From Our Own Correspondent

Pets and Politics; football and narcotics; and building a country with a flag. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. South Korea is in political turmoil but, as Steve Evans explains, people seem more concerned with the fate of the now ex-president's pets. The narcotic plant Qat and Premiership football provide a welcome distraction from boredom in the Horn of Africa, says James Jeffrey. And governments are quite happy with that. How do you unify a country? That was a challenge faced by Kyrgystan's flag designers, as Caroline Eden discovered. The village of Deià, on Mallorca's north shore, is where the poet and novelist Robert Graves lived and died. Graeme Fife used to be a frequent visitor. Now he wonders how much the place has changed. Belize is one of the countries that still has the death penalty on its statute books. But it hasn't executed anyone for decades. And now others, including a woman with the nickname of the anti-Christ, are having their life sentences reduced. Charlotte McDonald explains why.

The duffel-coated outcast; from bomb factory to museum; icy cooperation; singing for home; greening sands. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories: Hugh Schofield meets a defiant - and chipper - Jean-Marie Le Pen, the outcast founder of the France's Front National; in north-west Pakistan, close to the Afghan border, Colin Freeman is shown a bomb-making factory - just the latest evidence of the violence that has dominated the region for more than a century; in the icy seas off Finland, fears of Russian 'little green men' are put aside as a Finnish icebreaker - with Horatio Clare on board - introduces a moment of peace and cooperation. Singing for home and a lost culture - Nicola Kelly hears how Nubians in Egypt are trying to reconnect with their lost homeland. And, in Oman, it's not golden sands that Antonia Quirke sees in the desert but a carpet of green.

Voting with your husband, unsolved murders, cooking on the centre spot, shamans and mud. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. Melissa Van Der Klugt is in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where a giant exercise in democracy has been taking place but where illiteracy and political ignorance remains high. Peter Walker, in Malawi, comes across worrying signs that the police are ready to sweep murder under the carpet. In China, they're spending a fortune on football but will it bring world cup glory, as the President wants. Richard Dove has his doubts. In Peru, Simon Parker comes face to face with an Andean Shaman for the first time and hears concerns that too many tourists are more interested in bragging rights and profile pictures than in the sacred heritage of Machu Picchu. And in Vermont, winter is fading and they're on the cusp of spring - it's time to get dirty, says Christine Finn, because it's Mud Season.

Lost confidence, fake seeds, masked assignations, steaming glory and animal insights. Humphrey Hawksley is in a fishing village in the Philippines, hard hit by China's expanding maritime claims. Adam Shaw is in rural Kenya where a precarious existence for farmers is made even worse by crooks selling counterfeit seeds. In Venice, it's a time to dress up in your feathers and mantillas and, of course, masks - to look your very Carnivale best - but not if you're a local. Petroc Trelawny takes the slow train through Germany's Harz mountains, once the frontline between east and west. And Andrew Harding has travelled far and wide as a correspondent, experiencing the excitement, the tension, and the vets.

How do you keep your audience listening if the story's so hard to hear? That's what Alastair Leithead grapples with in South Sudan's civil war. Warsaw was all but destroyed in the Second World War, and the repercussions of that are still being felt today; Anna Meisel tells the story of the "property cleansers" who have pushed thousands out of their homes, and of the woman who tried to fight back. In New York's subway, John Mervin gets caught up in a rescue - and there's a message for those too attached to their phones. If Pelicans are your thing, Albania is the place to go because, as Elizabeth Gowing explains, these are philopatric birds. Tourism across North Africa has taken a hit because of terrorism; but Nick Redmayne, heads to Egypt's highest mountain, in Sinai, and hears how the old ways gave people a story to tell.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. Colin Freeman sees the devastating consequences of IS mines and booby traps, left behind for civilians anxious to return to their homes. Elisabeth Kendall hears how social media have broadened the horizons of Yemeni tribesmen armed to the hilt. British citizens living and working in Germany are worried about what might happen to them once the UK leaves the EU; Damien McGuinness hears how many of them are rushing to town halls to become German. The new Gambian president has vowed to improve his poor nation's economy; Andy Jones argues that tourism - and brightly painted murals - could be part of the answer. And Margaret Bradley sees and hears the destruction trail of a red peril that's invaded Portugal.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents's stories. Vincent Woods on the whistleblowing scandal that has threatened the Taoiseach and what it says about modern Ireland. Cathy Otten is with the gravediggers of Mosul, in Iraq, as they ignore the missiles overhead and continue their work with death. Owen Bennett Jones is in Ukraine, where the memory of a meeting with a political dissident during the Cold War pushes him to search him out. Puerto Rico has a conflicted relationship with the United States. On the island of Vieques Datshiane Navanayagam hears about a love-hate tussle. And in southern Chile Rob Crossan joins the local community in a feast that has existed for thousands of years.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. With President Putin enjoying sky-high approval ratings, Sarah Rainsford travels to the hear the verdict in the trial of a man hoping to replace Mr. Putin. Just how difficult is it to be in opposition in Russia? In Turkey, there have been tens of thousands of arrests, numerous terrorist attacks, and the government is planning to hold a referendum, aimed at giving the President more powers. Its a time of instability. As a result, as Louise Callaghan has found, people are flocking to the psychics. The scale of the sex trafficking trade is hard to determine, though many governments have now admitted they need to do more about the problem. Often the victims are reluctant to talk. In south east Nigeria, Colin Freeman finds that the belief in a slave goddess is now being exploited by traffickers to instill fear into trafficked women. In Indonesia, Rebecca Henschke is invited to a judge in the annual transgender beauty contest. But amid all the glamour and glitter, there is an underlying worry about growing intolerance in the country. And our man in Paris, Hugh Schofield, says sometimes the cliche that a teacher can change your life is actually true. He reminisces about a man called "Mush" who taught him French, in 1960s Dublin.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. Christopher Lamb on the opposition to Pope Francis within the Vatican - visible for all to see in the streets. Humphrey Hawksley, on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen, hears how President Trump must understand the importance of face to China. Pay respect and give compliments because no-one wants it to end in blood. Diana Darke is in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, the birthplace of Queen Dido, where the different communities have grown weary of war and are now seeking to build together. Daniel Pardo marvels at the resilience he witnesses in Chile, in the face of the worst forest fires the country has faced in its recent history. And Bethany Bell, with an intoxicating sense of giddiness, on why the Blue Danube Waltz - now 150 years old - is Austria's second national anthem.

Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories. Today: Andrew Harding, in South Africa, says the word "sorry" hasn't had much air time in recent years, despite numerous incidents of corruption and poor governance. Nick Thorpe, with the protests in Romania, remembers earlier - and recent - revolutions in Europe. Lyse Doucet is in Saudi Arabia, where the collapse in the oil price is bringing about some changes - could that include introducing more fun? John Sweeney meets Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party in the Netherlands and feels distinctly uncomfortable. And Phoebe Smith spots something in the trees in Alaska that traces its roots to more difficult times.