From Our Own Correspondent

Could Mogadishu be about to lose its title as the world's most dangerous city? Mary Harper says soon there'll be a new parliament and a new president in the Somali capital and there's hope the days of war, drought and famine could come to an end. The authorities in Yemen helped by the US have been taking the battle to al-Qaeda but Natalia Antelava says some believe hearts and minds are being lost in the process. Three years ago the north-eastern tip of Sri Lanka was the scene of the Tamil Tigers' last big battle against the Sri Lankan army. Charles Haviland's been allowed to visit the area. Henry Nicholls, who's been in the Galapagos Islands out in the Pacific Ocean, says people there are finding it hard to pick themselves up after the death of their most famous resident, the giant tortoise, Lonesome George. The annual Bayreuth Festival has been taking place in the south of Germany and Stephen Evans says that once again it's being stalked by controversy.

Ian Pannell visits a school which has become a morgue for children in the Syrian city of Aleppo. James Harkin meets a Syrian whose chosen weapon, in his battle against the Assad regime, is a mobile phone rather than a gun John Sweeney's in Belarus. It's ruled, he says, by a regime so cocky it can't even be bothered to rebrand its secret police. They're still known as the KGB. Senegal's become the latest African country to grow melons for Europe. Susie Emmett joins workers who find time to take a break for a game of football. And is it more Lord of the Flies or Swallows and Amazons? Laura Trevelyan travels to the state of Maine to investigate the phenomenon that is the US summer camp.

Pascale Harter's testing the mood in Spain in the week hundreds of thousands made clear their disapproval of the Madrid government's austerity measures. In France the new administration of President Francois Hollande wants to restore prosperity without applying too much austerity. But David Chazan says the difficulties are piling up for the new man in the Elysee Palace. The Nigerian economy is leaking millions. Will Ross has been to the Niger Delta to find out how people are helping themselves to the country's most valuable resource, oil. Linda Pressley tells the extraordinary tale of the travels of the corpse of Argentina's most famous First Lady, Eva Peron. While eight thousand miles from Buenos Aires, Mark Bosworth finds a hundred thousand Finns dancing the tango under the midnight sun.

As speculation continues about who's won the election in Libya, Rana Jawad in Tripoli hears how "Libyan women face five problems: the father, the son, the husband, the brother and the working man!" Deep in the hills of Honduras Stephen Sackur's been talking to a man who's trying to escape the country's drugs and gang culture but fears he won't be allowed to succeed. In the week China released figures showing how its economy has slowed down, Michael Bristow leaves the country in, as he puts it, the midst of an unfinished revolution. Alan Johnston descends below ground level in Rome to learn a little more about the fears which beset Benito Mussolini in the final years of his dictatorship. And did you know bird spit can be big business? It is in Malaysia. Jenifer Pak's been finding out how the market's now being flooded by counterfeiters.

Natasha Breed on how the population of Kenya's expanding fast, urban areas are eating up the countryside. And it's proving disastrous and sometimes fatal for the country's wildlife. A weird fungus which grows out of the heads of caterpillars is being harvested in parts of the Himalayas. Craig Jeffrey, who's been investigating, says it's proving a valuable cash crop for some of the mountain villagers. Latvia has the fastest-growing economy in Europe. Damien McGuinness has been to the capital Riga to see how they've made austerity cool. The Nigerian president's been speaking of the importance of family planning. The BBC's Jane Dreaper's been to a part of his country where having seven children is far from unusual. And Anna Horsbrugh Porter is one of the BBC World Service staff who're leaving their headquarters in London, Bush House in the Strand. She's been talking to colleagues about a much-loved broadcasting institution.

Pauline Davies in the desert where nothing lives: the Atacama in Chile. But once thousands of miners lived here. Today ghost towns are all that remain. Andrew Harding on how the fears of those living in the Malian city of Timbuktu came to be realised when Islamist militants came to town and started to destroy their historic monuments. Could France be about to issue an apology to Algeria for the brutal events which led up to Algerian independence fifty years ago? Philip Sweeney wonders who exactly owes whom the apology? Of all the postings a correspondent might expect, one in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa was never going to be dull! Thomas Hubert looks back on his three and a half years there. And the dangers from Chernobyl have not come to an end yet. Patrick Evans says there's a real fear the summer heat could trigger radioactive wildfires with consequences which could be felt all over Europe.

