From Our Own Correspondent Folgen

The assassin who was garlanded: Orla Guerin on murder on the streets of Islamabad and the extent of extremism in Pakistan. Mark Doyle returns to his old stamping ground in Ivory Coast and visits the hotel that once gave pony rides to his son and now is a sanctuary and a presidential office at the same. Jonathan Fryer is in Azerbaijan looking at the city of Baku: crossroads between east and west; Justin Rowlatt is investigating Chinese economic activity in Brazil while Tim Ecott’s at the remote Indian Ocean island that brings together some scientists, a hundred thousand turtles and the occasional stranded Somali pirate.

Nineteen correspondents from around the world join Kate Adie in this special New Year edition of the programme. They consider such matters as the 'park and pray' facilities on German's motorways, a reporter's dilemma on encountering a baby close to death in Pakistan; a cinema in Kabul where people gather to try to forget their troubles, a club in Baghdad where time seems to stand still, a school in Kenya where the alphabet is spelled out in goat droppings, several harrowing episodes at our correspondents' dining tables, an eventful rail journey in Zimbabwe and another on an Indian train with a strange choice of name, buying a drink in an iconic Irish pub and whether French can ever be the language of rock.

Three years in America: Kevin Connolly has time to reflect as he prepares to leave an eventful posting in the United States. A cocaine factory is blown to pieces in a Colombian jungle clearing -- Frank Gardner was there watching as the security forces took their battle against the cocaine barons into the jungle. Gideon Long, our man in Santiago, on Chile's extraordinary, rollercoaster year. The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Algiers has just re-opened -- Chloe Arnold was at the inauguration where she she saw Muslims and Christians praying alongside each other.