Ukraine’s corruption crackdown

Ukraine’s anti-corruption campaign is in the spotlight, with the recent dismissal or resignation of several top officials after a string of corruption scandals. Vitaliy Shevchenko of BBC Monitoring explains how the war with Russia has affected Ukraine’s long-running efforts to deal with corruption. Iraq and the Gulf Cup A recent sports story from Iraq provided a welcome change from conflict and political turmoil, when the country hosted football’s Arabian Gulf Cup for the first time since 1979 - and won the championship. Tragically, there was a crush of fans outside the stadium in Basra before the final, leaving two people dead and many injured. BBC Arabic's Haider Hadi, who’s based in Baghdad, shares his reflections. VDGs return to Indian-administered Kashmir A suspected militant attack in a village in Jammu on New Year's Day propelled Village Defence Groups back into the headlines. The original Village Defence Committees, set up in the 1990s, were disbanded in 2018 following illegal killings and accusations of other human rights abuses, but last August the Indian government announced the reintroduction of armed VDGs. BBC Urdu's Riyaz Masroor spoke to villagers in the latest attack, and the family of a victim from the previous era. Disinformation for sale in Nigeria A BBC investigation has discovered that political parties in Nigeria are secretly paying social media influencers to spread disinformation about their opponents ahead of general elections in February. Fauziyya Tukur of the BBC's disinformation unit in Abuja joins us to explain how this works. A visit to the ‘Little Manhattan’ of Caracas The economic crisis in Venezuela has left much of the population struggling to survive, and more than seven million people have left in search of better lives. But in one neighbourhood of the capital Caracas, there are casinos, restaurants and luxury stores. Norberto Paredes of BBC Mundo tells us about Las Mercedes, nicknamed “Little Manhattan”. (Photo: Ukrainian hryvnia in a yellow envelope. Credit: Victoria Kotlyarchuk/ Getty Images)