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From Our Own Correspondent

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Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers.

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers telling stories from around the world.

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From Our Own Correspondent: 22/05/2010

22/05/2010

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, 22/05/2010

Kate Adie looks behind the headlines with despatches from Iran, Sierra Leone and Paris.

BBC foreign correspondents with the stories behind the world's headlines, introduced by Kate Adie. Featuring despatches from Iran, Sierra Leone and Paris.

Drinking, dancing and youthful frustration: From Our Own Correspondent takes to the streets of Tehran to discover how young people have fun in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

There's talk of grand scandal and conspiracy as climate change skeptics vent their wrath

Thailand's violent politics tear apart life on a quiet street in Bangkok.

And the secrets of the Seine: the dark past of Paris's great river.


There are few places where it's tougher to be a journalist than Iran. Around forty newspapers have reportedly been shut in recent months, and many journalists are in jail. International press freedom campaigners describe Iran as one of the world's most repressive countries. And in this climate it's hard to build up a full picture of life in the Islamic Republic. But a recent visitor..who, under the circumstances, can't be named.. has just spent time trying to guage the mood among the vast and ever expanding ranks of Iran's young people. The picture that emerged was one of profound frustration... 

Bangkok is finally returning to something like normality. For weeks the city centre was a battleground. The Thai army fought and eventually overwhelmed anti-government protestors manning huge barricades. But the great majority of Bangkok's people weren't protesting. Chris Hogg has been talking to people who were appalled to watch their neighbourhoods descend into violent chaos. But as they piece together their lives again, they can't help wondering how long the calm will last.... 

It's become one of the greatest issues of our time. How is our climate changing? What might this mean for life on earth? And how much are we to blame? The major international body monitoring the climate says average temperatures are certainly rising. And it says most of the waming is likely to be caused by man. But this view is coming under increasingly vociferous criticism. And when the sceptics gathered in strength recently, our environment analyst, Roger Harrabin, was there to hear what they had to say..

The novels of the great writer, Graham Greene are set in difficult places, at difficult times. His characters wrestle with moral dilemmas in steamy tropical cities... Saigon, Havana, Port-au-Prince and elsewhere. He brilliantly evoked the atmosphere in settings like opium dens, and particular bars, cafes and hotels. Greene conjured a world so convincing and distinctive that his readers sometimes called it "Greene-land".. Tim Butcher has been following Greene's trail in West Africa, but there was real disappointment when he went in search of one of the writer's favourite haunts.. 

The River Seine flows through the world's image of Paris. On its banks sit some of the city's most majestic monuments.Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower among them. For visitors, the Seine's quays and bridges capture much of the romance of the place. But at times in Paris's turbulent past the great river has played a dark role. And Emma-Jane Kirby says that today.in some ways.the Seine divides Paris.

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22/05/2010

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