Original version

BBC World Service Online

From Our Own Correspondent

News

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers.

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: Cyprus and Lebanon

28/03/2014

Cyprus and Lebanon

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Cyprus and Lebanon

Returning to post-bailout Cyprus and a temporary escape from Damascus

Nigel Cassidy returns to Nicosia in post-bailout Cyprus and Diana Darke makes a temporary escape from Damascus in Lebanon.

This time last year journalists were flooding into Cyprus just as money was flooding out.  The island became the latest Eurozone economy to require an international bailout, and this time the emergency funds came with unique strings attached – for the first time, people with money sitting in the affected banks stood to lose at least half or even all of their deposits. Nigel Cassidy was on the scene then and he recently returned – so are people in Nicosia still blaming Germany and outsiders for their economic ruin?

Also in the programme, travel writer Diana Darke owns a house in Damascus. But for some time now she's been unable to get to her home in the Syrian capital. Instead, for the day-to-day management of her property, she relies on visitors willing to brave a trek to Lebanon… and the mundane paperwork they bring with them gives her insight into the way Syrians are coping in the midst of the conflict.

Presenter: Pascale Harter
Producer: Mike Wendling

Accessibility links

Programme Index

From Our Own Correspondent

Cyprus and Lebanon

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service