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Thousands of people are bitten every year in Nigeria by venomous snakes - and hundreds die. Colin Freeman examines the risk factors - and meets a snake-catcher with some enviable skills.

Pascale Harter introduces this and other global stories, with wit, analysis and reportage from reporters and writers around the world.

An area of Belgium is burning this summer as unprecedented swathes of Siberia have been engulfed in seasonal forest fires. Steve Rosenberg says these are an annual event in Russia, but they've never spread so far before - and while the taiga goes up in smoke, there's also smouldering political discontent in the cities.

Yogita Limaye recently entered the disputed territory of Indian-administered Kashmir to report on local reactions to the change in its legal status. She reveals the opinions Kashmiris express about the government in New Delhi - and about Indian news media - amid the raised tensions and the multiplying checkpoints in Srinagar.

And while the rest of the world often stereotypes New Zealand as a laid-back, mannerly kind of country, Christine Finn was recently surprised by the aggression, as well as the vigour, of its campaign to eradicate foreign species of animal predators. From feral cats to stoats, starlings to rooks, the "Predator 2050" plan hopes to wipe out the invaders threatening native wildlife. For some, it even goes as far as rooting out alien plant species - like wisteria!

Photo: A carpet viper, one of Africa's most aggressive and dangerous venomous snakes, pictured in Kenya, February 2019. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images)