When musicians jam together -- a new study has revealed -- its not just their music that harmonizes, it's their brain waves, too. The Max Plank Institute in Berlin analyzed guitarists playing in pairs and found that their brains were in sync. What would that actually look like? Pascale Harter from the BBC's World Today program invited Dr Mick Grierson from London's Goldsmiths University to come in and listen to some music...

Despite being banned in the US and most other Western countries, the East African stimulant Khat is still sold legally in the UK. And now it's starting to cross cultural boundaries. As mild as a coffee? Or as dangerous as cocaine? The BBC's Anna Holligan met London students who've just discovered Khat, and Somali immigrants for whom its long been a part of daily life.

Binyam Mohamed was freed last month after almost seven years in detention. According to his account he was flown around the world on rendition flights and tortured in secret prisons in an ordeal which has left him feeling "dead" inside. He also described his sudden release from Guantánamo Bay just over two weeks ago, saying guards there told him to take a shower and within an hour he was on a plane back to the United Kingdom. Mohamed is now accusing the British authorities of complicity in his alleged torture in Pakistan and in Morocco. Mohamed spoke with the BBC's Jon Manel about his experiences while in detention.

In the second part of the interview Binyam Mohamed tells the BBC's Jon Manel why he went to Afghanistan in the first place and, first, how he's adjusting to his new freedom.

This week the Dalai Lama described life in Tibet as "hell on earth." His words came on the 50th anniversary of his escape into exile. At the moment, China has sealed off Tibet to foreigners. Many foreign reporters who have gone to neighboring provinces on the Tibetan plateau have been harassed and detained by the Chinese authorities. But the BBC's China Correspondent James Reynolds managed to get onto the Tibetan plateau without being arrested.

Dalai Lama

As finance ministers from African countries gather in Tanzania for an IMF summit, the BBC World Service has a week of special programs looking at the effect of the global economic crisis on Africa. Reporters are investigating the cut flower business in Zambia, tourism in Senegal, and the value of remittances sent home by Africans abroad - among other stories. And the BBC teams are blogging as they go.

A group of unmarried Indian men are making a last ditch attempt to find love. The 121 bachelors, aged 16 to 80, are building a road, illegally, and with little more than hand tools. They blame their single status on the inaccessible location of their mountain village. Prospective partners may also point to the Maoist militants who operate in the area. But the bachelors are passionate - and the road is already half finished.

British prime minister Gordon Brown won the race to become the first European leader to be invited to Barack Obama's White House. Among the main issues discussed at today's meeting was the world economic crisis, with both men agreeing on the need for better regulation of the global banking system. Michael Crick of BBC 2's 'Newsnight' program took a look at the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Britain.

During and after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a blogger, who called himself Salam Pax, became known around the world for his depictions of daily life in a city under siege. The escalating violence forced him into exile in 2007, but now he's back in Baghdad. In a series of first-person narratives on Outlook on the BBC World Service, Salam Pax describes life in the Iraqi capital.

In the second and final part of this series the BBC's Allan Little describes his own terrifying interaction in November 1993 with a group of mujahideen volunteers who were fighting on behalf of Bosnian Muslims during the war there.

Barack Obama is not the only new president finding creative ways to tackle the global downturn. President Nasheed of the Maldives has plans to put the presidential yacht on eBay and sell off half his fleet of motor cars, amongst other measures. He says he's slashed the presidential budget from $150 million to $4 million. But declining tourist income during the economic slowdown isn't the only reason. President Nasheed is a former political prisoner, and he's uncomfortable with the trappings of power collected over 30 years by his predecessor. The BBC's South Asia Editor, Chris Morris, took to the high seas to see some of those trappings - and to meet the new president himself. Listen above.