Pakistan's diplomatic push

Pascale Harter introduces stories from Pakistan, the Iran-Turkey border, Turkana county in northwestern Kenya and the Gran Chaco wilderness in Paraguay.

Why was Pakistan chosen as the host of peace talks between the US and Iran? It's a question some in Islamabad have been asking themselves, as the city put up barricades as well as billboards to prepare for another round of negotiations. Despite the inconvenience to some in the capital, Caroline Davies finds, the role of international mediator has fired up a sense of national pride.

When the war in Iran began, there was a sense of jubilation among some Iranians, who had long dreamed of their government being overthrown. Now, after more than five weeks of US and Israeli bombing, that prospect seems far more distant, and the mood is changing. BBC Persian's Omid Montazeri has been on the Turkey-Iran border, where he has found attitudes towards the war are shifting.

In northern Kenya, it's rainy season - but farmers, herders and their families are suffering the effects of a run of poor rains. A new report estimates around 400,000 people are experiencing acute levels of hunger, and many communities have already drawn deep on their reserves of food and ingenuity. Sammy Awami reports from Turkana county, one of the worst affected areas.

And Sara Wheeler visits a remote, lonely cemetery honouring the dead of one of South America's least-known wars - the conflict in the Gran Chaco, where Bolivia fought Paraguay in the 1930s over the oil rights in a vast wilderness.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

(Image: Security personnel stand guard at a security checkpost along a road temporarily closed in the Red Zone area in Islamabad Credit: Aamir QURESHI / AFP via Getty Images)