Churches and mosques are being targetted by the Boko Haram militant group in Nigeria. Will Ross has been to the northern city of Jos, a city he says feels like it's under seige. The Europe-wide debt crisis is increasingly being felt in Italy, where both prices and unemployment are soaring. Alan Johnston's in a suburb of Rome, hearing that people have begun to feel the pinch. It's fifty years now since Algerians won their battle for independence from France. Chloe Arnold in Algiers has been meeting a woman who feels she did her bit to liberate the country. Jim Carey's in Jordan, a kingdom which prefers hospitality to headlines and has a policy of being nice to everybody. And is conformism really a feature of the French psyche? It's a question which has been troubling Hugh Schofield on his morning runs around the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.

Ian Pannell tells us how the story of Robin Hood is proving popular with one of the Syrian rebel groups fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. Will Grant, on the campaign trail ahead of Sunday's election in Mexico, finds himself in what he describes as 'the most dangerous place I've ever been.' Hampi in India may once have been the heart of one of the biggest empires in Asia, but Anthony Denselow says it's increasingly drained of daily life. Damien McGuinness has been learning that pagan traditions emerge from the past - and the forest - when Latvians go out to celebrate midsummer. And Dany Mitzman reveals that at an Italian wedding food is more important than speeches - and confetti isn't something you throw, it's something you eat!

Rumours and conspiracy theories swirl around Egypt; the Greeks fed up with being criticised for attitudes towards Europe; businessmen and environmentalists squabble over the River Danube in Croatia; how love, trolls and goblins help the Swedish government balance its books and musings on the folly of empire from half way up a volcano in Indonesia.

Kevin Connolly has the latest from Cairo, awash with conspiracy theories after the authorities delayed the results of Egypt's presidential election. Jill McGivering's travelling across northern India investigating a growing water crisis. Major rivers are contaminated by pollution and wells are running dry. As delegates at the Rio conference study papers on future energy sources, Jonny Dymond's been to Kentucky where livelihoods built around coal mining are now in doubt. There's a building boom going on in the central African state of Chad but Celeste Hicks tells us it's still blighted by violence, poverty and disease. South Koreans are being urged to dress down now that high summer's arrived. But Lucy Williamson's been finding out they won't listen to entreaties that they should slip into something something cooler.

All of Europe is watching the Greek elections. Chris Morris says they could have a profound effect on the Euro and on the future of the European Union. The child stone breakers of Madagascar. They toil all day every day. It earns them just a few coins. And, as Luke Freeman finds out, there's no question of them ever going to school. He was one of Cuba's revolutionary heroes. The funeral of boxer Teofilo Stevenson has just taken place in Havana. Sarah Rainsford was there and later talked to some of the Cuban athletes trying to emulate his Olympic success at this year's Games in London. Jackie Bird has been to Korea with some of the Britons who fought in the war there sixty years ago. It's a conflict which few in Britain commemmorate. But there, the soldiers were applauded and thanked. Fuchsia Dunlop dons her dancing shoes and heads out into Shanghai to get a glimpse of what this Chinese city must have been like during the glittering, decadent pre-war years.

Paul Mason meets protesters in Spain finding new ways to signal their worries and anger about how their government's tackling the financial crisis. Lucy Hooker declines to join the stampede of foreign customers in the gem markets of Rangoon in Burma. Rana Jawad contends that while Libya's in a state of 'civilised anarchy', its people believe near-anarchy now might be the price to pay for the tyranny of the Gaddafi years. As some European footballers have been taken to visit the site of Auschwitz in Poland, David Shukman has retraced his own family history in a nearby vilage. And Anu Anand went a good deal further than the Internet to delve into the roots of her family tree. Finding out about ten generations of Anands involved a trip to the River Ganges, special priests and a search for an ancient banyan tree.

From Mogadishu -- Gabriel Gatehouse on how the al-Shabab militants have managed to lose friends and influence among the population of Somalia and given a boost to the African peacekeepers there Andy Martin's talking of a rift in the Irish church as Dublin prepares to welcome tens of thousands of Catholic visitors to the capital for an event some have called the 'Catholic Olympics.' A shaded graveyard in Kabul: Andrew North says the memorials there tell a story about Afghanistan's strategic value and the many times foreign soldiers have marched onto its soil Chancellor Merkel of Germany likes straight talking, Steve Evans in Berlin believes. During the visit to Berlin of prime minister Cameron, she used vocabulary British politicians would hesitate to voice in public. And the repressive policies of the apartheid era may be long gone but colour remains a preoccupation in South Africa as new mother, Tara Neill, has been finding out

Alan Johnston's been to the Italian towns shaken by a series of earthquakes and aftershocks. In Pakistan, monsoon season is approaching again: Aleem Maqbool meets victims of last year's disastrous flooding amid concerns it could happen again. Hamilton Wende, a longterm resident of Johannesburg, believes it's shaking off a reputation for violence and urban decay. James McConnachie is in Nepal, where Chinese influence is bringing new road-building projects to the world's most dramatic mountain landscapes. And Roland Buerk is in Tokyo, where pets are pampered like nowhere else on earth.

