Panic and Unease in Beirut

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Kate Adie introduces dispatches from Lebanon, Poland, The Gambia, Panama and Cyprus. Lebanon is reeling from this week’s wave of exploding pager attacks, which killed more than 35 people, and injured hundreds more. Edmund Bower was in capital as the first news of the explosions began to spread, and reveals how the attacks has compounded the unease that already permeates Beiruti society. Flooding has devastated parts of Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Austria this week leaving more than 20 people dead. Sarah Rainsford reports from Poland on the country's worst flooding in two decades. Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a human rights abuse by the UN, but a recent bill in The Gambia sought to overturn a ban on the practice. Reporting with The Pulitzer Center, Sira Thierij visited a community where activists were working hard to change the minds of locals hanging on to long-held cultural beliefs. Panama’s weather is hot, sticky and tropical – and it's causing a stink among the country's unattended rubbish piles. It was a particular problem for prisoners and prison guards at a local jail - until one inmate came up with an innovative solution. Jane Chambers went to find out more. And it's 50 years since the war which divided Cyprus and the subsequent negotiations to reunify the island have ended in stalemate. Meanwhile the landscape of this popular holiday island is being remade by developers – though Maria Margaronis met one woman with a different vision for its future. Series producer: Serena Tarling Production coordinators: Sophie Hill & Katie Morrison Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith