The Documentary

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Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Time in a neonatal unit can be a stressful and unpredictable time. We meet the people who are creating equipment and aids to create a kinder experience for both parents and babies alike to give them a better start in life. People like the founder of the Danish Octo Project, which kickstarted a movement across the world crocheting tiny Octopus toys to emulate the umbilical cord for premature babies, the engineer who kept her baby alive when the neonatal unit housing her son lost power in a devastating storm, leading to a remarkable invention. Finally, the foundation bringing purple butterflies to NICUs across the UK to help identify surviving children of multiple births.

Journalist Becky Green, whose twin boys were born eight weeks early, explores the love and care she received with her babies in two neonatal units. Bobby and Jesse were both devastatingly poorly, and only Bobby came home.

Producer:: Ailsa Rochester

Executive producer: Jo Meek

Sound: Rob Green

An Audio Always production for BBC World Service

The people finding solutions to improve the odds for premature babies

For every 10 babies born across the world, one will be preterm. A Better Start explores the people creating the solutions to improve the odds for premature babies.

For every 10 babies born across the world 1 will be preterm, and the fate of these tiny babies is often very uncertain. They are kept alive by science, care, and luck.

Time in a neonatal unit can be a stressful and unpredictable time. In A Better Start, we meet the people who are creating equipment and aids to create a kinder experience for both parents and babies alike to give them a better start in life. We'll meet the founder of the Danish Octo Project which kickstarted a movement across the world crocheting tiny Octopus toys to emulate the umbilical cord for premature babies, the engineer who kept her baby alive when the neonatal unit housing her son lost power in a devastating storm, leading to a remarkable invention. Finally, the foundation bringing purple butterflies to NICUs across the UK to help identify surviving children of multiple births.

Presenting the programme is journalist Becky Green, who's twin boys were born eight weeks early - Bobby and Jesse were both devastatingly poorly, and only Bobby came home. Becky explores the love and care she received with her babies in two neonatal units.

A Better Start is an Audio Always production, produced by Ailsa Rochester, executive producer is Jo Meek and sound design from Rob Green.

A Better Start explores the solutions to improve the odds for premature babies.

A Smoke Trail production for BBC World Service

(Photo: A bumblebee feeding on lavender. Credit: BBC)

Why are the world's bee populations declining? Simon Mitambo searches for answers

Why are bees dying? An elder from the 'Land of Bees' seeks answers, wherever it leads.

An oral history of Gaza, from the creation of the Strip in 1948 to the eve of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, told through the experiences of ordinary people - a teacher, a doctor, a smuggler, a bird-watcher, a musician and others. Tim Whewell finds out how Gazans survived exile, invasions, wars and blockade, how hopes for peace rose and fell, how they lived, worked and died over 80 years - under Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Measure 110 decriminalised possession of all illicit substances, including Heroin, Methamphetamine and Oxycodone. The campaigners accurately predicted that the new law would ease tensions around racial disparities within policing; but the new law coincided with the spread of the deadly and addictive drug Fentanyl and a tidal wave of homelessness.

Fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and is now the drug of choice for nearly all heroin users. It's also more deadly - activists and the police now regularly carry the opioid-blocking drug Narcan to treat people overdosing on the streets. Homelessness also continues to rise as the cheap and available fentanyl spreads -creating an epidemic on two fronts.

In A Reckoning with Drugs in Oregon, local journalist Winston Ross explores the complex issues behind Portland's fentanyl crisis, speaking across the political divide and to many of those in the eye of the storm.

How has Oregon's radical drug decriminalisation policy changed lives?

Football is an obsession for many Ghanaians and a route to fame and fortune for a talented few – and it can be a gruelling journey for the children dreaming of stardom in the world's top leagues.

Against this backdrop, the country's Right to Dream football academy aims to provide a safe passage to international game. Unusually, the school owns a number of top-tier clubs in Denmark, Egypt and the USA, which can act as stepping stones to the world's top leagues - a path that stars such as Tottenham's Mohamed Kudus and Atalanta's Kamaldeen Sulemana have taken.

But while as many as 50,000 children try out for the school, just a handful win scholarships every year. Justice Baidoo meets the talented dreamers who hope to become the next generation of African superstars, from 10-year-olds attending their first trials in rural villages, right through to those taking their first steps as pro footballers in Europe.

Justice Baidoo meets the Ghanaian boys and girls dreaming of football superstardom

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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The stretch of nearly 1,000 km between Abidjan and Lagos, is by 2100 projected to be the largest zone of continuous, dense habitation on earth - and home to about half a billion people. In Ghana alone, the population which was around six million at the time of independence could – according to some estimates – exceed 50 million by 2050. There has been unprecedented migration into Accra and other cities from rural areas, straining the city's ability to provide basic housing and services to people, and exacerbating existing inequalities.

Presenter: Mike Wooldridge

Producer: Ruth Evans

A Ruth Evans Productions series for BBC World Service

Apartheid may now be long buried politically but in and around South Africa's main cities it has left a visible legacy. Those entrenched historical problems could be about to get worse as cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town continue to grow rapidly, as a result of both migration and the natural population growth. Persistent power cuts and creaking infrastructure are major challenges to the ever-quickening pace of urbanisation.

Can an ambitious new plan for Stellenbosch, the place where apartheid was reportedly conceived, help to break down the post-apartheid legacy of urban planning?

Presenter: Mike Wooldridge and Milton Nkosi

Producer: Ruth Evans

A Ruth Evans Productions series for BBC World Service

The opportunities and challenges of Africa's rapid urbanisation

Some six million people currently call Dar es Salaam home, but the city's population has grown by a whopping 40% in just a decade. By the 2030s it is projected to become a megacity with a population of more than 10 million. Getting around cities like Dar es Salaam can be not only stressful but expensive, negotiating roads clogged with cars and choked with fumes. The city is now investing in transport infrastructure to keep people moving.

Presenter: Mike Wooldridge and Mary Ndaro

Producer: Ruth Evans

A Ruth Evans production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Mary Ndaro. Credit: Ruth Evans)

The opportunities and challenges of Africa's rapid urbanisation

Mike Wooldridge considers the future - and nothing is more pressing than the combination of this rapid urbanisation and accelerating climate change. In many cities, climate change will only add to the challenges. How the continent manages this, will not only affect the daily lives of the millions of Africans, but shape everything from migration and global economic prosperity to the future of the African nation state and the prospects for limiting climate crisis.

Presenter: Mike Wooldridge

Producer: Ruth Evans

A Ruth Evans production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Commuters wait to board a bus outside Nyanga during an ongoing strike by taxi operators in Cape Town, 10 August, 2023. Credit: Esa Alexander/Reuters)

The opportunities and challenges of Africa's rapid urbanisation

But change is coming. Since Alvin's last visit almost 10 years ago unprecedented development has swept the county and it seems as if decades of racial division might really be starting to wear away. Is this really the beginning of the end?

Writer/presenter: Alvin Hall

Producer: Michael Umney

Executive producer: Susan Marling

Piano: Edmund May

Sound engineer: Chris O'Shaughnessy

(Photo: Alvin Hall in front of his childhood home. Credit: Kendall Messick)

Alvin Hall reflects on the racial past and the divided present of Wakulla County, Florida

In his hometown of Wakulla County, Florida, writer Alvin Hall reflects on the racial tensions of rural America's past and its divided present.

As America prepares itself for a historic presidential election, writer Alvin Hall returns to the world he grew up in, to shed light on the political present and share a haunting portrait of a disappearing way of life.

This is Wakulla County, Florida and it's an America most people don't know. Only a short drive from the state capital it has long been deeply rural, a place of unspoilt wilderness and incredible natural beauty. A paradise. But it has also been a place with a violent history of racial segregation and oppression. The security Alvin experienced as a child growing up in one of the county's self-sufficient Black “village ? communities contrasts with horrific racial violence he has only gained knowledge of as an adult.

Many of Alvin's friends and neighbours in New York express shock and confusion at the upheavals engulfing the United States. But for a Black man born and raised in the Deep South the emerging division and prejudice seemed all too predictable. Now, Alvin explores how the unaddressed legacies of slavery and civil war have remained present in people's everyday lives into the Twenty First Century and lovingly documents a Black, rural way of life which has endured for more than a hundred years.

But change is coming. Since Alvin's last visit almost ten years ago unprecedented development has swept the county and it seems as if decades of racial division might really be starting to wear away. Is this really the beginning of the end?

In his hometown Alvin Hall considers America's past and its divided present.

South African DJ Legendary Crisp charts the rise of the homegrown dance music genre Amapiano. She finds out where the hypnotising, jazzy, soulful sound emerged from, what it means culturally, and how it became South Africa's signature music genre of the 2020s.

Radio producer Tim Moorhouse travels to Johannesburg to meet Legendary Crisp and find out about Amapiano's cultural importance. Featuring contributions from Boohle, Josiah De Disciple, Lula Obiba, Madzadza Miya, Nimrod Pitso, Tman Xpress, Felo Le Tee, Chr B, Nkosazana Daughter, Rosey Gold and O.L. Shabba.

(Photo: DJ Legendary Crisp (L)

South African DJ Legendary Crisp charts the rise of the Amapiano music genre

South African DJ Legendary Crisp charts the rise of the homegrown dance music genre Amapiano. She finds out where the hypnotising, jazzy soulful sound emerged from, what it means culturally, and how it became South Africa's signature music genre of the 2020s. Radio Producer Tim Moorhouse travels to Johannesburg to meet Legendary Crisp and becomes part of the conversation around Amapiano's cultural important. Featuring contributions from Boohle, Josiah De Disciple, Lula Obiba, Madzadza Miya, Nimrod Pitso, Tman Xpress, Felo Le Tee, Chr B, Nkosazana Daughter, Rosey Gold and O.L. Shabba.

South African DJ Legendary Crisp charts the rise of the Amapiano musical genre.

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Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin needs $15,000-a-dose medication to treat her rare autoimmune condition. While she sits for hours at a time, just down the block is one of over 1000 commercial blood donation centres in the USA extracting plasma, which forms an essential part of her treatment.

Kathleen investigates the multibillion-dollar global plasma industry behind her life-enhancing medication. Through donor and patient testimonies, expert insights and personal experiences, she tries to make sense of the world's reliance on one country's blood, a reliance that only continues to grow.

Kathleen learns why people are resorting to plasma donation to stay out of debt, whether patients around the world have sufficient access to this medication, and why the burden of global production is rooted in the US.

Presenter: Kathleen McLaughlin

Producer: Hester Cant

Executive producer: Jane Long

A Hidden Flack production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin)

Kathleen McLaughlin investigates the multibillion-dollar global plasma industry

Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin investigates the multibillion-dollar global plasma industry and the world's reliance on one country's blood.

Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin investigates the multibillion-dollar global plasma industry and the people propping it up. Through honest donor testimonies, expert insights and personal experiences, she tries to make sense of the world's reliance on one country's blood - a reliance that only continues to grow.

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Former US President Jimmy Carter has died aged 100.

The 39th U.S. President and Nobel prize winner lived longer than any president in history. He celebrated his 100th birthday in October 2024.

How did a peanut farmer from the Deep South and Georgia Governor become president? Justin speaks to Jonathan Alter, author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life.

From brokering peace in the Middle East, to famously promising the American people he would never lie, Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981. It was period beset by economic and diplomatic crises.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

HOST:

Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter

GUEST

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The Natural History Museum of London is getting ready to move 28 million of its precious specimens to a new state-of-the-art home. Imagine moving tens of millions of delicate animal and plant specimens, gathered from all across the world, over the centuries. Some are as big as a bus, some so tiny you need tweezers to pack them. Some are millions of years old. How to move 350 taxidermy tortoises? The biggest weigh half a tonne. Then there's the ten-metre anaconda. The team may have to get him out through the lift shaft. What if moths get in? What if something gets lost? It's a logistical puzzle on a mind-boggling scale. When the collections eventually arrive in their new home, scientists and researchers present and future will be able to explore the specimens' vast amounts of data, much of it yet untapped, using the latest digital, analytical, and genomic technologies.

With Dr Jeff Streicher, Senior Curator in Charge, Amphibians and Reptiles and Richard Sabin, Principal Curator, Mammals.

Presenter Stephen Coates

Mix by Arlie Adlington

Music by Stephen Coates

Producer Monica Whitlock

A Storyscape production for the BBC World Service

The UK Natural History Museum is moving millions of precious specimens to a new home

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Friday, April 13th 2029 – mark it in your calendar. That's the day an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier will fly past Earth, closer than some satellites. Don't worry – it will miss, but it'll will pass so close to Earth that it will be visible to the naked eye of 2 billion people, particularly in North Africa and Western Europe. Roland Pease this week attended the Apophis T-5 Years conference at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, meeting astronomers scrambling to get missions up to the object to learn what kind of threats such asteroids might pose to us in the future and to discuss the science of planetary defence. NASA's OSIRIS-APEX, a follow-on to OSIRIS-REx, will study the physical changes due to the gravitational forces from the Earth as it closely passes us by. But will there be an armada of spacecraft sent to monitor Apophis? The European Space Agency hope to gather support for their own mission, RAMSES.

Presenter: Roland Pease

Producer: Jonathan Blackwell

Image Credit: JPL/Caltech

Friday, April 13th 2029 - mark it in your calendar...an asteroid is coming

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Over the four decades since the pandemic took off, we've seen around 40 million people worldwide killed by HIV. Today, around the same number of people are living with the virus, and many of them are long-term survivors. In 2015, an end to the pandemic by 2030 was adopted as one of the ambitious UN Sustainable Development Goals and signed up to by all member states.

Sue Armstrong and Noerine Kaleeba report on the impressive progress made in controlling the spread of HIV and ask whether the goal of an end to the Aids pandemic by 2030 is really possible.

A Ruth Evans production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Ugandan citizens march for World Aids Day in Kampala, Uganda, 1 December, 2022. Credit: Nicholas Kajoba/Getty Images)

Is the goal of an end to the HIV/Aids pandemic by 2030 really possible?

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Hazel talks to conservationists, fisher folk and community leaders, and learns how the exceptional rapid growth and short life span of one shallow-dwelling reef octopus species means that it can be fished heavily if the fishing is carefully managed and monitored. The system works by periodically closing a portion of a village's octopus gleaning grounds so that the octopus is free to reproduce. At any communally agreed time, up to a quarter of a community's fishing area may be closed for three months. During this time, the area is carefully patrolled against poachers. The result is a dramatic increase in octopus landings and improved fishing incomes when those areas are reopened. ‘Fish less, earn more,' is the mantra of people locally who support the system.

But this is also challenging for those who rely on fishing to survive from day to day. How are communities managing these different needs and finding alternative incomes during the closure periods? What are the key factors which might mean the system will succeed or fail? And how has the system had similar impacts in other parts of the world?

Finally, Hazel learns how the success of the system has sparked greater support for ambitious marine management efforts more widely, including the creation of permanent marine reserves in Madagascar.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

Music by The Enchanted Cinema

A Falling Tree production for BBC World Service

(Photo: A local resident in Madagascar. Credit: Madagascar Film and Photography)

A pioneering closure system is enabling octopus to flourish in Madagascar

The octopus is prized as the most intelligent of all marine species – immortalised in stories, poems and songs worldwide. In Madagascar it's also a vital source of income. Hazel Healy takes a journey into a pioneering Madagascan closure system which is enabling one particular species of octopus to flourish and protecting incomes for the most vulnerable. She learns how the system was first developed and how it's inspiring other coastal communities in Kenya and Indonesia.

The people of Madagascar are some of the hungriest in the world and the country is in the grip of the most intense drought for decades. Hazel talks to conservationists, fishers and community leaders and learns how the exceptional rapid growth and short life span of one shallow dwelling reef octopus species means that it can be fished heavily if the fishing is carefully managed and monitored. She learns how the system works by periodically closing a portion of a village's octopus gleaning grounds so that the octopus is free to reproduce. At any communally agreed time, up to a quarter of a community's fishing area may be closed for three months. During this time the area is carefully patrolled against poachers. The result is a dramatic increase in octopus landings and improved fisher incomes when those areas are reopened. ‘Fish less, earn more,' is the mantra of people locally who support the system. But this is also challenging for those who rely on fishing to survive from day to day. How are communities managing these different needs and finding alternative incomes during the closure periods? What are the key factors which might mean the system will succeed or fail? And how has the system had similar impacts in other parts of the world?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Forty years after Chernobyl, Poland aims to open its first nuclear power plant. Shortly after the disaster, only 30% of Poles supported nuclear power. In 2022, the support hit a record 75%, almost doubling just from the year before, according to public opinion polls.

Poland's nuclear revival attempts to solve several issues at once: it will make Poland more energy-independent, especially in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but it will also help the country move away from coal per the EU's climate policies. That's according to the officials, but what do people living near the new site think about its construction?

Journalist Zuza Nazaruk sets out to discover whether the ghosts of Chernobyl still haunt the areas surrounding the spot picked for the new plant. The disaster looms over the abandoned nuclear power plant in nearby Żarnowiec - the project was halted in the early 1990s largely because of post-Chernobyl protests. But many locals see this as a missed opportunity. In the villages near the proposed nuclear power station, hopes for cheap electricity and the region's development clash with environmental concerns, but fears around safety are scarce.

Poland aims to open its first nuclear power station. Is Chernobyl a distant memory?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Roughly a third of all global mammal extinctions in the last 500 years are thought to have occurred in Australia. At least 34 species have gone extinct since European colonisation, and over 2,000 species of mammals, birds and invertebrates are now listed as critically endangered or threatened. Without substantial and rapid change, this list is almost certain to grow.

