Hi, this is Alan Johnston. We make two editions of From Our Own Correspondent.

If you'd like to hear the version I introduce on the BBC World Service,

you can find it by going to the BBC I player. But here's the one broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

It's presented by Kate Adi.

Today a shopping trip in Tripoli, the day after history was made. A mournful hooter on Main Street as small town America struggles through economic downturn.

We meet a woman in Congo who's helped more than 6,000 victims of rape. And it may have

been a disappointing summer here, but in Death Valley, California, it's been a real scorcher.

Libya's National Transitional Council says it's

national transitional council says most of the country is now secure and safe and it's

just a matter of time before Colonel Gaddafi is apprehended or killed. The Council's leader must of

Adeljalil says the opposition leadership will move from its present seat in the

city of Benghazi to the capital Tripoli next week. There the opposition will formally

declare itself the new government of Libya. It's thought however there are some

divisions over the kind of administration the country should have. Some say Gaddafi's supporters should

play a role, others are demanding a completely fresh start. While the debate

over the future shape of the country continues inside Libya and further afield, there's been an opportunity

for our man in Tripoli, Kevin Connolly, to do a little shopping.

The young shop assistant sucked in his cheeks thoughtfully, as though he hoped the gesture might somehow

make me thinner. This is a very slimming pattern, he said reassuringly, patting the sleeve of the

shirt I was struggling to fit into. I pointed out that any minor optical

illusions that vertical stripes produce are cancelled out if the threads holding the

buttons are stretched tighter than harpstrings. I had not of course meant to go

...