From Our Own Correspondent

From Lebanon, Syrian refugees watch the destruction of their homes in Eastern Ghouta. Kate Adie introduces stories and analysis from correspondents around the world: "Life now is just about blood and tears,” one woman tells Yolande Knell, “all of Ghouta is crying over its lost people.” In India, Krupa Padhy meets the head of a new union for unregister doctors - the quacks may be unqualified but they are also in demand. In Sierra Leone, Ed Butler examines the economics of the sex trade and the role rich Western men play in it. Vicky Baker meets the Nicaraguan women speaking, and singing, out against sexism. And in Sweden, Keith Moore tries to teach his son how to speak with the help of Old MacDonald and Per Olsson - but do their horses say neigh-neigh here or gnägg-gnägg there?

India’s missing children, selling drugs in Colombia & searching for paradise in Costa Rica. Kate Adie introduces stories from correspondents around the world:Activists say that as many as 500,000 children went missing in India last year – Sonia Faleiro meets the father of one of them who says he’s been forced to marry off his other daughters in order to protect them. Mathew Charles spends an evening with a Colombian drug dealer and learns how criminal gangs are searching for new ways to make money. Jenny Hill visits a fairy-tale mansion in Hamburg whose 71 elderly female residents are celebrating their role in bringing about a ban on diesel cars. Roger Hill goes to a market on the shore of the Panj River which separates Tajikistan and Afghanistan and looks for signs that life is getting better there. And in Costa Rica, Benjamin Zand discovers that while the lure of paradise may be strong, it’s always so difficult to find.

How the father of one of his presidential rivals helped Vladimir Putin to power. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world: Ahead of elections in March, Gabriel Gatehouse looks back at the rise of President Putin and speaks to one of his challengers - Ksenia Sobchak. Vladimir Hernandez returns to Venezuela to find a coffee now costs the same amount as he paid for his first flat, his relatives have lost weight and children are starving. It may be thousands of years since the ancient Phoenicians traversed the seas but in modern day Lebanon claims on Phoenicians identity are still controversial, discovers Fleur MacDonald. Gavin Fischer explores the recently released archive of recordings from the Rivonia trial in South Africa. His uncle defended Nelson Mandela and some of his co-accused. And Phoebe Smith enjoys the solitude of Greenland’s Arctic Circle Trail – but for how much longer will others be able to experience its unspoilt landscape she wonders.

A Gambian spymaster, a Czechoslovak secret agent and a South African ghost called Sam. Correspondents share wit, analysis, and tales of strange encounters. Introduced by Kate Adie.Gambia’s intelligence agency has a new name and its boss is busy rebranding it – but beyond repainting the torture chamber, what does that mean, wonders Colin Freeman. Rob Cameron scours the archives of the StB – Czechoslovakia’s communist-era secret police– on the trail of ‘agent COB’. He meets the man who says he tried to recruit Jeremy Corbyn as an asset. Helen Nianais has coffee with a former jihadi who faces three years in jail after spending nine days in Syria. Now he’s trying to counter extremist propaganda online and help others reintegrate back into normal life in Kosovo. Shabnam Mahmood returns to Pakistan and finds that Uber and other cab-hailing apps are driving rickshaw drivers out of business, but there are still some parts of Lahore where older methods of transport dominate. And Harriet Constable visits Kaapsehoop – a village whose fortunes may have faded since South Africa's 19th century gold rush, but which remains rich in history, folklore, and ghosts.

Many Haitians see Oxfam’s actions as the latest part of a much bigger problem. Kate Adie introduces stories, wit and analysis from correspondents around the world. “Being poor, we’re a market for the NGOs” one Port-au-Prince resident tells Will Grant, “but it’s time to admit that we cannot develop our country with international aid.” Ahead of elections in Italy, Dany Mitzman watches fascists and anti-fascists face off in Bologna - a city famed for its left-wing politics.In Mozambique they’re trying to persuade parents not to give up on disabled children – Tom Shakespeare examine the latest development in inclusive education there.In Uzbekistan, Caroline Eden visits the capital Tashkent - famed for its chewy, golden bread and its kindness. And Alastair Leithead takes a trip along the Blue Nile with Marvin – a ball on a stick that sees virtually everything.

BBC correspondents take a closer look at the stories behind the headlines.

Kate Adie presents a programme reflecting on two men's political careers which effectively ended this week. Andrew Harding in Johannesburg reflects on the demise of Jacob Zuma who finally bowed to months of pressure and quit as president of South Africa; while Jenny Hill, reporting from Cologne, considers what the resignation of Martin Schulz, as leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), says about the current state of German politics. The death of a Cold War-era contact prompts Nick Thorpe in Budapest to consider how attitudes to the media more than thirty years ago seem eerily to be returning. Meanwhile Katty Kay has to persuade a nervous Moscow-born taxi driver that it really is safe to drive her to Compton, the city once synonymous with gang violence and murder and made famous - or notorious - by NWA's album, "Straight Outta Compton". Finally, Justin Rowlatt intrepidly ventures into India's icy Ladakh region to accompany a team bringing electricity to remote rural villages - and gets his feet frozen to the ice for his trouble.

Kate Adie presents dispatches from: Stephanie Hegarty in Nigeria on how the plight of former girl captives of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgents is being addressed when many return to their home communities only to ostracised and disowned; Edmund Bower on the murky political techniques employed in Egypt against some young activists as the presidential election approaches; Vincent Ni in Japan on a remarkable North Korean "minder" at a school educating children of Korean descent; Lizzie Porter on the savage depopulation affecting highland villages in Bosnia-Herzegovina - and those who are determined to stay; and Richard Hamilton, who visits Salt Spring Island off the coast of British Columbia to learn about a one-time Scottish welder who wrought a 1970s revolution in mental health that has survived the hippy era.

Ending corruption in Ukraine and the woman enslaved by ISIS now trying to tell her story. Kate Adie introduces insight and analysis from correspondents around the world:Viktor Yanukovych and his associates are accused of stealing billions during his time as president, but are they still be benefiting from corruption? Simon Maybin surveys the scene from a snowy rooftop in Kiev. Stacey Dooley joins a 23-year-old Yazidi woman as she returns to find the house where she was held captive by ISIS in Mosul. She wants to tell her story but finds herself unexpectedly silenced. An assault on freedom of speech or an attempt to protect a nation’s dignity? Adam Easton explores the controversy around a new law in Poland which proposes prison sentences for anyone blaming the country for Nazi crimes against Jews. Simon Broughton meets a Mozambican artist turning bullets, guns and old mobiles phones into works of art. And Megha Mohan confronts a taboo in India: why menstruating women are often denied access to temples. Left out of her own grandmother's last rites, she's left wondering why.

Inside Afghanistan’s only secure psychiatric unit - the trauma of war laid bare. Caroline Wyatt introduces correspondents' stories from around the world: Sarah Zand examines how nearly four decades of war have taken its toll on Afghanistan and its people. Elinor Goodman meets a man hoping a herd of goats and some lessons in animal husbandry might dissuade young boys from joining the violent gangs responsible for a state of emergency being declared in part of Jamaica. Tim Ecott explores ethnic identities and regional power plays in Seychelles. James Jeffrey is in Ethiopia where staid state TV has a new rival. And Simon Parker braves the wind and waves off the coast of Norway in search of king crab.