From Our Own Correspondent

When western troops overthrew Saddam Hussein, the argument was that this would turn Iraq from a dictatorship into a democracy. And they have indeed held elections there; the latest vote for a new Iraqi parliament took place last Sunday. Yet when it comes to actually voting, tribal and religious affiliation appear to have trumped any ideological leanings, and with a heavy dose of apathy and disillusionment thrown in, says Lizzie Porter. As with Iraq, Japan also faces much disillusionment with democratic politics. The last election saw only a little over half the voting population turn out, and it’s not hard to see why: in almost every single contest, the same party has won. Now, the Liberal Democrat Party has chosen a new leader, and he automatically became interim prime minister, pending a general election later this month. It is an election nobody expects him to lose, but was the country’s new leader welcomed with great excitement and fanfare? Hardly, says Rupert Wingfield-Hayes: According to mythology, Ro

Stories from France, Burkina Faso, Tajikistan, Austria and Turkey. It's fifty years since the release of “The French Connection,” a fast-moving cops and gangsters thriller, which focused attention on Marseille, and the drug dealers based there. Half a century on, much has changed in this southern French city; some areas have been gentrified, while the port has had a substantial makeover. And yet, the presence of the drug trade remains, and now the French President has stepped in. With a wave of drug related killings in Marseille this year, Emmanuel Macron is paying a high profile visit, promising to help tackle these problems. Chris Bockman explains that many there feel they’ve heard it all before: He was known as “Africa’s Che,” and like Che Guevara, Thomas Sankara died young at the hands of gunmen who apparently took exception to his leftist policies. Yet Sankara was no jungle guerrilla – he was the President of Burkina Faso. And he was killed during a coup in the West African nation. Thirty-four years l

In recent weeks, images of thousands of Haitian migrants living in squalid conditions in a temporary camp in Texas have caused widespread shock and anger in the United States. US Border patrol agents on horseback forced many of them back across the Rio Grande into Mexico. Thousands more were deported back to Haiti, which is in the grip of its deepest economic and political crisis for years. The US Special Envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned last month in protest at the Biden Administration’s deportations policy, which he described as “inhumane” and “counterproductive”. Some of the migrants say it was also arbitrary, with no clarity about the process deciding who made it into the US and who was sent home. Will Grant met two families, at the US-Mexico border and in Haiti, whose journeys north came to very different ends: Last year, Thailand was rocked by student-led protests, which for the first time broke a taboo on criticising the monarchy. But the Thai government led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha fought b

The Czech election this week will decide whether embattled billionaire businessman Andrej Babis gets another four-year term as Prime Minister. He’s under pressure from new revelations in the Pandora papers – seeming to show that he was involved in the purchase of 16 properties on the French Riviera using offshore companies. Mr Babis has denied any wrongdoing: “I don’t own any property in France,” he said. “It’s nasty, false accusations that are meant to influence the election.” He has always governed in coalition – but he now faces a tough challenge from the centre-right opposition and also has the far-right nipping at his heels. So which way are the Czechs heading? Rob Cameron reports from Prague. Over the past two months – like many international organisations - the BBC has been busy organising a way out of Afghanistan for many of its staff in the country and trying to get them to places of safety – in the UK and elsewhere. Karim Haidari was one of them. After a nerve-wracking three days spent waiting at K

It's not easy to talk in Tripoli; Palestinian anger over Nizar Banat's death; the MH17 trial in the Netherlands; Rwandan forces in Mozambique; a number plate dispute in the Balkans In Libya, the promise of a new dawn after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime a decade ago now seems to ring hollow. After its revolution came civil war – as militias proliferated and fought for control. For more than six years the country was split between rival administrations in the east and west. There’s been a ceasefire since last year, and an internationally-brokered unity government is now installed. Elections are planned for December. Daily life for Libyans hasn’t got much easier though. There are still frequent electricity blackouts, high unemployment – and regular street protests. But Tim Whewell was more struck by a sense of creeping silence. In Ramallah, a military trial has begun this for 14 members of the Palestinian security forces, charged in connection with the death of a prominent critic of the president. Nizar B

