From Our Own Correspondent

This week, the Irish Taoiseach described the findings of an official report into decades of abuse of women and children at mother and baby homes as a “dark, difficult and very shameful chapter of very recent Irish history.” The report acknowledged the harsh treatment was supported and condoned by the Irish State and the country’s churches. Those who survived the homes battled with long running prejudices and emotional scars, finds Chris Paige. Indonesian airlines have one of the worst safety records in Asia. The fatal crash on January 9th has again raised questions about how safe the country’s airlines are and brought back painful memories. The BBC’s Asia editor, Rebecca Henschke, reports. There’s been a sluggish start to Covid vaccinations in many parts of the EU complicated by public resistance and disinformation. In the Czech Republic, anti-vaccination activists made international headlines this week by wearing yellow Stars of David, claiming they were being ostracised just as Jews were in Nazi Germany. Rob Cameron has more. Somalia has been in a state of conflict for three decades and this is reflected in media coverage of the region. And yet, life goes on, with even a construction boom in Mogadishu. Mary Harper, the BBC’s Africa editor found that Somalis are tiring of stereotypes about their country as a place of violence and suffering. In Nova Scotia - the lobster season usually starts late in November and finishes in May – and between those months, most fishermen are not allowed to catch the crustaceans. But thanks to a treaty, signed with the British in 1761, the Mi’kmaq people are exempt from this and can fish all year round. One businessman is doing rather well out of it much to the consternation of those who do not have these rights, finds Greg Mercer. Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling

In Washington, he storming of Capitol Hill this week by President Trump’s supporters has dominated headlines, but many political pundits said that this should not have taken people by surprise. Anthony Zurcher has covered the White House throughout Donald Trump’s term in office – he charts the clear path that led to this moment, from President Trump’s 2016 campaign. On Thursday, Uganda will go to the polls pitting two very different presidential candidates against each other. Yoweri Museveni has served five consecutive terms and his main challenger, the charismatic Bobi Wine has galvanised support among the youth. But can it guarantee Bobi Wine victory? Our Africa correspondent, Catherine Byaruhanga has been finding out. One day in April , 2015 an old fishing boat overloaded with refugees and migrants sank en route to Italy from Libya – drowning more than a thousand people. Then Italian Prime Minister declared the Italians would salvage the shipwreck and recover the corpses. The boat was raised from the seabed and transported to Sicily. Linda Pressly met the man in charge. Deep among the frosty pines in Baden-Württemberg, a factory is manufacturing the industrial freezers that are needed to keep the supplies of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at extreme cold temperatures. Germany's Covid infection and death rates are rising steeply. It’s a race against time as the vaccine is rolled out. Jenny Hill visited the factory dealing with a huge influx of new orders. And we visit Venezuela which has been suffering a deep socio-economic crisis for years. But our correspondent Katy Watson found out on a recent trip to the Hotel Humboldt, which overlooks Caracas, there are those who have benefitted.

Kate Adie reflects on key moments of 2020 with some of the most thought provoking dispatches by our correspondents. Andrew Harding, who covers Africa and is based in Johannesburg, spends a lot of his time travelling around the continent to witness events at first hand. The Coronavirus pandemic put a stop to much of that but he still had a dramatic story to tell in the autumn. He reflected on the somewhat ironic parallels he was seeing as he compared the situation within Africa with that of another key country in the world which was facing a significant election. Afghanistan is a country where it’s not easy to define the term outrage. Violence there has not abated despite peace talks between the government and the Tailiban. But an attack on Kabul University on November 2nd sent shock waves across the country and beyond. At least 35 people were left dead and 50 seriously wounded. Photographs of the murdered students and their blood-stained classrooms spread widely through Afghan social media. Lyse Doucet spoke to one university lecturer about the students he lost and the damage done to Afghanistan’s hopes for the future. The death of George Floyd, an African American living in Minneapolis in the state of Minnesota last summer triggered mass demonstrations across America and the world. He died whilst under arrest as a white police office knelt on his neck. Derek Chauvin has since been charged with murder. There was fury about police brutality and racist treatment of black Americans. In a country which has a massive gap between the richest and poorest, Emma Sapong, an African American journalist based in Minnesota reports that there is more than money that separates white and black lives there. The enormous blast in Beirut's port in August killed 200 people in the city and injured thousands. Buildings were destroyed and lives up-ended after stock piles of ammonium nitrate caught alight and exploded. People took to the streets to protest at a political elite who they accuse of mismanagement and negligence. One of those who was badly hurt was Leila Molana Allen, a journalist in the city. But as she reports, in the immediate aftermath she realised that her dog was missing. 2020 will be remembered by many as a year of lock downs and restrictions as countries around the world battled to control the coronavirus pandemic. It was a way of living that most of us had never experienced before and we all longed for a return to normality. Our correspondent in Brussels, Kevin Connolly had been confined at home for weeks when the rules were relaxed briefly in the summer. He was surprised by his urge to indulge in some rather unusual shopping. Producer: Caroline Bayley

