Correspondents Report

As the time approaches for our Africa Correspondent to finish up his posting, he's becoming a little more philosophical. Martin Cuddihy and his family are moving back to across the Indian Ocean in January. It's got him thinking about the value of an individual's life in Kenya.

Do you ever feel you need more time to just sit down and think to solve a problem or work out a better way of doing things? Many of the ABC reporters, who are pressed for time, certainly do. Could sitting, reflecting and thinking for just a few minutes actually make you better at your job or stop you doing stupid things?

They often say there's nothing more ex than an ex-politician. Rarely do they successfully make re-election bids. Some quietly fade into the background, some write books, some stay bitter. And then there's Ed Balls; the former shadow chancellor in the United Kingdom who's confounding the critics and rewriting the rule books by dancing his way back into voters' hearts.

Construction has just begun on the landmark building in Port Moresby that will host the leaders of some of the world's biggest economies when they come to Papua New Guinea in 2018. It will be the first time a Pacific Islands country has hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. But while the Papua New Guinea Government is spruiking the benefits, plenty of people are worried about the cost.

Relations between India and Pakistan are never warm and recently they have taken a turn for the worse, with escalating violence in contested Kashmir. The area has been fought over for nearly 70 years after what's known as 'partition'. Now, there are just a handful of people still alive who remember a different time, before the conflict began.

If you're not a video game player - or gamer - as they say, the whole world of computer games can seem a little alienating and weird. Our Tokyo reporter, Rachel Mealey, was forced to meet her fears head on.

At an all Muslim beauty pageant in the Indonesian capital Jakarta earlier this year, the contestants faced a question about the brutal gang rape of a 14-year-old girl and without hesitation they all concluded the young girl should be held responsible because she was not wearing a head scarf. Yenny Wahid, the daughter of a former President and Islamic activist was one of the judges. She told our correspondent Samantha Hawley she wasn't surprised by the answer, but sees it her duty to try and change the mindset of young women in her home nation.

Thailand remains in nation-wide mourning this week after the death of its widely-revered and much-loved King. The King had reigned for 70 years, so his influence on the nation is vast. Amid the outpouring of grief is a recognition of his many talents, including music. ABC's Southeast Asia correspondent Liam Cochrane offers a musical obituary of Thai's late king.

London is a city that oozes history. It's a place that's experienced plagues, ravaging fires, civil wars, Roman occupation and of course the Blitz. A walk down any London street will leave anyone with a sense of the city's extraordinary history. Tom Holland is an historian, who's latest book Athelstan is about the first King of All-England. Tom lives in London and he took a walk down one of his favourite streets; a scene of fires, medieval jousts, executions, opium dens and a church built by a famous King's jester.

Two years ago Ferguson, Missouri became the centre of global attention for all the wrong reasons when a police officer shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. It sparked riots and highlighted racial division that's since been repeated in cities across America due to the frequent killing of African American men by police. In Ferguson, where simmering tension remains, U.S. Correspondent Zoe Daniel met one woman on a mission to bring about change.