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From Our Own Correspondent: Staying (in) Power

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Staying (in) Power

17/03/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Staying (in) Power

Chinese leadership, Colombia's rebel politics, sectarian Lebanon and an icy Indian trek

A dramatic moment for Chinese leadership; Colombia's rebels-turned-candidates; the sectarianism bedevilling Lebanese politics and an icy trek up a frozen river in northern India

Pascale Harter introduces stories of luck, gall and influence from writers around the world.

The BBC's John Sudworth reports on some unusually dramatic moments seen during the National People's Congress in Beijing over the last week. Usually, almost nothing surprising happens during the sessions of this so-called "rubber stamp" parliament. But moves to consolidate and assure President Xi Jinping's hold on power - over one of the world's largest superpower nations - have caused gasps of astonishment. 

Katy Watson meets some of the former fighters of Colombia's FARC rebel group - and their victims - and hears why the movement did so badly at the ballot box in the recent general election. Memories of brutality (or of personal sacrifice) mean most voters weren't ready to consider former guerrillas as candidates - or suspect the recent grand bargain with the State has sold out FARC's former goals.

Zeinab Badawi has been in Beirut to explore the faultlines of Lebanese politics - which all too often run along predictable, sectarian borders. For as long as voting blocs are organised on a religious basis, and for as long as regional powers seek to exploit those divisions, she argues it seems unlikely that Lebanon's electorate can really unite to press for better services and standards for all. 

And Justin Rowlatt takes a seriously demanding walk - up into the frozen mountain passes of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, northern India. There are small villages here which are still off the grid, and iced in for weeks or months at a time in winter. So to help deliver a consignment of much-wanted solar electricity panels, Justin donned his rubber boots and crampons to hike nearly a week up an icy river. 

Photo: China's President Xi Jinping presses a button as he votes during the fourth plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 13, 2018. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

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