From Our Own Correspondent

The British soldiers in Afghanistan have lost faith in their mission, there are fields full of opium poppies and the Taliban are everywhere. Quentin Sommerville talks of the mood among the troops as they prepare at last to return home. After Charles Taylor, who'll next be taken to court to face charges relating to war crimes? Fiona Lloyd Davies has been in the Democratic Republic of Congo meeting one former rebel commander who is wanted for trial. Ian Pannell has been talking to an English scholar in Syria whose library was destroyed as the struggle continues between protestors and the security forces. What makes Kenyan athletes such fine distance runners? Claudia Hammond's been jogging through the Great Rift Valley learning some of the answers. and Stephen Sackur went to Cairo to report on how the people's uprising there was faring but instead found himself captivated by a revolutionary TV chef whose recipes are being lapped up throughout the Middle East!

Bahrain: Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines why all sides in the bitter conflict there feel the controversy surrounding this weekend's Grand Prix can work in their favour. France: It's an election which lacks a feel-good factor. Perhaps, Chris Morris feels, that's why all the campaigners are looking back, at a vision of a romantic, glorious French past. Kenya: Mary Harper's in a huge refugee camp, run on international money, and contrasts life there with that in an impoverished village not far away. India: His mother warned him against walking on ice, but Paul Howard finds it's the only way to visit a remote community high in the Himalayas. Germany: Great excitement at the start of the white asparagus season. Steve Evans finds the vegetable dominating menus and conversation. But surely it's not an aphrodisiac?

Fergal Keane is on Turkey's border with Syria listening to the experiences of those seeking refuge from the violence. The rise - and fall - of Italy's House of Bossi. David Willey reports. Natalia Antelava uncovers what appears to be a secret programme to sterilize women in Uzbekistan. Justin Marozzi finds street life returning to the Somali capital Mogadishu, once the most dangerous city on earth. And Jon Donnison hears the Olympic dreams of one Libyan athlete.

Presenter Kate Adie's in Sarajevo along with Allan Little and Jeremy Bowen. All three of them correspondents who reported from the Bosnian war 20 years ago. Also today Owen Bennett Jones on a controversial group of Iranian exiles whose camp in Iraq is about to be closed down. Pascale Harter's in Iceland talking of life in a town which remains in the shade from October to February. While Simon Worrall goes to northern France with questions about what exactly happened in a battle more than seventy years ago.

What does a chaotic pet market have to tell us about Libya's transition from dictatorship to democracy? Kevin Connolly's been finding out. Refineries. Miles and miles of pipeline. Hundreds of workers from overseas. Antonia Quirke's learned they are all coming to a remote corner of Mozambique now there's been a huge gas find there. Drug-related violence is a major issue in the Mexican presidential election campaign, which has just got underway. Will Grant's in the capital city where even news of the most gruesome happenings now seems to cause little surprise or horror. Jonathan Fryer's been meeting a family hugely respected in Togo. Over the generations they've become known for producing twins -- regarded as particularly special in this part of west Africa. And how on earth did a man from the high Himalayas come to be serving Jewish culinary specialities in a store in Manhattan? The answer to that one comes from Reggie Nadelson.

Afghans enjoy New Year celebrations but Lyse Doucet finds they are concerned about what the months ahead may bring John James travels to the west African state of Guinea-Bissau and finds unexpected charms amidst its shadows The Burmese are finding out that recent reforms in their country have encouraged tourists to return. Caroline Hawley has been seeing what it has to offer the international visitor The Egyptians are preparing to vote for a new president and Jon Leyne has been finding out there are hundreds of people who feel they should have the job Gavin Esler meets Chancellor Merkel in Berlin and considers to what extent Germans feel obliged to help the poorer nations of southern Europe

One Direction: behind the scenes with the boy band in the US. Arrest warrant issued for a former premier of the troubled Turks and Caicos Islands. Cambodian Americans deported from the US. Why the Eurovision Song Contest reminds one woman in Azerbaijan of losing her home. And the Brazilian port--- 900 miles from the sea.

