From Our Own Correspondent

Global despatches. Today: it was Gabriel Gatehouse's local shopping mall but now the Westgate Centre in Nairobi has become known as a place of fear, suffering and death; did Angela Merkel do TOO well in the German election? Chris Morris on why forming a new government there could be a protracted business. As the Egyptian authorities move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, Quentin Sommerville talks of the country's increasing polarisation. China's wealthy elite have found their own solution to the country's girl shortage - Lucy Ash has been meeting 'The Love Hunters' in Shanghai. And John Pickford has been finding out if there are still beachcombers to be found in the faraway islands of the South Pacific. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Correspondents' despatches: Jeremy Bowen in Damascus reflects on the lessons a reporter learns after more than twenty years covering conflicts around the world; Steve Evans meets a lady down on her luck in a Baltic port city as Germany prepares for new elections; Diana Darke looks at Turkey's huge 'GAP' water project and wonders if it will work for or against the country's Kurdish population; near Toulouse in France they've found a crashed German wartime aircraft in a cave -- and some locals, it seems, weren't all that keen on digging up its history and can Emma Thomas really get to grips with the Danish language without looking at textbooks or going to classes? All will be revealed. Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent

Kate Adie introduces reports from correspondents around the world. Following the death sentences handed down to four men in India for the rape and killing of a young woman, Rupa Jha reflects on her own personal experience of some disturbing events from her childhood. Linda Pressly is with the gold miners of Kalimantan in Indonesia and sees the high price they have to pay as they try to earn a living. Mary Harper is in Somaliland, where books have a more powerful draw than guns. Lindsay Johns reflects on the culture of the Caribbean island of Martinique and what it means to be French by accident. And Emma Jane Kirby is with the former Casanovas of Italy who are still hoping for a return to better days.

Kate Adie presents correspondents' stories from Syria, the US, Australia, South Africa and Italy. Lyse Doucet hears how Syria's mosaic of cultures is being shattered; Humphrey Hawksley visits the big brains of America's Ivy League who have been thinking about how to put a country back together again; James Fletcher rides the Australian economic engine, and listens to the roar of Harley Davidsons; Mark Lowen discovers the anti-apartheid pedigree of his grandfather; while Tom Carver is in Italy, celebrating his father's escape from a POW camp in 1943 and the brave family who helped him.

Correspondents tell their stories: Mark Mardell in Washington on difficult decisions for President Obama: Charles Haviland, off for dinner with the departing president of Pakistan, ponders over the milk pudding on the legacy Asif Ali Zardari leaves behind; a different perspective on the state of Chinese justice comes from John Sudworth, who was covering the trial in Jinan of ousted politician Bo Xilai; as immigration tops the election headlines in Australia, Jon Donnison tells the story of a refugee who made it from the civil war in Syria to the offices of a women's magazine in Sydney and Nick Thorpe's unearthed the reason why, somewhere in the dry Hungarian soil, the heart of Suleiman the Magnificent is beating a little faster. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Correspondents' despatches: the wealthy principality of Liechtenstein is forced to face up to the idea of belt-tightening, Alex Marshall; Alastair Newton Brown strolls through the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran where he finds people keen to engage with the West; Rajini Vaidyanathan in Washington considers the implications of the jail sentence handed down to secrets leaker Bradley Manning; Justin Rowlatt may have struggled to appreciate traditional Vietnamese music but more and more Vietnamese, he says, are keen to learn it. And Kevin Connolly is in Cairo where he's been hearing members of the Muslim Brotherhood explain why they believe they're a force that's not about to go away. Producer: Tony Grant

Correspondents' stories. Today: Hugh Sykes is in Cairo where the mood, at the end of a troubled week, is bleak and the outlook, apparently bleaker. Syrians caught in the cross hairs - Hannah Lucinda Smith on the real story of Aleppo's war: one of people trying to carry on with their lives amidst a conflict they never chose; Petroc Trelawny is on a bridge in Hanoi. The Vietnamese city, once the capital of French Indochina, is growing fast and economic forecasts are optimistic. Celeste Hicks suffers a head injury in Chad. It gives her a chance to see whether any of the country's extensive oil wealth has trickled down as far as the local hospital emergency room and David Stern has been in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where he walked in the footsteps of the man accused of killing President John F Kennedy and ended up facing something of a quandary. The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant

Will the Egyptian army move in to break up the camp in Cairo set up by supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi? Caroline Wyatt has been meeting residents of a city which is bitterly divided. Christians are leaving Syria in their thousands. Diana Darke's been learning that they're being greeted with enthusiasm in neighbouring Turkey. Jonathan Head says there's been a conciliatory mood in Burma as people gathered this week to mark the anniversary of an uprising which launched the country's pro-democracy movement. There are some in Gibraltar who feel the British government's not doing enough for them - Tom Burridge is on the Rock as the latest chapter in a 300-year-old row unfolds and the BBC's new man in Australia, Jon Donnison, explains why he's finding it hard coming to terms with the sheer size of his new patch. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

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.