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Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers.

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From Our Own Correspondent: Violent Protest in Sri Lanka

Violent Protest in Sri Lanka

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, Violent Protest in Sri Lanka

As Sri Lanka runs out of fuel, food and medicine, its people are taking to the streets.

Violence in Sri Lanka, attacks on immigrants in South Africa, and Spain's former king pays a visit. Plus running a hotel in war-torn Ukraine, and how the war risks causing famine.

Sri Lanka has been rocked by violent protests. The country is out of cash, which means it is struggling to import fuel, food and basic medicines. This in turn has prompted political turmoil, with anti-government protestors coming under attack from supporters of the ousted government. Rajini Vaidyanathan was there as battles broke out.

It was Archbishop Desmond Tutu who first called South Africa the 'Rainbow Nation', reflecting hopes for a new era of equality for the country and as it emerged from  decades of apartheid. Now though, migrants in South Africa are being blamed for unemployment and other social problems - some have been murdered by vigilantes. Shingai Nyoka reflects on this rising animosity with particular personal interest, as she herself moved to South Africa from Zimbabwe. 

It’s eight years since King Juan Carlos of Spain abdicated, following a string of highly embarrassing scandals. But just recently, the former king returned to Spain for a brief visit - the first since he left. Plenty of Spanish people turned out to welcome their former ruler with full-on patriotic fervour, but as Guy Hedgecoe explains, such sentiments were far from universal.

The death toll in Ukraine numbers the tens of thousands, but there are fears that vastly more people could die as an indirect result of the conflict, as supply lines for wheat and fertiliser are severely disrupted. Jonathan Head reports on how the war is affecting rice farmers thousands of miles away in Thailand. 

The war in Ukraine has presented a huge logistical challenge - for citizens and the military, and also for journalists. Joe Inwood has spent most of his BBC career as a producer, but as his team moved across Ukraine, he found himself having to help run a hotel after all the local staff left town.

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