In this BBC World Service documentary, Ruth Evans investigates Australia's extinction crisis? What can and should be done to prevent further casualties and turn things around?

Producer/presenter: Ruth Evans

Editor: Penny Boreham

(Photo: A koala joey wrapped in a towel. Credit: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary)

Why are so many of Australia's unique animals now under threat of extinction?

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Autistic people have been thought to all lack empathy by both science and society for decades. But after receiving an extremely low empathy score as part of a recent autism assessment, science journalist Sue Nelson refused to accept its implications and decided to confront these damaging stereotypes and question the experts who work in this area.

Sue's investigation reveals how the science around empathy is evolving and proving both surprising and more complex than previously thought. Instead of the majority of autistic people having low to no empathy, a trait commonly associated with psychopaths, many autistic people have been shown to have heightened empathy for others.

Guests include Prof Simon Baron-Cohen, a pioneer in the field who originated the EQ (Empathy Quotient) test widely used in autism assessments, and a team of autistic researchers investigating the newly recognised phenomenon of autistic ‘hyper-empathy'. She also visits a laboratory where highly sensitive electrodes on her facial muscles reveal the workings of Sue's unconscious mind in response to the emotions of others. Empathy for autistic people is often experienced but not seen via their expressions.

Presenter/writer: Sue Nelson

Producer: Anne McNaught

(Photo: Professor Chakrabarti places the electrodes on Sue's face to monitor activity in her smile or frown muscles as she watched short videos of other people displaying either happiness or anger)

Why society must rethink the damaging stereotypes about autistic people and low empathy

Sue Nelson explores the changing evidence that autistic people lack empathy.

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With special thanks to the Museum of Civilian Voices by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

Presenter: Diana Kuryshko

Producer: Sarah Shebbeare

(Photo: Members of the Ukrainian armed forces seen inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works complex in Mariupol, 10 May, 2022. Credit: Dmytro Orest Kozatskyi/Azov regiment press service/Reuters)

Ukrainian citizens and soldiers who survived the siege of Azovstal recount their ordeal

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in darkness underground for 80 days, while bombs and missile strikes rain down from above and rations are so tight you can only eat once a day. Next, imagine having to choose between feeding yourself and feeding your baby. This was the reality for those trapped in Azovstal steelworks in the Spring of 2022. Every day was a gamble with death. We meet the Ukrainian citizens and soldiers who survived to tell the tale.

Ukrainian survivors of the siege of Azovstal tell their story.

Sweden, once a global poster child for digital education, is changing course.

The Nordic nation previously championed a screen-first approach; laptops and tablets have been the norm in classrooms since the early 2010s. Now, the country is pivoting back to basics—reintroducing physical textbooks, limiting screen time, and investing heavily in school libraries.

Stockholm-based reporter Maddy Savage explores why one of the world's most tech-savvy countries is embracing analog learning once again. Driving the shift are falling international test scores and growing anxiety over the impact of heavy screen use on pupils' mental health.

While the move broadly has political support and backing from the OECD, it has sparked a debate over future-proofing the next generation. In an era of rapid AI integration, critics worry that reducing classroom technology could dent digital literacy and widen the inequality gap. The concern is that children with limited access to devices at home—or parents who lack the digital skills to support them—will be left behind.

We hear from the teachers, parents, pupils and researchers at the heart of this transition, and ask: could Sweden's rethink signal the start of a wider global shift in how we teach the next generation?

Why tech-savvy Sweden is ditching screens for books and pens in its schools.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Sweden, once a global poster child for digital education, is changing course. The Nordic nation previously championed a screen-first approach; laptops and tablets have been the norm in classrooms since the 2010s. Now, the country is pivoting back to basics, reintroducing physical textbooks, limiting screen time, and investing heavily in school libraries.

Stockholm-based reporter Maddy Savage explores why one of the world's most tech-savvy countries is embracing analog learning once again. Driving the shift are falling international test scores and growing anxiety over the potential impact of heavy screen use on pupils' concentration, and how children process information.

While the move broadly has political support and backing from the OECD, it has sparked a debate over future-proofing the next generation. In an era of rapid AI integration, critics worry that reducing classroom technology could dent digital literacy and widen the inequality gap. The concern is that children with parents who lack the digital skills to support them will be left behind.

Stockholm-based reporter Maddy Savage explores why one of the world's most tech-savvy countries is embracing analogue learning once again. Driving the shift are falling international test scores and growing anxiety over the potential impact of heavy screen use on pupils' concentration, and how children process information.

(Photo: Swedish high school students opening their books. Credit: Maddy Savage)

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Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Longest-Serving Prime Minister.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel's longest serving prime minister. He was born in Tel Aviv in 1949, the year after the State of Israel was founded. One of three brothers, Netanyahu spent much of his early years in the United States pursuing his education. But following his older brother's death, Netanyahu found himself drawn into a career in the public eye. Using his military experience to advise on security matters, in 1984 Netanyahu became Israel's Ambassador to the UN and established himself as a champion of Israel on the international stage.

He returned to Israel and entered the world of politics; in 1993, he became the leader of the Likud party, and was elected prime minister in 1996, a position he has held for much of the following decades. Mark Coles profiles the longest-serving Israeli prime minister

(Photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, 19 March 2026, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran. Credit: Ronen Zvulun//EPA)

Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel's Ambassador to the UN before being elected PM in 1996

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel's Ambassador to the UN before being elected prime minister in 1996.

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Eels are a popular food in parts of Asia, but they can't be commercially bred in captivity. Coupled with trade bans to protect the highly endangered fish, this has led to baby eels becoming one of the most trafficked creatures in the world. BBC Eye and DOCDAYS investigate this global trade from the rivers of the UK to Haiti, Poland and Russia.

We're in the UK where the last remaining eel trader in the country has a licence to export baby eels to stock a conservation project in Russia. But questions have been raised over whether this is really what's going on. We visit an investigative journalist in Poland who's been looking into these exports to Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. With access to a member of an organised crime gang from Hong Kong, we hear how smugglers evade the French authorities to export baby eels to Asia. We also visit the Caribbean where a new and booming demand for glass eels is having a big impact on communities and politics in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

A co-production from DOCDAYS Productions and BBC Eye Investigations.

The murky world of the global trade in baby eels

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC Eye and DOCDAYS investigate the murky world of the global trade in baby eels.

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During the annual World Series of Birding in New Jersey, US, teams compete to see who can identify the most bird species in 24 hours. For team Galbatross the goal is different and much harder - they only identify female birds. This self-imposed restriction is a form of activism, calling into question centuries of ornithology that has focused primarily on male birds, with their bright plumage, elaborate dances, and loud songs.

We follow team Galbatross as they attempt to break their own record for the most female birds spotted during the World Series of Birding. Along the way, we hear from scientists and birders alike about how we got where we are, and how expanding science to be more inclusive of species of all genders can change our perspective on ourselves and the environment.

How studying female birds is reshaping our understanding of nature

At World Series of Birding, where teams compete to identify the most bird species in 24 hours, team Galbatross are identifying only female birds to challenge our view of nature.

During the annual World Series of Birding, teams compete to see who can identify the most bird species in 24 hours. For 'Team Galbatross' the goal is different (and much harder): they only identify female birds. This self-imposed restriction is a form of activism, calling into question centuries of ornithology that has focused primarily on male birds, with their bright plumage, elaborate dances, and loud songs. ‘Birding the Gender Gap' explores how the study of female birds is reshaping our understanding of nature and why this new knowledge is crucial for conservation.

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How tomato paste made with forced labour in China is likely to be in supermarkets

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

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In northern Iraq, Yazidi women and girls who have been the victims of brutal sexual enslavement and lost swathes of their family and community to genocide at the hands of IS, are finding an unusual way to heal - boxing.

Since 2014, when ISIS began targeting Yazidis because of their religious identity, those who survived the genocide have been confined to internally displaced persons camps in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Here conditions are difficult and the women and girls still struggle to process all that has happened to them. So, in 2018, in the face of limited mental health support, Taban Shoresh and her team took a radical approach by offering boxing training to help the women and girls channel their emotions and anger.

For women who have lived through unspeakable trauma and loss, can the sport of boxing offer physical and mental restoration? And in a deeply traditional and conservative community, how are they navigating the stigma of women boxing?

Presenter: Taban Shoresh

Producer: Jodie Taylor

A Reduced Listening production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Yazidi women face each other in a row holding focus pads during training. Credit: Ali Amer)

The Yazidi women using boxing to channel their emotions and anger

For Yazidi women who have lived through unspeakable trauma and loss can the sport of boxing offer physical and mental restoration? And what do their conservative community think?

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Built around a game of Braille Scrabble, Emma Tracey presents a celebration of Braille, 200 years after it was invented. Emma, who's been blind since birth, talks to others who love the six tiny dots: Geerat Vermeij, one of the world's leading experts in molluscs; Yetnebersh Nigussie, an Ethiopian lawyer, who describes her blindness as ‘a lottery I won at the age of 5'; Sheri Wells-Jensen, a linguistics professor who's been a linguistic consultant on Star Trek and is on the US advisory board for messaging extra-terrestrial intelligence; Japanese concert pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii, who learnt to play using Braille music; and Emma's friend and Scrabble partner, Ellie. And there's a chance encounter with the most famous Braille user of them all, Stevie Wonder.

But can Braille survive with the ever-increasing supply of tech that allows blind people to listen to, rather than feel, information?

Presenter: Emma Tracey

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sound design: Steve Brooke

Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

A celebration of Braille from around the world, 200 years after it was invented

Personal stories from Braille users around the world and how this very simple invention of six little dots continues to transform lives.

A glimpse into the world of the Braille user – with moving personal stories from around the world.

From secret letters and labelled spice jars to breakthroughs in science and music, a fun celebration of 200 years of Braille with those who love the six tiny dots.

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Built around a game of Braille Scrabble, Emma Tracey presents a celebration of Braille, 200 years after it was invented. Emma, who has been blind since birth, talks to others who love the six tiny dots: Geerat Vermeij, one of the world's leading experts in molluscs; Yetnebersh Nigussie, an Ethiopian lawyer, who describes her blindness as ‘a lottery I won at the age of five; Sheri Wells-Jensen, a linguistics professor who has been a linguistic consultant on Star Trek and is on the US advisory board for messaging extra-terrestrial intelligence; Japanese concert pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii, who learnt to play using Braille music; and Emma's friend and Scrabble partner, Ellie.

And there is a chance encounter with the most famous Braille user of them all, Stevie Wonder.

But can Braille survive with the ever-increasing supply of tech that allows blind people to listen to, rather than feel, information?

Presenter: Emma Tracey

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sound design: Steve Brooke

Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

A celebration of Braille from around the world, 200 years after it was invented

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Personal stories from Braille users around the world and how this very simple invention of six little dots continues to transform lives.

[LISTEN NOW]

During the Brazilian military dictatorship, the Krenak indigenous people were banned from speaking their language, imprisoned in reformatories and forcibly displaced from their land. In 2024, the State asked them for forgiveness.

Journalist Pūlama Kaufman travels to the remote city of Resplendor in the south-east of Brazil to meet up with Brazilian environmental journalist, Cristina Serra. Together, they are welcomed into the Krenak indigenous territory where they speak with Krenak elders, philosophers and community leaders.

They uncover the many layers to what Brazilian civil prosecutor Edmundo Dias calls an intentional “genocide ? of the Krenak, lead by Brazilian federal agencies. For decades, very little was known about what the Krenak suffered during the dictatorship, but now they are speaking out. In 2024, the Amnesty Commission made its first ever apology to an indigenous group when the president of the Commission got down on her knees in front of the Krenak. But can forgiveness be granted?

Presenter: Pūlama Kaufman and Cristina Serra

Producer: Pūlama Kaufman

A Bite Your Tongue production for BBC World Service

Do Indigenous people in Brazil still suffer the impacts of the military dictatorship?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Forty years on from the imprisonment, torture and forced displacement of the Krenak indigenous people, can they accept the States first apology?

In 2024, something momentous happened in Brazil. For the first time since the military dictatorship ended in 1985, the State issued a formal apology to an indigoes group for their treatment during that period. This documentary tells the story of what the Krenak community lived through, and the ways the dictatorship still impacts them to this day. Through the voices of community leaders, elders, state officials and local journalists The Documentary covers the untold story of Brazil's miracle and its Indigenous disaster.

The story of the Krenak community in Brazil

[LISTEN NOW]

Fighting climate change in Mozambique

Presenter: Nomsa Maseko

Producer: Rob Wilson

Editor: Tara McDermott

(Photo: Jose at a finished house)

Meet the scientists and local communities of Beira trying to fight against climate change

Five years after one of Mozambique's worst ever cyclones, Nomsa Maseko returns to the city of Beira to meet people at the forefront of the fight against climate change.

The fear of an Anterior cruciate ligament injury, or ACL, hangs over all athletes. It is a season-ending injury, agonising, and with a long painful recovery. But why is it happening to so many female footballers? Research shows that ACL injuries are up to six times more likely to happen to female athletes than male. Former England international footballer Lianne Sanderson, who suffered an ACL injury in 2016, explores the science behind this statistic and finds out about the solutions that are being put in place. From the UK charity initiative Power Up to Play, established by medical professionals to offer preventative support at grassroots level, to experts at Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center in Norway and the team at IDA Boots who are making female-specific soccer cleats, Lianne introduces a number of solutions and learns about the science of ACL injuries in female athletes.

Lianne Sanderson explores the science and solutions for ACL injuries in female athletes

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are up to six times more likely to happen to female athletes than male. Ex-footballer Lianne Sanderson explores the possible solutions.

The fear of an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury, or ACL, hangs over all athletes. It's a season-ending injury, agonising, and with a long painful recovery. But why is it happening to so many female footballers?

Research shows that ACL injuries are 3 to 6 times more likely to happen to female athletes than males and in recent years, this has shown in the many headlines that the injury has garnered for female footballers.

In Built Different we explore the science behind this statistic and find out about the solutions that are being put in place to help reduce this number and the preventative measures being introduced within the sport.

We explore the science behind the fear of Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries.

[LISTEN NOW]

Inspired by the lives of their neighbours, playing out among mosques, high rise buildings and on busy streets, Egyptian writers and graphic artists, including Deena Mohamed, Shennawy and Mohamed Wahba bring their thousand-year-old capital to life. They tell the stories behind their own books and comics - Tok Tok, Shubeik Lubeik, and A Bird's Eye View over Cairo. And how today, the city's dedicated festival Cairo Comix has become an annual destination for artists and fans from around the world.

Producer: Clare Salisbury

Extra production by Nadeen Shaker

(Illustration: A Cairo street scene with cars and vendors. Credit: Deena Mohamed)

Cairo's young graphic novelists tell the modern story of their city

Cairo's young graphic novelists tell the modern story of their city, post revolution and the comic book scene it has created. This is a crowded metropolis, a city of 20 million people, where traditional neighbourhoods are being demolished and rebuilt with slick tower blocks. For The Documentary, a new generation of Egyptian cartoonists, comic book writers and graphic novelists bring their thousand-year old capital to life.

Last summer, Canada's population grew to a record 40 million people - a moment the Canadian government described as an “exciting milestone ?.

The Canadian people didn't necessarily agree. Canada has long been proud of its multicultural roots, but - for the first time - surveys show a significant number believe there are too many immigrants coming into the country.

Accusations that newcomers are hurting “the real Canada ? are spreading on social media, with some arguing that Canadian cities simply can't support so many new arrivals.

The BBC's Celia Hatton travels to her home country to learn why more Canadians are questioning their country's relationship with immigration, and why others are fighting to keep the country's doors open to newcomers.

Canada has a proud history of immigration. Why do some now want to close its doors?

[LISTEN NOW]

Last summer, Canada's population grew to a record 40 million people - a moment the Canadian government described as an “exciting milestone ?.

The Canadian people did not necessarily agree. Canada has long been proud of its multicultural roots, but for the first time, surveys show a significant number believe there are too many immigrants coming into the country.

Accusations that newcomers are hurting “the real Canada ? are spreading on social media, with some arguing that Canadian cities simply cannot support so many new arrivals.

The BBC's Celia Hatton travels to her home country to learn why more Canadians are questioning their country's relationship with immigration, and why others are fighting to keep the country's doors open to newcomers.

Presented by Celia Hatton

Produced by Dan Welsh

Canada has a proud history of immigration. Why do some now want to close its doors?

[LISTEN NOW]

Katy Fallon tells the story of the refugees and other migrants ensnared in Greece's legal crossfire. Greek authorities routinely prosecute those found near the controls of boats carrying people trying to reach Europe, but human rights monitors assert that it is vulnerable passengers, not real smugglers, who are ending up behind bars.

Katy reveals a system where chaotic trials last a matter of minutes but can result in prison sentences of hundreds of years. And she meets Akif Rasuli, a young Afghan man compensated for wrongful imprisonment after spending almost three years behind bars. Amid Europe-wide efforts to clamp down on irregular migration, are tough people-smuggling policies seeing the wrong people pay a heavy price?

(Photo: Migrants sit in a dinghy as they are towed by rescue teams off the coast of Greece. Credti: Reuters)

Are Greece's tough people smuggling policies seeing the wrong people pay the price?

Katy Fallon tells the story of the refugees and other migrants ensnared in Greece's legal crossfire. Greek authorities routinely prosecute those found near the controls of boats carrying people trying to reach Europe, but human rights monitors assert that it is vulnerable passengers, not real smugglers, who are ending up behind bars. Katy reveals a system where chaotic trials last a matter of minutes but can result in prison sentences of hundreds of years. And she meets Akif Rasuli, a young Afghan man compensated for wrongful imprisonment after spending almost three years behind bars. Amidst Europe-wide efforts to clamp down on irregular migration, are tough people smuggling policies seeing the wrong people pay a heavy price?

