A Sorry Century
Television footage from Idlib in northern Syria continues to provide distressing evidence of civilian suffering. But the world's leading nations are unwilling or unable to intercede. Jeremy Bowen recalls his visits to the region in former, peaceful times but sees no end to the current violence. The protesters have been on the streets of Hong Kong for several months, their fury with their government undiminished. But what are they saying in Beijing, the real centre of power? Celia Hatton says they're preparing death by a thousand cuts. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Somalia since the outbreak of civil war in the early 1990s. But a few brave souls have been going back to try and start the rebuilding process. Andrew Harding made friends with one of them several years ago, a man who became the mayor of Mogadishu. In Nicaragua it's now 40 years since the Sandinista movement overthrew a hated dictatorship. The man in charge then, Daniel Ortega, is still in charge now. But the movement is now accused of adopting the same autocratic methods of the government it replaced. Will Grant has been talking to opposition figures recently released from prison. In St Petersburg there's a row over the literary legacy of one of the city's best-known writers, Vladimir Nabokov. Chloe Arnold has been meeting those on each side of the argument