麻豆约拍

Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from Ukraine, South Africa, Portugal and Laos.

Russian drone and missile strikes are still wreaking havoc on Ukrainian cities - even as their people try to keep their morale up and their streets tidy. Sarah Rainsford describes what it's like to live amid the ever-present risk of attack.

As South Africa gets ready for a general election at the end of May, voters are worried about inflation, violent crime, unemployment - and immigration. Jenny Hill travelled to the northern town of Musina to see how migrants from Zimbabwe are able to simply walk across the Limpopo River in search of a better life - and heard how often they are targeted for robbery and assault.

Next week Portugal marks 50 years since its return to democracy - the so-called 'Carnation Revolution', which toppled the Salazar dictatorship that kept the country isolated, controlled and silenced for decades. Simon Busch met up with three men who once rebelled against the old regime to talk about Portugal's politics today.

And Nick Marsh gets a seat on the 8:08 express from Laos's capital, Vientiane, to the Chinese city of Kunming - a high-speed train that models China's plans for trade and transport across southeast Asia. He hops off in Boten - a rackety town under constant construction, but not yet a real showcase for regional development.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-Ordinator: Katie Morrison

(Image:A local woman in her damaged flat at the site of shelling near residential buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine.Photo by SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (14409818m)