From Our Own Correspondent - 15/01/2011

The roots of the rage that's spilled onto the streets of North Africa. Southern Sudan's farmers talk of their dreams of peace in a new nation. The Communists of Laos begin a journey down the path to Capitalism. And we soak up the atmosphere on a holy day in an ancient centre of Jewish mysticism. Tunisia is in turmoil. Extreme economic and political tensions have exploded across the country, and there's been a number of deaths. Smoke and tear gas have hung thick in the air, and only when it finally clears will we see how much - or how little - Tunisia has changed. Neighbouring Algeria has also seen similar, although less intense, outbursts of violence recently. And in the capital, Algiers, Chloe Arnold has been reflecting on the causes of North Africa's troubles. This is a momentous time for the people of southern Sudan. Over the past week they've been voting in a referendum on whether they should break away and form a country of their own. It'll be about a fortnight before the results are declared. But all the signs are that the south will indeed chose to secede - and Africa will soon have a new nation in its midst. Will Ross spent time with villagers as the voting unfolded, and he describes the mood among the region's farmers. When an elderly man called Vang Pao died just recently in California, he was a long way from the land of his birth. He was a leader of the Hmong people of the South East Asian nation of Laos. Back in the 1960s and 70s his forces had formed part of a CIA-sponsored war in Laos. But when the Communists finally came to power, Vang Pao went into exile in the US. His death there has stirred memories of his story, and of his country's very painful past. But as Claudia Hammond has been finding out, in Laos today there is a real desire to move on, and gradual change is coming. In their War of Independence the Americans shed blood to rid themselves of Britain, and the sovereignty of King George the Third. Republicanism sits at the heart of the US political system. From the very start there could never be any room for kings and queens and all that go with them. And yet, as Laura Trevelyan has been finding out, elements of the idea of monarchy - the romance and the fantasy that surround it - continue to captivate some Americans. All over the world you find places that have marked themselves out as spiritual centres, towns and cities that have been the focus of centuries of belief and tradition. Mecca, Jerusalem, Lourdes in France, Varanasi on the Ganges - the list of famous names is long. But there are also many much less well-known sites that have a powerful resonance for followers of certain faiths. And Clive Lawton has been exploring one of them in Galilee.