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21/01/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Higher Powers

Surviving IS in Iraq, a blasphemy row in Indonesia, Hong Kong's identity, Namibia's pride

Surviving two years of IS rule in Iraq; the blasphemy row galvanising Indonesia; Hong Kong's identity, 20 years on; and why Namibia's Damara people are praying for rain.

As Iraqi state forces and militias continue their push to retake the city of Mosul from so-called Islamic State, John Beck hears the accounts of several Iraqi police officers who survived two brutal years of IS rule in hiding - even using niqab face veils to avoid detection and execution.

Rebecca Henschke reports from Jakarta on the blasphemy row which has dragged the city's Governor to court on charges of insulting Islam - and revealed lasting religious and ethnic divides in multi-faith but majority-Muslim Indonesia.

Twenty years ago, Helier Cheung sang in the choir at the official ceremony marking the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. Since then she has seen plenty of change on the territory's streets and in its governing institutions, and reflects on Hong Kong's real identity.

And in Namibia, recovering slowly from years of terrible drought, they are still praying - and dancing - for rain, as Robin Denselow recently saw at a festival for the King (and commoners) of the Damara people.

(Photo: An Iraqi man walks his child between ruined buildings in Mosul's Qadisiyah neighbourhood, 2017, during an ongoing military operation against the Islamic State group. Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)

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