[LISTEN NOW]

Warning: This programme deals with adult themes that may not be suitable for some listeners

Criminals are hiding video cameras in hotel rooms across China to secretly film and live stream unsuspecting victims having sex and then selling the footage online.

The illegal trade in spycam porn has become a big business, one with devastating consequences for the people whose most intimate moments are made public without their consent.

Wanqing Zhang has been hunting the hidden cameras and trying to find those responsible. Can they be stopped?

Presenter: Wanqing Zhang

Producer: Ed Main and Cate Brown

Executive producer: Ankur Shah

Editor: Flora Carmichael

Hunting the criminals who are hiding cameras in hotel rooms to film people having sex

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Hunting the criminals who are hiding cameras in hotel rooms to film people having sex and live stream unsuspecting victims online for profit.

[LISTEN NOW]

In the city of Goma, Congolese journalist Ruth Omar looks at how former child soldiers are being rehabilitated using capoeira, the Brazilian martial art.

Since the start of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, child soldiers have been recruited to fight, some as young as 14. After they are demobilised from armed groups, many suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The demobilised child soldiers are housed in transit centres while they wait to be reunited with their families. While they wait, Social Capoeira is one of the therapies offered to them. It is a form of capoeira where the fighting is non-contact and dialogue, and wellbeing are prioritised. It allows the child soldiers to gain some peace.

Ruth explores the impact of this unique approach. She learns how capoeira creates a community or family for the returning child soldiers and how this helps them reintegrate into society. And we hear from people in Goma who have helped child soldiers in their own unique ways.

Contributors: Faustin Busimba, CAJED; Flavio Soares, Gingando pela Paz; Elvis Muderhwa, HEAL Africa; Aimable Diago, CAJED.

Presenter: Ruth Omar

Producer: Jill Achineku

A Whistledown production for the BBC World Service

(Image credit: Ruth Omar)

How former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo are using capoeira to heal

Ruth Omar looks at how former child soldiers are using Capoeira to heal

[LISTEN NOW]

China is on a giant global shopping spree, acquiring overseas assets like companies and intellectual property at an eye-popping rate - some four times what was previously thought. What's more, brand new data, shared exclusively with the BBC, reveals that the greater share of its foreign purchases are now in the developed world. Observers in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are alarmed at the potential for Beijing to dominate key technologies and turbo charge its growing military might. In this documentary Celia Hatton investigates the sometimes murky ways in which Chinese investment can find its way into even the most sensitive industrial sectors. But she also discovers that shutting out Chinese influence is not as easy or in some cases even as desirable as many might assume.

Celia Hatton reveals the breathtaking scale of China's western economic asset purchases.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

China has been on a giant global shopping spree. Since 2000, Chinese state banks have fueled investments and acquisitions at a surprising rate- some four times what was previously thought. Brand new data, shared exclusively with the BBC, reveals that many of Beijing's state-backed spending has targeted rich countries. Such deals are strictly legal, though not always easy to trace. Observers in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are alarmed at the potential for Beijing to dominate key technologies and turbo charge its technological might.

Celia Hatton investigates the sometimes murky ways in which Chinese state money can be traced to sensitive industrial sectors. But she also discovers that shutting out Chinese influence is not easy or, in some cases, desirable.

Producer: Mike Gallagher

Celia Hatton reveals the breathtaking scale of China's state-backed overseas spending

How China's state banks are fuelling overseas investments and purchases  into sensitive key technologies on a scale previously unknown - and how that's boosting Beijing's power.

[LISTEN NOW]

Could AI cure cancer using nature's DNA? A London tech firm, Basecamp Research, harvests genetic information from organisms and microbes around the world. Its genome database - the world's biggest - will help supercomputers to create new products, from detergents to medicines. It's a bewildering new frontier, and it comes with big questions - who should own this valuable information? Who should benefit? And what could it unleash?

Presenter/producer: Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor

Sound engineer: Jarek Zaba

Executive producer: Philip Abrams

A Smoke Trail production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Basecamp Research employees collecting samples in the UK to harvest the genetic information from microbes within them. Credit: Lucy Taylor)

Could AI cure cancer using nature's DNA? A London tech firm creates a genome database.

Presenters: Dan Ashby & Lucy Taylor

[LISTEN NOW]

One of its true champions is Kgothatso Montjane.

KG, as she likes to be known, was born with amniotic band syndrome, a condition that prevents limbs from developing properly. It didn't stop her from pursuing her dreams.

An inspiration to many in 2021 KG became the first black South African to compete at Wimbledon.

In this programme she tells the story of her life and career, the big successes and the challenges faced.

The roots of wheelchair tennis go back to the 1970's. Brad Parks, who co invented the game, describes initial negativity towards it with concern over damage to the courts.

Legendary wheelchair tennis players talk about their love for the game including Shingo Kuneida, regarded to be the best male player of all time, former champion Jordanne Wiley, and KG's hero Esther Vergeer.

Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic committee gives his thoughts on why wheelchair tennis and the Paralympics are so special. An event that KG is very much looking forward to.

A Play it By Ear production.

Kogothatso Montjane talks about her life as a wheelchair tennis champion.

An inspiration to many, in 2021 KG became the first black South African to compete at Wimbledon. She tells the story of her life and career, the big successes and the challenges she faced.

The roots of wheelchair tennis go back to the 1970s. Brad Parks, who co-invented the game, describes initial negativity towards it with concern over damage to the courts.

Legendary wheelchair tennis players talk about their love for the game including Shingo Kunieda, regarded to be the best male player of all time, former champion Jordanne Whiley, and KG's hero Esther Vergeer.

Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic committee gives his thoughts on why wheelchair tennis and the Paralympics are so special. An event that KG is very much looking forward to.

Presenter: Kgothatso Montjane

Producer: Martin Buchanan

A Play it By Ear production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Kgothatso Montjane at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. Credit: Martin and Katie Buchanan)

Kgothatso Montjane talks about her life as a wheelchair tennis champion

With trust in police falling, volunteer groups have begun patrolling the streets

Outside of a war zone, South Africa is one of the most dangerous places in the world. With trust in police falling, communities say they have no option but to defend themselves.

Crime and Punishment in South Africa: The country's murder rate is now at a twenty-year high. Outside of a war zone South Africa is one of the most dangerous places in the world. With trust in the police falling, communities say they have no option but to defend themselves. BBC Africa Eye's Ayanda Charlie joins two volunteer units, a team of farmers near Pretoria, and a group in Diepsloot, a poor township near Johannesburg. We see the risks they take and ask who holds patrols accountable?

On 8 May 1945 Britain, the US and many other countries were rejoicing. Germany had surrendered, and World War Two was over, at least in Europe.

Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone - for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army.

Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unearths the stories of ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time. Siegbert Stümpke was a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war. Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon. Hans Rosenthal was Jewish, and survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators. Melita Maschmann, who got hooked on Nazi ideology aged 15, became a youth leader and took years to acknowledge her share of the responsibility for the crimes committed by the National Socialists.

Narrator: Lore Wolfson Windemuth

Producer and editor: Kristine Pommert

Research: Katie Harris

A CTVC production for the BBC World Service

Image: Siegbert Stuempke and his family

Six ordinary Germans who lived through the end of World War Two tell their stories

In Germany, the end of World War Two in 1945 was time of chaos, fear and soul-searching. Six ordinary Germans who lived through that period tell their stories.

8th May 1945 was a day of rejoicing in Britain, the US and many other countries: Germany had surrendered, and World War II was over, at least in Europe.

In this documentary, Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unfolds the stories of six ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time, through their memoirs and diaries. Amongst others, we hear from:

Siegbert Stümpke, a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war;

Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) who had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon;

Hans Rosenthal, who was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators;

Producer / Editor: Kristine Pommert

How ordinary people in Germany experienced the end of World War II

[LISTEN NOW]

An Audio Always production

Image: Esports students at a high school and adult education centre in Copenhagen (Credit: Sean Allsop)

Why a European country has put competitive gaming on the school curriculum

OJ Borg investigates why Denmark has developed a national esports strategy, and put competitive gaming on the school curriculum.

British-Pakistani comedian and pharmacist Lubna Kerr explores Pakistan's growing diabetes crisis. With type 2 diabetes rates now the highest in the world, the disease is affecting millions - shaping lives, straining healthcare, and raising urgent questions about prevention.

Many sufferers remain undiagnosed, missing crucial early intervention. But for those who do receive a diagnosis, the ability to monitor blood sugar levels regularly is crucial while the costs of medication can be astronomical especially if they develop complications.

Experts blame a rise in diabetes on the popularity of American style fast food and the use of trans fats as well as increasing urbanisation and lack of exercise because of high pressured lifestyles.

Lubna hears how there is also a genetic predisposition to diabetes which can also run in families and how myths and stigma impact on people living with the disease.

Presenter: Lubna Kerr

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

Pakistan faces challenges of awareness, healthcare access, and rising cases of Diabetes

Pakistan has the highest diabetes prevalence rate globally, with 30.8% of adults affected—an alarming figure that signals a severe public health crisis. Presented by Lubna Kerr, a Scottish-Pakistani former pharmacist turned comedian who has worked extensively in the field of diabetes, the documentary explores the challenges of awareness, healthcare access, and rising cases. It also examines lessons learned from neighbouring countries, such as India and Bangladesh, where different approaches to prevention, treatment, and policy have shaped their responses to the growing epidemic. Without urgent intervention, numbers are expected to increase dramatically, affecting many millions more.

[LISTEN NOW]

Could new technologies help us to communicate with some animals?

[LISTEN NOW]

We join their youth diving program - YDWP - in Biscayne National Park, Florida Keys, as they head out onto the ocean in search of the Guerrero. With them is poet and professor Jason Vasser-Elong who has designed a creative writing course to help them articulate their feelings about the Atlantic slave trade as they uncover its legacy. The Guerrero was a pirate ship being chased by a British ship HMS Nimble when it ran aground in 1827. It had 561 captive Africans on board, of which 41 drowned.

The programme is the brainchild of Mr Kenneth Stewart who was named Sea Hero of the Year by Scuba Diving Magazine in 2018. We follow the group's first attempt at “anomaly hopping ?.

Producer: Victoria Ferran

A Just Radio production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Young black diver underwater. Credit: Vando Rogers)

Meet the young scuba divers of colour who are searching for sunken slave ships

Diving With A Purpose is a collective of Black scuba divers who search for long-lost slave wrecks. They are on a mission to raise the silent voices of the captive Africans who went down with those vessels and bring them back into our collective memory. We join their youth diving program - YDWP - in Biscayne National Park, Florida Keys, as they head out onto the ocean in search of the Guerrero. With them is poet and professor Jason Vasser-Elong who has designed a creative writing course to help them articulate their feelings about the Atlantic slave trade as they uncover its legacy. The Guerrero was a pirate ship being chased by a British ship HMS Nimble when it ran aground in 1827. It had 561 captive Africans on board, of which 41 drowned.

Since 2016 YDWP have held diving summer camps in Florida Keys for young people of colour from across the USA, Costa Rica, South America and the Caribbean. Learning the basics of maritime archeology and marine biology. It's not only about conservation but connecting to ancestral history. The programme is the brainchild of Mr Kenneth Stewart who was named Sea Hero of the Year by Scuba Diving Magazine in 2018. We follow the group's first attempt at “anomaly hopping ?. The National Park Service swept the ocean floor with a sonar scanner and picked up hundreds of anomalies. Each one has to be checked to determine whether it's modern-day debris or a clue to finding the Guerrero.

The story of how the world's most famous captive dolphin trainer, who trained Flipper the TV dolphin star teamed by with a Dutch- Indonesian rights activist to end the world's last travelling dolphin circus and release the surviving dolphins back into the ocean. And how they set up the world's first ocean dolphin sanctuary.

Johnny, Rocky and Rambo journey back to the ocean.

President Trump has upended the international order to promote his America First agenda. His fire-hose of pronouncements has thrown countries and their leaders around the world off balance. With so many changes going in different and sometimes seemingly opposing directions, Jamie Coomarasamy tries to get behind what's driving the President's agenda, and seeing how the world is adjusting to a new reality.

[LISTEN NOW]

In 2019 British-Nigerian comedian Emmanuel Sonubi suffered heart failure whilst on-stage during his set at a comedy club in Dubai, and when he returned to the UK was told that he might need a heart transplant but there's a severe shortage of donors for people from his background. In Dying for a Transplant, Emmanuel explores the varying attitudes to organ donation and transplantation around the world and asks what different nations and cultures can learn from each other.

A Made in Manchester production.

Explore the varying attitudes to organ donation and transplantation around the world

Producer: Kurt Brooks

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Comedian Emmanuel Sonubi. Credit: )

Following heart failure on-stage, Emmanuel Sonubi explores attitudes to organ donation

Following heart failure whilst on-stage, comedian Emmanuel Sonubi explores attitudes to organ donation and transplantation around the world.

[LISTEN NOW]

Every Nigerian child has the constitutional right to free and compulsory primary education, and free secondary education, yet there remains a huge gap between that law and the reality. One in every five of the world's out-of-school children lives in Nigeria.

In a nation with one of the world's youngest populations, this lack of access to education could potentially cost the country its future. Its government recently acknowledged that there are 10.5 million children not being educated.

It's a complex picture which includes underfunding, a lack of skilled teachers – and an issue of safety. In the northern states, communities have experienced a decade of bandits targeting schools and kidnapping children for ransom.

BBC Africa journalist Yemisi Adegoke hears from parents and students at the sharp end of this crisis, discovers more about what is being done to get children into school despite insecurity, and asks the difficult questions to those in power.

Yemisi Adegoke discovers what is being done to get children into school in Nigeria

One in every five of the world's out-of-school children lives in Nigeria. Yemisi Adegoke hears from parents and students at the sharp end of this crisis.

[LISTEN NOW]

Former BBC correspondent in Central America, Mike Lanchin, follows the dramatic stories of two women who were adopted from El Salvador as young children during the war, which ended in 1992. Mike meets Jazmin, raised in France, who wonders why her adoptive parents never explained the circumstances of her adoption. Jazmin asks: could she be one of the war-time missing children? With the help of Salvadoran investigators using DNA testing, Jazmin is hoping to find a living birth relative. But will she succeed?

Meanwhile in San Salvador, Mike speaks to two sisters who managed to locate the son of one of their younger siblings who was killed during the war. The son has been living in the US, totally unaware of his Salvadoran family's long search for him.

Producers: Mike Lanchin and Philippa Goodrich

Editor: Kristine Pommert

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Families of missing children hold up placards bearing their photos. Credit: Yuri Cortez/Getty Images)

Children separated from their parents by civil war now want to find their birth families

Children separated from their parents by El Salvador's civil war now want to find their birth families.

Former BBC correspondent in Central America, Mike Lanchin, follows the dramatic stories of two women who were adopted from El Salvador as young children during the war which ended in 1992.

In the first episode, Mike meets Jazmin, raised in France, who wonders why her adoptive parents never explained the circumstances of her adoption. Jazmin asks: could she be one of the war-time missing children? With the help of Salvadoran investigators using DNA testing, Jazmin is hoping to find a living birth relative. But will she succeed?

Meanwhile in San Salvador, Mike speaks to two sisters who managed to locate the son of one of their younger siblings who was killed during the war. The son has been living in the US, totally unaware of his Salvadoran family's long search for him.

Producers: Mike Lanchin and Philippa Goodrich

Editor: Kristine Pommert

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

Children separated from their parents by civil war now in search of their birth families

In the second and final part of the series, Mike Lanchin speaks to Flor who's long struggled to understand why her birth mother gave her up to an American couple in the first years of the civil war. Is the scar from a bullet wound that Flor still carries on her stomach anything to do with her adoption?

As Flor edges close to finding some answers, Mike hears again from Jazmin in France, whom he met in episode one, and who is now finding her search for a Salvadoran family member increasingly distressing. Mike tracks down the Salvadoran lawyer involved in her adoption back in the early 1980s. Can he provide the missing pieces of the jigsaw for Jazmin?

Producers: Mike Lanchin and Philippa Goodrich

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Flor and family. Credit: CTVC)

Can Salvadoran children adopted during the country's civil war find their birth families?

Former BBC correspondent in Central America, Mike Lanchin, follows the dramatic stories of two women who were adopted from El Salvador as young children during the war, which ended in 1992. Mike meets Jazmin, raised in France, who wonders why her adoptive parents never explained the circumstances of her adoption. Jazmin asks: could she be one of the war-time missing children? With the help of Salvadoran investigators using DNA testing, Jazmin is hoping to find a living birth relative. But will she succeed?

Meanwhile in San Salvador, Mike speaks to two sisters who managed to locate the son of one of their younger siblings who was killed during the war. The son has been living in the US, totally unaware of his Salvadoran family's long search for him.

Producers: Mike Lanchin and Philippa Goodrich

Editor: Kristine Pommert

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Families of missing children hold up placards bearing their photos. Credit: Yuri Cortez/Getty Images)

Children separated from their parents by civil war now want to find their birth families

Children separated from their parents by El Salvador's civil war now want to find their birth families.

In the second and final part of the series, Mike Lanchin speaks to Flor who's long struggled to understand why her birth mother gave her up to an American couple in the first years of the civil war. Is the scar from a bullet wound that Flor still carries on her stomach anything to do with her adoption?

