From Our Own Correspondent - 03/07/2010

There's dinner by the lakeside for From Our Own Correspondent today as it examines the battle for the soul of the Anglican church in Africa. Also, a look at the prickly relationship between President Obama and the Israeli leader Mr Netanyahu ... and a despatch from Helmand province as Afghans start to wonder if the foreign forces in their country are beginning to lose patience. During the Vietnam war President Lyndon Johnson used to say that.as he put it.."Asian boys", rather than "American boys" ought to be doing the fighting. And the Americans are making a similar argument now about Afghanistan. They hope they can eventually hand the war over to Afghan troops, and bring home their own soldiers. This is the West's Afghan exit strategy. But it all very much depends on the calibre of those Afghan forces..their capacity to cope. And Caroline Wyatt has been assessing their strengths and weaknesses.. It's hard to overstate the importance to Israel of its relationship with America. And for many years the two countries have been very close. In war and peace, Israelis always like to think that the American super-power will stand behind them.... But since President Obama came to office, there have been real tensions. And so, Israelis will watch closely on Tuesday when their leader, Binyamin Netanyahu sits down with Mr Obama in Washington..Our Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen reflects on why.up to now.the two men have got on so badly. The Anglican Church is passing through a difficult period. For years it's been riven by disputes over issues like the ordination of homosexual Bishops, and same-sex marriages. So serious have been the rows that there's been the danger of deep and permanent division. Petroc Trelawney has been watching the tensions in the Anglican world playing themselves out in the depths of Africa, on the shores of Lake Malawi... The Iraqi people surely have a right to be bitterly disappointed. The isn't as much as violence as there used to be. But seven long, hard years after the Iraq war began the bombing, killing and kidnapping does continue. And chronic insecurity isn't all that Iraqis have to put up with. As Gabriel Gatehouse explains....all these years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.....the authorities still can't keep the lights on. For weeks now countless millions of us have been captivated by the World Cup. There've been moments of extraordinary passion and excitement, triumph and defeat. And the cameras can bring every second of the drama right into your living room...that is, as long as you've got a telly. Because there are still places that are largely beyond the reach of television.....places where they've seen nothing of the World Cup. But Annie Caulfield watched salvation come to one lucky village in Kenya....