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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.

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From Our Own Correspondent: Lockdown Life in Shanghai

Lockdown Life in Shanghai

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, Lockdown Life in Shanghai

The stress and strain of holding a family together with no end to lockdown in sight.

Lockdown life in Shanghai, gang life in El Salvador, the mixed fortunes of refugees in Switzerland, Germany's awkward relationship with Russia, and women's boxing punches back.

China has been warned by the World Health Organisation that its so-called 'zero covid' approach is unsustainable. Hundreds of millions of people have been kept under lockdown in cities across the country, leaving the economy severely jolted, and critics calling it an abuse of human rights. However, the Chinese authorities seem determined to carry on as before, and have announced that the city of Shanghai will be placed under its tightest restrictions yet. The news came as a disappointment to Rebecca Kanthor, who has already gone through seven weeks of lockdown.

Choosing what to wear in El Salvador can be literally a matter of life or death. The country is plagued by gang violence, with eighty people murdered over just one weekend this year. The government has promised a crackdown, passing new laws which allow police to lock up suspected gang members as young as 12. Mike Lanchin lived in El Salvador during the 1990s, and when he returned for a visit with his family, he quickly learned the value of covering up.

More than five million people have now fled Ukraine, and have been taken in by countries across Europe. Switzerland has offered homes to tens of thousands, giving them an immediate right to work, and other benefits too. Yet this hospitality has left refugees from other countries questioning what they see as double standards. As Imogen Foulkes explains, plenty have run from war and persecution elsewhere, and yet have not found the Swiss to be quite so accepting.

Germany has been commemorating the end of World War Two -  a complicated anniversary, remembering both the country's dead, but with an eye to its Nazi past. This year’s anniversary comes amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and furious arguments in Germany about how far to intervene. John Kampfner was invited to one remembrance ceremony in the old East Berlin, where Germany’s complex relationship with Russia was to the fore.

Women’s boxing celebrated its biggest night ever recently, as Ireland’s Katy Taylor defended her world lightweight title against Amanda Serrano from Puerto Rico, at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Women’s boxing has always struggled to win recognition, but women have fought hard to prove it is not just a men’s sport. Steve Bunce was ring-side at the recent bout.

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