As Flor edges close to finding some answers, Mike hears again from Jazmin in France, whom he met in episode one, and who is now finding her search for a Salvadoran family member increasingly distressing. Mike tracks down the Salvadoran lawyer involved in her adoption back in the early 1980s. Can he provide the missing pieces of the jigsaw for Jazmin?

Producers: Mike Lanchin and Philippa Goodrich

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Flor and family. Credit: CTVC)

Can Salvadoran children adopted during the country's civil war find their birth families?

Botswana is home to about a third of Africa's remaining savanna elephants, over 130,000. But it is a burden as well as a blessing. It puts pressure on local communities, and the cost of conservation is huge. Climate change means elephants are moving into new areas in their search for water and in some parts of this sparsely populated country there are more elephants than people. Jo Dwyer travels to northern Botswana, where safari-based tourism helps drive the economy. Elephants bring in the tourists, but conservation is a balancing act. The protection of wild animal populations has to be carefully balanced with the protection of the people who live among them.

There are calls from Botswana and other countries in the region for more help with what they describe as an international wildlife resource. They would like to see a new global funding model for elephant conservation. But in the meantime, conservationists in Botswana defend the country's controversial practise of trophy hunting, as a valuable part of its conservation toolkit.

Producer/presenter: Jo Dwyer

Editor: Chris Ledgard

(Photo: Elephants in northern Botswana. Credit: Jo Dwyer)

Botswana has more elephants than any other country but conservation is complex

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Botswana has more elephants than any other country, but it is a burden as well as a blessing. Elephant conservation is complex and expensive and it can be controversial too.

[LISTEN NOW]

Botswana is home to about a third of Africa's remaining savanna elephants, over 130,000. But it is a burden as well as a blessing. It puts pressure on local communities, and the cost of conservation is huge. Climate change means elephants are moving into new areas in their search for water and in some parts of this sparsely populated country there are more elephants than people. Jo Dwyer travels to northern Botswana, where safari-based tourism helps drive the economy. Elephants bring in the tourists, but conservation is a balancing act. The protection of wild animal populations has to be carefully balanced with the protection of the people who live among them.

There are calls from Botswana and other countries in the region for more help with what they describe as an international wildlife resource. They would like to see a new global funding model for elephant conservation. But in the meantime, conservationists in Botswana defend the country's controversial practise of trophy hunting, as a valuable part of its conservation toolkit.

Producer/presenter: Jo Dwyer

Editor: Chris Ledgard

(Photo: Elephants in northern Botswana. Credit: Jo Dwyer)

Botswana has more elephants than any other country but conservation is complex

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Botswana is home to more elephants than any other country in the world, but it is a burden as well as a blessing. Elephant conservation is complex and expensive.

Botswana is home to more elephants than any other country in the world, but it's a burden as well as a blessing. It puts pressure on local communities, and the cost of conservation is huge. There are calls for a new global funding model for elephant conservation, but in the meantime conservationists in Botswana defend the country's controversial practice of trophy hunting, as a valuable part of its conservation toolkit.

The challenges Botswana faces for Elephant conservation

[LISTEN NOW]

In 2007 Finland decided to switch to a radical new approach to homelessness called ‘housing first', in which homeless people are simply offered their own apartment, with no expectations of them except paying the rent (usually covered by their benefits); alongside this they are given whatever support they need to remain housed, for as long as they need it. Proponents of 'housing first' argue that it is much easier for homeless people to sort out issues such as addiction or poor mental health when they have a secure home.

The results so far seem to bear this out: around 90% of people offered an apartment remain housed, a much higher rate than under the previous system. However, critics argue that the approach could be much harder to implement in countries without Finland's extensive social welfare system or good stock of affordable housing.

Erika Benke visits the Väinölä Housing Unit outside Helsinki, an emergency shelter which was converted into 35 individual flats for formerly homeless people. What difference has having their own place made to the residents? And are they off the streets for good?

Producer: Olivia Humphreys

An Overcoat Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: The Väinölä Housing Unit outside Helsinki. Credit: Jouni Törmänen)

How Finland eliminated street homelessness by turning housing policy on its head

In 2007 Finland revolutionised its approach to homelessness, with remarkable results. What is the secret to its success, and what could other countries learn?

Anna Foster talks to people who were there when the attacks happened, at the kibbutz and at the festival. They share the pain of hiding or trying to escape, as their loved ones were killed or taken away from them.

This is their story.

Anna Foster talks to people who survived the 7 October attacks in Israel by Hamas.

The allegations against Sean “Diddy ? Combs are a huge moment for hip-hop. Each week we'll unpick the latest news and rumours, and dig into a culture now under the spotlight. He denies all the allegations against him.

The latest allegations and conspiracies surrounding the hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.

The latest allegations and conspiracies surrounding the hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy ? Combs.

[LISTEN NOW]

The allegations against Sean “Diddy ? Combs are a huge moment for hip-hop. Each week we'll unpick the latest news and rumours, and dig into a culture now under the spotlight. He denies all the allegations against him.

The latest allegations and conspiracies surrounding the hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.

The latest allegations and conspiracies surrounding the hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy ? Combs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

A Soundscape Production

(Photo: Attendees wave Chinese and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) flags during celebrations of the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China on the Tsim Sha Tsui water front in Hong Kong. Credit: Leung Man Hei/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Paul French explores how Hong Kong's history is being revised and erased

Paul French explores how Hong Kong's history is being revised and erased - its early origins, colonial legacy, post 1997 handover period and the crucial years since the mass 2019 democracy protests is being uprooted & rewritten by a government guided by the ruling Communist Party in Beijing. Hong Kong is a changed place - a place where memory wars are being fought, where history and your interpretation of it can lead to prison or exile.

Night trains are back, once again connecting Europe's cities with the promise of green, serene and iconic journeys. After years of decline, revitalised routes, new operators and innovative cabin designs have led supporters to declare that the direction of long-distance travel is back to the future – but obstacles to expanding Europe's sleeper services remain. Jack Butcher rides the rails to find out whether the night train renaissance is still on track.

Night trains are back, connecting Europe's cities with the promise of green journeys.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Night trains are making a comeback, once again connecting Europe's cities with the promise of green, serene and iconic journeys.

Just a decade ago, it appeared to be the end of the line for the continent's sleeper services. But revitalised routes, new operators and innovative cabin designs have sparked renewed excitement around overnight train travel.

Yet even as demand from passengers continues to boom, an array of obstacles puts the revival at risk. A number of major new routes have already hit the buffers, and entrepreneurial sleeper train operators face a host of challenges.

Is a European night train renaissance simply a nostalgic pipedream, or is it full steam ahead? Speaking to railway operators, innovators and industry insiders, Jack Butcher rides the rails to find out.

Producer and presenter: Jack Butcher

Executive producer: Robert Nicholson

A Whistledown production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Interior of an OBB Nightjet sleeper train compartment. Credit: Jack Butcher)

Night trains are back, connecting Europe's cities with the promise of green journeys. Yet as demand continues to boom, an array of obstacles puts the revival at risk.

[LISTEN NOW]

We ask why extreme weather events are on the rise and how we can better predict them

[LISTEN NOW]

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

[LISTEN NOW]

Days into President Trump's second term, he issued an executive order banning transgender people from the US military. Official figures estimate there are around 4,200 transgender service members, however previous estimates are much higher. Two trans officers gave the BBC's Megha Mohan access to their lives as the US Department of Defence attempts to introduce its new policy.

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

[LISTEN NOW]

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

[LISTEN NOW]

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

[LISTEN NOW]

You can spend hours in an airport and never learn anything about the people around you. But follow the chaplains of London Heathrow, and you might start to see things - and people - differently.

Headed up by Reverend Ruth Bottoms, a team of 20 multi-faith chaplains offer sanctuary and support to passengers and staff in the unpredictable environment of a mega airport. Counselling nervous fliers, responding to crises, leading daily masses in Heathrow's own chapel - these chaplains respond to whatever comes their way.

Jude Shapiro spends a week with the chaplains and those they encounter to see what happens when faith, flight and the stresses of Europe's busiest airport combine.

With thanks to the Heathrow Multi-Faith Chaplaincy and Heathrow Airport.

Presenter/producer: Jude Shapiro

Executive producer: Jack Howson

Sound engineer: Arlie Adlington

A Peanut and Crumb production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Two airport chaplains wearing high-vis check flight updates in a departure hall at Heathrow Airport in London. Credit: Jude Shapiro)

Spend a week with the chaplains of Heathrow Airport supporting passengers and staff

Jude Shapiro spends a week with the chaplains of Heathrow Airport to see what happens when faith, flight and the stresses of Europe's busiest airport combine.

Spend a week with the chaplains of Heathrow Airport, supporting passengers and staff, from nervous fliers to leading daily mass for the masses.

In many ways, St George's is what you'd expect from a local chapel: friendly dedicated staff, weekly mass, an open door every day of the year. But being in the heart of Heathrow Airport makes its mission unique. With more than 20 multi-faith chaplains representing the major world religions, it offers sanctuary and support to 90 million-plus people annually in the unpredictable environment of a mega airport.

We spend a week with the chaplains, and the passengers and airport staff they encounter. Can faith and connection soar in this most transitory, stressful, and ethereal of spaces?

Producer/Presenter: Jude Shapiro

Exec Producer: Jack Howson

A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC World Service

Spend a week in and around Heathrow Airport's chapel.

Investigations from our award-winning team across the globe.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

Meet the polar scientists of Ukraine's National Antarctic Scientific Centre, who lead extraordinary dual lives, conducting critical climate research in Antarctica while also serving on the frontlines of war against Russia. This documentary reveals how scientists are defending both their country's sovereignty and its scientific legacy. Despite war, displacement, and destruction, Ukraine's commitment to climate science endures, revealing a powerful intersection between national identity, resilience, and global responsibility.

Producer/presenter: Harrison Lewis

Photo credit: Alexandra Montgomery

Meet the Ukrainian polar scientists who lead extraordinary dual lives

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Meet the Ukrainian polar scientists who lead extraordinary dual lives, conducting critical climate research in Antarctica while also serving on the frontlines of war against Russia. This documentary reveals how scientists are defending both their country's sovereignty and its scientific legacy. Despite war, displacement, and destruction, Ukraine's commitment to climate science endures, revealing a powerful intersection between national identity, resilience, and global responsibility.

[LISTEN NOW]

Ghana has a reputation for staging some of the most eccentric funerals in the world – boasting extraordinary displays of colour, dancing, deep rooted history, and a strong association with Ghanaian royalty. Hannah Ajala takes the listener on a compelling aural journey as she uncovers the stories behind this unique and complex tradition.

In West Africa, end of life celebrations are a far cry from those in the Western world. Each funeral can take weeks or months to plan and they are often more lavish – and expensive - than weddings. Funerals are an essential part of paying respect to the departed.

Flamboyant Funerals travels to the cultural capital of the country, Kumasi, to witness a Ghanaian funeral first hand. She delves into the significance of these ancient traditions: the dancing, the dress code, the burial and final funeral rites as well as the role played by the ‘talking drums'.

With thanks to the Buabeng family and Derrick Asiamah, MrAnchor.

Presenter: Hannah Ajala

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Editor: Clare Fordham

(Photo: Traditional Atumpan drummers in Kumasi, Ghana. Credit: Hannah Ajala)

Hannah Ajala uncovers the stories behind the unique traditions of Ghanaian funerals

[LISTEN NOW]

In the 1960s Falco Peregrinus was close to extinction, but it has since made a remarkable comeback, hailed as a global success story of conservation.

Recent decades have also seen the trend of this speedy raptor notably settling, nesting and flourishing alongside us, in man-made environments around the globe.

Broadcaster, naturalist and writer David Lindo, a.k.a. ‘The Urban Birder' travels from a hospital in London to a museum in Madrid and a power station in Kentucky, to explore how an iconic, apex predator is bouncing back from the brink, thriving in cities and towns across the world.

Along the way David highlights their incredible hunting ability and how both our responsibility for the decline of the Peregrine and our pervading fondness for it, have helped to contribute to its astounding recovery.

The fastest animal on earth - the Peregrine Falcon - is thriving alongside us.

[LISTEN NOW]

Recent decades have also seen the trend of this speedy raptor notably settling, nesting and flourishing alongside us, in man-made environments around the globe. Broadcaster, naturalist and writer David Lindo, aka 'The Urban Birder' travels from a hospital in London to a museum in Madrid and a power station in Kentucky, to explore how an iconic, apex predator is bouncing back from the brink, thriving in cities and towns across the world.

Along the way David highlights their incredible hunting ability and how both our responsibility for the decline of the peregrine and our pervading fondness for it, have helped to contribute to its astounding recovery.

Producer: Neil Kanwal

Executive producer: Pete Shevlin

Mani Djazmi talks to current and former footballers about their faith.

Image: Joel Ward playing for Crystal Palace (Credit: Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

In August 2007, on an island off Canada's west coast, the remains of a human foot were found washed up on a beach.

Six days later, on another beach 50 miles away, a second foot was found. But, strangely, it does not match the first - they are from different people.

The BBC's Celia Hatton travels to Vancouver to hear how more than 20 feet have been found in the area since then, and to speak to the investigators and scientists who worked to unravel the mystery of why they started appearing.

(Photo: A discarded trainer shoe washed up on the rocks by the shore. Credit: Dan Welsh)

Since 2007, more than 20 human feet have washed up on the shores of Canada and the US

Since 2007, more than 20 human feet have been found washed up on the west coast of Canada and the US. Celia Hatton speaks to the investigators who worked to uncover why.

Six days later, on another beach fifty miles away, a second foot was found. But, strangely, it doesn't match the first - they're from different people.

The BBC's Celia Hatton travels to Vancouver to hear how more than twenty feet have been found in the area since then, and to speak to the investigators and scientists who've worked to unravel the mystery of why they started appearing.

The mystery of why human feet began washing ashore on the west coast of Canada and the US.

[LISTEN NOW]

In August 2007, on an island off Canada's west coast, the remains of a human foot were found washed up on a beach.

Six days later, on another beach 50 miles away, a second foot was found. But, strangely, it does not match the first - they are from different people.

The BBC's Celia Hatton travels to Vancouver to hear how more than 20 feet have been found in the area since then, and to speak to the investigators and scientists who worked to unravel the mystery of why they started appearing.

Presented by Celia Hatton

Produced by Dan Welsh

(Photo: A discarded trainer shoe washed up on the rocks by the shore. Credit: Dan Welsh)

Since 2007, more than 20 human feet have washed up on the shores of Canada and the US

Since 2007, more than 20 human feet have been found washed up on the west coast of Canada and the US. Celia Hatton speaks to the investigators who worked to uncover why.

[LISTEN NOW]

*** This episode contains scenes of violence and descriptions you may find upsetting ***

Eyewitnesses from a city in Iran describe how armed forces loyal to the Islamic regime killed countless protesters in a lethal crackdown on demonstrations earlier this year. Seen through the eyes of people who were in Isfahan, this programme pieces together a snapshot of events from 8-9 January. That is when huge numbers of people took to the streets to protest decades of oppression and call for an end to the Islamic Republic.

Thousands of people across the country were killed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's armed forces. The regime blamed the bloodshed on what it called rioters and street terrorists backed by the countries enemies. The UN has called for an independent investigation. However, any prospect of clarity about what happened is at risk of being overshadowed by the current conflict engulfing the country. The first waves of US and Israeli military strikes on Iran killed Ali Khamenei. There are reports of hundreds of civilian casualties too on a population that is already paid a heavy human price for standing up to the regime.

(Photo: A protester flashes a victory sign in front of a fire during a demonstration in Shahin Shahr, Isfahan, Iran, on 9 January , 2026. Credit: Nika/Middle East Images/AFP)

Iranians describe seeing armed forces loyal to the Islamic regime kill protesters

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Eyewitnesses from a city in Iran describe how armed forces loyal to the Islamic regime killed countless protesters in a lethal crackdown on demonstrations in January.

[LISTEN NOW]

In the last few years medical advance had led to treatments that really do offer the potential to reverse life threatening cancers and debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

As well as lifting the lid on how these work, in discussion with Nuala McGovern, Venki also explores the questions such treatments raise. Initially they will be expensive, we already have a global society in which there is a direct link between life expectancy and affluence, will access to these treatments or lack of it, increase that disparity?

And although your incurable disease may now be cured, what about the rest of your quality of life? Can the planet support an increasingly needy older and older generation? Does trying to live longer become a selfish act?

Nobel prize-winning molecular biologist Professor Sir Venki Ramakrishnan heads the Ramakrishnan Lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge.

This is the first in a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, Presented by Nuala McGovern

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College Oxford.

Is it ethical to live longer?

In 1967 Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered a previously unknown kind of star, the Pulsar. A Nobel prize followed – but not for Jocelyn - her male boss took the honour.

Jocelyn has never been bitter about the award, but says that today things really should have moved much further than they have. Yes more women are working in space research, but is it enough?

In conversation with Nuala McGovern she argues that different perspectives are essential for moving the science forward.

One of these is a more global inclusive vision to exploring the cosmos. India and China have prestigious space programmes, and the low key space missions of Japan and South Africa collaborate with international partners from around the world. We discuss how global enthusiasm for space research can be used to propel change.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford.

This is the second of a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, Presented by Nuala McGovern

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College Oxford.

Searching for equality in Space

This is the second of a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, presented by Nuala McGovern, produced by Julian Siddle.

While industry and power production are often singled out as the main drivers of climate change, the global meat production industry is a bigger polluter.

In the US preventable heart disease is the largest cause of death, eating too much meat is a major contributing factor.

