Lebanon was once the embodiment of glamour: its capital, Beirut, was nicknamed the “Paris of the Middle East” and enjoyed as an international playground. Today those glory years seem long gone. A political crisis has left the country without a properly functioning government – and its economy has imploded. The currency has lost more than 90% of its value and poverty has skyrocketed. There are shortages of fuel, water and food - and as Leila Molana-Allen explains, even essential medicines are getting harder and harder to find:
It’s a scenario found in so many places around the world: the war is over, no more shots are being fired, no bombs dropped, and yet people are still dying. And why? Because of all the landmines which have been laid during the conflict – which don’t recognise ceasefires or treaties, and can still maim or kill anyone who treads on one. During last year’s fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Nagorno Karabakh region, thousands of mines were buried in its hillsides. Efforts to defuse and remove them have already begun – but it’s slow, painstaking, and above all, terribly dangerous work. Colin Freeman has been hearing from some of the men trying to clear up the mess.
As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America approaches, it’s a particularly difficult time for those who lost friends and family. Almost three thousand people were killed when Al Qaeda hijackers flew planes into the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. One of the dead was David Berry, who was killed in the south tower of the World Trade Center. He was 43 years old and had young children. His widow, Paula Grant Berry, has been talking to Laura Trevelyan.
Travelling through Italy you're bound to run into Mazzini, Garibaldi and Cavour – the key historic figures in the country's unification. From the Alps to Sicily, there are endless roads, piazzas and monuments named in their honour. But new roads call for new ideas - and the choices made about who to commemorate can be surprising. In Ozzano dell'Emilia – a village of 14,000 people near the northern city of Bologna - they've decided to dedicated a new road to a rather unexpected – and flamboyant – personality. Dany Mitzman's been to walk the freshly-rolled tarmac of Via Freddy Mercury.
They say that in big cities like London or New York you’re never more than a few metres away from a rat. Hugh Schofield now has proof positive that it’s true - and has an alarming tale of a most unwelcome visitor to his home in the French capital.
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