From Our Own Correspondent

Andrew Harding travels to the centre of Mali to find out how the fight against the Islamist rebels is affecting life in one small country town. Thousands of prisoners are being released from jail in Georgia -- Damien McGuinness has been learning that not all Georgians think that's such a good idea. Silvio Berlusconi's trying again to be prime minister of Italy. Alan Johnston in Rome's been finding out that many Italians don't want to see a return of the bunga bunga king. Orla Guerin tells us what it's like to live and work in Pakistan, a land which sometimes seems as if it's in perpetual crisis and ... turbulence at 35-thousand feet!!! Paul Moss takes a flight where the hostesses dispensed diplomacy along with the gin and tonics.

Correspondents around the world telling their stories: Lyse Doucet has been meeting some of the millions of people who've been forced to flee their homes in Syria because of the continuing bloodshed there. Mark Doyle in Bamako on how the fighting in Mali has seen a new alliance being forged between the French and the Nigerian military. The Hungarian economy may be tottering - but Petroc Trelawny has been finding out it's boom time in the flea markets and second-hand shops of Budapest. Why are the French drinking so much less wine than they used to? John Laurenson set off for a country bistro in search of answers. And as the fighting continues in Mali, Nick Thorpe remembers a visit there and a drive across the Sahara Desert in more peaceable times - thirty two years ago.

Correspondents' news and views from around the globe: Hugh Schofield is in Paris as French troops take on Islamist rebels in the former French colony of Mali; Will Grant on how Venezuelans are starting to consider a future without their president, Hugo Chavez; Emily Buchanan on the Indian holy man who wowed the ladies in New England; Jo Fidgen on how the Sami people of northern Sweden haven't quite forgotten their traditionally nomadic ways and James Luckhurst takes shelter from the cold and finds a welcome in one of the most unusual museums in the Baltic states.

Kate Adie presents reporters' despatches from across the globe. Matthew Teller meets the stateless bidoons of Kuwait Mark Lobel looks attempts to improve one of Cape Town's poorest settlement in the wake of a devastating fire. Jonathan Fryer assesses Baghdad's surprising aspiration to become the conference capital of the Middle East. Alan Johnston wonders whether the mystery of Garbaldi's final resting place will ever be solved. Dany Mitzman describes the trials and tribulations of not eating meat while living in pork-crazed Bologna.

Andrew North reflects on whether the recent rape and murder of a woman in Delhi might bring a greater soul searching amongst all sections of Indian society. Owen Bennett-Jones teeters on the "fiscal cliff" with anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, asking if he's really the most powerful man in America? Nicholas Shakespeare makes a nostalgic return to Phnom Penh. Andrew Bomford uncovers the secrets of eternal youth on the Greek island of Ikaria. Hugh Schofield banishes the January blues by exploring P.G. Wodehouse's love affair with France. And in the process, identifies what may be the master's finest opening paragraph.

As the year draws to an end, Kate Adie presents a feast of highlights from correspondents' despatches across 2012. Fucshia Dunlop is in Shanghai, dancing the the city's glamourous past. Lucy Ash is challenged by a call of nature in Russia's Siberian wilderness. Kate McGowan decides against boiled duck foetus for breakfast in Manila. Allan Little uncovers the great egg crisis in the Falkland Islands. Emma Jane Kirby is feeling distinctly under dressed as she takes a table in St Tropez. And Will Grant discovers that Mexico's 'Day of the Dead' is a suprizingly uplifting experience.

Kate Adie presents despatches from reporters across the globe. Lucy Ash travels to Burma where she finds that Chinese investment ventures are being challenged by local people. As Greece receives it latest tranche of bailout funds, Mark Lowen looks back over a tumultuous year in the country. Andrew North looks at the controversy surrounding the proposed introduction of foreign supermarkets to India. Joanna Robertson joins in the Parisan love affair with fairgrounds. Horatio Clare explains why change might be coming to the remote island of St. Helena in the very near future

Reporters worldwide provide context to the week's news. Today: South Africa's ANC at the crossroads? As the party prepares for conference, its figurehead Nelson Mandela in fragile health, Andrew Harding reads the political runes at a critical time for the country. Allan Little is in the Polish city of Wroclaw observing how old allegiances and old identities are emerging in the new Europe. Now what's the attraction of the 'mitten' or 'hairy' crab? At this time of year in eastern China they're much in demand and Fuchsia Dunlop's been finding out why. Not many of our correspondents have got to meet the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang. Stephen Sackur has though and asked him questions the president thought impertinent and malicious. And is getting dementia really the end of the world? The Dutch authorities have created a village for dementia sufferers which is pioneering a new sort of care.

The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen examines claims that a conclusion to the long conflict in Syria is within sight. After a year of protests against President Putin, Steve Rosenberg finds support for him is still strong -- particularly in cities away from the capital, Moscow. Bethany Bell's in South Tyrol where some are angry that the Italian authorities, in the midst of financial crisis, want this wealthy Alpine province to contribute more to the national exchequer. The Turks know that the television soap opera's an effective means of extending influence throughout the Middle East. And the BBC man Rajan Datar gets offered a screen part! And they've been harvesting the olives in the hills of Tuscany. Dany Mitzman's been lending a hand and observing that the harvest methods have changed little since ancient times.

Jon Leyne in Cairo reflects on the debate about Egypt's future. Will it be dictatorship or democracy? Secular or religious? Ed Butler's been to Halabja, the town in the Kurdish region of Iraq which, almost 25 years ago, was attacked with chemical weapons. The tea industry in India is in trouble - Mark Tully says change is on the way to the tea plantations of Assam. Celeste Hicks returns to her old base in Mali and finds that the traditional history-singers have little to say about the Islamist takeover of Timbuktu. And Kieran Cooke is in Norway trying to work out the appeal of a particularly unfragrant culinary delicacy.

Despatches from reporters across the globe. Jon Donnison was in Gaza as the city came under Israeli attack and a BBC man took a distressing phone call. Gabriel Gatehouse was in Goma as rebels took the town in eastern Congo with UN peacekeepers standing by, seemingly unable to intervene. Petroc Trelawny was in a part of France which is taking a special interest in the vote in Catalonia which many feel could be a step along the road to Catalonian independence. Owen Bennett Jones has been talking to a famer in New York state who feels consultancy might be a better earner than growing onions. And cup cakes? Salsa classes? Nightclubs? Mary Harper's been seeing signs of Africa both old and new in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Reporters' despatches from around the world. Afghanistan: as pressure grows on the British prime minister to bring the troops back home early, defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt considers the legacy they'll leave behind. Russia: the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is the country's prisons capital. Alex Preston has been to meet a former convict trying to help others, recently released, to find a toehold back in Russian society. El Salvador: the murder rate in this Latin American nation has gone down significantly thanks to a truce between two notorious gangs. Linda Pressly has been talking to some of their leaders in a high security jail. France: the infamous Sangatte asylum centre may have closed but Emma Jane Kirby has been finding out that migrants continue to flow into the port city of Calais. Germany: Steve Evans gets offered relatively frugal fare at a dinner party in Berlin. But he isn't surprised.

Burma: Jonathan Head goes to Rakhine state in Burma where bitter unrest has resulted in more than a hundred deaths and a hundred thousand displaced. Libya: Kevin Connolly visits a war graves cemetery and considers stories of loss and love, grief and anger. Japan: Rupert Wingfield-Hayes takes a boat to the islands at the centre of a bitter argument in the South China Sea. USA: As the dust settles after the election Jonny Dymond's in Indiana looking on as the real business of America gets done. and Mexico: Will Grant's in Oaxaca state where they believe in bidding farewell to the dead in a festive rather than a funereal atmosphere.

The United States of America: after the election excitement the Obama team start planning for four more years. Paul Adams. Mali: preparations well advanced for a military operation to repel Islamist rebels from the north of the country. Afua Hirsch. Oman: the Arab Spring comes calling at the Gulf state once called 'a place of wind and spiders.' Matthew Teller. Georgia: Can the new government act to restore parts of the country now effectively under Russian control? Martin Plaut. The USA: A visit to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a realisation that driving on Mars is harder than it looks. Richard Hollingham. Producer: Tony Grant

Will Ross on the bloodshed in Northern Nigeria;Theopi Skarlatos on why Golden Dawn is becoming Greece's worse nightmare;Anu Anand vents her frustrations about shambolic India - business is booming but what about power cuts and burst balloons? Also privileged Princeton - Dave Edmonds explains why so many alumnae are happy to donate billions to one of the world's richest universities. And Joanna Robertson tells us why the French Prime Minister reminds people of a small chocolate covered bear.

Gabriel Gatehouse talks to a once-loyal Alawite pilot who ran foul of Syrian intelligence and was accused of planting bombs on military planes. Syrian refugees in Jordan tell Sahkr al Makhadhi how they fled the war zone but are now desperate to return. In Moscow, a new map marking the homes of Stalin's victims gives our correspondent Daniel Sandrof uncomfortable information about his own flat. Fact-checking is always tough, but Rana Jawad says it's especially tricky in Libya, where the rumour mill is stuck on overdrive. And David Willis explains why some Californians cough up for presidential campaigns - while others rage against the gridlock when Obama visits.

Kate Adie presents despatches from: Tim Whewell in a small town in Syria in the midst of the current conflict. Andrew North on trepidation in Afghanistan as the country prepares for NATO withdrawal and elections in 2014. Rajan Datar meets members of Brazil's Valley of the Dawn cult. Tim Dinham explains why your social life really can depend on the kind of Bewab or caretaker your apartment has in Cairo. And Jon Donnison spends a day with the best Yasser Arafat lookalike on the West Bank.

Will Grant in Cuba: 50 years after the Missile Crisis, Fidel Castro still has the power to made headlines. Jill McGivering in Shenzhen sees the gulf between different generations in modern China. Kate McGeown looks at the hopes for peace in the Southern Philippines. Kim Philley experiences the art of animist 'spirit possession' in Burma. And Steve Evans explores the etiquette of cycling in Berlin.

Dispatches from reporters across the globe, presented by Kate Adie. Chris Morris in Berlin analyses Angela Merkel's increasing international confidence. Fergal Keane hears the echoes of history amidst Syrian refugees in the Turkish city of Izmir. Niall O'Gallagher takes the temperature of Catalan nationalism on the streets of Barcelona. Craig Jeffrey asks if "jugaad" - the spirit of creative and quick fixes - is really the solution to India's challenges. And Hamilton Wende in Maputo, the booming capital of Mozambique, finds corruption on the rise.

Thousands of Kenyans prepare to go to court to pursue claims against the British. Gabriel Gatehouse in Nairobi explains how they date back to the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s and why they are getting little publicity inside Kenya itself. The Dutch are changing their famously-liberal drugs laws. Manuela Saragosa says the decision's delighted some but infuriated others. Caspar Leighton's been observing celebrations of fifty years of Ugandan independence. He says people there are wondering whether, after their nation's shaky start, they are now suffering from too much stability. Rich and poor , young and old, if you want to strike up a conversation with an Indian, start talking about gold. Rahul Tandon is in Calcutta finding out why. Lederhosen for men. Heidi-style dresses for women. Bethany Bell has been learning why these clothes, so long the preserve of the ultra-conservatives in southern Germany and Austria, have now become highly fashionable.