And worldwide agricultural lands are sown with enough crops that no one need go hungry – but much of this is fed to animals rather than people.

Veganism advocate Gary Francione and Nutritionist Ron Weiss join Nuala McGovern to discuss the pros and cons of veganism.

While it might make sense from an ethical and climate change perspective, it's a massive cultural leap for many. We ask whether veganism could really be useful in places where food might not be readily available. And answer concerns over whether a non meat diet can provide adequate nutrition.

This is the third in a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, presented by Nuala McGovern. The Producer is Julian Siddle.

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College Oxford.

Gary Francione is a writer on animal rights and professor of law at Rutgers University.

Dr Ron Weiss is a physician, farmer and founder of Ethos Primary Care, a farm-based healthcare system.

What would it take for you to give up meat?

AI researcher Kerry McInerney applies a feminist perspective to data, algorithms and intelligent machines. AI-powered tech, and generative AI in particular, pose new challenges for cybersecurity. Kerry proposes a new take on AI, looking at how it can be used on a small scale, acknowledging culture and gender, tailoring the technology for local applications rather than trying to push for global, one size fits all strategies.

And in addressing corporate responsibility for Big Tech, Kerry discusses how tackling harassment online requires an understanding of the social, political and psychological dimensions of harassment, particularly of women in the wider world, as opposed to seeing this as a technical problem.

Dr Kerry McInerney is a research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge, and the AI Now Institute.

This is the last of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, presented by Nuala McGovern, produced by Julian Siddle.

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College Oxford.

From deepfakes to the fear of AI taking jobs, our technology dominated world is in a crisis – what are the solutions? AI researcher Kerry McInerney talks to Nuala McGovern.

Can Feminism fix the internet ?

Veganism advocate Gary Francione and nutritionist Ron Weiss join Nuala McGovern to discuss the pros and cons of veganism. While it might make sense from an ethical and climate change perspective, it's a massive cultural leap for many. We ask whether veganism could really be useful in places where food might not be readily available, and answer concerns over whether a non-meat diet can provide adequate nutrition.

This is the third in a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, presented by Nuala McGovern. The Producer is Julian Siddle.

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College Oxford.

Gary Francione is a writer on animal rights and professor of law at Rutgers University, and Dr Ron Weiss is a physician, farmer and founder of Ethos Primary Care, a farm-based healthcare system.

What would it take for you to give up meat?

What would it take for you to give up meat? Veganism advocate Gary Francione and nutritionist Ron Weiss join Nuala McGovern to discuss the pros and cons of going vegan.

In the last few years, medical advances have led to treatments that really do offer the potential to tackle life-threatening cancers and debilitating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

In discussion with Nuala McGovern, Venki also explores the questions such treatments raise. Initially, they will be expensive, and we already have a global society in which there is a direct link between life expectancy and affluence; will access to these treatments, or lack of it, increase that disparity?

And although your incurable disease may now be cured, what about the rest of your quality of life? Can the planet support an increasingly needy older and older generation? Does trying to live longer become a selfish act?

Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan heads a research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

This is the first in a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, presented by Nuala McGovern and produced by Julian Siddle.

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College, Oxford.

The dilemmas caused by treatments that could tackle some of our most serious illnesses

In conversation with Nuala McGovern, she argues that different perspectives are essential for moving the science forward. One of these is a more global, inclusive vision to exploring the cosmos. India and China have prestigious space programmes, and the low-key space missions of Japan and South Africa collaborate with international partners from around the world. We discuss how global enthusiasm for space research can be used to propel change.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell is professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford.

This is the second of a series of four programmes from the Oxford Literary Festival, presented by Nuala McGovern, produced by Julian Siddle.

Recorded in front of an audience at Worcester College Oxford.

Why a celebrated astrophysicist believes space research needs a new approach

One of the world's most celebrated astrophysicists, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, argues space research needs a new approach.

Following the death of Pope Francis, Edward Stourton looks at the life and legacy of the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide. He was elected at a time of crisis for his Church, but quickly transformed its reputation. He urged Christians to be less judgemental and more welcoming of gay and divorced people. And as the first Pope from the Global South, he put the poor at the heart of the Church's mission, speaking up for migrants and refugees and those worst hit by the impact of climate change. Edward Stourton speaks to people inside and outside the Catholic Church - including those who worked closely with him.

Following the death of Pope Francis, Edward Stourton explores his life and legacy.

[LISTEN NOW]

Women and girls make up 60% of the world's food insecure - yet they are also at the frontline of feeding their communities.

In southern Madagascar, forests no longer cast shade over the villages of Androy. Once celebrated as the “Green Island ? for its extraordinary biodiversity, Madagascar is now known as the “Red Island ?, its deep red soil exposed by decades of deforestation, drought and environmental collapse. The land has turned to dust, harvests have failed and famine has followed.

Lying off the south-eastern coast of Africa, Madagascar has been pushed into crisis by a deadly combination of climate change, poverty and environmental degradation. In 2021, more than 1.6 million people faced acute food insecurity, while nearly half of all children under five were chronically malnourished. Rainfall has become increasingly unpredictable, and when it does arrive it often comes as destructive cyclones, wiping out entire seasons of crops. Today, Madagascar is one of the most food insecure countries in the world.

Women and children are the most vulnerable, despite the fact that women produce around 80% of the country's food yet own less than 10% of the land.

Journalist Georgie Styles travels from the war-like scenes and dust-choked streets of Ambovombe, the capital of the Androy region, to the windswept farms of the Tsimananada commune. Along the way, she meets women from across Madagascar who are defying famine and patriarchal norms, experimenting with agro-ecological farming and adapting to a rapidly changing climate, determined not just to survive, but to reclaim their land and their future.

Produced and Presented by Georgie Styles

Sound Design and Mix by Rowan Bishop

A 2 Degree's West Production for BBC World Service

Women in Madagascar defy patriarchal norms and use 'Agro-ecology' to feed communities.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

In Argentina, cloning polo horses is transforming the sport. There are big companies, big profits and big ambitions. Against the backdrop of the Argentine Open, (the crown jewel of the Polo season,) presenter Marnie Chesterton talks to scientists and key figures in this tale of how cloning conquered Polo, and where the genetic interventions are heading.

(Photo: Before the start of the Triple Crown match, teams present their cloned horses during a ceremony dedicated to Cuartetera, the most important mare in the history of polo, 18 November, 2023. Credit: Sebastián López Brach/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Presenter: Kobby Spiky

Producer: Kurt Brookes and David Nuttall

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Kobby Spiky. Credit: IKON Photography GH)

Kobby Spiky explores the challenges for gamers and developers in Africa

In this documentary, host Kobby Spiky Nkrumah explores both the challenges and opportunities everyday gamers and developers run into on the African continent; from a lack of native servers to a boom in mobile gaming. As with every part of the world, gaming as a pastime has increased in popularity in Africa but are gamers being left behind by big name companies from Europe, Japan and the United States? And how do African developers plan to fill these gaps in the market.

Kobby Spiky Nkrumah explores the challenges for gamers and developers in Africa.

To mark two years of the war in Gaza, our correspondents bring you this special episode of the Global News Podcast from the BBC Bureau in Jerusalem. Jon Donnison is joined by our Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf, our International Editor Jeremy Bowen, and our Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell. They discuss the history of the conflict, their memories of the October 7th attacks, and respond to questions from BBC World Service listeners. As talk of a potential ceasefire brokered by the US President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dominates the news agenda, we look back at the impact this war has had on people living in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

(Photo: Smoke rises at the Harmony Tower following an Israeli airstrike in the west of Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 10 September 2025. Credit: Mohamed Saber/EPA/Shutterstock)

A special episode to reflect on the war in Gaza and the future of the Middle East

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC Middle East correspondents reflect on the war in Gaza and answer listeners' questions as we approach the second anniversary of the 7 October attacks.

[LISTEN NOW]

The Gaza diaries was produced by Haya Al Badarneh, Lara Elgebaly, Mamdouh Akbiek Mohammad Shalaby and Mary O'Reilly.

The editors were Rebecca Henschke and Simon Cox and it was mixed by Graham Puddifoot.

A BBC Arabic investigations production for the BBC World Service.

Telling a story of immense loss and resilience in a worsening humanitarian crisis

After talks in Germany on government spending collapsed, chancellor Olaf Scholz was forced to dissolve his coalition and call for snap elections, to be held on 23 February. The new chancellor looks like a foregone conclusion - opposition leader Friedrich Merz. But there is so much more at stake in these elections than the next few years in the chancellor's seat.

The bigger question is what this vote will tell us about Germany's post-war political 'firewall' against anti-democratic parties. Germany has long resisted the influence of the far-right and left in their coalitions, but as politics around the world realigns, could Germany's famously staid political culture be about to get a whole lot less boring overnight? Jeremy Cliffe goes to Ludwigshafen to find out.

Producer: Jeanny Gering

Executive producer: Robert Nicholson

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service

(Photo: A flag reading 'No neighbourhood for racism' is mounted on a canoe during a protest against right-wing extremism on the Rhine river, Cologne, Germany. Credit: Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters)

In the run up to Germany's snap general elections Jeremy Cliffe goes to Ludwigshafen

In the run up to Germany's snap general elections Jeremy Cliffe goes to Ludwigshafen, a symbol of Germany's economic woes.

Germans head to the ballot box on February 23rd to decide the new national government. In Ludwigshafen, a Rhineland city that is emblematic of the sudden economic shocks battering the nation's industrial heartlands, ordinary Germans are questioning their loyalty to mainstream parties. Jeremy Cliffe meets local leaders and voters to see whether the populists who have been surging in the east can expect similar results here on the back of profound economic discontent.

[LISTEN NOW]

On the outskirts of Hamburg, Dr Gerald Koch is surrounded by wooden objects - chairs, board games, paint brushes - ready for inspection. His team of scientists at the Thünen Institute of Wood Research are known as the timber detectives. They spend their days putting wood samples under the microscope to find out where they have come from, and if they are suspect.

Berlin-based environmental journalist Becca Warner explores the ongoing problem of illegal deforestation.

Why is it proving so hard to tackle, despite tightening EU regulations? What are the consequences for those living in Papua New Guinea, where much of this timber originates? And what makes this group of German scientists so important in the battle to protect the world's forests?

Presenter: Becca Warner

Producer: Tom Pooley

A 4 Kicks production for BBC World Service

Image: Gerald Koch and Becca Warner inspect timber samples (Credit: Tom Pooley)

A group of German scientists tackling illegal deforestation

Becca Warner meets Dr Gerald Koch, who heads a group of scientists in Germany trying to tackle illegal deforestation. How much danger are the world's forests facing?

Why have deforestation rates increased over the past decade despite tougher regulations?

[LISTEN NOW]

Qarabag FK is not only a refugee football club but also the most successful team in Azerbaijan. Located in Baku, they originally hail from the 'ghost' city of Aghdam, in the Nagorno Karabakh region of the South Caucasus. When a war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the late 1980s, Armenian forces seized Nagorno Karabakh - a disputed territory that both countries claim - and laid waste to Aghdam.

The club relocated to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku and rebuilt. But after the second Nagorno Karabakh war, which Azerbaijan won, the government has begun to rebuild Aghdam at breakneck speed. The centre-piece will be Qarabag's regenerated former stadium. The football club is a symbol of an Azerbaijani return to lands the government describes as 'unlawfully stolen'.

But as one team returns, another has been forced out. Lernayin Artsakh FC was based in Stepanakert. As Azeri troops bore down on the city in September 2023, its players, officials and families fled for Armenia, an act that the Armenian government called 'ethnic cleansing'. The team is now based in Armenia, playing in the second division.

James Montague travels to Nagorno Karabakh to visit the two refugee football clubs who once played in the same league but who have come to represent division and displacement in the region.

Presenter: James Montague

Producer and Sound Mix: Ben Wyatt

A Comuniqe production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: A 'no football' sign at a minefield in Nagorno Karabakh. Credit: James Montague)

The story of two refugee football clubs who once played in the same Soviet league.

[LISTEN NOW]

Greenlandic parents across Denmark are fighting to be reunited with their children who were taken into care after authorities used ‘parenting competency tests' as part of assessments to judge their ability to raise them. After banning the tests for use on Greenlandic people, the Danish government has now pledged to review around 300 cases where a child was forcibly removed from their parents. The World Service's global health reporter Sofia Bettiza hears from those who argue what happened to them was cruel and unjust . She speaks to a Greenlandic mother and father who can't visit their son anymore because he's been adopted by another family. The programme explores what these parenting competency tests are and why they were used in the first place. The Danish politician in charge of the review explains how their court system gets involved in making custody decisions and why it won't be possible or appropriate to return every Greenlandic child to their biological parents.

The Greenlandic parents fighting for the return of their children.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Off the coast of Java, Indonesia, lies G-Land, one of the world's most legendary surf breaks, framed by dense forest that was once home to the now-extinct Javan tiger. Alas Purwo (which literally means “Ancient Forest ? or “First Forest ? in Javanese) is considered one of the most mystical places in Java, with deep ties to Javanese spirituality and legend.

Despite Java being one of the most crowded islands on Earth, this sacred jungle has remained largely untouched. In the 1970s, surfer Bobby Radiasa arrived from neighbouring Bali to visit American surfers who had set up a remote base there, hammocks and tree houses, what some say is the world's first surf camp. It is a camp Bobby Radiasa still runs today. He discovered both myth and magic in its waves and shares the extraordinary story of how surfing transformed his life, and how surfing and tourism changed his home Kuta, Bali, so it is now unrecognisable from his youth.

The program also features an interview with Jim Banks, an Australian surfing legend known as a pioneer of big wave surfing and amongst the first group of surfers that arrived in Bali and later to G-land.

Producer: Rebecca Henschke and Dave Arnold

(Photo: Bobby Radiasa at G-land. Credit: Dave Arnold)

G-land where spiritual beliefs protect waves and jungle of myth and legend

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Off the coast of Java lies G-Land, one of the world's most legendary surf breaks, framed by a forest and thought to belong to spirits, according to

ancient Javanese beliefs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Frank McWeeny heads to the dancefloors of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to uncover what Vietnamese alternative culture looks and sounds like today. With 70% of the country under 35, young people are the driving force behind a different image of Vietnam, far away from poverty and war. They are asserting their identity through music, fashion and their own take on traditional values. They are changing perceptions of what it means to be Vietnamese in 2025.

We hear from DIY music collective Dismal, forward-thinking underground club The Observatory, and members of the nightlife and fashion scenes.

Producer/presenter: Frank McWeeny

Editor: Susan Marling

A Just Radio production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Dismal party in Saigon. Credit: io lart)

What does Vietnamese alternative culture looks and sounds like today?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Frank McWeeny heads to the dancefloors of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to uncover what Vietnamese alternative culture looks and sounds like today. With 70% of the population under 35, young people are the driving force behind a different image of the country, far away from poverty and war. They are asserting their identity through music, fashion and their own take on traditional values. Changing perceptions of what it means to be Vietnamese in 2025...

[LISTEN NOW]

Presenter/producer: Frank McWeeny

A Just Radio production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Bassiani club main room. Credit: She Raptor)

The underground music scene fighting against a clampdown in Georgia's capital Tbilisi

In Georgia's capital Tbilisi, the underground music scene is fighting against a clampdown.

But there is hope. An international community of scientists is experimenting with different techniques to try to halt the spread of TR4 whether that's through gene-editing, selective breeding or injecting microbes into the soil.

Presenter Harry Wallop travels to Austria where nuclear scientists are blasting banana plants with radiation to try and create disease-resistant strains of the Cavendish banana. He also samples alternative varieties of banana that might replace it.

Producer: Robin Markwell

(Photo: Banana counter in supermarket)

A killer fungus known as Tropical Race 4 is ravaging banana plantations worldwide

A killer fungus known as Tropical Race 4, or TR4, is ravaging banana plantations worldwide. What can be done to save this much-loved fruit?

The world's most popular banana is under threat. A killer fungus is ravaging plantations of the Cavendish banana worldwide. It travels through the soil at lightning speed and chokes the banana plant so its leaves shrivel up and die. The disease is known as Tropical Race 4, or TR4 for short, and it has spread across the globe from Australia, to the Philippines, Pakistan and Mozambique. Now TR4 is widespread across Latin America. In Colombia, where 30,000 people are employed in banana plantations, the government declared a state of national emergency when the fungus first arrived on farms in 2019. Some experts predict that the Cavendish banana may cease to exist as early as 2050.

The world's most popular banana is under threat. A killer fungus is ravaging plantations of the Cavendish banana worldwide. It travels through the soil at lightning speed and chokes the banana plant so its leaves shrivel up and die. The disease is known as Tropical Race 4 – or TR4 for short - and it has spread across the globe from Australia, to the Philippines, Pakistan and Mozambique. Now TR4 is widespread across Latin America. In Colombia – where thirty thousand people are employed in banana plantations – the government declared a state of national emergency when the fungus first arrived on farms in 2019. Some experts have predicted that the Cavendish banana may cease to exist as early as 2050.

In Going Bananas we visit towns that have become deserted after plantations were forced to close and hear from some of the Colombian banana producers whose lives have been turned upside down. But there is hope. An international community of scientists is experimenting with different techniques to try to halt the spread of TR4 whether that's through gene-editing, selective breeding or injecting microbes into the soil.

Presenter Harry Wallop travels to Austria where nuclear scientists are blasting banana plants with radiation to try and create and disease-resistant strains of the Cavendish banana. But should the much-loved Cavendish banana cease to be – he'll also sample alternative varieties of banana that might replace it. Many look very different to the classic, curvy, yellow Cavendish. Harry will unpeel the truth facing one of the world's most popular fruits.

