From Our Own Correspondent Folgen

Is China's economic muscle crushing the heart out of blue-collar America? Justin Rowlatt's been to Ohio to find out. But while America's industrial heartland's feeling the pinch, Mike Wendling finds that, in the social networking industry, Americans lead the field; Mary Harper tells us about the city in the Horn of Africa which has risen from the ruins of war; the story of an extraordinary Englishman who's immersed himself in Afghan tribal life is told by Nadene Ghouri; while Christian Parkinson makes a very important purchase in South Africa -- with a herd of cows!

As the political crisis in Lebanon deepens, Jeremy Bowen explores the country's tangled politics and finds out why intrigue surrounding the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri five years ago is driving events today. Adam Mynott was in Tunisia as President Ben Ali surrendered power. He assesses the mood on the streets and reflects on the difficulty of reporting a revolution. In Vietnam, Alastair Leithead finds a booming economy and an appetite for western goods challenging the country's communist traditions. Christian Fraser visits the school outside Paris that has opened in the former barracks of the Hussars; with fencing and horse-riding on the curriculum, can a traditional education offer something new to France's frustrated teens? And in Moscow, Steve Rosenberg hears a history of modern Russia from a cleaning lady who has lived through it all.

Violence on the streets of north Africa -- Chloe Arnold in Algeria says it's not only been a problem for the authorities in Tunisia. Southern Sudan's farmers have been talking to Will Ross about their dreams of peace in a new nation; the Communists of Laos begin a journey down the path to capitalism - Claudia Hammond had time to give an elephant a wash and brush up as she learned more; why some Americans are captivated by the British royal family -- Laura Trevelyan travelled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in search of an answer; and Clive Lawton was soaking up the atmosphere on a holy day in an ancient centre of Jewish mysticism.