From Our Own Correspondent - 07/10/2010

How bandits and insurgents are gradually tightening their hold on the roads of Afghanistan. A growing army of pensioners poses increasing problems for China. Subtle tensions beneath the surface in the new, united Germany. And remembering much better days among the fishermen of the Irish Sea. It's now nine years since the West launched its war in Afghanistan. And today the fighting often seems as fierce as ever. The number of dead soldiers, guerrillas and civilians continues to rise relentlessly. So is there any scope for optimism? Or is Afghanistan destined for even worse to come...? Ian Pannel is as well placed as anyone to answer those questions. He's been based in Kabul for the past two years, and as his assignment there draws to a close he's been reflecting on the changes he's seen... All over the world we're tending to live longer than we used to. Better diets and health care are improving life spans all the time. It's one of the great triumphs of modern civilisation. But the greying of the population is also bringing huge challenges in many places. And Martin Patience says China is starting to feel the strain.... In these autumn days back in 1989 extraordinary tensions were building in East Germany. Soon they would sweep away the Berlin Wall. And with it went the GDR...the German Democratic Republic...as East Germany was officially known. It was quickly joined with the West. And today Germany is very firmly politically and economically united. But as Farhana Dawood has been finding out, in the minds of some in the East, a sense of the old division remains... South Africa's Apartheid government was constantly confronted by a troublesome priest. Desmond Tutu used to tell the regime that its racism defied the will of God. For that reason, he said, it could never succeed... And since the collapse of Apartheid Archbishop Tutu's continued to speak his mind powerfully on the world's problems. But from today, which marks his 79th birthday, he plans to take more of a back seat. He's scaling back his public appearances. And Allan Little looks back now on the Archbishop's remarkable career.... Not so long ago there were thriving fishing communities all round Britain's coast. Harbours were crowded with working boats, and their crews made a hard, dangerous living at sea. But there were too many fishermen, and eventually there weren't enough fish. Nowadays the industry is a shadow of what it once was. But as Christine Finn explains, at its height the great hunt for herring shaped the lives of countless families..including her own.