Tikrit: City of Palaces and Jihadis

As the Iraqi army steps up its campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State, BBC Monitoring's Mina Al-Lami talks us through the history and significance of the city - famous as the birthplace of both Saddam Hussein and the mediaeval ruler Saladin.

A Very Presidential Award
This week the world's most valuable individual award was presented to the outgoing President of Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba. The Mo Ibrahim prize was set up in 2007 and was meant to be awarded annually but only four leaders have been deemed worthy of it since then. Farai Sevenzo is a film maker and regular columnist for BBC Africa. He ponders why Africa's leaders need prizes?

Rio at 450
Rio de Janeiro has just celebrated its 450th birthday with parties, celebrations and music. A lot of that music was probably Bossa Nova, a style born in the city that took the world by storm in the 1950s and 60s. From BBC Brasil, Monica Vasconcelos - a singer herself - and Ricardo Acampora, born and bred in Rio - tell the story of the city through their favourite Bossa Nova songs.

Overheard on the Ladies' Carriage
To mark International Women's Day on Sunday, we're hearing tales of the strange and unique sisterhood encountered on all-women train carriages in three of the world's busiest cities. Shalu Yadav of BBC Hindi, Dina Demrdash of BBC Arabic and Pinta Karana of BBC Indonesia share stories from Delhi, Cairo and Jakarta.

Bengali Poetry
Bangladesh is a relatively new country, created in 1971, but it has a long tradition of poetry, written in the Bangla language. To find out about the place of poetry David Amanor is joined by two BBC Bangla journalists and poetry fans, Manoshi Barua and Pulak Gupta.