“The story of the UN's political engagement in Somalia has been one of persistence, partnership and adaptation,” Raisedon Zenenga, the UN Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Somalia has said, as three decades of UN political missions in the Horn of Africa country comes to an end on 31 October.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is building factories and hospitals, rolling out smartphones and mobile banking, and passing new laws at an unprecedented rate. But its people are more cut off from the outside world than at any point in the country’s history.

As the sun sets over Samarkand’s majestic Registan, its last rays glint across the turquoise mosaics. Dusk settles on the ancient square where great trade routes have crossed for centuries.