From Our Own Correspondent

A rich seam of frustration - over poverty, bad leadership and corruption -- is being mined by the Nigerian militants Boko Haram, according to Andrew Harding.The fall of Colonel Gaddafi, says David Willey in Rome, has given Italy an opportunity to breathe new life into its long relationship with Libya. Chris Bockman meets some of those who worked for the French in what was then Indochina who are now living quietly by the River Lot in south west France. Hamilton Wende took a luxury train through six southern African countries - the passengers soon noted life outside their gilded carriages was a lot less comfortable. And UNESCO reckons the Viennese cafe's worth adding to its list of intangible items of cultural heritage. Bethany Bell explains why there's a lot more than just apple strudel behind the counter.

From our own curmudgeon. Hugh Schofield finds reasons to be dyspeptic in Paris. Jeremy Paxman on why he says: let's hear it for the Chinese Communist party. Mary Harper visits the Ethiopian town at the centre of the world qat trade. Mark Doyle investigates the link between corruption and crisis in Nigeria while Gabriel Gatehouse explains how the job of uniting the divided factions in the new Libya becomes harder by the day.

Twenty-six planeloads of Libyans arriving in Amman: Matthew Teller on how the downfall of Colonel Gaddafi's providing an economic windfall for Jordan. Pauline Davies learns what's meant by marriage Papua New Guinea-style at the nuptials of her niece there - she was, it seems, a four-pig bride. Aidan Lewis finds himself the subject of police scrutiny as he explores the troubled relationship between Morocco and Western Sahara. Mark Tully's finding out if the residents of Delhi really do resent the fact that their city was created as the capital of the British Raj ... and Allan Little's been meeting some of those behind the creation of the European single currency - he asks them: what on earth's gone wrong?

BBC correspondents don't often go out gardening -- perhaps that's because it gives them a guilty conscience! At least it does Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem. He's been losing sleep over his lemon tree. Humphrey Hawksley's been meeting children in India who work, sometimes in poor conditions, to produce goods sold in shops on Western high streets. Owen Bennett Jones is in Pakistan where the agenda of the news anchors ranges from assassination and polical venality to gossip and who's had a hair transplant. Jeremy Bowen, heavily shadowed by government minders, tries to find out the degree of support for the campaign to oust the president Bashar al-Assad and Stephen Sackur has been to report in Yemen where a political vacuum seems to suit an al-Qaeda-backed insurgency.

The women are in charge - and the men don't seem to be doing much about it. Timothy Allen tells us that's how things are in one northeastern Indian state, where a nascent men's liberation movement is having little impact. Mark Lowen is in Libya, where one of the biggest problems facing the country's new rulers is disarming the many fighters who helped overthrow the dictator Colonel Gaddafi. One consequence of China's great migration, from country to town, is rising tension in some of the city areas where the migrants have set up home - Mukul Devichand's been investigating in the southern city of Guangzhou. Nick Haslam has been to Ecuador, finding out who must pick up the bill when the developed world asks a developing country to forgo economic growth in favour of the world's environment.

The Afghan women still suffering in silence - ten years after the fall of the Taliban. Caroline Wyatt, who's just back from Kabul, examines how their lives might change once the international community withdraws its troops from their country. Nick Thorpe's been to meet the president of Hungary - a man at the centre of a political and constitutional storm. Laura Trevelyan's in Haiti where, two years ago, a 35-second earthquake killed more than three hundred thousand people. She finds the process of reconstruction is still going on -- some say it's taking too long. Sara Hashash is in Cairo where they're trying to salvage what they can from thirty truckloads of ancient books, manuscripts and other documents damaged and destroyed during fighting in the capital last year and our Europe correspondent Chris Morris takes a break from talking about bail-outs and over-the-counter derivatives and heads off to Copenhagen for a heart-to-heart with the Queen of Denmark.

Can international pressure on the military-backed government in Burma be relaxed now a series of reforms is underway? Fergal Keane has been accompanying the British foreign secretary on his visit there and offers an assessment of latest developments there. A year after the assassination of the Governor of Punjab Owen Bennett-Jones has been to Pakistan to examine the impact that killing's had there. John Sweeney talks of how it may be eighty years since millions of Ukrainians died in a famine but the tragedy remains deeply controversial today. Libby Spurrier's just been for a cruise down the River Nile and says it's clear that ten months of instability in Egypt has proved devastating for that country's tourist industry. Stephen Sackur's been getting tips on gastronomy from the man behind what some say is the world's best restaurant and he's emerged with controversial suggestions about what you might want on your Christmas table next December!

Kate Adie on the months of the Libyan revolution which led up to the death of Colonel Gaddafi in October. A chance to hear again some of the BBC's senior correspondents filing on the long road to Tripoli and charting a revolution which stunned the world.

An American Dream: New Hampshire, 1996 Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch by Gavin Esler. In the runup to a Presidential election, he explored small-town America's values and aspirations in Manchester, NH. And as things are today, he found that corporate raiders, rising unemployment and out-of-touch Washington politicians were much on the electorate's mind.

Prisoners of Norilsk - a city frozen in time "A history of Soviet failure written in crumbling cement; a monument to a system which simply ran out of steam". Norilsk, 1994 Owen Bennett Jones introduces a despatch from Kevin Connolly in the city of Norilsk in the Arctic Circle. He met people who had suffered and survived there for decades under the USSR - and seemed likely to spend the rest of their lives in this remote outpost.

The Truth is Our Currency Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch from 1997 by Martin Bell. At a time when television news in particular had been focusing on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, journalism was wrestling with issues like the real meaning of 'objectivity' when reporting on wars, and the limits of neutrality.

The Road to Mandalay Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch from 1984. Veteran correspondent Bob Jobbins describes a journey through Burma's history and culture as he travels from Rangoon to Mandalay.

"The army was rotten to the core and could not put up a fight" - Kinshasa, May 1997 Owen Bennett Jones introduces an archive despatch from the country then still known as Zaire. Allan Little describes the last days of the Mobutu regime and the advance of Laurent Kabila's forces.

A dead man's suitcase in Cape Town transports Tim Butcher from today's Africa via World War Two Italy to Renaissance Tuscany. The most cosseted pets in the world: it's no dog's life, says Joanna Robertson, for the pampered pooches of Paris. High in the Himalayas Joanna Jolly goes searching for a little yellow idol which once wreaked terrible vengeance. Allan Little shares some of the jokes which have fuelled the big news stories in years gone by and Petroc Trelawny on the extraordinary history of Odessa and its enduring passion for music.

The polar bear's back in the news - this time it's at the centre of controversy in Canada where some believe it's a far better animal to be the country's national symbol than the one which currently holds the honour, the beaver -- Lorraine Mallinder has been finding out that some Canadians reckon the beaver's just too boring for the job. At the end of another stressful week in the eurozone Chris Morris tells us that the Germans don't seem too concerned -- the Christmas party season's on their minds! The revolution's brought a new look to Libya but Tarik Kafala, who's been back to Tripoli after many years away, says not everything's changed. Jill McGivering's in Indian Kashmir where questions are being asked about thousands of unmarked graves. And a celebrated bookshop owner passed away this week in Paris and Christine Finn, who worked in his shop recently, tells us what made this store, over the bridge from Notre Dame, so special.

'A political system which had considered itself as solid as rock has started to show cracks.' Steve Rosenberg's in Moscow on a weekend of more demonstrations. The Americans are preparing for their withdrawal from Iraq and Gabriel Gatehouse has been considering what exactly's been achieved during their nine years there. There's a view from Hungary where Nick Thorpe's been looking at how the country's affected by the crisis in the Eurozone. It's forty years since Bangladesh came into being and Mark Tully, who remembers the long struggle which preceded its birth, wonders if too much celebration of that anniversary will lead to further bitterness. And Linda Pressley's in eastern Cuba climbing mountains and asking awkward questions about the love life of Fidel Castro.

Being Italian is bad for your health! That's the contention from Bologna where winter is descending and a range of ailments, unknown to British correspondent Danny Mitzman, are making their presence felt! It's election time in the Democratic Republic of Congo and while you might expect the sounds of tear gas canisters being fired and angry argument about electoral fraud, Will Ross has encountered an orchestra playing Handel's Water Music! A bag of snakes tipped out in a government office in India - Craig Jeffrey says the incident's once again got the country talking about corruption. A book fair --and a beating up: Sara Sheridan in the United Arab Emirates on the issues surrounding the release from prison of a group of people accused of being disrespectful to a ruling family. And the American state of Iowa's preparing for its moment in the political sunlight. It's time for the caucuses, critical for Republicans hoping to become their party's candidate for the White House.

'But of course there will be violence,' says one seasoned observer to Andrew Harding as he travels in the Democratic Republic of Congo wondering if Monday's election is a chance for Africa's wounded giant to get back on its feet. And there's another election, in Egypt, starting on Monday: Lyse Doucet joins a family whose window, overlooking Tahrir Square, offers a unique view of world history unfolding. Fergal Keane, who's been watching the opening of the Khmer Rouge trial in Cambodia, finds young people there more interested in the future than in their country's bloody past. Mark Lowen's in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which lost the major part of its Jewish population to the holocaust and recalls the life of his own grandmother who once came face to face with the commandant of a Nazi death camp. And why James Harkin, chasing revolutionaries in Syria, found himself drawn, repeatedly, to what he claims is the best ice cream shop in the world!

Are the generals in Egypt really about to relinquish power? Stephen Sackur in Cairo takes a closer look at the Tahrir Square revolution as Egyptians prepare to cast their votes. David Loyn's in Burma where vested interests, the cronies they're sometimes called, look on to see what will happen with the leaders' programme of reforms; Lucy Ash is in the Republic of Dagestan, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, where bomb attacks and shootouts on an almost daily basis make this the most volatile corner of the Russian Federation; Mike Thomson explains why Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, has become a 'closed city' but says it pays to get to know it better and Alastair Leithead's on a whirlwind tour of Colombia - he gets an apology from the president and tells us how gold has become the country's new cocaine.

"That's nobody's business but the Turks'." A quote from one of several songs which feature Turkey which are in turn quoted by Kevin Connolly as he talks about why the country remains keen to join the EU despite the Union's problems with debt and insecurity. Hugh Sykes is in Rome as prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's reported to be on the verge of resignation - he wonders why a country which does so many things so well, and manufactures so many goods coveted worldwide, can find itself in such trouble. A new property law's been introduced in Havana - Peter Day tries to answer the question: does this mean the grip of Castro-style Communism is being relaxed? Justin Rowlatt sends a despatch from Varanasi in India where the traditional practice of cremating bodies continues by the River Ganges. And you have to be fit to trek across the Pyrenees. We find out how Edward Stourton got on as he retraced the wartime route of the hundreds who used that route to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe.