This is from our own correspondent. We make an addition for the BBC World Service as well,

but this is a download of the latest Radio 4 programme and here to introduce it, as ever, Kate Adi.

Today, the end of the world is nigh, but we've found a spot in France where you might just

be saved.

They're sprucing up the hotels, heads of state are flying in.

South Sudan prepares for Independence Day, but difficult times lie ahead.

We're asking about medieval warrior poets in a petrol station in Iceland,

and learning that Fine Brandy offers hope to impoverished villages in the harsh mountains of Armenia.

But first, the immediate prospect of Greece defaulting on its debts may have receded, but here's

another worry. The mighty United States might be about to run

out of cash. President Obama has warned that to avoid this nightmare becoming reality, Congress

needs to agree a plan to raise the amount the U.S. can borrow.

But disagreement between Democrats and Republicans has so far prevented this from happening.

Leslie Cohen, who's been following developments in Washington, says a default would be a serious matter, and not just for Americans.

There were two glittering parties in full swing on the open rooftop bar of one of Washington's trendiest boutique

hotels. Waitresses in tight black dresses stalked around topping up

champagne flutes for the expensively clad guests. I had come there for the view. The

warm evening was still light and at one sweep from left to right you could see the

Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and close at hand the White House itself.

It looked surprisingly small and toy-like, compared to the vast bulk of the building in the foreground,

a great stone stronghold with imposing granite

columns which houses the United States Treasury.

...