Outlook

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Unwanted blood donations
In many countries, there are regular public appeals for blood donations - for blood transfusions in hospital, for example. But when you have responded to such appeals, like biology student Teadrous Aklom has in Israel, what you don't want to find out is that your blood was taken - but then automatically discarded. A recent Israeli TV report revealing that Israel's blood donation service was discarding blood donated by people, who, like Teadrous, had come from Ethiopia, has led to accusations of systematic racism; it also prompted a protest by about two hundred Ethiopian Jews, which ended with several people being injured in clashes with the police. Teadrous Aklom tells Frederick Dove more about his donations of blood.

Cattle rustling
If you like watching international marathon races, you will have become familiar with the name of top Kenyan runner, Tegla Loroupe. But there has been more to Tegla than travelling the world, winning international honours for her country. Back home, she has been involved in the fight against cattle thieves. In certain parts of Kenya, armed cattle raids have led to people having to flee their homes or even being killed. As the BBC's Wairimu Gitahi now reports, Tegla Loroupe has been involved in setting up an athletics foundation to offer youngsters in north-western Kenya an alternative to life as a rustler.

Amitabh Bachchan
In a BBC online poll of the world's most popular movie stars a few years ago, Amitabh Bachchan came top of the list as "Superstar of the Millennium", eclipsing other movie greats like Charlie Chaplin. Since getting his big break in the Bollywood film industry in the Indian city of Mumbai in the seventies, Amitabh has been in over a hundred films, starring in many as the ravishing young action hero. Today he's in his mid-sixties, a grandfather, and again one of Bollywood's busiest stars. He has been in Britain to publicise next year's International Indian Film Academy Awards, to be held in Yorkshire, in northern England.

Living without a stomach
Lisa and Ruth Bendle have just become the first siblings in Britain to have their stomachs removed on the same day. Like several other members of their family including their father, they were recently diagnosed with hereditary stomach cancer. Since their operation 9 weeks ago, they have only been able to eat small amounts of food and have lost 14 kilos, but they remain optimistic about the future. We find out more about Lisa and Ruth's story and also hear how their mother Lynn has helped them through the ordeal.

Accused of murder but starring in a film about her life
Seema Parihar, a notorious Indian bandit is awaiting trial on murder and kidnap charges but has been let out on bail to film "Wounded" a film in which she plays herself set to be released before the end of the year. The film director Krishna Mishra paid her bail which was granted by the Allahabad High Court back in May. We speak to Seema Parihar and to Mr. Mishra but also hear from The President of The Indian Bar Association, R.K.Jain, to find out how it was legally possible for Seema to star in the film whist accused of such crimes.

Woman in a man's world
On a daily basis customers who come to a famous motorbike dealership in Egypt are surprised that the person controlling the business is a woman. Ingy Ghattas runs the Egyptian dealership for American owned Harley Davidson. She tells Eva Dadrian how she deals with scepticism from her male clients and how her husband is glad she does this job.

The ordeal of being treated like a caged animal
Peter Shaw spent over four months chained by the neck, unable to stand, in a black hole with no way of washing whilst a $2 million ransom was placed on his head. He was kidnapped in Georgia, where he'd worked for six years, after leaving his Welsh home to help set up a bank serving the agricultural sector. He tells Heather Payton how he coped with his ordeal.

Searching for The World's Best Young Band
BBC World Service is running a competition called The Next Big Thing. We want to find top musical talent from across the globe. We've had 1100 entries and now we're down to the shortlist of the best 20 acts. Amongst that list is singer and rapper Nick Giannakis from Malawi, today he gives us an insight into the role music has played in his life. If you want to view the shortlist, make your comments and vote, go to the Next Big Thing website:

bbc.co.uk/worldservice/thenextbigthing/

Security threats to Afghan girls' schools
Girl pupils at many Afghan schools are now being searched for bombs as they enter the premises because the fear of suicide bombings. Girls' schools are thought to be at particular risk, and there are regular reports of them receiving threats. Outlook hears from the deputy head and pupils at the Malika Soraya Girls' School in Kabul, as well as Zarghuna Kargar, presenter of the Afghan Woman's Hour radio programme, produced by the BBC.

Cave Life
How would you fancy spending three years of your life in a cave, with no light and no human contact? Italian chrono-biologist Maurizio Montalbini is doing just that, in order to study the effects on the human body of having no time references. He's been in a cave in eastern Italy for a month so far. Under his self-imposed rules, he's not allowed any voice contact with anyone, although he does communicate with his team of researchers via a specially designed internal email and a webcam. Outlook's Emma Wallis has been to the cave to find out more.

Iranian Blogger
Omid Memarian is an Iranian journalist who began writing a blog on the internet because there were so many things he was unable to write in his newspaper because of censorship. In 2004, he and several other bloggers were arrested, put in solitary confinement and tortured. After his release, Omid started another blog, and he feels that the strong response he got from readers then probably kept him out of jail. He's now been given an award by Human Rights Watch. Omid, now in exile in the United States, tells Outlook about his blog, and the penalty he had to pay for it.

The Challenges of 24-hour darkness
An Outlook report earlier this week on the 24-hour winter darkness being endured by people on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen prompted Outlook listener Soba Adefajo to write in with some questions about the practicalities of life in the dark. He puts them in person to Losse Hansen, who featured in the original report along with other members of his family.

Indian wedding supremo
One of the most elaborate weddings in India in modern times took place in 2004 - the double wedding of the sons of a tycoon, which went on for two weeks and had eleven thousand guests. It made the name of the woman who planned it for the family, Swati Pandya Sood, who now has a team of more than forty people to help her arrange such events. For Outlook, Nivedita Pathak has been to see her in action.

Molly / Misbah
Molly Campbell is twelve years old and is known by two different names. She is the subject of an intercontinental, cross-cultural legal battle being fought by her parents, who are separated. In Scotland, where her mother Louise comes from, this girl is known as Molly Campbell. Her father Sajad lives in Pakistan, and there she's called Misbah Rana. In Scotland, Molly's legally-recognised guardian is her mother. But in August, Molly travelled from Scotland to Pakistan, where she's now living with her father, who insists she's doing so voluntarily, and who's been granted interim custody. Later this week, the custody battle is scheduled to resume before a court in Lahore. We hear from Molly/Misbah herself and also from the BBC's Dan Isaacs who has been following the custody case in court.

Japanese Blacksmith
Junko is an artist, who, after leaving art college in Japan, and after discovering a love for metal sculptures, wanted to learn more about traditional techniques used by British blacksmiths. She moved to the UK and has now teamed up with blacksmith Chris Stokes. Together, they've been working on an installation for the English town of Ellesmere. Junko told reporter Maggie Ayre about the year she spent welding to save up for her trip to Britain.

Jeremy Bowen
He'd spent more than ten years travelling around the world, often running towards the sound of gunfire, covering many stories of war and conflict as a foreign correspondent. Then, one day six years ago he decided he'd had enough of being in the firing line. Jeremy Bowen is the BBC's Middle East Editor; he's just published a memoir examining the changing role of the war reporter and his own desire to become one. The book's entitled "War Stories", and in it, he talks about what happened on that day six years ago - when his friend was killed on a hillside in Lebanon.

Men and women speaking different languages
It's sometimes said that men and women - though belonging to the same species - sometimes appear to speak a different language. This is normally said as a joke - but, apparently, in an area of south-eastern Nigeria, it's actually true. Men and women there really do speak different languages. Patrick Onah is one of Outlook's listeners in south-eastern Nigeria and he's been out and about with a tape recorder to find out more.