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Lyse Doucet

Lyse Doucet Chief international correspondent

Come here for my thoughts on places in the headlines, people who live behind or beyond front lines and who live ordinary lives in extraordinary ways

Lyse added analysis to:

Sharif in Pakistan government talks

After so many stories about stuffed, sick, even dead tigers, the metaphor was perhaps irresistible. "The tiger roars again" was the headline in Dawn newspaper in reference to the mascot of Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League.

Other words in Pakistan's new political lexicon were also inescapable. But the "tsunami" of support Imran Khan predicted would sweep him to power was, on the front page of the Urdu language Nawa-e-Waqt, used to describe Mr Sharif's surge.

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Lyse added analysis to:

Karachi unrest mars Pakistan poll

If this was a contest between defiance and danger, defiance won. Despite worrying threats of violence and intimidation, millions of Pakistanis simply wanted to be counted on this historic day.

It was humbling to see old men and women, unable to walk on their own, bent over, and bent on casting a ballot. It was encouraging to see so many young Pakistanis queuing for hours in blazing heat to vote for the first time. It wasn't a perfect election. No-one expected that.

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Lyse added analysis to:

Pakistan votes in landmark election

Elections take place amid tight security in Pakistan, in the first-ever transition of democratic power, but voting in Karachi is not "free and fair".

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Talking Pakistan politics in Cafe Bol

In a back street salon in Lahore, there's a small space for big ideas. And right now, there is no bigger idea than the future of Pakistan as it goes to the polls.

"We are hoping something new might come, not what was repeated for 66 years," comments 24-year-old Qadeer Zarkoon, as he and a group of students settle in for another an evening of lively discussion at Cafe Bol.

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On the campaign trail in Pakistan

"I've said no rose petals because people are suffering," Nawaz Sharif explains.

But as we step out of his four-wheel drive vehicle, the veteran campaigner is showered with crimson petals by an enthusiastic crowd.

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How will Imran Khan's fall affect Pakistan's election?

In an election called the most unpredictable in Pakistan's history, the campaign took a turn no-one expected.

Imran Khan, a rising political star, took a fall.

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Pakistan faces 'bloodiest' election

Pakistan's elections are being called the bloodiest ever. But that's not the only reason why they stand apart.

There's another message on the back of black T-shirted elite anti-terrorism police - NO FEAR, in bold white capital letters.

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Pakistan's changing political landscape

Pakistan can be an unpredictable place. But in a chequered history that has kept lurching from crises to coups, one event has kept coming back, with reassuring certainty - elections.

I've covered almost every one of them since 1988 when martial law abruptly ended and a people who fought for democracy directed their energies and enthusiasm towards the battle for ballots.

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Commonwealth faces 'real test' on Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's punishing 26-year civil war ended in May 2009, but the story of the last six months of a brutal conflict will not go away.

Now alleged war crimes are being pushed onto the agenda of the Commonwealth.

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Netanyahu worries over 'imploding' region

In an exclusive BBC interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told me "Israel reserved the right to act" to prevent advanced weaponry from falling into the hands of Islamist groups in Syria, and to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

A "right to defend itself, by itself" is invoked a lot by Israel these days.

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About Lyse

Lyse has been reporting for the BBC for nearly 30 years, with posts in Abidjan, Kabul, Islamabad, Tehran, Amman and Jerusalem. In 1999 she joined the BBC's team of presenters but most of her time is spent going back to regions where she lived, and also discovering new ones too.

Lyse often presents from the field for BBC World News, and the BBC World Service's flagship Newshour programme, as well as the News Channel. She works as a correspondent too, reporting across the BBC's global and domestic TV and radio outlets. She also writes for BBC online and posts - judiciously! - on Twitter and Facebook.

Lyse feels at home in many places but is still Canadian. She was educated in Canada, at Queen's University, and the University of Toronto, and has been awarded several honorary doctorates as well as major journalism awards.

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