The AfD's vision of Germany

Pascale Harter introduces correspondents' stories from Germany, India, China and Bulgaria.

Regional governments hold real power in Germany - including control of local education and arts policy. As the state of Saxony-Anhalt gets ready to vote on the 6th of September, Jessica Parker has been following the campaign of the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD). The party's riding high in opinion polls and has ambitions plans to reform the culture and education systems - with a focus on making them "more patriotic".

The education activists of India's "Cockroach Janata Party" began their mass protests over medical-school entry exams and officials' insulting remarks about jobless youth. But now the movement's shifting its focus to the parlous state of many government-run primary schools - especially in rural areas. Many are poorly staffed and in a dilapidated condition. Geeta Pandey explores the problems facing their pupils, teachers and school heads.

The scale of China's robot revolution is staggering - with over two million robots at work in the country's factories, and China manufacturing more than half of the rest of the world's industrial robots as well. But it's not just the size of the industry that's striking - it's the speed of innovation. Before long, robots may not just take over from the human workforce on production lines, but be able to build replicas of themselves. Laura Bicker reports from Hangzhou, Beijing and Chengdu on the technological leaps being taken.

For decades, the Bulgarian industrial port of Burgas languished on the sidelines - overshadowed by rival cities like Sofia or Varna, regularly polluted by its oil refinery, and often snubbed by visitors from the capital. It felt like a perennial ugly duckling - but the place still had a spirit all its own. And now it's finally having its own moment in the sun after being selected to host the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2027. Krassi Ivanova Twigg explains why it means so much for her beloved hometown.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Justine Lang
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

(Image: T-shirts showing Ulrich Siegmund, lead candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), on sale at an AfD campaign rally on August 24, 2026 in Naumburg, Germany. Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)