From Our Own Correspondent

Portia Walker: optimism in Yemen has been punctured by a devastating bomb blast in the capital. Alan Johnston: a state funeral has taken place in Sicily to honour a man who dared to take on the Mafia - and paid the ultimate price. Laura Trevelyan: the town in Mexico which has grown rich on the profits of sex trafficking. Matthew Teller: how the authorities in the Saudi capital Riyadh have transformed a public rubbish tip into lush parkland complete with lakes and walkways. and Bethany Bell: why the people of Vienna, who live in one of the world's most desirable capital cities, still seem to have plenty to moan about.

Kevin Connolly's in Luxor wondering if the military, which has controlled proceedings in Egypt since 1952, really will hand over power to civilians once the elections, starting next week, are over. Jonathan Head in Turkey notes that talks about joining the European Union have started up again. But does Turkey really need to join an EU worrying about economic catastrophe? David Belton's been to a remote part of New York state where the Amish religious sect has taken the question: can God really be wrong, to a court for judgement. Fuchsia Dunlop's been to one part of China where they don't find cheese alien and revolting And Mary Harper's been mingling with the Somali population in Dubai. And taking a drive, in some style, around the gleaming emirate.

Many Syrian doctors and medical staff have fled the country as the violence there continues. Portia Walker's been talking to one of them in Turkey. The Arab Spring has failed to take root in Algeria. This week there were elections there and Chloe Arnold's been reflecting on the public reluctance to take part in a vote about the country's future. Hugh Sykes has been listening to opposing views about the state Pakistan's in. Some talk of its political stability; others of how it's ripe for revolution. Everyone, though, has a view about corruption there. A UN envoy, in Cambodia this week, spoke of how firearms were increasingly being used there against human rights activists. Guy Delauney considers this in the light of growing public controversy over land issues and illegal logging. And as the nude bathing season gets underway in Germany Stephen Evans tells a story of how cultural confusion over nakedness caused embarrassment in a Berlin gym.

In a week full of elections near and far, Mark Lowen says Sunday's vote in Greece could be the most critical of them all. Justin Rowlatt is in Kenya noting a huge turnaound in the global economy -- while Europe and the USA are feeling the pain, the rest of the world is steadily getting richer. Petroc Trelawney's been to find out why a new town in Ireland has houses and a new railway station, but very few people. Lucy Ash is camping out in the Russian Arctic and seeing how Vladimir Putin's push for further energy supplies is affecting reindeer and their herders And Alan Johnston, touring the celebrated sights of Rome, tells us there's one particular statue which casts a chill shadow -- even on the sunniest of Spring days.

The British soldiers in Afghanistan have lost faith in their mission, there are fields full of opium poppies and the Taliban are everywhere. Quentin Sommerville talks of the mood among the troops as they prepare at last to return home. After Charles Taylor, who'll next be taken to court to face charges relating to war crimes? Fiona Lloyd Davies has been in the Democratic Republic of Congo meeting one former rebel commander who is wanted for trial. Ian Pannell has been talking to an English scholar in Syria whose library was destroyed as the struggle continues between protestors and the security forces. What makes Kenyan athletes such fine distance runners? Claudia Hammond's been jogging through the Great Rift Valley learning some of the answers. and Stephen Sackur went to Cairo to report on how the people's uprising there was faring but instead found himself captivated by a revolutionary TV chef whose recipes are being lapped up throughout the Middle East!

Bahrain: Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines why all sides in the bitter conflict there feel the controversy surrounding this weekend's Grand Prix can work in their favour. France: It's an election which lacks a feel-good factor. Perhaps, Chris Morris feels, that's why all the campaigners are looking back, at a vision of a romantic, glorious French past. Kenya: Mary Harper's in a huge refugee camp, run on international money, and contrasts life there with that in an impoverished village not far away. India: His mother warned him against walking on ice, but Paul Howard finds it's the only way to visit a remote community high in the Himalayas. Germany: Great excitement at the start of the white asparagus season. Steve Evans finds the vegetable dominating menus and conversation. But surely it's not an aphrodisiac?

Fergal Keane is on Turkey's border with Syria listening to the experiences of those seeking refuge from the violence. The rise - and fall - of Italy's House of Bossi. David Willey reports. Natalia Antelava uncovers what appears to be a secret programme to sterilize women in Uzbekistan. Justin Marozzi finds street life returning to the Somali capital Mogadishu, once the most dangerous city on earth. And Jon Donnison hears the Olympic dreams of one Libyan athlete.

Presenter Kate Adie's in Sarajevo along with Allan Little and Jeremy Bowen. All three of them correspondents who reported from the Bosnian war 20 years ago. Also today Owen Bennett Jones on a controversial group of Iranian exiles whose camp in Iraq is about to be closed down. Pascale Harter's in Iceland talking of life in a town which remains in the shade from October to February. While Simon Worrall goes to northern France with questions about what exactly happened in a battle more than seventy years ago.

What does a chaotic pet market have to tell us about Libya's transition from dictatorship to democracy? Kevin Connolly's been finding out. Refineries. Miles and miles of pipeline. Hundreds of workers from overseas. Antonia Quirke's learned they are all coming to a remote corner of Mozambique now there's been a huge gas find there. Drug-related violence is a major issue in the Mexican presidential election campaign, which has just got underway. Will Grant's in the capital city where even news of the most gruesome happenings now seems to cause little surprise or horror. Jonathan Fryer's been meeting a family hugely respected in Togo. Over the generations they've become known for producing twins -- regarded as particularly special in this part of west Africa. And how on earth did a man from the high Himalayas come to be serving Jewish culinary specialities in a store in Manhattan? The answer to that one comes from Reggie Nadelson.

Afghans enjoy New Year celebrations but Lyse Doucet finds they are concerned about what the months ahead may bring John James travels to the west African state of Guinea-Bissau and finds unexpected charms amidst its shadows The Burmese are finding out that recent reforms in their country have encouraged tourists to return. Caroline Hawley has been seeing what it has to offer the international visitor The Egyptians are preparing to vote for a new president and Jon Leyne has been finding out there are hundreds of people who feel they should have the job Gavin Esler meets Chancellor Merkel in Berlin and considers to what extent Germans feel obliged to help the poorer nations of southern Europe