From Our Own Correspondent

Story-telling from the world of news and current affairs. In this edition: Shaimaa Khalil in Pakistan meets relatives and survivors of last year’s army school massacre in Peshawar, on the day the school reopens; Ruth Sherlock in Lebanon on how Syrian refugees are struggling in the snow; Caroline Wyatt flies to Sri Lanka on the Papal plane; Martin Fletcher in Vietnam on how an unusual scaly creature has become the most poached mammal in the world. And Aidan O’Donnell meets the cash-strapped Burundian national cycling team as they prepare to cycle home - from Rwanda.

Looking beyond the headlines: correspondents with insight and analysis consider: Charlie Hebdo and the way life used to be in France; the rallies in Germany for and against the influence of Islam on society there and the arguments over free speech in Turkey. Also in this edition one correspondent, leaving Mexico, pays tribute to the country's brave mothers while another, visiting Antarctica, wonders if tourists should be allowed even to set foot in this, the earth's last great unspoiled wilderness.

Insight, colour, analysis: in this edition, the once impregnable Rajapaksa camp is suddenly looking vulnerable as the Sri Lankan election approaches, Charles Haviland; Russians are enjoying their extended Christmas break but for their president, Vladimir Putin, difficult times may lie ahead, Sarah Rainsford; the Ethiopian government faces accusations over its plans to create huge new agricultural complexes, Matthew Newsome set off towards the southern lowlands to investigate and a journey of a lifetime in the US: Jonathan Izard points his car towards the sunset and ponders the meaning of life itself.

Seasonal stories and festive fables: Mike Wendling strongly disagrees with the thought that New York City is the world's most magical place at this festive time of year; why Yolande Knell in Bethlehem is looking forward to two MORE Christmases in the coming weeks; Nick Thorpe meets a Gypsy 'Santa Claus' on an allotment in southern Hungary; Petroc Trelawny on how the glittering New Years's Day ball in Vienna has its roots in a dark era of Austrian history and in Paris, Joanna Robertson tracks down a seasonal delicacy which, while delicious, carries the unmistakeable whiff of ... gunpowder!

Story-telling from the world of news and current affairs. In this edition: Shaimaa Khalil on the mood in Peshawar after the Taliban attack on a school in which more than a hundred children were killed; Barbara Plett-Usher on how Cubans are reacting to the prospect of improved relations with the United States; Quentin Sommerville visits the Iraqi army frontline as it tries to stop the militants from Islamic State seizing strategic Anbar province; Malcolm Billings is in a little-known Anglican place of worship hidden away in a web of cobbled streets in Istanbul and Hugh Schofield's doing some seasonal research involving whisky and chocolate biscuits in a remote corner of central France.

Story-telling from the world of news and current affairs. 'For God, Tsar and Nation'. That's the motto of some of those fighting with the pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Tim Whewell's been to talk to them about their dreams of a new Orthodox autocratic state; Mary Harper, in Mogadishu, has been finding out why there's a love affair going on between Somalia and Turkey; South Koreans are big believers in plastic surgery but Steve Evans, in Seoul, says there are now negative headlines after a string of news reports about botched operations; Bangladesh is known as a prolific producer of clothes for the mass market but Caroline Eden's been discovering it also makes saris so fine they're highly coveted and hugely expensive. And after more than a quarter of a century Justin Marozzi has mixed feelings as he bids farewell to the Moroccan town regarded as being the hashish capital of the world.

Reporters tell their stories: in this edition, Carrie Gracie travels to China's most troubled region Xinjiang - it's in the midst of a crackdown on what the authorities describe as 'terrorism driven by religious extremism'. Fergal Keane, just back from Ukraine, examines the circumstances which led to one of Europe's bloodiest conflicts in decades. Mike Wendling's in the United States where a campaign to persuade the Washington Redskins football team to change its name is gathering pace. Will Ross is in north eastern Nigeria where bows and arrows, magic and ancient hunting rifles are now being used in the battle against the Boko Haram jihadists. And David Mazower's at a festival in Poland where it's clear a growing number of Poles feel profound loss about the Jewish nation in their midst which was ripped apart in the Second World War.

Despatches. Steve Rosenberg sets out to discover who the Russian public holds responsible for rising prices and the ailing rouble? Owen Bennett Jones has a series of encounters in Tunis which offer clues to the direction in which the country's heading. Germany takes in more refugees than any other EU country - Jenny Hill in Munich says it's costing a huge amount and there's uncertainty over who will pay the bills. The giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands may be used to playing a long game but Horatio Clare, who's just been visiting, says the islands' human residents are having to prepare for change. And Carolyn Brown has been finding out why a steady stream of travellers is choosing to stop off at a small town in the north of France

Foreign correspondents. Nick Thorpe on the Russian speakers in Ukraine who want the future of their country linked to western Europe, not to Moscow; Thomas Fessy examines how the Islamist fighters of Boko Haram are extending their operations out of Nigeria into neighbouring Cameroon; Shaimaa Khalil in Karachi on the difficulties and the dangers health workers face trying to convince people to be immunised against polio; Chris Bockman in Montpellier has been learning what an exiled Syrian billionaire has to do with the local rugby club and what's the correct etiquette for an American woman keen for a swim in Iran? Amy Guttman has been finding out.

Despatches from correspondents worldwide. In this edition: Mishal Husain's in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley talking to refugees from the war in Syria and learning how a generation of Syrian children is no longer able to go to school; the waters off Somalia aren't the world's piracy hotspot any more - Mary Harper's been finding out how Nigeria's trying to counter an upsurge in maritime crime off the west African coast; with towns and cities expanding across India, Anu Anand has been seeing how animal habitats are being gobbled up, and it's the animals who're suffering; Victoria Gill is in Malawi where powerful motorbikes are now helping out in the country's battle against HIV/AIDS and ... empty that hot tub, do NOT fill the jacuzzi: David Willis says desperate times call for desperate measures in California, now in its third year of drought.

Despatches from around the world. In this edition: Will Grant on the protests in Mexico City as families try to find out what happened to a group of students seized by the police; the Indian prime minister may have called for more protection for the country's women but Razia Iqbal, in Western Harayana, says many still suffer appalling violence; what's Qatar really up to in Syria? Frank Gardner sets out over a flat featureless desert in his attempt to find out; Hamilton Wende visits the casbah in Algiers and explains why he finds it filled 'with half-remembered pockets of history and of war' and where in these islands is the very best place to take a look at Venus and Mars? Christine Finn boarded a ferry and went to find out.

Foreign correspondents. Today, Kevin Connolly on tension in Jerusalem:- a reminder, he says, that the very thing that makes the city one of the glories of human civilisation makes it difficult and dangerous too; a walk through the Menin Gate towards Flanders fields - Chris Haslam on the storm of commercialisation sweeping through the memorial sites of World War One; some of the Russian republics want independence but Mark Stratton, travelling through the Middle Volga lowlands, finds others happy to be part of Moscow's empire; students in India have been talking to Craig Jeffrey about their right to cheat in university exams and as Berlin marks the anniversary of the Wall coming down, Jenny Hill tells us the story of one young couple's 'forbidden journey'.

Reporters. Today, from Sierra Leone: why covering the Ebola outbreak is an assignment like no other, Andrew Harding; did the now-deposed leader of Burkina Faso ignore warning signs that an extension to his rule wouldn't be tolerated, Chris Simpson; Malta's an island rich in history and heritage, but it isn't only rooted in the past, Juliet Rix; Germany has its own views on immigration - official policy says the incomers must be made welcome, Jenny Hill; Germany and Korea were once BOTH divided countries; Steve Evans who's lived in Berlin and in Seoul finds these are nations which have much in common, yet they're very different too.