A hundred million plus hits on the internet. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding on the film about warlord Joseph Kony and why it's received the thumbs down from an audience in Uganda. A group of former paramilitaries and police officers from Northern Ireland have been to South Africa to see how combatants in the apartheid era there are now trying to come to terms with their troubled past -- Fergal Keane joined them. 'A steady pulse of pleasure' as Simon Worrall sails to the fabled Spice Islands in the wake of the great nineteenth century naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace. Joanna Robertson's been to the cinema in Paris seeing how French children are being educated to become the film experts of the future. And Peter Day describes the extraordinary Chinese ghost town -- empty streets, half-finished buildings -- which suggests to some that the great real estate bubble there has finally burst.

A voodoo priest visits in Benin; disappearances in Sri Lanka; a truce in Gaza and calls from Israeli intelligence; contemporary art arrives in the Kremlin; and specialist shops in Mexico's old city centre.

The fisherman who decided to sail TOWARDS the tsunami - Julian May hears his story as he drives around Japan a year after the tidal wave and nuclear emergency. Owen Bennett Jones has been meeting Syrians forced into making painful decisions by the ongoing fighting in their country. The BBC's moving out of Bush House in London and, for our man in Rome Alan Johnston, that's a cause of some sadness. Russia's often associated with having autocratic leaders and Tim Whewell's in the city of Krasnodar where many still revere the memory of the empress, Catherine the Great. And Will Ross receives an unexpected invitation to fly into troubled Somalia with the Ethiopian army.

The extraordinarily spry 80-year-olds of Shikoku: Peter Day's met them and tells us about the problems countries such as Japan and Britain face with their ageing populations. 'A match made in heaven.' Daniel Schweimler's impressed with the wines made in the Argentine region of Mendoza. Matthew Price finds Greeks deeply concerned about the further demands they're facing for austerity as efforts continue to secure another cash bailout from the EU and IMF What happens when Chinese villagers, incensed about land grabs, stand up against the authorities. Martin Patience, in Guangdong province, says they may have won the battle but they shouldn't feel too confident about winning the war. And Martin Plaut meets an extraordinary man close to the troubled border between Sudan and South Sudan: a doctor, determined to dodge danger and bring help to all who need it.

'A revolution with almost no co-ordination or planning.' That was Ian Pannell's assessment as he toured northern Syria trying to work out the extent of the rebellion against President Assad. Meanwhile, James Harkin's in the capital Damascus where international sanctions are starting to leave their mark on everyday life. Rachel Harvey's been meeting a group of Burmese opposition figures recently released from long jail sentences. Do they believe the new government is genuinely committed to a process of reform? There's a story of connectivity, turtles and love from Huw Cordey in the central American state of Costa Rica. And how would you like to get the tea for 49 young children? Catherine Fellowes has been talking to a mum in Kenya who does it every day!

Did you ever see bin Laden? Aleem Maqbool is in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where they've been bulldozing the compound where the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US special forces. The German public appears to be tiring of rescue packages for Greece and Steve Evans in Berlin has been hearing it's not easy being a Greek in today's Germany. David Loyn is in the Indian state of Bihar hearing the arguments for and against Britain's aid for India. Hugely increased fees at UK universities mean that more British students than ever before are enrolling in foreign places of learning. Sanchia Berg's to Harvard in the US. And Tom Burridge is in Barcelona where the regional politicians feel they're getting a raw deal from Madrid.

Andrew Harding's in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia -- how impressed have they been there with the international gathering in London aimed at restoring stability to their country? Gerry Northam's in Japan where, a year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami, they're wondering whether to dump nuclear power altogether. David Willis is looking at a ninety-year-old murder mystery in the Hollywood hills. An extraordinary tableau's revealed in a Cairo bar: Sara Hashash meets a soldier who, on his days off, joins demonstrators throwing stones at the military! And Aleem Maqbool is finding out why a town in Pakistan's north-west is known as Little Britain.

Is al-Qaeda giving the people of Yemen something their government is not? It's a question explored by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes who's there in the wake of this week's election. Who wants to venture seven miles to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean? Rebecca Morelle tells us four competing teams are developing submarines to do just that. Christchurch in New Zealand is still far from rebuilt a year after the devastating earthquake there. Joanna Lester talks of a city centre in ruins and communities torn apart. The French province of Brittany has a great deal going for it but not, as Robert Colls has been telling us, much in the way of job opportunities. And Frank Gardner's taken to the skies off the coast of Somalia to see how an international force is dealing with the threat posed by pirates.

Guns remain the ultimate arbiter of disputes in post-Gaddafi Libya. And in Benghazi Gabriel Gatehouse says disarming the militias is a priority for the country's new leaders. Bill Law's been in Bahrain as violence between protestors and security forces has left many casualties in recent days. Justin Rowlatt meets a Brazilian who admits to cutting down swathes of Amazonian rainforest. But maintains he was doing what his government considered appropriate. There's growing resentment between the people of Hong Kong and Chinese mainlanders - Juliana Liu's been exploring the tensions... while in New York City Reggie Nadelson looks around a vast wedding emporium where you can spend thousands on a wedding dress - and many do!

No need for expensive cab fares this time! The regime change in The Maldives proves a story Andrew North was able to cover entirely on foot. Can Greece ever come back from this crisis? Paul Mason's on the road to Patras encountering a deep sense of gloom. As relations between Russia and the West nosedive amid arguments over Syria, a tale from Steve Rosenberg about the time when two Englishmen used football to boost productivity in Russian textile factories. For Africa's big football match, the Cup of Nations final, Tamasin Ford was at a sweltering screening in a refugee camp in Liberia. And very different weather in County Mayo: the winds howl and the hail lashes down as Kieran Cooke inspects a structure causing controversy in the far west of Ireland.

That windswept outpost of Britishness in the South Atlantic again causes tension between Britain and Argentina as the anniversary of the Falklands War approaches. Fergal Keane is in Buenos Aires where a longing to redeem the islands is deeply felt; Allan Little's in the capital of the Falklands, Port Stanley, finding out they are more concerned there about shortages of fruit, veg and eggs. Mark Lowen's our man in Athens where Greeks are becoming increasingly angry with the way their government's handling their debt crisis. Did you know the Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's family comes from Lake Garda in northern Italy. No? Well nor did most of the people living there until Christine Finn told them! And Alastair Leithead's been to a village in southern Mexico to see how the government is trying to impress descendants of the great Mayan civilisation.

From Ambridge to Tunisia: Owen Bennett Jones meets a man at the heart of government power in Tunis who talks of The Archers and how Britain's the most Islamic country he's ever lived in. Michael Bristow finds the Chinese secret police not so secret as he tries to report on Tibetan protests in western China. The National Front in France hopes to be a significant force in the upcoming French elections -- Christian Fraser on how the party's changing under the leadership of Marine Le Pen. Rubbish is a hot political potato in Mexico City -- Will Grant's had a pungent day out with its binmen. And behind closed doors in Libya: it's a bride's day ... and as Saleya Ahsan tells us, it's not an occasion for the men!

After a journey from the calm of a hotel lobby to a city centre ladies' outfitters and on to the drum-beating heart of Syrian protest, Tim Whewell confronts the question: how much longer will the regime of Bashar al-Assad survive? Alan Johnston tells us Italy's young are worried about the economy and the future -- and many are deciding to emigrate. As protestors in Russia prepare again to take to the streets in anti-Putin demonstrations, James Coomarasamy's testing the public mood outside the capital. Will Ross is in Addis Ababa where the latest Chinese contribution to Ethiopian life is dominating the landscape. And how do you deal with evil spirits, ghosts and fallen angels? Kate McGeown is in a consulting room behind a karaoke bar in the Philippines finding out!