More than six weeks after the Taliban announced their full takeover of the country, Afghanistan is still up against huge challenges. The economy is contracting fast, there’s a punishing drought, and many people are finding it harder to find food, even if they can afford to buy it. The news on human rights and security has been worrying. Journalists have been arrested and beaten up; women’s and girls’ right to education appears to be eroding; and former critics and enemies of the Taliban have been targeted for threats and violence. Jeremy Bowen first went to Afghanistan more than thirty years ago and reported on many cycles of its wars since then. Back in Kabul again, he reflects on the deeper tides of history. On La Palma in the Canary Islands, the volcanic eruption that started last week is still threatening homes and lives. It’s produced a spectacular display of dramatic images. After destroying more than 700 properties, the lava has now reached the sea - which means a risk of toxic gases and dangerous pro

This weekend's elections will determine the makeup of Germany's parliament - and set the country’s course for a new, post-Angela Merkel era. German politics tend to be less adversarial, less personal and polarised than in many European states – although there’s still plenty to be argued over. So far the campaign has stuck to the issues – there have been no notable gaffes or dramatic confrontations. But it is a close race and opinion polls have swung wildly. After this year’s catastrophic flooding and the economic shocks of the pandemic, voting for “more of the same, please”, is not really an option. Jenny Hill seizes up how many fresh ideas are on offer for German voters. There's an epidemic in the USA which has cost around half a million lives. Not Covid - this is a drug epidemic. And it was caused by an addiction brought into American homes by major, reputable pharmaceutical companies; They sold opioids as painkillers, despite – as it has transpired in court - being aware that they could be highly addictiv

The Chinese government is, as ever, staying busy by devising new regulations. It's unleashed a raft of regulatory changes on everything from the limits on how much debt property developers are allowed to build up, to changes in the tax code and the breaking up of tech giants. But the Communist Party has also launched a series of rather paternalistic moves, reaching right into family homes, with measures designed to tackle perceived problems of laziness, or even what the state calls “spiritual pollution.” As Stephen McDonell reports from Beijing, it’s as if there is nowhere that the Party doesn’t know best - and no aspect of life where it’s not prepared to take charge. The French government has expressed its fury after the decision by Australia to scrap a contract to buy French submarines. Canberra chose instead to enter a nuclear security pact for the Indo-Pacific with the US and the UK. “We’ve been stabbed in the back!” is how the French foreign minister put it – and off the record you can imagine that the

Refugees have been fleeing Iran, as the economic situation there worsens, with food prices going up, and shortages of clean water and power. Meanwhile, there are fears among some people that the country is about to become more oppressive, with a new, hard-line president in charge. It is these conditions which have prompted many Iranians to escape. Iranian Kurds in particular have been seeking sanctuary in the Kurdish part of Iraq. But life there is not always easy. And among this community in exile are armed groups, determined to overthrow Iran’s Ayatollahs. Some of these groups have now come under aerial attack as Lizzie Porter explains: Have they changed or not? That remains one of the crucial questions about The Taliban, as they secure their hold on Afghanistan. Last time they ran the country in the late 1990s, women were excluded from most public roles, and forced to cover up from head to toe. Music was banned along with most other forms of entertainment. With the Taliban now back in power, some detect a

Lebanon was once the embodiment of glamour: its capital, Beirut, was nicknamed the “Paris of the Middle East” and enjoyed as an international playground. Today those glory years seem long gone. A political crisis has left the country without a properly functioning government – and its economy has imploded. The currency has lost more than 90% of its value and poverty has skyrocketed. There are shortages of fuel, water and food - and as Leila Molana-Allen explains, even essential medicines are getting harder and harder to find: It’s a scenario found in so many places around the world: the war is over, no more shots are being fired, no bombs dropped, and yet people are still dying. And why? Because of all the landmines which have been laid during the conflict – which don’t recognise ceasefires or treaties, and can still maim or kill anyone who treads on one. During last year’s fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno Karabakh region, thousands of mines were buried in its hillsides. Efforts to defu

The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has serious implications for global security. Western governments are concerned about the prospect of more attacks on their own turf. But there’s also particular worry that jihadist movements in Africa and Asia could gain ground. Might the news from Kabul attract new recruits to their ranks – especially in those places where international forces have been deeply involved in fighting them back? The various armed groups allied with Al Qaida and the Islamic State across the Sahel and east Africa have been wreaking havoc for more than a decade now. Andrew Harding has reported on many of those wars, and recent events have brought back vivid memories… and hard questions… In Afghanistan itself, some among the Taliban now in charge of the country again have grievances of their own, after losing relatives and comrades killed in airstrikes and night raids over the past twenty years. So how will they rule, and treat their old enemies? Kate Clark was the BBC correspondent in Kabul in

It’s been a week of searing and surreal images from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s lighting takeover of Kabul. The spectacle of an official Taliban news conference, televised live from the capital on Tuesday, was proof of how just how fast events have moved. The Taliban leadership may have promised forgiveness, reconciliation and protection of women’s rights. But the mood is fearful and there are still thousands of Afghans desperate to get out of the country by any means possible. Lyse Doucet has been hearing from many of them. As the West’s twenty-year mission to Afghanistan comes to an end, there are questions around the world about how the international intervention, and the new political structures set up after 2001, went so desperately wrong, so fast. Paul Adams has also been covering events and searching his own memories of time spent with foreign forces in the country for clues. The latest earthquake in Haiti has inflicted more losses on a nation that’s endured plenty of them. The shocks and afte

Greece has been ravaged by almost six hundred wildfires in recent weeks. Thousands of firefighters have struggled to contain the raging flames which have destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of land; more than 60,000 people so far have had to flee their homes to safety. The Greek government has promised compensation payments for those affected and a massive drive to reforest the burnt areas “We saved lives, but we lost forests and property”, the Prime Minister admitted this week, calling it ‘an ecological catastrophe’. Bethany Bell reports from Athens, the island of Evia and the Peloponnese. Across Afghanistan, the country’s national army and security forces have been losing ground to the Taliban. The insurgents’ fighters have pushed forward and major provincial capitals including Herat, Kunduz and Zaranj have now been taken over. The Taliban also announced they were in control of the town of Ghazni, only 93 miles from Kabul. Before they moved into the centre of Kandahar, in the south, Shelly Kittle

The repressive tactics of the Belarusian state have been back in the news this week – and all over the map. The Olympic Games in Tokyo were shaken by sprinter Krystina Timonovskaya’s row with her coaches – she ended up seeking asylum in Poland. In Ukraine, the head of a group helping Belarusian emigres was found hanged in a park in Kyiv; his death is still being investigated. In Belarus itself, it’s nearly a year since the disputed election of August 2020 - which sparked mass protests over the result. Since then the government of Aleksandr Lukashenko has been going after people who were involved in the demonstrations with every means to hand. This week, one of the main ‘faces’ of the protests went on trial. Sarah Rainsford was in Minsk and has been speaking to family and friends of Maria Kolesnikova. In Nigeria, the mass abduction of children has become a tragically recurring kind of news story: eighty taken in one incident, over 120 in another – just in the past few months. But it’s not just crime which is

The political crisis which broke out in Tunisia last weekend is still simmering. Of all the countries in North Africa and the Middle East which toppled their dictators a decade ago, only Tunisia emerged as a full, multi-party democracy. Its free and fair elections, featuring candidates and groups of all ideological stripes, have been an exception in the wider region since then. But discontent has still mounted over the state of the economy, pandemic response and police tactics. Plenty of Tunisians don't necessarily see their country as a model for others - and President Kais Saied’s recent moves to freeze Parliament and remove the Prime Minister were welcomed by many. Rana Jawad explores why the situation looks rather different from Tunis. Next week it will be a year since the chemical explosion that devastated the Lebanese capital, Beirut. It was one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history – which killed more than 200 people and left more than 300,000 homeless. One of the worst-hit neighbourhoods was t

