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Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from ´óÏó´«Ã½ correspondents in Pakistan, Russia, Korea and Belgium.

Pakistan has a new Prime Minister after cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was removed from power – not in elections, but by a parliamentary vote of no confidence. It marked the culmination of weeks of political drama in the country, and there could be further twists ahead with Khan vowing to resist. Secunder Kermani looks back at his tenure and what went wrong for the former national hero.

What do Russians really make of their country’s invasion of Ukraine? It is no easy matter to conduct opinion polls in Russia at the best of times - sampling views from St Petersburg to Siberia is a challenge whatever the rules of the game. Right now though, few Russian people feel entirely free to express their opinions anyway. What they do know – all too well – is that expressing dissent view could cost them their liberty; people who have publicly criticised the war have found themselves locked up. Jenny Hill is in Moscow, and has been keeping her ear to the ground.

In South Korea, women’s rights were a critical issue in the recent general election - that is, the issue of rolling them back. The country’s new president elect, the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol, has been labelled an anti-feminist, winning a tight race by targeting the concerns of young male voters, who were said to be anxious about the social progress made by women. Female ambition - and solidarity - will be needed to keep up the fight for equal rights. As she nears the end of her posting to Seoul, Laura Bicker reflects on the stories of fortitude, persistence and bravery she heard from Korean women of all ages.

Life has not been much fun for performers during the various phases of Covid lockdown. Musicians had a particularly hard time of it - certainly the ones used to playing in front of sweaty crowds keen on dancing. So when the Belgian rock band, Demisec, were offered their first gig in a year, they jumped at the chance. Their bassist, ´óÏó´«Ã½ cameraman Maarten Lernout, did not mind at all that they were being asked to play in a local prison...

Producer: Polly Hope
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman

(Image: A Pakistani resident reads a newspaper after Prime Minister Imran Khan, lost the vote of no-confidence in the parliament in Pakistan Credit: EPA/Shahzaib Akber)