Turkey has had record numbers of new coronavirus infections recently with around 30,000 positive cases a day. That number has now dropped slightly, and the Health Ministry says restrictions have begun to bear fruit. But how did it get to this, in a country which was initially regarded as doing well in the pandemic? Now the government has been accused of covering up the spread of the virus, and putting lives at risk, as Orla Guerin reports from Istanbul. In Sudan’s western region of Darfur, the long-running armed conflict has cost 300,000 lives, and forced two and a half million people to flee their homes. After a peace deal in August, the international peacekeeping force is preparing to pull out this month. Hopes now rest on the new part-civilian, part-military government, which came to power after 30 years of dictatorial rule. But as Mike Thomson found, the dual structure of the new administration can pose challenges on the ground. People in Bethlehem are preparing for an austere Christmas without the income from foreign pilgrims and tourists – but you can still find stories of hope there. Especially at the Milk Grotto – near the Nativity Church – where the Virgin Mary is said to have nursed baby Jesus. It’s long been claimed that women who have difficulties conceiving are blessed with children after praying at the grotto, or using bits of soft chalk, or “milk powder”, from its walls, as Yolande Knell reports. New York City was hit worse than many places during the first wave of the pandemic, and Nick Bryant and his wife both caught the virus. So his adopted home is the perfect perch from which to observe, and now reflect on, the extraordinary year that was 2020.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

When there's change in the Middle East, there is a good chance the United States had something to do with it, as with the recent accords between Israel and four Arab states. And now a new American president is preparing to move into the White House. What could this mean for the region, asks Jeremy Bowen. Thailand has been convulsed by large demonstrations this year, in which young people have been calling for reform and for changes to the once untouchable monarchy, even though criticising the king carries long prison sentences. Royalists are shocked by these campaigns and want things to stay as they are, says Jonathan Head. Italy's coronavirus crisis started in the north and eventually reached the far south, including the region of Calabria. An area blighted not just by the pandemic, but also by the powerful and ruthless 'Ndrangheta mafia whose crimes have made it much harder to cope with the virus for restaurants and even for hospitals, as Mark Lowen found out. Relations between China and the west have come under strain in recent years – but we buy vast amounts of Chinese products, and so China has developed its “Belt and Road” initiative. Part of its purpose is to enable the transport of goods from China to Europe by train. This has brought investment as far as Germany's former industrial region of the Ruhr, says Caroline Bayley. The Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador are known for their wildlife, from slow giant tortoises to fast baby iguanas. Charles Darwin spent five weeks there, and then developed the theory of evolution. Apart from the survival of the fittest, it's also about adaptation. Something that's been happening on these islands during the pandemic, as Jamie Lafferty reports.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

In Hong Kong,the authorities are showing that they mean business with the new security law to stamp out demonstrations and dissent. The pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been detained, and young campaigners including protest leader Joshua Wong were sentenced to prison this week. Before that, the pro-democracy opposition resigned en masse, as Danny Vincent reports. Seventeen weeks after the presidential election that is widely thought to have been rigged and that led to Belarus's largest-ever anti-government protests, President Alexander Lukashenko still refuses to step down. But he has lost the support of some of his police officers, a few of whom have fled to Poland. Lucy Ash meets one of them. Araucania in southern Chile is a land of ancient volcanoes, virgin forests and agriculture. But recently it has been making headlines for arson attacks on timber lorries and prisoners on hunger strike. This is the homeland of one of Chile’s main indigenous peoples – the Mapuche. They want their land back that was taken from them not by early colonisers but by General Pinochet, as Jane Chambers found out. In Australia there has been a new impetus to look at past injustices this year, as elsewhere. And these include a little-known practice akin to the slave trade. In what is known as “black-birding”, islanders from the South Pacific were brought to work in Australia against their will, as Will Higginbotham reports. Across Europe, coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions have shut opera houses, theatres and concert halls. Despite receiving large government grants and loans, the performing arts are now facing a critical period in countries like Italy, France, Germany and Austria, says Joanna Robertson.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan, became the frontline of a war again this autumn. This resulted in Azerbaijan regaining some of the territory lost in previous conflicts – and with it, homes and landmarks that are precious to Armenians. Peter Oborne was there just as the current Russian-backed peacekeeping deal was announced. Political dramas in Peru reached new heights this month, when the country saw no fewer than three presidents in power in a single week. Tensions also spilled out onto the streets – with large demonstrations and battles between protesters and police in the capital Lima. Now the dust has settled, a new youth movement has come to the fore, as Dan Collyns reports. In the Pakistani city of Lahore, hundreds of thousands of people turned out for the funeral of a highly controversial cleric, Khadim Rizvi, who had campaigned for even stricter punishment of “blasphemers” – people accused of insulting Islam or the Prophet Mohammed. Rizvi and his supporters have been linked to violent attacks in Paris, Britain and in Pakistan. Secunder Kermani reflects on his life and his legacy. The city of Gatineau in Quebec in Canada has been designated a “red zone”, Canada’s highest level of pandemic restrictions. Schools have stayed open though, and one headteacher had an idea for how to keep everyone safe: he moved classes outdoors, in all weathers, as Sian Griffiths reports. France has been under a strict lockdown in recent weeks. Non-essential shops have been closed until today. Horatio Clare spent time in the city of Marseille on France’s Mediterranean coast during the lockdown. How has the normally bustling city fared, where "to arrive is to belong"?Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

In the United States, President Trump still hasn’t conceded that he has lost the election. His campaign is doubling down making claims of voter fraud. But without evidence. Meanwhile, the election winner, Joe Biden, is preparing to become president while being denied access to the briefings he is entitled to as President-elect, as Anthony Zurcher reports from Washington. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been dubbed the Trump of the Tropics. Despite widespread criticism of his handling of the pandemic, he has been gaining support from an unexpected place recently – in the country's northeast, known as a left-wing stronghold. But a new welfare benefit is changing the political landscape there, as Katy Watson found. Russia passed the two-million mark of Covid-19 cases this week. One of the worst affected areas is the Archangelsk region in the north, on the White Sea of the Arctic Ocean. It's been hit so hard, that overstretched healthcare workers are defying their bosses and speaking out, as Sarah Rainsford reports. It's Black Friday next week, when retailers try to entice their customers with big discounts. In France however there’s talk of postponing the event because of the current lockdown, to give the smaller bricks-and-mortar shops a chance against the internet-based competition. Lucy Williamson has been to visit a legendary bookshop in Paris: Shakespeare and Company. The island of Madagascar has a wealth of different habitats, that are home to thousands of endemic species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else, like the round-eyed lemurs. But the remaining forests are under threat, as Michelle Jana Chan found out when trekking in a remote canyon.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

For Hindus, Sikhs and Jains it's Diwali - the festival of lights. But this year there's the pandemic. What impact is that having in India, asks Rajini Vaidyanathan in Delhi. In Azerbaijan, the decades-long intermittent war with Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh flared up again in September. Earlier this week, Russia brokered a deal to end the conflict. Olga Ivshina has just returned from the Azeri side of the frontline, where reporters' safety was not just threatened by shelling. The French Caribbean island of Martinique has a difficult relationship with its past. For about two hundred years the colony relied on enslaved Africans to work in its sugar cane plantations. Some think that period might have been shorter if it hadn't been for Josephine, the wife of Napoleon. And as Tim Whewell found, that's not the only sensitive subject of conversation on the island. Bicycles have been recommended as a safe form of transport in the pandemic, and cities around Europe have been improving their cycling infrastructure as a result. Anna Holligan lives in the Netherlands, where cycling is second nature to many, and says that even there, more people are now switching to two wheels. On Mosher Island off the coast of Canada’s Nova Scotia province, self-isolation takes on a different meaning. No need to worry about social distancing, there is no one to keep a distance from. The island only has two residents, a former lighthouse keeper and his wife. Greg Mercer paid them a visit.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

In the US, lots of eyes are still on the outcome of the election in Georgia. Joe Biden appears to have to have narrowly won the state, but the margin is so narrow that local law requires a recount. Suzanne Kianpour hails from Atlanta, Georgia, and found herself back there as the votes were being counted. Parts of South East Asia’s largest remaining rainforests, in Indonesia’s Papua province, are being cleared to make way for oil palm plantations. Rebecca Henschke has been investigating allegations a Korean palm oil company was involved in unfair land deals with local tribes, and she hears from clan elders about what’s been lost. Venice is built on a lagoon, with canals for streets, and floods a common occurrence. There was a particularly devastating surge a year ago today. A flood barrier, delayed for decades, finally had its first full test last month. Called Mose, like Italian for Moses, will it be able to stop rising Venetian seas? Julia Buckley has been testing the waters. Iran has often been accused of repression at home – and assassination abroad. The regime targets its critics and enemies anywhere in the world and has been implicated in attacks from Argentina to the Netherlands. Jiyar Gol has been investigating the killings of two Dutch-Iranians . Have you come across the Greek dish kleftiko? It's slow-cooked lamb. The name is related to the words kleptocracy and kleptomania, the “klept” part of it being from the Greek for thief. In the case of the lamb recipe, the theft refers to sheep rustling. A tradition that goes back a long way in Crete, says Heidi Fuller-Love, but has recently become more serious.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius