North Korea's recent nuclear test has received condemnation from around the world. But North Korean residents themselves make of it? Despite the difficulties of investigating inside a closed society like North Korea's, a Japanese magazine called 'Rimjingang' managed to get a glimpse behind the facade, helping a few brave people to film inside North Korea. BBC correspondent Roland Buerk went to Osaka to meet the man behind the project, Jiro Ishimaru.

The record label that brought Bob Marley, Roxy Music and U2 to the world's attention has turned 50 - and as part of the celebrations a month-long exhibition, Island Life, opened in London on May 22nd. With the help of archive interviews with Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell, and artists including Bryan Ferry, Jimmy Cliff and Bono, the BBC dug through the label's back catalog to tell the Island story.

Pakistanis are all too familiar with suicide bombings. Two years ago former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in one such attack. But recently the profile of a suicide bomber changed. Pakistan's authorities say Taliban is now recruiting children and teenagers as suicide bombers. Owen Bennett-Jones has been investigating for the BBC World Service.

Owen Bennett-JonesOwen Bennett-Jones is a regular presenter of the BBC World Service's Newshour program, and frequent visitor to Pakistan. On his latest visit, he says he's seen a real change: the military resolve to confront the Taliban has meant many Pakistanis are now willing to be more outspoken in their criticism of the Taliban. But the ferocity of the fighting, now taking place on several fronts, has led to between one and two million people fleeing their homes. Listen to Owen Bennett-Jones' report from North West Pakistan.

After twenty-six years of violence, the Sri Lankan government has announced that the supreme commander of the Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been killed. There's been no independent confirmation of Prabhakaran's death, but the news, sent to cell phones across Sri Lanka by the government, sparked celebrations on the streets of the capital Colombo. The BBC's Damian Grammaticas is there.

In November Barack Obama was elected the first black President of the United States and some have argued that this means there's no longer a glass ceiling for black people in America: that they, too, can now realize the American dream. But is that really true?

In a special series for the BBC's 'Outlook' program, Matthew Bannister traveled to three different states to investigate what it means to be black in the USA.

Every year the best of British radio is celebrated at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. This year a new local station is up against national broadcasters like the BBC. Electric Radio Brixton is nominated for four awards. That's even more impressive when you consider that it broadcasts from a prison in south London. The BBC's media correspondent Torin Douglas tunes in.

Alexander LukashenkoIn 2005, the U.S. listed Belarus as the only remaining "outpost of tyranny" in Europe. Alexander Lukashenko, President of this former Soviet republic, has been described by Western diplomats as Europe's last dictator. But is Belarus coming in from the cold? The European Union has lifted a travel ban, and a Belarussian delegation attended an EU 'Eastern Partnership' summit in Prague today. So is Belarus really changing? From Minsk, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports.

More than 700 million Indians are eligible to vote in the country's month long general election. It's the world's biggest exercise in democracy. To document the event, a BBC team of journalists have embarked on an 18-day train journey across the nation.

Guadalupe and Arturo are doctors working in the Mexico City area. Guadalupe works in cardiology and her husband works in the emergency services. They are writing a diary for BBC News online about their experiences with swine flu and how it affects the health community.