Last week's catastrophic explosion in Beirut devastated the port area and left at least 170 dead, thousands injured, and many more homeless. It's a painful time for our journalists who come from Beirut - in both BBC Arabic and BBC Monitoring. We hear the reflections of Nahed Najjar, Nisrine Hatoum, Hesham Shawish, Nidale Abou Mrad and Julien Hajj.

The dream of Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia was a vast country which included the modern nations of Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela and Colombia. It was born in 1819, the dream of Simon Bolivar, hero of the revolutionary wars that liberated Spanish America. Ana Maria Roura has been researching the history and legacy of Gran Colombia for BBC Mundo.