A killer fungus is ravaging banana plantations worldwide. So can the banana be saved?

Yet the Saudi government has plans to go much bigger still: by 2030, they want 30 million pilgrims a year to take part in the Hajj and Umrah, an optional version of the pilgrimage at other times of year. That's a full 10 million more than before the pandemic.

In this documentary, Zubeida Malik asks what the Saudi authorities, local groups and campaigners, religious scholars and the pilgrims themselves can do to reduce the environmental footprint of one of the largest religious gatherings on the planet.

She hears from people on the ground in Mecca how the government's environmental aims for the Hajj are being put into practice. And she talks to stakeholders around globe: considering that it's incumbent upon every Muslim who is physically and financially able to do the Hajj once in their lifetime, what role can Muslim pressure groups and even individuals play in greening the Hajj? And in the age of virtual reality, could there be an even more radical solution?

What can Muslims do to reduce the enormous carbon footprint of the pilgrimage to Mecca?

New Zealand citizens - particularly young professionals and graduates - are leaving the country in record numbers with many not intending to come back. Most are heading to Australia, lured by better job opportunities and higher wages. However, there was overall a net migration gain, with migrant arrivals from India the largest group, followed by the Philippines and China. What will this 'brain drain' and rapidly changing demographics mean for the country's future?

What will New Zealand's rapidly changing demographics mean for the country's future?

[LISTEN NOW]

She examines the historical inequalities in the diagnosis and treatment of women, particularly in the area of heart disease. There is an abiding myth that men are much more likely to suffer heart attacks than women, but heart disease is the number one killer of women in the US, and the British Heart Foundation estimates that nearly 10,000 British women would still be alive over the last decade alone had they received the same quality of care as men. This is a global problem.

Dr Zoe Williams is a general practitioner in the NHS. She's also the resident doctor on ITV's This Morning and a regular expert on the BBC's The One Show.

Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith

Executive producer: Susan Marling

Dr Zoe Williams examines historical inequalities in the diagnosis and treatment of women

Dr Zoe Williams talks to medical experts around the world as she investigates how and why the care of women has been so neglected, and what moves are afoot to change that.

Women's bodies have historically been treated as if they were the same as men's. But there's an increasing awareness that women's bodies are very different from those of men, even down to a cellular level. Drugs are tested primarily on men, diagnostic tools refer most often to men and even after diagnosis, women are treated by the medical profession very differently. As a result women are suffering and even dying unnecessarily.

His and Hers Medicine examines the historical inequalities in the diagnosis and treatment of women particularly in the area of heart disease. One of the abiding myths is that men are much more likely to suffer heart attacks than women. In fact heart disease is the number one killer of women in the US and the British Heart Foundation estimates that had they received the same quality of care as men, nearly 10,000 British women would still be alive over the last decade alone. And this is a global problem.

Women are dying because the medical profession treats them like men. With Dr Zoe Williams

India is revolutionising its approach to space exploration. To find out why, science journalist Alok Jha follows preparations for the country's first human spaceflight mission.

For decades, India focused its space programme on limited, inexpensive projects directly benefiting its citizens, such as weather satellites and communications networks. But in recent years, the country earned global recognition with a series of audacious exploratory missions – sending probes to the lunar south pole and Mars. Now, the most ambitious mission yet is underway: India will send humans into space.

Alok Jha speaks to people at the heart of this radical shift to understand how it is happening and what's driving it. Dr Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) takes us inside the room where it all began, a high-stakes one-to-one meeting with the prime minister of the time. We relive tense moments of ISRO's famous Mars mission with its Science Director, Dr Seetha Somasundaram. Indian-American astronaut Anil Menon counts down to his own launch. We visit India's leading rocket company to witness a start-up boom.

Alongside all the excitement, there are also important questions. Why has India decided to channel so much effort and investment into space exploration? What benefits will it bring to the population? And is ISRO being transparent about its failures, as well as its amazing successes?

As India's historic human spaceflight launch approaches, Alok reflects on the hopes and fears driving not only this country's space programme, but the entire 21st-Century space age.

Presenter: Alok Jha

Producer: Dave Anderson

Editor: Anishka Sharma

(Photo: American-Indian Nasa astronaut Anil Menon going through training. Credit 'Nasa Johnson')

India is undertaking a space revolution. Journalist Alok Jha finds out why

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

India is revolutionising its approach to space exploration. To find out why, journalist Alok Jha follows preparations for the country's first human spaceflight mission.

Science journalist Alok Jha speaks to people at the heart of this radical shift to understand how it's happening and what's driving it. Dr Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) takes us inside the room where it all began, a high-stakes one-to-one meeting with the prime minister of the time. We relive tense moments of ISRO's famous Mars mission with its Science Director, Dr Seetha Somasundaram. Indian-American astronaut Anil Menon counts down to his own launch. We visit India's leading rocket company to witness a start-up boom.

[LISTEN NOW]

In April 2026, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban faces fresh parliamentary elections. He has been in power since 2010, and his party's grip on the Hungarian media and civil society means many felt his place in office was permanently secure. However, discontent over allegations of corruption and his brand of 'illiberal democracy' has been growing, led by a new challenger, Peter Magyar. His growing party, Tisza, has shown signs of being able to unite wide swathes of Hungary's disjointed opposition, and Orban is suddenly well behind in the polls.

Magyar himself is a former member member of Orban's party, Fidesz. He has promised to root out corruption and bring in term limits for future leaders. But questions remain over whether he can stably maintain a wide anti-Orban coalition, and about what a Magyar government would really look like.

Nick Thorpe travels across Hungary meeting activists and voters mobilising for the contest.

Producer: Artemis Irvine

A Whistledown Production for the BBC World Service

Can opposition leader Peter Magyar challenge Viktor Orban?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Can Peter Magyar and his party, Tisza, challenge Viktor Orban's dominance of Hungarian politics?

[LISTEN NOW]

After years of Chinese investment in Africa, the West is fighting back. Through the Lobito Corridor project, the US and European countries are investing billions in Angola's Benguela Railway, which runs from southern Africa's interior to Angola's Atlantic coast. The aim is to build a quick and reliable supply chain to export African minerals to the West. These minerals power the chips in all our gadgets, so they are pivotal in the US's tussle with China. Plus, the project promises huge economic gains for Angola. Marcia Veiga takes the train to find out if ordinary Angolans will benefit, or if it is another case of foreign powers extracting African resources for their own gain.

(Photo: Train between Lobito and Benguela in Angola. Credit: Wolfgang Kaehler/Getty Images)

Will the US-led Lobito Corridor project deliver a brighter future for Angola?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Will the US-led Lobito Corridor project deliver a brighter future for Angola? Or, is it another case of foreign powers extracting Africa's resources?

After years of Chinese investment in Africa, the West is fighting back. Through the ‘Lobito Corridor' project, the US and EU are investing billions in Angola's Benguela Railway, which runs from southern Africa's interior to Angola's Atlantic coast. The aim is to build a quick and reliable supply chain to export African minerals to the West. These minerals power the chips in all our gadgets, so they're pivotal in the US' tussle with China. Plus, the project promises huge economic gains for Angola. Marcia Veiga takes the train to find out if ordinary Angolans will benefit, or if it's another case of foreign powers extracting African resources for their own gain.

[LISTEN NOW]

Assam based film-maker Brishbhanu Baruah assesses how much progress is being made as he meets those who have survived TB, people treating patients, policymakers and campaigners determined to end the stigma associated with having the disease, one of the main roadblocks to eradication.

Producer: Kurt Brookes

A Made In Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and BJP MP Anurag Thakur during a cricket match at the TB (tuberculosis) Free India Summit-2019. Credit: Manoj Verma/Getty Images)

In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a target to eradicate TB by 2025

In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set an ambitious target - to rid his country of tuberculosis (TB) by 2025. Will he succeed?

In 2018, India set itself a target to eradicate Tuberculosis (TB), a potentially deadly infectious respiratory disease, by 2025.

A year before their self-imposed deadline, Bhakti Jain investigates how and if a country with nearly 1.5 billion citizens and the world's highest number of TB sufferers can make this a reality.

We look at what it takes for girls in Northern India to become wrestling heroines

As Americans prepare for another presidential race where immigration is likely to figure high again on the agenda, Mike Lanchin travels to the state of Maryland, to hear about the lives of some of its large undocumented Latino population.

Maria is a single mother from El Salvador, who gets up at 5am for work, but has no holiday or sick pay, and never knows from one day to the next if she will have a job. Her younger sister, Delmi, tells Mike how she has been using false papers to get work since arriving last year. She worries that she, her partner and their four-year-old son will have to move constantly to avoid deportation. And we hear from Toño who came to the US as an unaccompanied minor but now has a temporary work permit, although his wife is still classed as undocumented despite working and paying US taxes for almost two decades.

Presenter/producer: Mike Lanchin

Editor: Kristine Pommert

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

[LISTEN NOW]

One of the first executive orders that President Donald Trump signed in his second term of office stated that being transgender is incompatible with the ‘rigorous standards necessary for military service'. It set the stage for a ban on trans people serving in the military, regardless of ability, rank or service history. Official figures say there are 4,240 transgender service members in the US armed forces, however research commissioned by the US Defense Department in 2016 estimated there could be up to around 10,000.

Over the past four months the BBC has been following the stories of two trans service people as the executive order took effect. Both have served 17 years in the military, and are now facing the threat of a dishonourable discharge.

Archive sources: NBC News, FOX News, CBS News, CNN, Chicks on the Right, Newsmax, 9 News, WKYC, ABC News, US Army's School of Advanced Military Studies

As the US bans trans people from military service, two officers reveal the personal cost

As the US Defense Department moves to ban transgender service members and a legal battle unfolds, two trans officers open up about what is at stake for them.

[LISTEN NOW]

But behind the perfectly curated posts is a story of witchcraft, sexual exploitation and human trafficking; a dark and secretive sorority that led to missing women and sent their families and the FBI on a desperate search to find them.

After months of investigations, a team from BBC Eye and BBC News Brasil uncover a wellness empire built on half-truths and lies. For the documentary Hannah Price tells the story of her enslaved followers and the heavy price they paid. And for the first time - in a surreal confrontation behind the walls of a Brazilian prison - we hear from the self-proclaimed “guru ? who exerted absolute control.

How former Brazilian model and wellness influencer Kat Torres enslaved her followers

Former Brazilian model, wellness influencer and spiritual life coach Kat Torres and her story of witchcraft, sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Most of the fishermen have been waiting in the UK for more than 10 years for their case to be heard. Despite two extensive police investigations, no convictions have been secured for human trafficking or modern slavery. This is the first time the fishermen have spoken out.

Reporter/producer: Monica Whitlock

Sound: Tom Brignell

Music: Jon Nicholls

The fishermen who say they were mistreated by a Scottish fishing company speak out

Fishermen from the Philippines, Ghana and Sri Lanka speak out for the first time about how badly, they say, they were treated by a Scottish fishing company.

What's next for Iran's nuclear ambitions? We put your questions to BBC experts

[LISTEN NOW]

There is virtually no state provision for victims of domestic abuse in Iraq. As a result, Iraqi women have been left to protect and support each other, organising secret shelters for survivors and trying to assemble health and legal support for victims.

From inside one of the secret shelters, 22-year-old ‘Mariam' tells the BBC's Rebecca Kesby about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband and his relatives. “For the first time ever, I now feel I have a real family, ? Miriam says of life in the refuge.

Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed, who set up the first known women's safe house in Baghdad in 2003, tells Rebecca how her work has led to death threats and law suits, forcing her into hiding.

Rebecca also speaks to a former member of the Iraqi parliament who has tried in vain to force a change in the law to criminalise domestic violence, and to a policewoman who is struggling on a daily basis to contain the rising violence in the home.

Presenter/producer: Rebecca Kesby

Editor: Mike Lanchin

CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: An artwork of stitched clothes from women who survived domestic violence by artist Tara Abdallah stretches over 5km on a major street in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, 26 October 2020. Credit: Shwan Mohammed/AFP/Getty Images)

The dangerous and secretive work of the Iraqi women helping victims of domestic violence

The BBC's Rebecca Kesby has been given unprecedented access to some of the women running these clandestine refuges in major Iraqi cities, as well as to some of the survivors now able to live in a safer environment.

From inside one of the secret shelters, 22-year-old ‘Mariam' tells Rebecca about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband and his relatives. “For the first time ever, I now feel I have a real family ? Miriam says of life in the refuge.

“I was told that if I don't stop this work, I will be killed right away. ?

Presenter and producer: Rebecca Kesby

[LISTEN NOW]

What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans Unrwa, the United Nations agency that provides vital aid and essential services to millions of refugees in Gaza and the West Bank? The proposals have drawn widespread condemnation and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israeli politicians have accused Unrwa staff of taking part in the October 7 2023 attacks alongside Hamas, and have designated it a terror group. We visit refugee camps across the occupied territories to hear about the role Unrwa plays in education, health, and emergency food aid, and people's despair about the prospect of it disappearing. The agency's services and dependents have mushroomed over the last 75 years – we look at its origins and why it has long been controversial in Israel. Plus, an Israeli MP, who tells us Unrwa must go, says that his country will not stand by and see Palestinians suffer, but what, if anything, is capable of replacing the organisation?

Presenter: Reda El Mawy

Producers: Simon Tulett and Ziad Ghandour

What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans Unrwa, the UN agency that provides aid?

What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans UNRWA, the UN agency that provides vital aid and essential services to millions of refugees in Gaza and the West Bank? The proposals have drawn widespread condemnation and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israeli politicians have accused UNRWA staff of taking part in the October 7 attacks alongside Hamas, and have designated it a terror group. We visit refugee camps across the occupied territories to hear about the role UNRWA plays in education, health, and emergency food aid, and people's despair about the prospect of it disappearing. The agency's services and dependents have mushroomed over the last 75 years – we look at its origins and why it has long been controversial in Israel. Plus, an Israeli MP, who tells us UNRWA must go, says that his country will not stand by and see Palestinians suffer, but what, if anything, is capable of replacing the organisation?

[LISTEN NOW]

What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans Unwra, the United Nations agency that provides vital aid and essential services to millions of refugees in Gaza and the West Bank? The proposals have drawn widespread condemnation and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israeli politicians have accused Unrwa staff of taking part in the October 7 2023 attacks alongside Hamas, and have designated it a terror group. We visit refugee camps across the occupied territories to hear about the role Unrwa plays in education, health, and emergency food aid, and people's despair about the prospect of it disappearing. The agency's services and dependents have mushroomed over the last 75 years – we look at its origins and why it has long been controversial in Israel. Plus, an Israeli MP, who tells us Unrwa must go, says that his country will not stand by and see Palestinians suffer, but what, if anything, is capable of replacing the organisation?

Presenter: Reda El Mawy

Producers: Simon Tulett and Ziad Ghandour

What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans Unwra, the UN agency that provides aid?

What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans Unwra, the UN agency that provides vital aid and essential services to millions of refugees in Gaza and the West Bank? The proposals have drawn widespread condemnation and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israeli politicians have accused UNRWA staff of taking part in the October 7 attacks alongside Hamas, and have designated it a terror group. We visit refugee camps across the occupied territories to hear about the role UNRWA plays in education, health, and emergency food aid, and people's despair about the prospect of it disappearing. The agency's services and dependents have mushroomed over the last 75 years – we look at its origins and why it has long been controversial in Israel. Plus, an Israeli MP, who tells us UNRWA must go, says that his country will not stand by and see Palestinians suffer, but what, if anything, is capable of replacing the organisation?

(Photo: A young man carries an aid box distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unwra), amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 4 November 2024. Credit: Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

[LISTEN NOW]

Our team of BBC experts explain the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, after India launches missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Meanwhile, Pakistan says five Indian jets were downed.

(Photo: Pakistani security officials inspect the site of an alleged Indian drone strike in Karachi, Pakistan, 08 May 2025. Credit: Rehan Khan/EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock)

Why are tensions escalating between India and Pakistan over Kashmir? Our experts explain

Why are tensions escalating between India and Pakistan? Our BBC experts answer your questions, after India launches missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

[LISTEN NOW]

For Word Radio Day 2026, we visit WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky, one of many small community radio station in the US threatened by cuts to government funding. At a moment when news has become increasingly polarised, these stations are ever more needed, often providing communities with their only source of essential information and emergency warnings.

WMMT was founded in 1985 with a mission to “be a voice of mountain people's music, culture and social issues. ? Known to listeners as 'Possum Radio' or 'Real People Radio,' WMMT broadcasts to the coalfield communities of southern Kentucky and neighbouring states, home to mostly poor, white Appalachian people whose voices are among the least heard in the United States. Reaching out beyond the local area, the popular weekly program Calls From Home broadcasts messages from family and friends to a large incarcerated population from across the United States in nine regional federal prison complexes, built in the late 90s as a band-aid 'solution' to the decline in mining jobs. 

WMMT also acts as a communications safety net when cell towers, telephone lines and the internet go down during increasingly severe natural disasters. Powered by volunteer DJs and at best a skeleton crew of paid staff, WMMT currently has only one full-time employee, station manager Jared Henderson, who is scrambling to raise funds to keep it on the air. At this critical moment in America's history, could the common ground of traditional local culture help to bridge America's gaping political divide?

Presenter: Maria Margaronis

Producer David Goren

A Storyscape production for BBC World Service

The radio station in Kentucky reaching some of the least heard communities in America

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Over the past year, BBC Eye has documented life in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, helping to capture the deeply personal stories of those living under the continuing shadow of war. Just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, this Russian-speaking city has sustained some of the heaviest attacks of the war.