Reporters. Today: Alan Johnston on the richness of the past lying in the bones of the buildings in the historic heart of old Naples; Hugh Sykes in a minibus taxi in Tunis after an election which proved a victory for the secularists; Shaimaa Khalil in Lahore visits a palace of beauty which has been forced to face up to some ugly attitudes; Jon Donnison in Sydney talks to Muslims about the wave of Islamophobic attacks in cities across Australia; James Coomarasamy meets an unconventional mayor in Kentucky as the USA gears up for the mid-term elections

Correspondents'despatches: Gabriel Gatehouse with the medical team who have collected hundreds of Ebola patients from their homes in the Liberian capital, Monrovia; Andrew Hosken on the extraordinary efforts made by the people of Baghdad to clear up amidst a new wave of bombings; once a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the city of Trieste now has an independence movement which believes the place would be better off severing its ties to Rome - Tara Isabella Burton's been there to listen to their argument; how can a herd of cows indicate the economic health of a nation? It's a question Damien McGuinness has been addressing in the German capital, Berlin; and three-solid-meals-a-day man James Jeffrey's been getting to know about the extreme fasting traditions of Ethiopia.

Reporters around the world. Misha Glenny says surely it's a national emergency -- but it's one the candidates in Brazil's election campaign have largely ignored. The civil war drags on in South Sudan - Tristan McConnell visits a town that's changed hands, between government troops and rebels, six times and has left its people shattered. Chris Morris was with the sub-hunters on the Stockholm Archipelago. They didn't find a submarine, but it's clear there are security implications. Who do you call when you see little green men in the sky? In France, you can phone the government, as Chris Bockman's been finding out. And Bethany Bell has been visiting a lake which is much-loved in Austria and not just because of its unique rose-scented breezes.

War may still be raging in the east, but Ukraine's gearing up for elections -- and Jamie Coomarasamy says there are some unexpected candidates; Michael Bristow in Indonesia meets a former jihadist who now works for the government and has become something of a celebrity; not far from California's information hub, Silicon Valley, an old Native American language faces extinction - Caroline Davies explains why it's being allowed to go; a civil war rumbles on in South Sudan -- James Copnall's been meeting some who were forced to flee into the bush, living off wild animals and water lilies; the European Union's spent billions on programmes aimed at integrating the Roma people, but many remain out on the margins of society, as Lucy Irvine's been finding out in Bulgaria.

The past looms large over Afghanistan's new leader -- Fergal Keane says the scale of the task he faces is immense; as civil war rages in Libya, Tim Whewell finds a corner of calm and tolerance amid a country full of discord and violence. Do institutions like the European Union make nationhood increasingly irrelevant? That was on Martin Buckley's mind in Corsica where an armed struggle for independence seems to be losing support. As Tehran and the West sit down to talk about Iran's nuclear ambitions, Diana Darke's been finding out how Iranians revel in the words of a poet who's been dead for six hundred years. And Hugh Schofield knows how to unearth the secrets of a stately home with a history -- he asked the butler!!

Correspondents' tales: why they're arguing about Macchiavelli on a rubbish tip in Rio as the second round of the Brazilian election approaches, Neil Trevithick; Shaimaa Khalil investigates the upsurge in violence on the India/Pakistan border in Kashmir; Julia Macfarlane accompanies a group of British doctors who've gone to help out Palestinian medics in Gaza; has the historic city of Timbuktu recovered from a brutal period of conflict and occupation by Islamic extremists? Chris Simpson has been finding out. And the Star Wars film crew have been to the remote Irish island of Skellig Michael and so too has our man Vincent Dowd.

'Caught between the demands of the masses and the stern imperatives of Beijing's control': Fergal Keane on the Hong Kong authorities' reaction to the demonstrations which have brought parts of the territory to a standstill. Nick Thorpe is in Bulgaria hearing ever-louder demands for a new European union, this one to be centred on Moscow. A spotlight on La Paz - Katy Watson's in the extraordinary capital of Bolivia as people prepare to vote in a general election. The verdant hill town of Zomba in Malawi is said to be one of the most attractive places in the heart of Africa -- but Jonathan Fryer's been learning that, for many locals, making a living's not easy. And Horatio Clare's in the Danube Delta's archipelago of waters, marshes and sighing trees listening to stories of conservation, propagation and extinction.