From Our Own Correspondent - 24/07/2010

In this morning's From Our Own correspondent you can almost hear the clatter of the projector and almost smell the cigarette smoke as our man in the Afghan capital Kabul visits the cinema which survived the Taliban. China has just been accused....again....of grave human rights abuses in Tibet. The allegations relate to the crushing of protests two years ago. A report by the Human Rights Watch organisation says the security forces opened fire indiscriminately on demonstrators. It alleges there were arbitrary arrests and torture, and that abuses are still going on. China denies that its forces have done anything wrong... Very few foreign journalists are given permission to visit Tibet and investigate for themselves. But our correspondent, Damian Grammaticus was allowed a glimpse of life there on an officially sanctioned, escorted visit... The latest international gathering in Kabul had an impressive cast. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon were among dozens of leading figures from around the world. The meeting was meant to be a expression of confidence in the often-criticised Afghan government. And there was much determined talk of the way ahead. But on the dusty streets outside the conference chamber, Hugh Sykes found nagging fears and old problems eating away at morale.... The Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar is in crisis. A violent change of government last year installed as President a thirty-five year old, former disc-jockey. The international community disapproved of what it saw as a coup. It cut off aid on which the country was heavily dependent, and now Madagascar is under immense economic strain. And as Linda Pressly has been finding out, all this is having a serious impact on the island's extraordinary natural environment... Not so long ago, Ireland was thriving. It was enjoying it's first ever taste of real prosperity. But it turned out that the great boom had not much more substance than Irish mist....and it was burnt off in the heat of the global financial crisis. Now all the talk is of a grim new age of austerity. But on the wild and beautiful coast of County Clare, Trish Flanagan found a corner of old Ireland unchanged by the currents that have swept the rest of the country....