From Our Own Correspondent

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' and reporters' stories from Israel, Ukraine, Lebanon, the Czech Republic and GhanaThis year has seen the streets of Jerusalem thronged with protests and demonstrations over the Netanyahu government's plans for legal and constitutional reforms, limiting the powers of Israel's Supreme Court. Paul Adams examines the wider social chasms underlying political divides over the Court's role.The Russian missile attack on the Ria pizzeria in Kramatorsk on Tuesday the 27th of June 2023 killed thirteen people and injured over 60 more. Colin Freeman had been waiting to eat there that evening - but was called away less than an hour before the place was hit. He reflects on what Russia targets in Ukraine - and how.With wildfires ripping through forested hillsides all around the Mediterranean, Lebanon is watching nervously. Its own woodlands - oak, cedar and pine - were badly burnt by forest fires in 2021, but experts hope that enlisting the help of local goat and sheep herders might prevent worse outbreaks this year. Lemma Shehadi explains.Frank Gardner, the BBC's Security Correspondent, has visited Prague many times over the past 40 years - and was recently there to hear the head of Britain's MI6 speak in public about the modern world's security concerns. He remembers scenes from 1983 and 1990 - and an entirely different Europe.And in Ghana, Naomi Grimley goes on a flight of fancy - with some of the species of bats to be found in and around Accra. As a global health reporter, she used to see them more as a reserve for possible disease outbreaks, but some of the passionate bat researchers and academics at the University of Accra opened her eyes to the animals' more appealing qualities.Producer: Polly Hope Editor: Bridget Harney Production Co-ordinator: Sabine Schereck

Kate Adie introduces BBC correspondents' reports from Sudan, Spain, Tunisia, Italy and Mexico.Sudan's newest civil war has been raging for more than three months - but first-hand images and reports of conflict are not easy to find. Barbara Plett Usher has been working to cover the violence from Nairobi, in Kenya, and reflects on what it's been possible to confirm.In this weekend's snap general election in Spain, current Socialist PM Pedro Sanchez tests his mandate against growing pressure from the right - not just the traditional conservatives of the Partido Popular, but also a range of more firmly nationalist parties. Each major blocs has questioned the other's alliances - whether with smaller parties from the far right, or others from the Basque-nationalist movement. Guy Hedgecoe reports from Madrid.Tunisia may have been the birthplace of the so-called Arab Spring, but these days its democratic credentials seem corroded. President Kais Saied is on an increasingly authoritarian tear, the economy's sputtering and the country's treatment of sub-Saharan African migrants has been growing ever harsher. And as Mike Thomson experienced on a recent trip, the media are still under VERY close supervision.Much of Southern Europe is baking - if not burning - in a searing heatwave. Sofia Bettiza saw how people are adapting to the soaring temperatures on the streets of Palermo, in Sicily - and heard about concerns for Italians' health in this heat.And from Mexico City, an unexpected casualty of gentrification. The BBC's Central America correspondent Will Grant has been trying to keep ahead of a wave of affluent foreigners - especially US citizens - moving in, but recently his young daughters' nursery has been priced out of the neighbourhood.

Kate Adie introduces stories from Uruguay, India, Haiti, New Zealand and Botswana.A long and severe drought in Uruguay has caused the country's worst ever water crisis. As fresh water reservoirs run dry, water from the River Plate estuary has been added to the mix, leaving locals in the capital with a salty taste in their mouths - and an increasing reliance on bottled water. Dr Grace Livingstone discovers how it's affecting daily life.The northeast Indian state of Manipur has been caught in a spiral of ethnic violence for two months, pitting the dominant Meitei community against the tribal Kuki people. Almost 150 have died in the violence, as the two communities become increasingly segregated, as Raghvendra Rao has found.Haiti has qualified for the football World Cup finals for the first time ever, and will take on England in their first game. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Americas, and plagued by earthquakes, political murders and gang violence. But the footballers are keen to project a more positive image to the world, as Joe Rindl heard when he spoke to Haiti goalkeeper, Kerly Theus.A special holiday or the experience of expat life can lead to certain countries finding a special place in our hearts. That's what happened to Ash Bhardwaj in New Zealand, where he found that a polished blue aotea stone connects his baby daughter, his late mother - and Maori culture.Botswana is now home to a third of Africa's elephants, and its Okawango delta has become something of an elephant sanctuary. But there are difficulties when the territories of animals and people overlap, reports John Murphy.Producer: Arlene Gregorius Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

