From Our Own Correspondent - 01/07/2010

What a time to be netting on The Euro! Estonia shrugs off talk of a currency crisis and gets set to join the common European currency. And how Africa's Black Star state is carrying the hopes of an entire continent at the World Cup. All across Europe there is real concern. The Euro currency is being dragged down by a great weight of debt. Greece has needed a vast cash bail-out, and perhaps other countries will to. Things are so serious that some doubt that the currency zone can hold together. But rather surprisingly..at this time of crisis...there's a country that actually wants to join the Euro club. Estonia will adopt the currency in January..and Dominic Hughes has been finding out how welcome the new money will be... Every few days Pakistan makes the worst kind of headlines. We hear of bombings in markets and mosques, and of battles with the Taleban. But in the background....much less widely reported....the daily lives of millions of Pakistanis are consumed by another problem....They have to cope with desperate poverty. And as Orla Guerin has been finding out, for some, the struggle is more than they can bear.... There was flag raising, and free concerts, and everything you might expect of a major national celebration. But as it marked its fifty years of independence, the Indian Ocean state of Madagascar was mired in problems. The military ousted the president last year. Today the island continues to endure deep political division, and desperately-needed international aid has been suspended... Luke Freeman reflected on the national mood during an evening stroll in the capital... In the Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico, some schools have found themselves facing a rather disturbing problem. They've been targeted by burglars. And the thieves haven't come looking for the usual things you find in a school -- computers, or a bit of cash perhaps. They've come to steal the childrens' identities... Laura Trevelyan explains why....in Puerto Rico....the contents of an ordinary school filing system can be worth big money... This was always going to be Africa's World Cup. It's the first time the tournament's been played there. But actually, African teams haven't done so well. South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon and others are all out. But Africans do have one last hope of glory. Ghana is still at the party. Now they just need to beat Uruguay to reach the semi-finals. And in the Ghanaian capital, Accra Will Ross has been finding himself immersed in the most extraordinary football fever....