From Our Own Correspondent - 28/08/2010

America sheds painful memories of Vietnam, and salutes its veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. How war in Yemen takes its toll on the nation's children. A shopping revolution in Algeria. And one extraordinary moment that may have brought together all the most famous figures in the history of the Wild West. An end is in sight to the US military's long and gruelling occupation of Iraq. Fifty-thousand troops will stay a while yet, but the Americans have at last begun to go home. Another weary infantry division pulled out just the other day. There'll be some Iraqis who watched them go with the deepest contempt -- remembering friends and relatives lost in the years of violence that followed the US invasion. But Mark Mardell says that back home, those returning troops will be treated like heroes.... There was a time....long ago....when what is now Yemen was thought of as a prosperous place. The Romans saw it as a fertile corner of Arabia that had thrived on trade with nearby Africa. But today, things are rather different. Yemen is poverty-stricken, unstable....and plagued by bandits, rebels and jihadi militants. Martin Bell has just been there, and he found the country's troubles reflected in the plight of its children.... On this programme we often carry stories of terrible suffering in the world's war zones. And often, the guns in the hands of the rebels...or the rampaging troops....have been supplied by private arms dealers. These are men who grow rich on the death and misery that they help to sow... And in the eyes of many, there are few more notorious than a man named Victor Bout. He vigorously denies any wrongdoing. But Alistair Leithead has been watching an extraordinary effort to bring him to justice... All around the world we've witnessed the rise and rise of the big supermarkets. They've conquered in many places.....often sweeping away smaller, specialised local shops. Algeria though has shown some resistance. The older habits of bazaar-style shopping have held out there....until now that is. Chloe Arnold believes she's seen the future in the form of a giant new store on the outskirts of Algiers....but not everyone's happy.... The American artist, Andy Warhol once famously said that we'd all be "famous for fifteen minutes". Sometimes of course, fame lasts very much longer. And for just a few people it endures for generations after they're dead and gone. Bad guys in particular seem to have a way of lingering in the popular imagination.....specially in the United States. And Kevin Conolly has been reflecting on the nature of fame....or at least notoriety....in America.