Reporter Albina Kovalyova follows the stories of people who have nevertheless chosen to continue to live in Kharkiv. One, Adela Knapova, a writer from the Czech Republic who unexpectedly found love during a visit to this frontline city last year - and who uprooted her life in Prague to move to Ukraine to be with him. He is an artist from Kharkiv, Konstantin Zorkin, who describes his belief in the transformative power of art and love.

These personal stories of love and life are intercut with the violence Russia continues to unleash on this city of over a million people. And they are set against a shifting geopolitical backdrop, of ultimatums and recriminations and talks, as all the while the attacks on Kharkiv and Ukraine continue.

Presenter/reporter: Albina Kovalyova

Producer: Louise Hidalgo

Editor: Rebecca Henschke

Executive producer: Michael Simkin

(Photo: Adela and Konstantin. Credit: Konstantin Zorkin)

Why one woman chose to live under fire in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv for love.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

The story of two women, one, Adela Knapova, who gave up her life in Prague for love to live in one of the most bombed cities in Ukraine.

Reporter Albina Kovalyova follows the stories of people who have nevertheless chosen to continue to live in Kharkiv. One, a writer from the Czech Republic who unexpectedly found love during a visit to this frontline city last year – and who uprooted her life in Prague to move to Ukraine to be with him. He's an artist from Kharkiv, Konstantin Zorkin, who describes his belief in the transformative power of art and love.

Image: Adela and Konstantin (Credit: Konstantin Zorkin)

What would you do for love? BBC Eye follows the story of two women, one a Czech writer who gave up her life in Prague for love to live in one of the most bombed cities in Ukraine

[LISTEN NOW]

Ballet, a centuries-old form of European dance, is flourishing in one of Africa's largest informal settlements. In Kibera, Kenya, we follow the Kibra Ballerinas as they prepare for their biggest performance yet. Amid the pirouettes, jumps and lifts, Carolyne Kiambo discovers how ballet is helping these young Kenyans beyond the stage.

Follow aspiring young dancers from Kibera, Kenya

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Ballet, a centuries-old form of European dance, is flourishing in one of Africa's largest informal settlements. In Kibera, Kenya, we follow aspiring young dancers as they prepare for their biggest performance yet. Amid the pirouettes, jumps and lifts, Carolyne Kiambo discovers how ballet is helping these young Kenyans beyond the stage.

Presenter: Carolyne Kiambo

Producer: Sue Coryndon

Aspiring dancers in Kibera, Kenya, prepare for their biggest show yet

Aspiring dancers in Kibera, Kenya, prepare for their biggest show yet. Carolyne Kiambo discovers how ballet is helping these young Kenyans beyond the stage.

[LISTEN NOW]

With the 2026 Winter Olympics well under way in Italy, we look to the most powerful woman in sport - the International Olympics Committee president, Kirsty Coventry.

The most decorated African Olympian of all time, the 42-year-old mother-of-two made history as both the first African and the first woman to hold the title when she was elected last year.

Kirsty began swimming from an early age, in the family pool in Harare, Zimbabwe, where her mother gave swimming lessons to local children. Her talent was soon spotted, and she competed in her first Olympics at just aged 16, going on to compete in four more.

With seven Olympic medals and several World Records under her belt, she decided to take on a role at the International Olympic Committee, quickly climbing the ranks.

Her reign is being closely watched by both her supporters and her detractors - from the decisions she makes around Russian and transgender athletes being allowed to compete, to the challenge global warming creates for running the competition. So, as the Winter Olympics begin, Mark Coles examines how she got here.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Producers: Keiligh Baker and Katie Solleveld

Production co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Gemma Ashman

Sound engineer: James Beard

Editor: Justine Lang

How Kirsty Coventry made history as the first African and first woman president of the IOC

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Kirsty Coventry made history as the first African and first woman to become president of the IOC. Mark Coles looks at the life and career of the most decorated African Olympian.

[LISTEN NOW]

This programme examines the way the manual's authors came to their decisions, and looks at how different labels have been used to classify types of mental illness since the manual was first published in 1952. Controversially, homosexuality was classed as a mental illness by the DSM until the 1970s.

Advocates of DSM say labels help people take ownership of their situation and provide them with answers they've been looking for, treatments and social support. Critics think it creates stigma, medicalises normality, and leads to a glut of unnecessary and harmful drug prescriptions. Psychiatrist and former DSM IV author Professor Allen Frances talks of an 'epidemic' of over-diagnosis.

The programme looks at how attitudes to the DSM differ around the world, and how the manual has a powerful influence on research, pharmaceutical companies, insurance firms and legal systems.

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester Production for the BBC World Service.

How one manual has had a huge influence on the diagnosis of mental health conditions

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a manual used globally when diagnosing mental health conditions. How does it work, and how profound is its influence?

Norma Romero Vazquez guides us through the last 30 years since her and her sister first made the decision to help the passing migrants. Four generations of women work to cook implausible amounts of food in the kitchen of Las Patronas every day, and amid the sound of cooking and layers of female voices we unpack what this endeavour means to them.

We share the stories of those who are receiving the help. The migrants attempting to make the dangerous journey right now and find out what this oasis of calm and kindness in the midst of what can be a traumatic journey, truly means to them.

Producer: Mansi Vithlani and Becky Green

Executive producer: Ailsa Rochester

Sound designer: Craig Edmondson

An Audio Always production for BBC World Service

(Photo: The leader of Las Patronas, Norma Romero Vázquez, poses for a picture in Las Patronas town, Veracruz State, Mexico, 9 August, 2018. Credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

The women helping those clinging to the train that thunders through their Mexican village

In Las Patronas we hear the stories of the tight knit community of women who saw the rise of desperate humans clinging to the train that thunders through their village in Mexico, and instead of turning away gathered together to help. 30 years on from when they first threw a loaf of bread onto the infamously dangerous La Bestia train, we hear how a small act of kindness became a way of life. In this important election year, hearing from them how the world has changed from their perspective.

On the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Last Dance Floor in Chernobyl tells the untold stories from in and around the city: what life was like leading up to the meltdown, and life since, including the five weeks in 2022 when Russian armed forces occupied Chernobyl.

The stories are told through the fashion, music and relationships that young people found in Pripyat and the town's nightclub – ‘Edison 2'.

What has been forgotten is that the young people who survived the nuclear meltdown in April 1986 stayed to maintain the damaged power plant and keep it safe. They saw the fall of the Soviet Union and created new identities, until the Russian invasion once again turned their lives upside down.

These three events that changed the world are told in a very different way - through the people that were there.

Lipstick, love and loss: from boomtown to meltdown and occupation

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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Since humans have been on earth, the sky at night has caused many to gaze upwards in astonishment. Beyond its beauty, celestial navigation guided humans across the seas, forming new trade routes and civilisations. The constellations also signalled when winter or summer was approaching so people would know when to sow their crops.

But for decades, the night sky has been changing dramatically. Thousands of satellites now blink in amongst the stars and planets, doubling in number in the past few years largely due to the existence of companies like SpaceX. As objects continue to be launched into space with sparse environmental regulations in place, astrophotographer Monika Deviat asks: what do we stand to lose?

With contributions from astronomer Radmila Topalović, astronomy professor and knowledge holder of the Euahlayi nation Ghillar, behavioural ecologist Cecilia Nilsson and lighting project manager at the Sea Turtle Conservancy, Rachel Tighe.

Presenter: Monika Deviat

Producer: Sasha Edye-Lindner

A Reduced Listening production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Monika's self portrait with the rising Milky Way on a mountain ridge in Waterton Lakes National Park, an international Dark Sky Park in Alberta, Canada. Credit: Monika Deviat Photography)

The night sky holds so much power, why are we not fighting harder to protect it?

Astrophotographer Monika Deviat examines how the influx of satellites and light pollution is drastically altering our night skies and asks: why are we not fighting to protect it?

Since humans have been on earth, the sky at night has caused many to gaze upwards, open-mouthed in astonishment. Beyond its beauty, it has facilitated both the development and advancement of human and animal life on Earth. Celestial navigation guided humans across the seas, forming new trade routes and civilisations. The constellations also signalled when winter or summer was approaching so people would know when to sow their crops.

On location with Monika on the shores of Bow Lake in Banff National Park, Canada, we hear what the night sky has meant to Monika personally and why it needs protecting. With contributions from astronomer Radmila Topalović, astronomy professor and knowledge holder of the Euahlayi nation Ghillar, behavioural ecologist Cecilia Nilsson and lighting project manager at the Sea Turtle Conservancy Rachel Tighe.

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A historic trial is underway in Sweden: two European executives of a Swedish oil company are standing trial for aiding and abetting war crimes in South Sudan. In this programme, BBC Eye investigates how oil has transformed South Sudan: from violence to pollution, and now as climate change. George Tai is a South Sudanese human-rights lawyer who lost his family in the country's so-called “oil war, ? and who is speaking out on the toxic legacy oil exploration has left. He's had to flee the country after receiving death threats, but those who remain speak of other horrors. They say that present-day oil extraction is destroying the environment and causing babies to be born with birth defects.

BBC Eye investigates the legacy of oil in the northern states of South Sudan.

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The autonomous northeast region of Syria, once regarded as one of the most fertile areas in the country, is today struggling to find enough water to survive. More than a million people in Hasakah have been left with almost no drinking water, and what little water they have has to be brought in by tanker.

BBC Eye goes to Hasakah to investigate what lies behind this crisis. Namak Khoshnaw hears how, following Turkey's incursion into the region in 2019, a critical water station is barely functioning, and Turkey has bombed the power station that supplies it along with other infrastructure. Namak talks to local people about their daily struggle to survive and to the engineers and local officials desperately racing against time to find new sources of drinking water.

Presenter: Namak Khoshnaw

Producer: Rob Wilson

Editor: Rebecca Henschke

(Image: Composite image of women, waterpumps and dry, arid landscape)

Why the people of once-fertile, north-east Syria have almost no drinking water

BBC Eye investigates why the people of once-fertile, north-east Syria now have almost no drinking water and finds out who or what is to blame.

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Headphones and earbuds have experienced a phenomenal rise in popularity worldwide, transforming how people consume audio content and impacting various aspects of daily life.

Per Sennström, one of the creators of Swedish company Earin, shares insights into how wireless earbuds first came about and how the revolution in listening took hold so quickly.

From music, radio and podcasts to virtual meetings and workouts, headphones cater to a multitude of activities. The allure of high-quality sound, sleek designs, and wireless connectivity has led to their status as fashion accessories, often seen as a statement of personal style.

But increasing headphone use comes with its downsides. Social interactions and personal relationships are affected, as people often wear headphones throughout the day, creating a barrier to communication.

Meanwhile, there are safety concerns - from accidents in the street and transport to worries over the impact on our hearing and our capacity to experience boredom, which is essential for creativity and mental well-being.

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Henrique sits on a chair on Copacabana Beach, in Rio de Janeiro, wearing headphones. Credit: Constance Mallerat/Made in Manchester)

The impact of increasing headphone and earbud use on society, health, and culture

Headphones and earbuds have experienced a phenomenal rise in popularity worldwide, transforming not only how people consume audio content but also impacting various aspects of daily life. Per Sennström, the creator of Swedish company Earin shares insights into the creative thinking and how the revolution in listening took hold so quickly. From music, radio and podcasts to participating in virtual meetings and workouts, headphones cater to a multitude of activities. The allure of high-quality sound, sleek designs, and wireless connectivity has led to their status as fashion accessories, often seen as a statement of personal style.

But this surge in headphone use comes with its downsides. Social interactions and personal relationships are affected, as people often wear headphones throughout the day, creating a barrier to communication. This constant immersion in audio content can lead to a sense of isolation. Meanwhile, the safety concerns are significant. Prolonged exposure to high volumes can damage hearing, and there is evidence suggesting that noise-cancelling technology might impair our ability to hear specific sounds in noisy environments. Frequent headphone use may eventually alter the shape of our ears. Additionally, some experts suggest that the constant stimulation from audio content raises questions about our diminishing capacity to experience boredom, which is essential for creativity and mental well-being. Users from Brazil to Hong Kong are joined by audiologists and other experts from around the world as we assess the impact of living in a bubble—the headphone revolution.

Examining the impact of global headphone and earbud use on society, health, and culture

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Humans have spread to every corner of the globe, transforming ecosystems and reshaping landscapes. Is there anywhere left on Earth that is unaffected by humans? Anywhere we haven't changed – at all? Presenter Caroline Steel and producer Florian Bohr begin their mission to find No Man's Land.

(Photo: Tabular icebergs in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, 16 October 2018. Credit: Jefferson Beck/Nasa)

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Humans have spread to every corner of the globe, transforming ecosystems and reshaping landscapes. Is there anywhere left on Earth that is unaffected by humans? Anywhere we haven't changed – at all? Presenter Caroline Steel and producer Florian Bohr begin their mission to find No Man's Land... if it exists.

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A Whistledown Production.

How our changing world has decimated Kannuaj's centuries old attar industry

BBC health correspondent James Gallagher investigates how our noisy world is damaging our health.

He finds out why noise increases our risk of health problems, like heart attacks, sleep problems and anxiety, and can even affect how long we live.

James spends two days in Barcelona – one of the noisiest cities in Europe – to meet the people whose health is being ruined by noise and the scientists and doctors trying to solve the problem.

He also visits London to be experimented on in a lab to find out how noise changes the body, and hears from Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, one of the loudest places on the planet.

James discovers that even when we think we've tuned out loud noise it can still be damaging our health and why we all need to start paying attention to the noise around us.

Presenter: James Gallagher

Producer: Gerry Holt

Dhaka reporting: Salman Saeed

Content editor: Martin Smith

Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett- Holesworth

(Photo: A woman clasps her ears as she watches traffic rushing by. Credit: Getty Images)

How our noisy world is increasing health problems from heart attacks, to sleep and anxiety

James Gallagher investigates how our noisy world is increasing health problems from heart attacks, to sleep and anxiety.

How noise is affecting our health

BBC health journalist James Gallagher is on a mission to find out how noise is affecting our health. Yes, you heard it right – our health. We know things like air pollution and poor diet can hurt our health, but there is growing evidence that noise can be just as bad for our bodies, from poor sleep and heart disease, to stress and even how long we live. In this special programme, James visits some very loud places to find out what's going on and why – and what we can do about it.

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In China today, looking good is seen as key to career success. With beauty videos promoting extreme weight-loss flooding social media, beauty apps making booking surgery click of a button away, China's cosmetic surgery industry is booming.

But the surge in demand has led to a shortage of qualified practitioners and licensed clinics. Hundreds of accidents are happening inside Chinese clinics every day.

We talk to young women pressured into cosmetic procedures, and expose the surgeon behind one of China's most notorious botched surgeries.

Presenter: Natalia Zuo

Producer: Ly Truong

Editors: Rebecca Henschke and Monica Garnsey

Mixed by: Gareth Jones

BBC Eye investigates one of China's most notorious cases of botched cosmetic surgery

China's cosmetic surgery industry is booming, but the demand has led to a shortage of qualified practitioners. Hundreds of accidents are happening inside clinics every day.

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

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Life expectancy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, increased by 19 years ( from 46 to 65) in the 19 years from 2000 to 2019 - mostly due to reductions in mortality from HIV, TB and malaria. This is an astonishing achievement that should be celebrated. But what does this very rapid demographic change mean for governments, policy planners and - above all - ordinary people now living longer?

A Ruth Evans production.

Image: Gogo Sambati outside her house (Credit: Ruth Evans)

A look into Malawi's drastic reduction in mortality from HIV, TB and Malaria

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Ghislaine Boddington aspires to be interconnected with an AI-powered digital companion - a virtual version of herself - that advises and supports her, keeps her healthy and represents her around the world. A twin that could live on after her death.

As technologies converge, the idea of digital human twins is becoming a real possibility. In practical terms, a digital bio-twin is made up of continuously measured multiple biological signals from your body all fed into an avatar body. Add AI and our virtual twin will become more and more like us.

In a journey that involves dancing in a Belgian basement, virtual table tennis and a discussion on digital death, Ghislaine meets cardiologists, engineers, performance artists and tech entrepreneurs to learn how to build her own virtual self, discovering how existing technology is making a digital human twin a reality.

Written and presented by Ghislaine Boddington, senior researcher at the University of Greenwich.

Take You Higher written and Performed by Samantha Tauber, VNCCII Pty Limited.

Producer: Richard Hollingham

An EcoAudio certified Boffin Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Composite image of Ghislaine Boddington. Credit: Ghislaine Boddington)

Ghislaine Boddington investigates the possibility of life after death through digital AI

Ghislaine Boddington investigates the possibility of living after death through an AI digital twin.

Professor Ghislaine Boddington aspires to be interconnected with an AI digital companion that advises and supports her, keeps her healthy and represents her around the world. A twin that could live on after her death, or for as long as someone pays the subscription.

This is not some private fantasy but, as technologies converge, a potential near-future for many of us - or at least those of us who can afford it. Researchers and companies are already experimenting with ways of combining virtual worlds, gaming avatars, fitness sensors, health apps and AI.

In practical terms, a digital bio-twin is made up of continuously measured multiple biological signals from your body. These might include your heartbeat, breath, temperature and muscle tension, as well as food intake, exercise and mental health - all fed into an avatar body. By combining AI and, for example, scanning our bodies and faces, cloning our voice and mannerisms, our virtual twin will become more and more like us.

