Natasha Bakht and Lynda Collins are two friends from Canada who have formed an unprecedented family unit. They have been able to use their experience as professors of law to help become the first co-mothers to a little boy - even although they are not romantically involved.

Image: Lynda Collins and Natasha Bakht

Credit: Lynda Collins and Natasha Bakht

Mansour Omari spent nearly a year in a Syrian government prison in 2012. We hear his account of life in an underground cell and how, against the odds, he managed to smuggle out the names of his fellow cellmates to their loved ones - by writing them down, using chicken bones and blood on a piece of cloth.

Image: Mansour Omari's list of names

Credit: Mansour Omari

Last year a 27-year-old Canadian called Robert Gagno won the World Pinball Championship. Robert has autism so taking part in the sport has been a way of building an independent life.

Image: Robert Gagno

The extraordinary life of the woman some in Namibia call "Dr Miracle". Helena Ndume is an ophthalmologist - or eye doctor - who says she's saved the sight of 35,000 people. But given her early life, it's remarkable she survived to carry out her vital work. When Helena was born, Namibia was subject to South Africa's strict apartheid laws.

Image: Dr Helena Ndume

Credit: Brent Stirton

In Paris, there's an historic taxidermy shop that's been an inspiration for famous artists like Salvador Dali and featured in movies including Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. Just for the record, all the animals there died of old age or illness. Reporter Saskia Edwards met the owner of the shop Deyrolle, to find out more about this eccentric French man.

Image: Louis Albert de Broglie

Credit: Credit Fernando Laposse

In August 2011 businessman Shahbaz Taseer was on his way to work in Lahore when he was snatched by kidnappers. He spent nearly five years as a hostage, and video updates of his ordeal were regularly sent back to his wife Maheen. They spoke to Anu Anand about their ordeal.

Planes: In October 1972, Pedro Algorta was a 21-year-old student living in Montevideo when he boarded a Uruguayan Air Force plane bound for Chile. The fate of the 45 people on that small plane has inspired countless books, documentaries and a Hollywood film. More than 40 years later, Pedro decided to tell his story.

Trains: In August 2015, Californian airman Spencer Stone was enjoying the holiday of a lifetime. The 23-year-old was with a couple of friends travelling around Europe by train. One Friday evening they were making their way from Amsterdam to Paris. As the train was crossing the border into France a man was emerging from a toilet cubicle with an assault rifle and a backpack full of ammunition. What happened next turned Spencer into an international hero.

Getaway Cars: Georgia Durante was once one of the most photographed women in America. No one suspected that while she was working as a model in 1970s New York, she was also a getaway driver for the mafia.

Image: Car driving over the speed limit is flashed by speed camera.

Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Benedita da Silva grew up in poverty in a favela in Rio de Janeiro with her 15 brothers and sisters. She tells Matthew Bannister how she overcame this adversity to become the country's first black female Senator

Image: Benedita da Silva

Credit: JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/AFP/Getty Images

Three years ago Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport with 239 people on board. It was due to arrive in Beijing a few hours later, but contact with the plane was lost less than an hour after take-off and neither it, nor any of its passengers have been seen since. For K S Narendran - known as Naren - this was devastating news. His wife was on board flight MH370 and Naren has spent the last three years trying to get some answers about what happened to the plane. He's now a spokesperson for the families of the missing passengers.

Image: KS Narendran speaking at an event to remember the people lost on flight MH370

Credit: MM Kho

When it comes to Balkan music, one of the biggest names in the business is Goran Bregovic. He's sold more than 15 million albums, and performs all over the world. He's the leader of a 40-strong, energetic brass-band - called the Wedding and Funeral Band - playing a blend of Gypsy music, traditional Balkan rhythms and rock. Goran's story starts in Sarajevo - in what was then Yugoslavia, now Bosnia - where he grew up with a Serbian mother and Croatian father.

Image: Musician Goran Bregovic

Credit: Ivana Ivanovic/PIXSELL