From Our Own Correspondent

“As I approached the Dusit there was a strange smell in the air; a combination of smoke, petrol, and explosives. I’d smelt it before - the last time was in Northern Syria.” Joe Inwood reflects on the Al Shabaab terror attack on a luxury hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.

Stephanie Hegarty meets an 11-year-old social media star in Mexico who is using her online videos to come to terms with the death of her mother.

Charlotte McDonald is in Toulouse with a French veteran of the Algerian War of Independence who’s still making peace with the atrocities committed by his own side.

Karen Allen mingles with South Africa's growing Korean community, some of whom are making good money selling synthetic hair.

And Justin Rowlatt explains why he took his wife on a romantic getaway to Chernobyl.

The Saudi teenager Rahaf al-Qunun was spared deportation after details of her plight were spread on social media while she barricaded herself in a hotel room in Thailand. She feared being killed by her family if she was forced to return to Kuwait. She was saved not by her passport but by her phone, observes Jonathan Head.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world:

Olivia Acland reflects on why the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo may have to wait a little longer than expected to celebrate their country’s first ever democratic transfer of power.

Nick Sturdee examines the split between the Ukrainian and Russian branches of the Orthodox church and has a strange encounter involving a black-robed priest, alleged KGB stooges and a mysterious man in a white car.

Jane Wakefield has a glimpse of what may turn out to be the future – drones delivering much-needed medicines and other supplies to remote African villages.

And Rob Cameron uncovers a disturbing secret about Prague’s cobblestoned streets.

“Something once whole, broken into so many pieces,” Anna Foster reflects on the toll conflict in the Central African Republic is having on its people. In the capital Bangui, she visits PK5 a Muslim enclave in the mainly Christian city and scene of regular violence.

Winter’s majestic carpet may transform Karabash into a fairytale land that seems sprinkled with icing sugar, says Steve Rosenberg, but the reality is far from magical. There he meets a man who might just be a Russian spy.

Kate Adie introduces some of the many memorable meetings our correspondents have shared in 2018.

Mathew Charles spends a twitchy night out in the company of a drug cartel killer and dealer who explains how Colombia’s narco trade is changing.

Helen Nianias has coffee with a man who left Kosovo to fight jihad in Syria, but who was back less than two weeks later - before his mum even realised he'd gone.

Aisha Gani stumbles across a rave in a refugee camp in Bangladesh – home to some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who’ve fled violence in neighbouring Myanmar.

And Gabriel Gatehouse has a strange and mysterious encounter with a troll in Sweden.

In the Christmas edition, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom which reflect the range of contemporary life in the country.

Producer: Simon Coates

A controversial law in Hungary will allow employers to demand 400 hours of overtime from their workers and defer payment for three years. Nick Thorpe examines the rationale behind it, and watches as more than ten thousand people take to the streets in protest.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world:

Lorraine Mallinder shares a story of survival and escape from Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, where hundreds of thousands of people have tried to flee violence between local separatists and the military.

Jonah Fisher has the tale of a Ukrainian woman who thought her son had finally been found in Afghanistan. He went missing more than 30 years ago when serving in the Soviet military there.

Jeremy Bristow meets a man trying to preserve the language spoken by Jesus and his followers as he visits some of the shrinking communities of Syriac Christians who still live in Turkey.

And it’s the same procedure as every year for Joanna Robertson in Germany where New Year’s Eve is celebrated with a bang.

Before the contested referendum on independence, Carme Forcadell was the speaker of the Catalan parliament but since March she has been awaiting trial in a Spanish jail accused of rebellion. Niall O'Gallagher meets the ever defiant separatist politician.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world.

Sarah Rainsford is surprised at the warm welcome she receives in the frozen Siberian city of Irkutsk - where, unlike in Moscow, people seem willing to criticise their President and are happy to speak to a Western journalist.

Alastair Leithead discovers the vast size of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - as well as its dense forests, potholes, bureaucracy and corruption – make it a difficult place to get around as well as to govern.

Rayhan Demytrie finds that the inauguration of Georgia’s first female President may not mean much for gender equality in the country.

And Lucy Ash discovers that DIY DNA testing kits that help your trace your ancestors are revealing far more than some Americans bargain for.

At 13 Basma was forced to marry an older man and then repeatedly abused by him and his family. At 16 she was kidnapped and sent to work in a brothel. Then her own family decided to kill her. Now she lives and works in one of Iraq’s secret shelters for survivors of domestic abuse and shares her story with Shaimaa Kahlil.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.

As South Africa marks the fifth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death, Andrew Harding reflects on the role that racial power and politics still plays there.

Bethany Bell is in South Tyrol where Italian nationalism is proving surprisingly popular among German speakers in the north of the country.

Fleur MacDonald attends a cinema screening in a Tunisian prison to see how films are being used to challenge the way inmates see the world.

And in Canada, John Kampfner spends an evening in a cold, cavernous warehouse throwing axes at a dart-board like target – for fun.

'Orwellian' may have become an overused political term, but in Xinjiang, it has never been more appropriate says John Sudworth. The region’s ten million Uighur people are under constant surveillance by the Chinese state.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world.

David Willis explains how a pimp turned politician won a seat on the Nevada state legislature despite being dead.

Peter Oborne visits a Syrian school which has only recently re-opened after jihadi militants were driven out of town.

Charles Haviland discovers that the conflict in the east of Ukraine is also leaving its mark on the west of the country.

And Joanna Robertson explores the competing plans to deal Paris’s rat infestation – from total extermination to blanket non-intervention.

The “gilets jaunes” (yellow vest) protestors trying to bring France to a standstill. Hugh Schofield, says they're angry at having to pay the price for Parisians to live more comfortably and feel they are treated with contempt and condescension by the French elite.

Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.

Nick Higham is on the Rock to find out what Gibraltarians think of the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

Devina Gupta explains what it is like to report from Delhi, where the polluted air makes her eyes water and her throat burn.

Will Grant examines some of the many challenges Mexico’s new President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, will face; from economic stagnation to the violent drug cartels.

And Melissa Van Der Klugt visits a pioneering “wildlife corridor” in East Africa and discovers that simply moving fences has made a big impact on Kenya’s wildlife.