麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces correspondents' and writers' stories from Cuba, Lebanon, China, Iran and the Iranian diaspora.

More than ten million people were left in the dark this week in Cuba, as the third major electricity blackout in a month hit the island. As the US trade embargo and limits on fuel imports bite harder, daily life is becoming more and more difficult to navigate. In Havana, Will Grant heard Cubans newly willing to criticise their own government in public.

Following the US-Israel bombardment of Iran, and Hezbollah's attacks on Israel in response, Lebanon was quickly drawn into yet another war. For many Lebanese, much of their lives has been spent amid conflict or its aftermath of war. Carine Torbey reports from Beirut.

Although it's often co-operated with Iran, China has so far kept its distance from the war - a strategy perhaps designed to leverage longer-term advantages over the United States on the world stage. But global uncertainty still brings its own challenges for Beijing, says Laura Bicker.

The spring equinox recently marked the Persian New Year festival of Nowruz - though this time it wasn't much of celebration for many people, with Iran at war. Leila Molana Allen reflects on how Iranians inside the country - and abroad, as part of the huge Iranian global diaspora - have been trying to draw strength from their most ancient traditions.

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

(Image: A woman holds a flashlight while walking with a man on a street during a blackout in Havana. Cuba Credit: Yamil LAGE / AFP via Getty Images)