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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.

From Our Own Correspondent: 21/08/2010

21/08/2010

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, 21/08/2010

Kate Adie introduces reports from Pakistan, Niger, Australia, China and Mallorca.

Kate Adie introduces reports on the floods in Pakistan, hunger in Niger, grassroot politics in Australia, Christianity in China and the home of Robert Graves in Mallorca.

We're in Pakistan, where 20 million people are on the move, desperately trying to escape the huge floods; from Australia we hear how grassroots politics is trying to make people think more about the issues as they vote; mixing up the ingredients that could save children's lives in Niger; and poetry and paradise in the Mediterranean. 

Three weeks after the start of the floods in Pakistan, a fifth of the country is under water - and the levels are still rising. Around twenty million people are affected.

More international aid is now reaching the country. But the Pakistani government is still warning that its fight against terrorism could be jeopardised if the country doesn't get enough help, as people turn to extremist groups for support.

Mohammed Hanif has been watching this disaster unfold.

Niger is a country where many people really do live on the edge of survival. Once again this year they've suffered severe drought and, to make matters worse, there have also been torrential rains bringing destruction. 

The United Nations says the country is facing the worst hunger crisis it has ever known, and aid workers say tens of thousands of children are in danger of dying. Afua Hirsch has recently visited some of the worst affected areas.

Australians have been voting today to elect a new government - and they have to....voting is compulsory down under. The opinion polls indicated that this was the tightest race in fifty years. 

Increasingly around the world grassroots political movements, like America's Tea Party or the fair votes campaign here, have been trying - with some success - to influence elections and policies. 

During this election campaign Rebecca Keating met members of an Australian grassroots organisation that's already had notable victories.

For decades in China Christian worshippers were persecuted, particularly after the country's brutal Cultural Revolution. Under the Communists religion was out and atheism was in. 

But a lot has been changing in China over recent years, including official attitudes to Christianity - And that's something Christopher Landau examined on a recent trip there.


During the Battle of the Somme of the First World War, a young British soldier was so badly wounded when a shell fragment went through his lung, that he was expected to die. In fact he was officially reported dead and his obituary appeared in the Times. But he survived. 

He was the poet, translator and novelist, Robert Graves. Ultimately, he lived a long and productive life, spending many years on the island of Mallorca. Christine Finn explored the poet's Spanish idyll.

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