From Our Own Correspondent - 13/11/2010

A dark portrait of millions of Russian lives lost in alcohol and despair. Reflections on the death of a deeply troubled German hero. We explore the divisions that may be just about to split Sudan in half. And we know that the super spy, James Bond didn't like the Cold War Russians....but what did he make of the Americans...? It's nearly twenty years since the Soviet Union collapsed, and Russia emerged as an independent country again. There was huge interest in what sort of place it would turn out to be. How much of its authoritarian past would it carry into its future? How much would it change..? Would it become more free and easy...? And perhaps now -- two decades on -- it's time to start drawing some conclusions. That's what Rupert Wingfield-Hayes has been doing as he looks back on his spell as our Moscow correspondent.... Sometimes a single death can shock an entire nation. And that's what happened in Germany about this time last year... This football-loving country was stunned by the news that its national goalkeeper, Robert Enke had killed himself. Talented, successful and famous, he had seemed to have the world at his feet. But as Eleanor Oldroyd explains, beneath the surface there was quite a different man.... The people of Sudan are being asked to make a huge decision. They'll vote in January on whether their country ...which is Africa's largest nation....should stay united, or split and become two separate states. The referendum is part of a deal that ended a long civil war between the north and the south. With the nation's moment of destiny creeping closer, Will Ross has been gauging the mood in the capital... China and Italy have given us two very different types of cuisine. It would be silly to try say which has done best -- the land of the noodle, or the kingdom of pasta. With food it's all..literally..a matter of taste. And for someone like me, it's possible to love both styles of cooking. But what might a real aficionado...a gourmet steeped in the cuisine of southern China..make of the restaurants of northern Italy? Our correspondent, Fuschia Dunlop has just had a chance to find out... The British have a certain fascination with America ....Sometimes they're admiring, and sometimes they're rather horrified. What starts in politics and culture over there often has a huge impact over here. So watching and wondering about the American colossus is almost a British national pastime. And as Kevin Connolly points out, among the many observers despatched to spy on American ways, was Britain's most famous secret agent....