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From Our Own Correspondent: Losing the Sparkle

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Losing the Sparkle

16/12/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Losing the Sparkle

Stories of disillusion and distrust from South Africa, Bhutan, Hong Kong and Italy

What next for South Africa  and the ANC after Jacob Zuma? Plus: mental health in Bhutan, an anthem controversy in Hong Kong football and turf wars over Rome's Christmas markets

Pascale Harter introduces tales of disillusion, discontent and distrust from correspondents all over the world. 

In South Africa, as the ANC meets to choose a successor to President Jacob Zuma, Andrew Harding considers where the Rainbow Nation can go next - and whether its undoubted strengths can overcome the serious challenges ahead.

Alexa Dvorson meets some of the people trying to analyse - and survive - a quiet crisis of mental health in Bhutan. This small, mountainous, traditional country is known globally for its policy of trying to maximise "Gross National Happiness" - but it turns out that social ills, including suicide, are on the rise.

Tim Hartley mingles with the football fans on the terraces of Hong Kong, to hear why match-day protests have become so worrying to Beijing. Mainland laws on respecting China's national anthem have been extended to the Special Administrative Region - but some Hong Kong residents insist they still have the right to turn their backs or remain seated when it's played. 

And Joanna Robertson is on the streets and piazzas of Rome - full of beauty at this time of year, but not necessarily much goodwill. Recent Mafia trials in the city revealed many local services had been captured by criminal groups - and the turf wars even extended to a famous Christmas market. 

Photo: Opposition activists gather in Pretoria, on April 7, 2017 calling for the ousting of President Jacob Zuma. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

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