Powerless in Venezuela

How did it feel to survive the days of near-total blackout in Caracas? The BBC's Will Grant reports on what drove people to loot beloved local shops, or scoop water from filthy canals.

Kate Adie introduces this story and others from around the world.

Across Europe, relations between Romany Gypsy or Traveller families and their neighbours are often strained. Successive governments in France have cracked down on informal settlements of Roma people from Romania, and left French 'gens de voyage' feeling unwanted and marginalised. But near Carcassonne, Chris Bockman met one man with a plan to improve community relations.

Mark Stratton explores a wealth gap in the Indian Ocean: the yawning difference in living standards between the Comoros and the French island of Mayotte, which has driven thousands of Comorans to risk their lives on a dangerous sea crossing in the hope of earning more and maybe gaining entry to the EU.

The ancient kingdom of Dahomey, in modern-day Benin, was renowned for its martial prowess - from its fearsome battle banners to its brigades of all-female royal bodyguards, this was a culture well versed in war. Clodagh Kinsella plumbed the mysteries of its modern dynastic politics recently, watching three kings vie to inherit a supreme title.

And Claire Bates explores the eerily deserted and well-preserved buffer zone separating Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus - to try and tap into some of her father's childhood memories of growing up on an undivided island.