food, quinoa, any more. And Dany Mitzman on the Calabrian mafia's most recent and high profile victim.

Portuguese people are leaving the country in their thousands, travelling to the country's former colonies in search of work - Emma Jane Kirby's in Porto and Lisbon learning how recession's driving many away from their family and loved ones. The exodus from conflict-ridden Syria continues too - Kieran Cooke meets a family from Damascus now selling shoes in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Kevin Connolly's in Cairo and asks how the military will react at the next election if the people once again select an Islamist candidate to be the country's leader. Beth McLeod has been finding out that a high proportion of Vietnam's sucessful businesses are run by women - she suggests the country's turbulent history may point at some of the reasons why. And far out in the Pacific, John Pickford's on Christmas Island where he stumbles across a reminder that this was the place where Britain carried out some of its first nuclear weapons testing.

What's happened to her house in the Old City in Damascus? Diana Darke hears how it's fared during the ongoing conflict in Syria. David Shukman is in Prescott, Arizona, a community devastated after 19 firefighters lost their lives battling a forest fire. Kinshasa in DR Congo is Africa's fastest-growing city - Jonny Hogg's been finding out how law and order's fast collapsing there too. Natasha Breed, who lives in Kenya and regularly films lions there, is shocked at the conditions a lion's forced to endure at a circus in France. And, on a lighter note, Rajan Datar, high in the Caucusus mountains of Georgia, is invited to try his hand, or rather his larynx, at the ancient art of polyphonic singing.

A thousand horses. Three thousand sheep. And people, thousands of them too, clustered like locusts around the Old Port in Marseille. What on earth were they all doing there? Anna Magnusson was finding out. European leaders have announced they'll try to tackle unemployment; Emma Jane Kirby's in southern Spain where the under-25s are finding it hardest to get jobs. Qatar has a new ruler, or emir; Frank Gardner's just back from this ultra-rich Gulf state wondering: is this the world's most ironic country? Rupert Wingfield Hayes has been to the Indonesian island of Sumatra to look into South East Asia's worst smog crisis in years. And among the correspondents in Senegal, reporting on the excitement, the rumours and the disruption which accompany a visiting American president, was Caspar Leighton. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

It's the great reconciliation story which never happened -- Andrew Hosken in Libya on a homecoming which didn't take place. Nigel Wilson tells us of the dangers involved in trying to provide a taste of home to Syrians stuck in Jordan. Marie Keyworth on the Portuguese struggling to get by as the long recession continues. In Croatia, Mick Webb finds many enthusiastic about joining the EU - the country's set to become a full member next month. And who's for some red-braised wallaby tail with native fruits? Not many Australians apparently. Fuchsia Dunlop says there's a reluctance to tuck in to some of the local wildlife. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent.

Air travel may be not quite the glamorous, magical experience it once was but our frequent flier Peter Day, sitting bolt upright in economy class, says there can still be something magnificent about it. For Shaiima Khalil, it's a long hot overnight train journey to Upper Egypt to find out how the revolution's playing out far from the big cities of the north. Chris Morris, covering the anti-government demonstrations in Turkey, hears the prime minister Mr Erdogan promise better days ahead. Fergal Keane tells of past and future colliding on a beach near the southern tip of Africa. And Stephen Smith, deep in a vault in London, gets his hands on some of the glittering riches of the Russian Tsars. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

'Everything is worse after the revolution' - tourism workers along the River Nile in Egypt tell Matthew Teller about the turmoil in their industry. Tessa Dunlop returns to Romania to see if the lot of orphans there has improved in the last twenty years. How some refugees from the fighting in Syria are finding a warm welcome in Hizbollah communities in northern Lebanon - Sakhr Al-Makhadhi explains. Alastair Leithead meets the Yurock tribe in northern California -- an ancient people in modern America. And why Andy Martin found the huge police presence at the G8 gathering of world leaders in Ireland distinctly disarming.

