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Pascale Harter introduces stories from correspondents in Turkey, China, Tunisia and Serbia.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won re-election as Turkey's president in a tight race, which highlighted the country's divided population. But in power, Mr Erdogan knows how to silence dissent. Our Chief International Correspondent Orla Guerin has learned to decipher the red lines the Turkish people are bound by.

In China, the freedom to speak openly and critically about the government has also long been restricted, but people still find ways to let loose – through music, comedy and culture. But a joke by a stand-up comedian, seen to be ridiculing the Chinese military, has prompted a backlash from officials. Our China Correspondent, Stephen McDonell, reveals how the crackdown has sent a chill through China’s live entertainment scene.

The United Nations calls the sea crossing from North Africa to Europe across the Mediterranean sea ‘the most dangerous in the world’, but migrants continue to make the journey. So what drives them? Bella Saltiel has been in the Tunisian port city of Sfax, and finds a mix of poverty and prejudice pushing people to risk their lives.

Serbia experienced two mass-shootings in two days last month, which left 17 people dead. In the wake of these attacks, protestors took to the streets calling for an end to gun violence and started to question what they see as a malignant culture of violence in Serbian popular culture and politics. Our Balkans correspondent, Guy Delauney, reflects on this moment of reckoning for Serbia.

Producer: Ellie House
Production coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

(Photo by NECATI SAVAS/ EPA-EFE/REX/ Shutterstock)