From Our Own Correspondent

The stories behind the stories. In this edition: why Germany's ambivalence towards Russia may emerge as east meets west to discuss Ukraine next week; West Bengal plans to restore the lost glory of Kolkata - the idea is, we hear, to make it a bit more like London; life gets harder in the Gaza Strip as the interim government in neighbouring Egypt cranks up the pressure on Hamas; 'Isn't that you know who?' A chance meeting, in a Budapest hospital, with the man who is arguably Europe's most controversial leader. And what happened when our man in Marrakech asked the king to step in to save an ancient tradition from oblivion.

Despatches from foreign correspondents. Today: Tim Whewell on what's caused the savage breakdown in law and order in the Central African Republic. As Afghans go to the polls, Lynne O'Donnell reflects on the daily threats they face from the Taliban. Ritula Shah in Gujarat on how there's cake for SOME Indians as their mammoth election approaches. Will Grant meets migrants in Mexico preparing for a dangerous and illegal desert trek into the United States and it's a literary mystery that's baffled the brilliant for more than a century - Simon Worrall's been to study the controversial Voynich Manuscript.

Correspondents' stories. In this edition, Humphrey Hawksley's in a part of Europe where an increase in Russian influence would not be unwelcome. Twenty-five years after the fall of Communism, Monica Whitlock is in Romania where they are still unlocking secrets from the past. As election time approaches in India, Kieran Cooke's visiting Assam and finding remnants of a bygone, colonial era. And not far from high-tech Silicon Valley, Andrew Whitehead finds there's still enthusiasm for the old-style, printed book.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world. Today, Jamie Coomarasamy meets the man who once was Crimea's one and only President and dreams of a new landscape; James Menendez goes to the city where month-long demonstrations started in Venezuela; Shahida Bari find camels, dogs, four by fours, twitter and verse in the deserts of the UAE; Rajan Datar is in Goa, trying his best to help pick up the rubbish; and Stephen Mulvey's memories of Ukrainian independence don't match President Putin's.

Correspondents' stories from around the world, introduced by Kate Adie. Today: Will Grant meets El Salvador's only forensic archaeologist, with the unenviable task of unearthing and identifying murder victims; Emma Jane Kirby is in a French border town, discovering why the Front National is gaining support; Karen Allen visits the former Taleban capital of Kandahar where businessmen are in desperate need of more power; Alex Preston, in Sri Lanka, finds out why rugby is becoming so popular; and Susannah Knights is with the musicians and performers of Tunisia who are poor but flourishing in their new found freedom.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. This week Mark Lowen is reminded of his days in the Balkans as he talks about history to people in Crimea; three years after the start of the uprising in Syria, Lina Sinjab catches up with those who once had so much hope; Sue Lloyd Roberts hears how a religious sect that believes in Aliens and the pursuit of pleasure is trying to help victims of female genital mutilation in Burkina Faso; In Serbia, Guy de Launey tells us how a political double-act could be replaced by Superman; and Tara Isabella Burton explains why chickens should avoid the Wing Bowl in Philadelphia.

Kate Adie introduces Correspondents' stories from around the world. Today Ukrainian journalist Andriy Kulykov wonders why silence is the order of the day with the armed men of Crimea. Peter Day is in industrious South Korea where they are trying to make the place more relaxed. Damien McGuinness visits a mega-brothel in Germany, where prostitution has been legal for over a decade, but he questions if much has really changed. We take a remarkly tourist-free ride down the Nile with Robin Denselow; it's good for him but not so good for Egypt. And Charlotte Ashton discovers why Singapore is at the bottom of the happy pile.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world. This week, with American and British combat troops soon to leave, the author and historian William Dalrymple gives his assessment of where the latest military intervention into Afghanistan fits into the country's troubled history. Quentin Sommerville attends the court hearing of some Al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt and finds the prosecution less than convincing. Linda Pressly is in Uruguay to see if legalising marijuana will help tackle the problem of hard drugs. In India, Ed Butler spends time with sleuths of a special kind - the wedding detectives. And Stephen Smith re-visits Italy's Renaissance with its ruffs, doublets and, of course, cod-pieces.

Stories from correspondents around the world, introduced by Kate Adie. In this programme Mark Urban hears an Iraqi policeman let rip about his own government and there are predictions of mayhem. In Afghanistan Chris Terrill visits a school that's daring to teach boys and girls together. Niger has joined the club of oil producers and Celeste Hicks describes how the arrival of a spaceship of sorts in the desert is affecting people's lives - but they need to read the small print. James Rodgers visits a World War 1 cemetery near Jerusalem and ponders how events there 100 years ago influenced the region and still do. And Justin Marozzi has been given a nickname - in Somalia. It's not flattering but it's better than the last one.

'When change happens, it can happen very, very fast,' Steve Rosenberg in Ukraine. Revolutions: no-one can be quite sure how they'll turn out, Kevin Connolly in Egypt. Bush fires in Australia: Jim Carey on what can be learned from the Aborigines, who spent tens of thousands of years controlling the land. The modern world is closing in on the Amish communities of the US, but Beth McLeod says they're not dying out. They are, in fact, thriving. And a conflict zone is not a place where the mentally ill thrive, as Mary Harper's been learning at a hospital in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Correspondents with tales to tell. In this edition: Gabriel Gatehouse watching the unfolding revolution in Ukraine; Abigail Fielding-Smith in the Lebanese capital Beirut as the war in Syria creeps ever closer; Will Grant on the latest chapter in the extraordinary story of drugs baron Joaquin 'Shorty' Guzman; Rachel McCormack gets a taste of the heated argument in Spain over the possibility of Catalan independence and 12 hours across the Karakum desert: Jonathan Fryer has time on the train to consider the ripples of revolution and who, if anyone, might be here for eternity.

London may be infested by urban foxes and Delhi beseiged by urban monkeys but Addis Ababa, as Martin Fletcher's been seeing for himself, is plagued by urban hyenas -- and they're ugly-looking creatures! David Stern's been living in Kiev, Ukraine, for five years -- and has had to get used to living with a revolution on his doorstep. A quarter of a million people, some estimate, have been detained in Syria by either the authorities or the rebels; Lyse Doucet's been talking to two men who know a lot about detainees. The long-serving leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is ninety years old and Kim Chakanetsa has been finding out what people there think of their president, who's been in power nearly 34-years. And Neal Razzell's been making a programme with two reporters, one from China, the other from Japan. The programme's about the strained relationship between those two countries. But how did the reporting team get on?

Stories from foreign correspondents. In this edition: Prashant Rao meets an Iraqi called Saddam Hussein and hears how difficult it is being named after the brutal and hated dictator; Lynne O'Donnell visits the famous 'laneways' of Melbourne in Australia and wonders whether this precious example of architectural heritage is being properly looked after by the local council; Jane Beresford finds her preconceptions shattered when she visits the Beirut suburb associated with the Hezbollah movement; Tamasin Ford journeys to a remote corner of Madagascar where an illegal trade in a rare wood is worth billions and Alan Johnston in Rome considers the man most likely to be Italy's next prime minister and suggests his strength may actually lie in his inexperience.

'No wonder everyone is looting now. The elites here have been doing it for years,' our correspondent Andrew Harding is told in the troubled Central African Republic.' As Brazil awaits further demonstrations against a proposed ten per cent hike in public transport costs, Wyre Davies takes a cameraman to hospital who was fatally injured in clashes between protestors and police. Gabriel Gatehouse in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa talks about atheism and jazz with a man who warns him that an army of Allah will rise up out of the desert. Mariko Oi, herself a reporter from Japan, talks about the difficulties of making a programme about the often troubled relations between her country and China. And Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, may be best known these days for its American military base, but Frank Gardner gets away from that and learns a little more about life, and the baboons, in the country's tranquil Rift Valley.

Why is Bosnia seeing its most serious unrest since the country was at war in the 1990s? How difficult is it getting America back to work? Is there public support in Nigeria for the authorities' new law against homosexuals? What evidence is there of the links between Soviet East Germany and the exotic spice island of Zanzibar? And why might our man visiting the Gaza Strip be considering going back there, with his family, for a holiday? They are all questions addressed in this latest edition of From Our Own Correspondent.