Kate Adie presents stories exploring events in Russia, the United States, Mexico, Lanzarote and South Africa.After its failed march on Moscow, the Wagner Group was supposedly going to be disbanded and its leader exiled to Belarus. But as our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford found out, this mercenary army still appears to be recruiting new members to its ranks.Across the United States, tens of millions of Americans still believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election - some of them are serving in public office. Mike Wendling is just back from Iowa, where he met one former conspiracy theorist whose own political appointment is causing friction among local Democrats and Republicans.The Tren Maya project is a huge looping railway line, nearly a thousand miles long, which (if completed) would connect the dots in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula - once the heartland of Mayan civilisation. As with any groundbreaking transport works, not everyone is happy - there have been objections over its potential environmental impact. Louise Morris recently followed the journey of a convoy which aimed to stiffen resistance to the project.The Canary Islands were well known to ancient civilisations of the Mediterranean. There are accounts of Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians all reaching the islands, as they hunted for valuable plants which were sources of red dye for fabrics. These days, the islands belong to Spain and among them is Lanzarote - a popular destination for European sun-seekers. But beyond its tourist hotels and restaurants, Charles Emmerson stumbled across the origins of one modern European empire.In South Africa, questions over the nation’s education system can get seriously heated. Decades after the end of apartheid, many people argue that South Africa’s schoolrooms are still far too focused on European scholarship - so does that explain the indifference to one of the country's most valuable literary treasures? Oxford Professor of Shakespeare Studies, Emma Smith, finds herself the only one excited by a rare copy of Shakespeare's first folio.Producer: Polly Hope Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Kate Adie introduces stories from the Occupied Territories, the Mediterranean Sea, Ukraine, California and Algeria.After violent clashes in Jenin last week, an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal seems as remote as its ever been. And with some Arab states now normalising relations with Israel, some observers say it is a sign some countries want to move on from the Palestinian cause. Jeremy Bowen hears one view that international support for a Palestinian state might eventually disappear from view, like the once ubiquitous Free Tibet movement has done in recent years. But, he says, a new generation of angry, desperate young Palestinians are driven to continue fighting their cause, whether the world is on their side or not.Almost 2000 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe this year. But as Alice Cuddy found on a ship that had just rescued young migrants from The Gambia, the deaths do not seem to deter desperate teenage boys and young men from seeking a better life.The breach of the Karkhovka dam in Ukraine caused catastrophic flooding. But as the vast reservoir emptied, elements of the region's local history that had long been submerged began to see the light of day again. Vitaliy Shevchenko explores how Ukraine's fight for its future, is shedding new light on its past too.Californian officials have recommended the payment of reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans, for slavery and for the effects of racial discrimination. Chelsea Bailey meets one family seeking justice, after local authorities in Palm Springs burned down their family home back in the 1960s.Algeria boasts beautiful landscapes, old Kasbahs and well-preserved Roman ruins. But unlike other Mediterranean countries, it has hardly any tourists. Why not? Simon Calder has been to Algeria and has some answers.Producer: Arlene Gregorius Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

Kate Adie introduces stories from Iraqi Kurdistan's Yazidi community, the streets of Marseille, the former USSR and the Caribbean island of Nevis.From 2011 to 2017, the Yazidi minority in Iraq lived in terror, as the community was targeted by Islamic State's fighters for especially brutal repression. There were fears of genocide - that the whole community might be wiped out. That didn't happen - but as Rachel Wright has seen, Yazidis who survived captivity and slavery under IS are still finding life extremely tough today, trying to eke out a living in tented cities of refugees.After the mass civil disorder across France, there's passionate debate over the root causes of the revolt on the streets, and what the rioters really wanted. Jenny Hill reports from Marseille on what she heard from residents of the city's vast and decaying Frais Vallon housing project.Ibrat Safo reveals a personal story of childhood in the former USSR - and making contact again with the woman who helped to raise him. His family were Uzbek, while his nanny was of Uzbek and Ukrainian descent. They grew up together speaking Russian in a provincial Soviet town. So when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he felt an urgent need to track her down, and find out where life has taken her.And Rob Crossan reveals why the Caribbean island of Nevis hasn't turned much of a profit from its connection with one of America's Founding Fathers - the celebrated Alexander Hamilton.Producer: Polly Hope Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Co-Ordinator: Gemma Ashman

The podcast discusses the aftermath of a police shooting in a Paris suburb, the experiences of second-generation Somalis returning to Mogadishu, Finland's decision to join NATO, and the fascinating story of Violet Albinar Gibson's assassination attempt on Mussolini.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' and writers' despatches from Lebanon and Jordan, Ukraine's battle fronts, the Caribbean island of Grenada, the BBC's bureaux abroad and the streets of the South Bronx in New York City.Captagon is a small, amphetamine-like pill which has become one of the most popular illegal drugs in the Middle East. There is increasing evidence that large amounts of it are being manufactured inside Syria in collusion with allies of the ruling Assad family - then brought out into neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan by Bedouin smugglers. Emir Nader joined the soldiers and lawmen trying to choke off the drug supply routes.Despite the Wagner Group's apparent mutiny last weekend, Russia's war in Ukraine has not stopped - or even abated. Along the front line, Andrew Harding saw how Ukrainian soldiers and medics are continuing their fight, eavesdropping on Russian troops, and treating the wounded.It's been nearly 40 years since the US invasion of Grenada - triggered by a chaotic power struggle within the island's avowedly Marxist-Leninist New Jewel Movement. On Grenada's "Bloody Wednesday" 1983, there were more than a dozen firing-squad executions - and there are still enduring questions about the events. Mark Stratton asked why some of the bodies are still missing - including that of the island's widely admired leader Maurice Bishop.Simon Wilson has worked abroad for the BBC for more than twenty years, in some of its most prestigious bureaux, including Jerusalem, Brussels and Washington DC. But his foreign news career started out in much less promising conditions - at the notoriously dismal office in Bonn. He pulls back the curtain on some of the more unexpected features of the BBC's premises overseas.And in the South Bronx, there are signs of creeping gentrification on what used to be some of New York City's meanest streets. Not everyone is a fan of the changes, though. Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns has been exploring today's cultural scene in the Boogie Down - including a thriving Black-owned bookshop.Producer: Polly Hope Editor: Richard Vadon Production Co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross

The Wagner mutiny in Russia; and other stories from Russia, Peru, Bangladesh and Denmark.The mutiny by Russia's Wagner mercenaries ended as quickly as it started. The fighters had taken the southern Russian city and military hub Rostov-on-Don, and were heading for Moscow, when their leader called it all off. How do the capital's residents view these events?Russia says it has lost 6000 soldiers in Ukraine, but the true figure is thought to be 40,000 to 60,000. Olga Ivshina has been tracking her country's military fatalities with other volunteers, and has so far counted 25,000. Sometimes their relatives didn't even know they had died.Peru is suffering its worst outbreak of dengue fever on record, following unusually hot and wet weather conditions. The viral disease is carried by mosquitoes and can cause severe joint and muscle pain, even death. Dan Collyns travelled to the centre of Peru's epidemic in Piura in northern Peru.Bangladesh used to have high rates of pregnancy or childbirth-related deaths, and of children dying in infancy due to low rates of vaccination. But now illness and deaths have been drastically reduced, thanks to the "disease detectives" scheme - women offering healthcare to millions. Peter Young went to see how it works.Denmark's small prison population has been growing due to harsher sentencing, but the number of prison officers is falling, leading to concerns about overcrowding, and the quality of the prison regime. Polina Bachlakova found the impact is even felt in a prison’s choir.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross Editor: Richard Vadon Photo: Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaving Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Copyright: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Kate Adie introduces stories from Ghana's hospitals, the Chinese-Russian border, Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a research station on Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the streets of Limerick in Ireland. Ghana is one of several African countries which say their health services are being sapped by a slow bleed of doctors and nurses going abroad - to earn vastly better salaries in the UK and elsewhere. Naomi Grimley spoke to medical staff in rural Kwaso and in the city of Accra about the push and pull factors on their minds.After a drastic contraction during the periods of pandemic lockdown, China-Russia trade is on the rebound, and China's government is bullish about the prospects for recovery. At ground level things may not look so rosy. Ankur Shah reflects on the cross-border relations he saw reflected on the streets of the city of Manzhouli.There's been a backlash in Lebanon against the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees still living in the country - twelve years after the start of the civil war in Syria. Recently there was an outcry over the case of a seven-year-old schoolgirl whose parents had been deported back to Damascus - while she sat in a Lebanese classroom. Carine Torbey went to meet her and hear her story.The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most-studied coral formations on Earth - and Australia's government often claims that it's also one of the best-protected and best-managed. Marine scientists who've been working there over the long term have seen some changes, and are concerned about the future - especially if ocean temperatures continue to rise. Michelle Jana Chan hear about the state of the science on Lizard Island.And: is keeping horses in a lockup garage in a major city - or driving them with two-wheeled carriages on a main road - a public nuisance, or a wholesome pastime? Bob Howard has been talking to the "sulky racers" of Limerick, and hearing why the sound of horses' hooves seems unlikely to disappear from Ireland's urban landscapes.Producer: Polly Hope Editor: Richard Vadon Production Co-Ordinator: Janet Staples