The destructive power of water is often underestimated… until it’s too late. Large areas of Europe and China are still reeling from the damage left by some of their worst floods for decades. Across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, there were over 200 deaths and billions of euros' worth of damage done. Now there are questions over whether this disaster will make voters more concerned about the effects of climate change. Although the Netherlands was least affected by the latest floods, water management is an existential threat for such a low-lying country. Anna Holligan has seen the worry – as well as the wreckage - on the ground there and in Germany. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro was recently briefly admitted to hospital after intestinal problems made him hiccup uncontrollably. He appears to have recovered and has been out and about, talking to the media and to the public. But his political worries are not over – in fact they’re only growing more acute. Many of his former allies are beginning to peel

In the eastern Mediterranean there are far fewer refugees and migrants arriving by boat than in recent years - but the moral dilemmas of dealing with migration are still acute. In Greece, the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has tightened its asylum laws, built new walled camps and pushed back boats at sea. Over his reporting career, Fergal Keane has followed many global waves of migrants and refugees, from their home countries, along their journeys and to their various end points. A recent visit to the Greek islands got him thinking about the big picture again. Life has been good to King Mswati III of Eswatini. He has ruled over a small, peaceable country for decades as an absolute monarch. But his historic privileges are now in question. It seems some of his people have had enough; recently protests and looting broke out, and were met with a violent response. At least twenty seven people have been killed. Shingai Nyoka has met the King in person, and talked to some of his restive subjects.

The combined miseries of an economic crunch, a spike in Covid infections and simmering long-standing frustration drove hundreds of people to speak out in public last weekend. The Cuban government often brings out the crowds for mass demonstrations of revolutionary will – but it cracks down hard and fast on any shows of organised dissent. Will Grant has been sensing the pressure mount for months. The world was horrified by scenes from the pandemic in India – but there was less global attention paid to Bangladesh. Covid has utterly changed daily life and families’ fortunes there, too – especially since the country imposed its strictest lockdown yet at the start of this month. New infections and deaths are now at record levels and still rising – and there’s fear that people fleeing the restrictions in cities will be soon spread the virus in the countryside. Akbar Hossein has been considering the balance of risks. Clearing out a property after relatives have died can be a bittersweet experience, fusing nosta

This week sees the end of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. These are the last days of a 20-year military presence of British and other forces – and the growing Taliban insurgency is moving quickly into the territory they’re leaving behind. The BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardner made numerous reporting trips to the country , four of them in a wheelchair; he reflects on some of the more poignant moments and what the future holds. The killing of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise has convulsed a nation all too accustomed to natural and political disaster. President Moïse had been ruling by decree after elections planned for 2019 didn’t happen - sparking mass protests and accusations that he illegally stayed on past his term. Amid the political chaos, in recent months many Haitian cities have also been facing a state of near-anarchy and escalating gang violence. David Adams met and interviewed the late President and weighs up the dangers and the appeal of power in the country. Cyprus is assessing the da

Two weeks ago Ethiopia held a parliamentary election billed as the first truly ‘free and fair’ vote in its history – after nearly 20 years of continuous economic growth. It should have been a success story – but the election was only held in some parts of the country, as war was still raging in the Tigray region. There have been over eight months of armed conflict there as the central government moved to re-establish control; and there have been many reports of atrocities – and of hunger. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has repeatedly claimed government forces were close to victory and described the rebels as “like flour blown away by the wind”. But after a shock reversal as Tigrayan forces retook the regional capital, Mekelle. Catherine Byaruhanga wonders how much longer Mr Ahmed's confidence can hold. The South China Sea contains some of the world’s most hotly-disputed waters - with particular strife between the Philippines and China over the rights to some of its reefs and atolls. These are not just