Inside Story

An eleventh hour deal has been reached to save Cyprus from financial meltdown, and a bailout package was approved to keep the island nation in the Eurozone.

Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf is back home after more than four years in self-imposed exile. He is hoping to reassert his influence, ahead of elections in May.

As China's Xi Jinping chooses Moscow for his inaugural state visit, we look at the ties that bind the two countries. Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, discusses with guests: Victor Gao, the director of China National Association of International Studies. He was former China policy advisor; Dimitry Babich, a political analyst at Russia Profile magazine; and Roderic Wye, a China analyst at Chatham House and senior fellow with the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University.

"Let guns be silenced and politics dominate," said Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), as he called for a historic truce. Thousands gathered to listen to him on Thursday, as Ocalan called on his PKK fighters to put down their weapons and withdraw from Turkey. As Kurdistan celebrates its new year, can the two sides maintain peace after almost 30 years of fighting? Will this ceasefire succeed where others have failed? Joining presenter Hazem Sika on Inside Story are guests: Abdulhamit Bilici, the general manager of the Cihan News Agency in Turkey; Ian Lesser, the senior director for Foreign and Security Policy at the German Marshall Fund, who has also written a number of books on Turkey and the Mediterranean; and Ibrahim Dogus, a Kurd and the director of the Centre for Turkey Studies and Development.

President Obama arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. It is his first foreign trip since he began his second term in office aAnd his first to Israel as the US president. But Obama's three-day tour of the Middle East is being seen as largely symbolic. After four years of strained relations between him and his Israeli counterpart - expectations are exceedingly low.

Was the Iraq war a success? What has changed since Saddam Hussein? Are Iraq and the countries involved in the conflict still suffering the consequences of the US-led invasion?

Human Rights groups say one person is killed every minute because of armed violence, through conflict and crime, but no globally agreed standards exist to regulate the international trade in arms, a trade in dangerous and deadly products, designed to kill and maim.

It is a decision made to obtain financial aid and to prevent the island nation of Cyprus from going bankrupt. Just three weeks into the job, and Nicos Anastasiades, the Cypriot president, is tackling the nation's debt crisis head-on, saying he had no choice but to force savers to forfeit up to 10 percent of their deposits to avoid a catastrophic banking collapse. Cypriots themselves are furious and they have responded by trying to clear out their accounts. How will the bank levy impact the country's economy and other eurozone members? Joining presenter Jane Dutton on Inside Story are guests: Demetris Georgiades, the financial editor for the Politis newpaper; Fiona Mullen, an economist and political analyst; and Bernard Casey, an academic from the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics.

Accusations against soldiers and rebels, of women being targeted for violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN now threatens to stop cooperating if no action is taken. How serious a problem is rape in this war-torn country?

Japan and pro-shark fishing lost a bid to overturn a landmark deal to offer international trade protection for several species of the ocean's oldest predator. The decision to restrict exports in the oceanic whitetip shark, the porbeagle, three types of hammerheads and the manta ray won final approval by the 178-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The gathering, which ended on Thursday, comes against the backdrop of a decimation of African elephant herds, rhinos, marine life and several timber species. The CITES debates are being seen as one of the most crucial in the 40-year history of the convention. Burtwhat will it take to enforce the deal? And is stopping the illegal trade in endangered species even possible? Inside Story, with presenter Jane Dutton, discusses with guests: Colman O'Criodain, a trade policy analyst at the World Wildlife Fund and a biologist; Susan Lieberman, the head of the Pew's environmental trust CITES delegation; Tom Quinn, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

As the Vatican announced Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the next pope we ask: how will he overcome the challenges ahead? Inside Story, with presenter Jane Dutton, discusses with guests: Francis Lucas, an executive secretary of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines; Michael Walsh, a papal historian and author of The Conclave: A sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History; and Jack Valero, the director of Catholic Voices.

North Korea has walked away from the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War 60 years ago. It also shut down a humanitarian hotline with South Korea, vowing to turn its neighbour into a "sea of fire". North Korean troops were reported to be in a combat mobilisation posture. Tensions are rising as the US and South Korea are conducting their annual military drills - a move that has provoked the latest threats.

How can Kenya's new president govern while facing trial for crime against humanity in the Hague? Discussing with Jane Dutton are guests Muthoni Wanyeki, former executive director of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission; Jendayi Frazer, who spent more three and a half years as US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs; and Paul Moorcraft, director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis.

The United Nations is warning that millions more young girls are destined to become child brides, saying if current trends hold many will be under the age of 15. The marrying off of young girls is a culturally sensitive issue, and one that draws a range of reactions from different countries and different communities. Critics argue it is fraught with danger, damage and discrimination - a violation of human rights. And the UN is worried, predicting that 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020. That is more than 14 million girls a year it says will marry too young – some 39,000 each and every day. Furthermore, it is warning that of these, 50 million will be under the age of 15. Joining Inside Story, with presenter Jane Dutton, are guests: Kakenya Ntaiya, a former child bride, who is the founder of the Kakenya Center for Excellence - a girl's primary school in Kenya; Sadaf Raza, from the Ideas for Life Trust - promoting, among other things, women's rights and education; and Naomi Williams, from the global children's charity, Plan.

How will the world remember Hugo Chavez? And what kind of leader was he? To discuss the implications of the death of Hugo Chavez on the world stage, Inside Story is joined by guests: Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the British Parliament, from the opposition Labour Party; Natasha Ezrow, a lecturer of government at the University of Essex, and the author of the book Dictators and Dictatorships: Understanding Authoritarian Regimes and Their Leaders; and Raheem Kassam, the executive editor of The Commentator, and director of communications for the Henry Jackson Society.