A passion for protest: street demonstrations, rarely permitted in the days of President Mubarak, have become common in Cairo and Egypt's other cities; Aleem Maqbool sets out to see if he can find a demo a day. Phil Goodwin on how war has changed Syria from a hospitable, friendly place into one that's brutal, paranoid and vicious. A meeting critical to the future of Detroit - Jonny Dymond on a great American city poised on the edge of bankruptcy. Peter Meanwell meets cross-dressing musicians in Equatorial Guinea and tucks in to crocodile in chocolate sauce. And a snake guarding a pot of gold? Jane Dyson says it's one of the less alarming ghosts believed to reside in the forests of the Himalayas.

Hungarians fight the floods! This collection of despatches from radio correspondents includes Nick Thorpe in Budapest on how people buried their differences and worked together to save their capital from an overflowing River Danube. Bethany Bell says they're picking cherries in the Golan Heights as the Syrian war rages on in the valley below. Croatia is about to join the EU - but Andy Hosken finds that the campaign to eradicate old ethnic animosities has only achieved limited success. Yolande Knell is in Gaza from where, in recent times, rockets have been fired at Israel. She discovers how Gazans are coping with the sanctions imposed on them by the Israelis. And who is responsible for climate change in the Himalayas? Kieran Cooke, who was there, is told the answer - by a Hindu holy man!

Correspondents' despatches from around the globe. Who'll emerge victorious from the struggle in Taksim Square? Paul Mason gives his view after spending the week in Istanbul. Lyse Doucet believes the new prime minister of Pakistan faces a daunting set of problems -- but she finds there's little chance of him going hungry! The Nigerian military say they're making progress in their campaign against the rebels of Boko Haram - Will Ross has been to the north-east of the country to make his own assessment. Alan Johnston explains how Mussolini's Fascists created a corner of Italy where homosexuals could be glad to be gay. And foreign journalists are rarely welcomed in North Korea but Juliet Rix has been there as a tourist and was delighted to meet the locals and go dancing in a park in Pyongyang. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Is the Turkish prime minister Mr Erdogan listening to the demonstrators? James Reynolds has been following the protests in Istanbul and other cities. Chris Morris is in historic Mostar learning how difficult it is for Bosnians to forget about the past. People in the Golan Heights have been telling Wyre Davies they are concerned the fighting over the border in Syria is about to spill over into their territory. Lucy Ash has been to Yaroslavl in Russia to examine whether the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, really was the proletarian heroine she's made out to be. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

A world that's not just full of doom and gloom: Anna Borzello on the remarkable changes that have happened in northern Uganda since the area was abandoned by the brutal rebels of the Lords Resistance Army; Richard Porter tells us how the cruelties of Saddam Hussein have become a distant memory in the marshlands of southern Iraq -- people have returned to their homes, the wildlife is back too; BBC foreign correspondent James Reynolds talks of the phone call to London which might have cost him his job; Elisabeth Kendall explains how tribesmen of eastern Yemen are finally getting a say in their own future and Hugh Schofield, a British dad in Paris, sees his daughter transformed by philosophy lessons.

Hungry crocodiles are invading homes in northern Australia looking for the family pet, Phil Mercer has that story; the dangers of a drive through increasingly violent Iraq, Paul Martin; what makes an Indian cinema crowd scream at the screen, Mark Tully; the former gangsters trying to reduce gun crime on the streets of LA, Frank Gardner and the controversy surrounding a new TV show in Denmark which features men in suits talking about naked women, Emma Jane Kirby.

Reporters around the world with the news behind the headlines: Aleem Maqbool talks of the 14-hundred-year old conflict which lies behind today's breakdown in law and order in Iraq; the bicentenary of the controversial composer Wagner causes Steve Evans to question preconceptions about Germans and their society; Ed Butler meets a billionaire in Azerbaijan and chuckles over his plans for a huge building project; the African Union's optimistic about the continent's future but Gabriel Gatehouse finds good news in short supply in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And French schoolchildren will soon lose their traditional midweek day off school. Joanna Robertson tells us they're not happy about it!

Correspondents around the world: Jeremy Bowen on the increasing difficulties of reporting the war in Syria; Paul Lewis explores how corruption is reaching into the heart of everyday life in India; the diaspora returns - Andrew Harding talks of Somalia at the crossroads; Louisa Loveluck's at the morgue in Cairo - some say it's been covering up cases of police brutality and in Rome, Alan Johnston has been walking the cobblestones beloved of the tourists but held in rather less affection by the locals.