From Our Own Correspondent

BBC Radio 4
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Apr 9, 2011 • 28min

April 09, 2011

'Even the winners are losers'-- Andrew Harding goes on a road journey through devastated, terrified Ivory Coast; Robert Hodierne on the homes being built for limbless former combat troops in the United States; Stephen Sackur's in the Australian outback hearing how the Chinese are getting iron ore there; the dangers of childbirth in Afghanistan and the efforts being made to improve the situation are explained by Nadene Ghouri in Kabul while Nick Thorpe hears tales about the ancient sturgeon and how it's facing extinction on the River Danube.
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Apr 2, 2011 • 28min

April 2, 2011

Visiting time at Yemen's jail for political prisoners: Genevieve Bicknell meets the families of some of those detained who tell her why they feel it's time for the country's president to step down. Mark Urban, just back from Afghanistan, talks of a new attempt to improve the tarnished image of Afghanistan's police force. How the Lost Boys, who fled the civil war in Sudan, are finding out details of their past thanks to an archive which had been gathering dust in Addis Ababa -- that's from Paul Adams. Linda Pressley travels deep into the forests of Ecuador to find out how oil exploration is threatening a way of life. Anu Anand is in Delhi where traditional story-tellers have been tempting people away from their flatscreen TVs. And Owen Bennett Jones is in Cairo wondering if he's just been ripped off by a canny taxi driver.
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Mar 26, 2011 • 28min

March 26, 2011

Crisis in the Eurozone -- Chris Morris in Brussels says we're ignoring it at our peril. Sue Lloyd Roberts hears two opinions about Saudi Arabia: do its women live pampered lives or are they kept prisoners? Nick Thorpe's in a village in eastern Hungary where vigilantes say Roma crime is raging out of control. Crazy names for serious people in the Philippines, Kate McGeown investigates. And Gabriel Gatehouse is in The Netherlands trying to ask the Royal Family if they still ride about on bicycles.
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Mar 19, 2011 • 28min

March 19, 2011

Explosions and gunfire in Benghazi -- Kevin Connolly on the struggle for power in eastern Libya; Rupert Wingfield Hayes is in Tokyo where there's growing fear at the prospect of nuclear meltdown. Hannah Barnes has been talking to lovers of Hebrew who are determined to ensure that the language remains as up to date as it can possibly be. Two months after a Congresswoman was shot in Tucson, Arizona, David Willis looks at the impact the incident had had on America's attitude towards guns. And Monhammed Hanif has been touched by the miseries of a splendid snow leopard which has been removed from its home among the craggy peaks of Pakistan.
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Mar 17, 2011 • 28min

March 17, 2011

Colossal forces of nature have devastated Japan and the country faces the possibility of a nuclear disaster; but in the teeth of catastrophe Rachel Harvey discovers an extraordinary resilience on the part of the Japanese people. Egypt is undergoing massive political upheaval; and while the country is struggling to shape its future, Christine Finn hears that looters are increasingly plundering its past. Southern Sudan is just a few months away from independence; Hugh Sykes gets a feel for life in what will be Africa's newest capital city. On the anniversary of Italy's unification, David Willey meets the Italians who would rather dismantle the state than celebrate its foundation. And, enjoying a rare glimpse of Russia's pioneering spacecraft, Richard Hollingham wonders whether Russia might prove to be the real winner of the space race.
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Mar 12, 2011 • 28min

March 12, 2011

Earthquake in Japan: Hugh Levinson on how fear of catastrophe has helped shape the country's psyche; menace and bloodshed in Ivory Coast's largest city - Andrew Harding on the violence triggered by a dispute over the presidency. What impact has the foreign media had on the course of the uprisings in north Africa and the Middle East? It's a question confronted here by the BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson. In north-east India, Rupa Jha meets some of the women who've lost their husbands in a series of under-reported insurgencies and Martin Patience spends a morning being amazed at Mr Wu's robot factory in China.
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Mar 10, 2011 • 28min

Mar 10, 2011

Michael Buchanan goes behind the front lines in the rebel city of Benghazi in Libya and finds many are still giddy with delight at their new found freedom. John James has been watching the West African State of Ivory Coast descend into chaos over the bitterly disputed election. In Cuba, Polly Hope finds people are plunging into the once forbidden world of commerce with huge enthusiasm. Daniel Sandford gets to the heart of the matter in Ukraine, listening to the tales of a former government driver battling against corruption. And Jonny Hogg spends time with a group of musicians who are attempting to play their way out of poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Mar 5, 2011 • 28min

March 5, 2011

Dreams of a new Libya in the revolutionary city of Benghazi but, as Kevin Connolly's been discovering, there's fear too. Could Saudi Arabia be touched by this season of revolt in the Middle East? It's a question answered by a correspondent who knows the kingdom better than most, Frank Gardner. In a court in Belarus, David Stern looks on as KGB evidence condemns a pro-democracy activist. Judy Swallow chronicles the life of a hand-rickshaw puller in the Indian city of Kolkata and on a hunting trip in the Amazon, Justin Rowlatt finds himself wearing not much more than a string of feathers....and a smile.
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Mar 3, 2011 • 28min

Mar 03, 2011

A restaurant date with Colonel Gaddafi: Jeremy Bowen talks revolution and politics with the Libyan leader. Chris Hogg in Shanghai -- is an Arab-style political spring likely to blossom in China? Steve Evans is in Berlin explaining the fall from grace of the government minister they're calling Dr Cut and Paste. Ethiopia's Christians celebrate their ancient sacred heritage, as Michael Kaye looks on. And flip flops - but not as we know them: Jane Beresford on another correspondent's dilemma.
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Feb 26, 2011 • 28min

Feb 26, 2011

Our correspondent - who can't be named - describes life in Tripoli with its empty streets, boarded up shops and burnt out buildings. Barbara Plett describes the strange goings on at the United Nations with Libya's diplomats divided over support for Colonel Gaddaffi's regime. Mark Mardell witnesses the conflicting emotions in Washington over the upheaval in the Middle East and asks why it seems that the United States so often backs the bad guys? Jonty Bloom explores the linguistic divide behind the political impass in Belgium. And Mark Lowen reports on the end of the BBC's Serbian Service after more than seventy years of broadcasting.

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