Fergal Keane meets exiled Syrians in Istanbul and finds little agreement among them about the way forward for their troubled country. Gabriel Gatehouse is in eastern Congo where politics, history and nature have conspired to create instability and danger. David Willey talks of unrest and dismay at the Vatican as Cardinals plot and the Pope speaks of betrayal. Anu Anand's been meeting The Love Commandos in Delhi -- they help young couples who dare to get together without parental approval. And just ten miles from Wall Street and you're bathing in the Atlantic Ocean! Reggie Nadelson's in Brighton Beach, New York's most interesting ethnic enclave.

Jeremy Bowen in Beirut says the Middle East is certainly changing. But the dominoes aren't tumbling as quickly as some thought last year. Instead, the way ahead will be long and hard. Will Ross in Lagos on the fuel subsidy scandal and why for Nigerians the price of petrol is a constant preoccupation. Jonny Dymond takes to the skies over Arizona with a man determined to do his bit to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the US. The campest show of them all, Eurovision, has come to Baku in Azerbaijan. And Steve Rosenberg, who's there, says it's attended by awkward questions about human rights. And she was invited to a seaside tasting of some of Italy's finest fare. So what could possibly go wrong for Dany Mitzman?

Portia Walker: optimism in Yemen has been punctured by a devastating bomb blast in the capital. Alan Johnston: a state funeral has taken place in Sicily to honour a man who dared to take on the Mafia - and paid the ultimate price. Laura Trevelyan: the town in Mexico which has grown rich on the profits of sex trafficking. Matthew Teller: how the authorities in the Saudi capital Riyadh have transformed a public rubbish tip into lush parkland complete with lakes and walkways. and Bethany Bell: why the people of Vienna, who live in one of the world's most desirable capital cities, still seem to have plenty to moan about.

Kevin Connolly's in Luxor wondering if the military, which has controlled proceedings in Egypt since 1952, really will hand over power to civilians once the elections, starting next week, are over. Jonathan Head in Turkey notes that talks about joining the European Union have started up again. But does Turkey really need to join an EU worrying about economic catastrophe? David Belton's been to a remote part of New York state where the Amish religious sect has taken the question: can God really be wrong, to a court for judgement. Fuchsia Dunlop's been to one part of China where they don't find cheese alien and revolting And Mary Harper's been mingling with the Somali population in Dubai. And taking a drive, in some style, around the gleaming emirate.

Many Syrian doctors and medical staff have fled the country as the violence there continues. Portia Walker's been talking to one of them in Turkey. The Arab Spring has failed to take root in Algeria. This week there were elections there and Chloe Arnold's been reflecting on the public reluctance to take part in a vote about the country's future. Hugh Sykes has been listening to opposing views about the state Pakistan's in. Some talk of its political stability; others of how it's ripe for revolution. Everyone, though, has a view about corruption there. A UN envoy, in Cambodia this week, spoke of how firearms were increasingly being used there against human rights activists. Guy Delauney considers this in the light of growing public controversy over land issues and illegal logging. And as the nude bathing season gets underway in Germany Stephen Evans tells a story of how cultural confusion over nakedness caused embarrassment in a Berlin gym.

In a week full of elections near and far, Mark Lowen says Sunday's vote in Greece could be the most critical of them all. Justin Rowlatt is in Kenya noting a huge turnaound in the global economy -- while Europe and the USA are feeling the pain, the rest of the world is steadily getting richer. Petroc Trelawney's been to find out why a new town in Ireland has houses and a new railway station, but very few people. Lucy Ash is camping out in the Russian Arctic and seeing how Vladimir Putin's push for further energy supplies is affecting reindeer and their herders And Alan Johnston, touring the celebrated sights of Rome, tells us there's one particular statue which casts a chill shadow -- even on the sunniest of Spring days.