From Our Own Correspondent Folgen

From the Commonwealth country of Canada, to the fifth republic of France, we reflect on how the world remembers Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.As Head of the Commonwealth, the Queen had to negotiate the ever-evolving relationship with its member states as they declared independence and as Britain’s relationship to its former colonies underwent profound change. The British Monarch remains head of state of 14 countries, from Canada to the Solomon Islands. Lyse Doucet is in Ottawa where Canada’s leaders have made warm tributes and reflects back on her own encounters with the Queen.Despite its anti-monarchist history, one of the more powerful tributes to the Queen emerged from French President Emmanuel Macron. He spoke fondly of her as a ‘great head of state’ and a ‘kind-hearted queen.’ So what was the Queen’s relationship to France? In 1972 Queen Elizabeth famously told former President Georges Pompidou 'we are not driving on the same side of the road, but we are going in the same direction', when he lifted the veto to Britain entering the Common Market. Hugh Schofield reflects on a unique relationship.The Oscar-winning film Parasite portrays the story of a low-income South Korean family living in a basement apartment. In one memorable scene, the heavens open and floodwater fills the family home. Last month, in a cruel example of life imitating art, Seoul experienced its heaviest flooding in 100 years. Water rushed into homes, trapping residents inside – four people were killed. The city government has since promised to get rid of the basement apartments and create more social housing. But as Jean Mackenzie has been finding out, this offers little comfort to those who live there.The Gambia is Africa’s smallest nation, where the process of reconciliation is proving arduous, five years after the end of a murderous dictatorship. Former President Yahya Jammeh, who fled to Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after losing a re-election bid, is wanted internationally for crimes against humanity, including extrajudicial killings, torture, forced disappearances, and sexual violence. Because he still enjoys a measure of loyalty back home, the nation he left behind is divided. Most of Jammeh’s hit men fled when he did, and many Gambians say reconciliation is impossible until they are all brought to justice. When Alexa Dvorson visited the country she witnessed a rare act of contrition.The Republic of Moldova sits on a fault line of geo-politics, with warring Ukraine on one side and Romania, firmly ensconced in the EU and Nato, on the other. Within its borders, is Transnistria, where a Russian-backed separatist war broke out thirty years ago. Today the area is a frozen conflict zone, but Russia still has a military presence. Piggy-in-the-middle between East and West, perhaps nothing tells Moldova’s complicated story more clearly than its main industry – wine - as Tessa Dunlop finds.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling Production coordinator: Iona Hammond Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Stories about the floods that have submerged a third of Pakistan; the violent clashes in Iraq; Brazil's bizarre bicentennial and farewell to the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.In Pakistan, heavy rains and floods have submerged a third of the country. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the calamity “a monsoon on steroids". At least 1100 people have been killed, and an estimated 33 million are now displaced or homeless. Shahzeb Jillani reports from the southern province of Sindh, the worst affected, where victims are disappointed with their politicians, but young people have sprung into action.At least 23 people were killed, and many injured, in some of the worst violence in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in years. Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shia Muslim cleric, political leader and militia commander, clashed with Iran-backed armed groups. There'd been a long stand-off following inconclusive parliamentary elections, and then al-Sadr announced his retirement from politics. Shelly Kittleson in Baghdad explains.Next week, it’ll be 200 years since Brazil became an independent country, breaking free of its colonial ruler Portugal. There’ll be military parades – and more. But one ceremony has already taken place, held to receive a bizarre royal relic from Portugal. Reactions to this occasion seem as divided as the views about what to celebrate, if anything. Julia Carneiro reflects on her country's bicentennial.Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was liked and admired in the West, for bringing about the end of the Cold War, lifting the Iron Curtain that kept Eastern Europe under Communism, and dissolving the Soviet Union. But in Russia, he is reviled by many for breaking up the Soviet Union. Steve Rosenberg met Mr Gorbachev on several occasions - and got to hear him sing.Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius Production coordinator: Iona Hammond Editor: Hugh Levinson

Stories from Russia, Israel, Thailand, Greece and Somalia, where more than 90% of the country is still enduring extremely dry weather. Since October 2020, four successive rainy seasons have effectively failed. Now human lives are at risk, with more than one and a half million children in the country classified as acutely malnourished. Mercy Juma recently saw just how parched and how hungry the landscape has become.When a car bomb exploded in Moscow last weekend killing Daria Dugina, a Russian TV pundit, the conspiracy theories multiplied. Some suspected perhaps the real target was her father: Alexander Dugin, a prominent conservative philosopher. In the West, some called Mr Dugin “Putin’s brain” – or even “Putin’s Rasputin”. But that didn’t quite ring true, at least not to Gabriel Gatehouse, who has spent many years covering Russia and Ukraine, and who met Alexander Dugin in 2016.The war has also been vexing both Russian and Ukrainian relations with Israel. The Israeli government has spoken out publicly against the war and moved to shelter refugees, while also offering to act as a diplomatic go-between the two sides. Russia's justice ministry is currently seeking to liquidate the Russian branch of the non-profit Jewish Agency, which helps Jews around the world move to Israel. Tim Samuels recently met some of those trying to start again in a new land.The elephant is, famously, a symbol of Thailand – but it’s more than symbolic. There are thousands of real live elephants in the country. Around half are kept in captivity as working animals, used either to move earth or timber, or, in a modern twist, to take tourists for rides. As tourism reopens, some Karen communities near the Thai-Myanmar border are trying a new kind of venture, based on a more respectful relationship with the animals. Mark Stratton went to see how it's working out.Many might dream of making a holiday home idyll last longer – perhaps even for good. But staying all year round in a rural village in Europe can be a much more gruelling prospect, if there aren’t any local services, shops or even many neighbours to call on. Alba Arikha has been restoring and settling into an old house in a Greek hamlet not far from the town of Kardamyli, on the western coast of the Mani peninsula.