In a journey that involves an MRI heart scan, dancing in a Belgium basement and a discussion about digital death, Ghislaine explores how existing technology is making a digital human twin possible. She hears from cardiologists, engineers, performance artists and tech entrepreneurs as she learns how to build her own digital twin.

How to build a digital you - Professor Ghislaine Boddington investigates.

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Seven years ago, the EU handed Turkey six billion euros in a deal to stop Syrians heading to Europe. Since then, many Turks say their welcome has worn thin. And now, the Turkish government is deporting Syrians it says are in Turkey illegally, back to the warzone.

Karam was 19 when the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, had security forces fire on peaceful protesters and arrest hundreds of citizens. Karam was one of those arrested, and after being released he eventually paid a people smuggler to take him to Turkey. He believes that he will be arrested and tortured if he returns to Syria. But he is also afraid to stay in Turkey, saying that local Police ask for his papers around five times a day.

Hannah Lucinda Smith is in Esenyurt, a predominantly Syrian district around an hour's drive from the centre of Istanbul, speaking to both Syrians and Turks about why tensions have escalated. What is next for Syrians living there?

Presenter: Hannah Lucinda Smith

Producer: Matt Wareham

A Depictar Ltd production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Syrians raise the flags of the revolution and chant in demonstrations to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Syrian revolution against the Assad regime, in the city of Jenders, Aleppo, 18 March, 2023. Credit: Rami Alsayed/Getty Images)

Why is the situation for Syrian refugees in Turkey becoming increasingly hostile?

A near-pristine desert wilderness on Southern Africa's remote Atlantic coast in Namibia could host a huge green hydrogen development, raising hope for wealth and desperately needed jobs. Supporters say it could help tackle youth unemployment, which is among the highest in the world.

But there are big questions about what the plan will mean for people and wildlife living nearby.

The development would take place next to a national park that is home to rare plants and animals. Conservationists warn it could damage fragile desert habitats and put pressure on the coastal ecosystem.

Johannes Dell travels to the port town of Lüderitz and the surrounding desert to hear from the people who would live with the changes. He meets young Namibians, hoping they will have a part to play in Namibia's green energy future. Johannes speaks to scientists studying the plants and animals that may be at risk, and officials who believe the project could transform the country's future.

Producer/presenter: Johannes Dell

Executive producer: Anna Stewart

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

What impact will a green hydrogen project have on Namibia's environment and unemployment?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Namibia's pristine desert landscape may host a green hydrogen project. Johannes Dell asks what it means for the region's plant and animal life - and for jobs for young Namibians.

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What does it take to make something which has never existed on Earth before? The search for element 120 on the periodic table has begun at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Cosmologist Andrew Pontzen, who is used to studying the processes of creation, visits the 88-Inch Cyclotron facility at Berkeley where the next new element may be created very soon.

To uncover what motivates scientists to pursue something that is possibly only produced in the violent explosions of stars he speaks with the scientists trying it now, with the scientists who last made an element at Berkeley 50 years ago, and with a historian about the fraught history of element discovery - from flying through mushroom clouds to faking elements.

The answer is not as straight forward as he suspected.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

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A Whistledown production.

In 2015 over a million refugees were taken in by Germany, we meet these 'New Germans

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New Zealand citizens, particularly young professionals and graduates, are leaving the country in record numbers. Most are heading across the Tasman Sea – known colloquially as 'the ditch' - to Australia, lured by better job opportunities and higher wages. However, immigration is also at an all-time high, with migrant arrivals from India the largest group, followed by the Philippines and China.

Ruth Evans reports on what lies behind this Kiwi 'brain drain', and asks what the rapidly changing demographics mean for the country's future.

A Ruth Evans Production for the BBC World Service.

Image: The coastline of Wellington, New Zealand (Credit: Ruth Evans)

What will New Zealand's rapidly changing demographics mean for the country's future?

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***This programme includes descriptions of death and violence some listeners may find upsetting***

On 19 November 2005, US Marines killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, many of them women and children. The incident led to the longest US war crimes investigation of the Iraq war. But in the end, no one went to prison. A four-year investigation by BBC Eye has uncovered footage, legal documents and marine testimonies that have never before been made public.

Reporter Lara El Gibaly speaks to the forensic investigator and lawyers involved in the case, who are speaking out about what happened, and why those responsible for the deaths walked free. And she travels to Iraq to take this information to the survivors, Safa and Khalid, who have been searching for answers about the killing of their families for 20 years.

Families of Iraqis killed by US marines in Haditha learn why the killers walked free

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Families of 24 Iraqis killed by US marines in Haditha, Iraq learn, 20 years later, why their families' killers walked free.

[LISTEN NOW]

Humans have spread to every corner of the globe, transforming ecosystems and reshaping landscapes. Is there anywhere left on Earth that is unaffected by humans? Anywhere we haven't changed – at all? Presenter Caroline Steel and producer Florian Bohr begin their mission to find No Man's Land... if it exists.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

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How does it feel to nurture other people's children while someone else takes care of yours? How does it shape a family when the mother works abroad? What's the impact on the children, and their relationship with their parents?

Namulanta Kombo - host of the multi-award-winning World Service podcast Dear Daughter – explores the personal stories behind this “global care chain. ?

She speaks to women all over the world who've been in this situation, from the Philippines to Romania to Nairobi to Dubai.

They tell her what led them to leave, and what it's been like for them - the birthdays missed and late night phone calls.

They talk about the thrill of watching someone else's child take their first steps, and the challenges of keeping your family together when you're thousands of miles apart.

And she speaks to some of the people who stayed behind about the lasting impact on their families.

(Image: Adult and child holding hands. Credit: Getty/damircudic)

What's it like to care for other people's children while someone else looks after yours?

The rarely heard voices of the domestic workers who spend years away from their homes and families, caring for other people's children.

Berliners reveal the stories of the Jewish families who once lived in their homes.

Jo Glanville meets Berliners who are unearthing the stories of the Jewish families who once lived in their homes. Marie, Hugh, Anke and Matthias all became fascinated by the history of the families who lived in their flats before them when the Nazis were in power and wanted to find out what happened to them. Their discoveries are an intimate portrait of how lives were turned upside down and offer a new way of honouring the memory of Berliners who lost everything in the Holocaust.

Jo visits one of the surviving residents - 95-year-old Ruth, now living in the UK, who vividly remembers what it was like to grow up in Nazi Germany. She tracks down the house in Berlin where her own mother spent part of her childhood. It is a revelatory journey, uncovering forgotten family stories and revealing how the Nazis deprived Jews of the right to live in their homes.

The Berliners unearthing the plight of the Jewish families who once lived in their homes

Meet the Berliners who are unearthing the plight of the Jewish families who once lived in their homes.

One way to reach the European Union is via the 'Eastern Mediterranean route' from Turkey into either Bulgaria or Greece. Back in 2015 millions of people reached Europe this way to flee conflicts in the Middle East. Since then, international deals have been struck and border security toughened across Europe to stem the flow of migrants. And yet, whilst other routes to Europe have seen a fall, the numbers travelling via this 'Eastern Mediterranean route' into the European Union have been growing since 2021.

Presenter Nick Robinson hears from refugees in Turkey looking to leave and from those who have successfully made it over the fence, across the land border into Bulgaria. As Bulgaria hopes to fully join the free-movement Schengen area in 2025, Nick Robinson explores the success and limits of the Bulgarian border force's efforts to police Europe's border with the wider world.

Producer: Jade Bogart-Prêleur

(Photo: Nick Robinson (front row centre) with Harmanli refugees. Credit: Jade Bogart-Prêleur)

How more people are reaching the EU from Turkey, and the efforts to stop them

Nick Robinson explores how and why more migrants are coming into Europe via Turkey and Bulgaria and the efforts to police this movement.

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After all, not only were there 11 Parisians in the France World Cup squad - but there were also players born in the city's suburbs playing for Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Qatar, Cameroon, Ghana, Portugal and Germany.

So what is it about the Banlieue that helps create such amazing football talent? BBC World Service goes inside the clubs that created Kylian Mbappe, Thierry Henry, and N'Golo Kante, we speak to the coaches who helped launch incredible careers and we meet some of the street footballers who turned into international stars.

Some call it the 'City of Love' and others the 'City of Lights', but would a more accurate nickname for Paris be the 'City of Football'? After all, not only were there 11 Parisians in the France World Cup squad - but there were also players born in the city's suburbs representing Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Qatar, Cameroon, Ghana, Portugal and Germany.

So what is it about the city's banlieues that helps create such amazing football talent? BBC World Service goes inside the clubs that created Kylian Mbappe, William Saliba and Moussa Diaby, and speaks to the coaches who helped launch their incredible careers. We also meet some of the street footballers who turned into international stars.

We investigate why Paris Saint-Germain has often missed out on the talented players on its doorstep and hear about the dangers posed by agents, scouts and pushy parents eager to profit from the riches available to those who make it to the very top.

Presenter: John Bennett

Producer: Sam Sheringham

(Photo: Kingsley Coman celebrates his first goal with Kylian Mbappe during the game between France and Scotland, Decathlon Arena, 17 October, 2023. Credit: Xavier Laine/Getty Images)

What is it about Paris's banlieues that helps create such amazing football talent?

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, we join a group of African-Americans who have all taken a DNA test and discovered their ancestors came from this West African country, before they were trafficked to the US and enslaved.

Over their two week trip, they explore the bustling city of Freetown - a very different experience to the USA. Yet it has a vibrancy and welcoming spirit which takes the group by surprise.

They travel to remote villages where their ancestors may have lived. Here they are each adopted by a local family and given a traditional name according to the ethnic group indicated in their DNA test. We hear from the families about what they are getting out of this unusual partnership.

The group take a boat trip to Bunce Island, where they find the ruins of a slave fort where men, women and children were held captive in appalling conditions. Sierra Leoneans were highly skilled at rice cultivation, a talent sought out by plantation owners in South Carolina and Georgia who enslaved Africans to work the land.

Sierra Leone was the first African country to grant citizenship based on DNA test results. The group has come hoping to receive citizenship and a passport, but things do not work out as planned.

We meet other returnees who have come back to Sierra Leone to make a difference. And the young Sierra Leonan tour guides who are helping the African-Americans to reconnect with their lost history.

Producer: Victoria Ferran

A Just Radio production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: African-Americans travel to Bunce Island, Sierra Leone, and find the ruins of a slave fort. Credit: Sheku Koroma)

A group of African Americans are in Sierra Leone for a very special homecoming

A group of African-Americans travel to Sierra Leone to undertake a very special homecoming after DNA tests reveal their ancestral links to the west African country.

On location in Freetown, we meet Black Americans who have recently discovered they have ancestral links to Sierra Leone via a DNA test. Some are visiting Sierra Leone for the first time to learn about their heritage; others have taken up Sierra Leone's offer of citizenship and have either moved here or are planning to move and start businesses here.

We meet black Americans who discovered ancestral links to Sierra Leone via DNA tests.

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The Bangles' Susanna Hoffs celebrates the life and legacy of Sir Paul McCartney. From The Beatles to Wings, solo success to founding the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Paul's story is illuminated by brother Mike McCartney, biographer Lesley-Ann Jones, songwriter Graham Gouldman and many more.

A Magnum Opus Broadcasting production for BBC World Service.

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BBC Eye investigations takes you to the heart of the jasmine trade in Egypt, to reveal the dark secrets behind the perfume industry. Children are working in dangerous conditions throughout the night, and families are often earning as little as a dollar a day, while huge profits are made by the giants in the perfume industry.

Over half of the world's supply of jasmine is produced in Egypt and this story explores the true human cost of this precious flower, considered to be one of the most valuable ingredients used in some of the world's most iconic perfumes.

Billion dollar global brands, such as Louis Vuitton and Giorgio Armani, who use Egyptian jasmine in their perfumes, claim to have zero tolerance on child labour throughout their supply chains.

But the BBC has gathered evidence that a significant number of jasmine flower pickers in Egypt are children - some as young as 5 years-old - working in the jasmine fields putting their health and education at risk.

The UN Special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery reviewed the BBC's evidence independently and concluded that due to the detrimental impact that this work has on the children's health and education, it “may have the worst form of child labour. ?

Top perfume brands may have worst form of child labour a BBC Eye investigation reveals

Top perfume brands may have “worst form of child labour ? in their jasmine supplies, the most valuable ingredients in some of the world's perfumes, a BBC Eye investigation reveals.

In the summer of 2023, the BBC visited four different locations in Egypt's main jasmine-growing area in the Gharbia region, and found children - some as young as five - working at night to pick the jasmine that was supplied to some of the world's leading perfume brands through factories in Egypt. The UN's special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery tells the BBC what it has uncovered 'may constitute the worst form of child labour'.

We hear the story of one family who say they have no choice but to take their children into the jasmine fields to work, in order to earn enough money to live.

Reporter: Natasha Cox

Producers: Ahmed El Shamy and Louise Hidalgo

Editors: Rebecca Henschke and Rosie Garthwaite

Sound engineer: Neil Churchill and James Beard

Children as young as five are picking jasmine, an ingredient used in leading perfumes

Children as young as five are picking jasmine, an ingredient used in some of the world's leading perfume brands, a BBC investigation finds.

A historic trial is underway in Sweden. Two European executives of a Swedish oil company are accused of aiding and abetting war crimes in South Sudan. George Tai, whose family was killed in the so-called “oil wars ?, hopes the case will set a legal precedent. BBC Eye investigates the legacy of oil in South Sudan: from violence to pollution and asks who should be held responsible?

(Image: Composite image of George Tai and oil field in the background. Credit: David Bojo Leju/Gavin Searle)

BBC Eye investigates the legacy of oil in the northern states of South Sudan

[LISTEN NOW]

According to the World Bank, more than 85 million people in Nigeria still lack access to electricity - making it the country with the largest energy access deficit in the world. But even among those connected to the grid, many struggle daily to keep the power going. Blackouts are frequent, infrastructure is fragile, and generators have become a lifeline for homes and businesses alike.

Journalist Samuel Okocha hears from Nigerians across sectors about how unreliable electricity affects their lives. He speaks to economists, politicians, and renewable energy experts to understand the roots of the crisis.

In Abuja, Samuel visits his local barber and other business people to see how they are coping with constant outages. These personal encounters reveal the everyday toll of the crisis - not just on livelihoods, but on dignity and routine. Samuel also reflects on how the power situation affects his own work and daily life.

Amid the frustration, Samuel also finds resilience. Across Nigeria, people are turning to solar energy and small-scale solutions, building their own systems to meet their needs.

Presenter: Samuel Okocha

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Presenter Samuel Okocha is shown the generator powering Isaac Shedrack's barbers shop in Karu on the outskirts of Abuja. Credit: Samuel Okocha/Made in Manchester)

Can Nigeria solve its electricity crisis and power a more reliable future?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Can Nigeria solve its electricity crisis and deliver reliable power to homes, hospitals, and businesses—or will poor infrastructure continue to limit progress across the country?

Powering Nigeria investigates the country's electricity crisis, from urban blackouts to rural energy gaps. Through personal stories and expert insight, it reveals the toll of unreliable power on daily life and the economy. With a government pledge to deliver 20,000 MW by 2026, the documentary asks: can Nigeria truly power its future?

We investigate the country's electricity crisis, from urban blackouts to rural energy gaps

[LISTEN NOW]

(Photo: French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, Paris, 3 November, 2023. Credit: Claudia Greco/Reuters)

Why President Macron still wants to push world leaders to engage with global challenges

Why President Macron still wants to push world leaders to engage with global challenges, including climate change and AI.

In many countries around the world, prison populations are bursting at the seams. However, in some Northern European countries, prisons are closing and re-offending rates are down, which many have attributed to a novel approach to justice - taking a mental-health first approach. Jenny Okolo, a forensic occupational therapist, seeks to determine whether global prison systems could benefit from a similar approach and whether the solution is as simple as it seems.

Presenter: Jenny Okolo

Producer: Ray Sang and James Tindale

Editor: Phil Smith

A Reduced Listening production for BBC World Service

(Photo: An inmate at Rodjan farm, an open prison functioning as a farm in the city of Mariestad, 300km south-west of Stockholm. Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images)

In Sweden and the Netherlands a mental-health first approach to justice is beneficial

In Sweden and the Netherlands a mental-health first approach to justice is showing positive results in keeping reoffending rates down.

In many countries around the world, prison populations are bursting at the seams. However, in some Northern European countries, prisons are closing and re-offending rates are down, which many have attributed to a novel approach to justice - taking a mental-health first approach. Jenny Okolo, a forensic psychologist, seeks to determine whether global prison systems could benefit from a similar approach and whether the solution is as simple as it seems.

New approaches to justice - taking a mental-health first approach.

[LISTEN NOW]

Over the past year, BBC Eye has followed the journeys of young men from Syria, Egypt, and Yemen who travelled to Russia in search of work, only to end up on the frontlines in Ukraine. Why are these men risking their lives in a war that is not theirs?

Many, including students, say they were tricked into fighting for the Russian army by a recruiter. BBC Eye investigates their stories, meeting a family grieving the loss of their son and a young Yemeni man now trapped in a prisoner-of-war camp.

Presenter/reporter: Nawal Al-Maghafi

Producers: Ruth Evans and Sheida Kiran

Editor: Rebecca Henschke

Executive producer: Mamdouh Akbiek

Sound engineer: Simon Jarvis

Additional journalism by Ali Ibrahim, Gehad Abbas, and Rayan Maroouf

Voice over by Ali Elhawary, Majd Kilani, Mahmoud Al Sheikh, and Anastasia Uspenskaya

Why are young men from around the world risking their lives fighting for Russia?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

With young men from Syria, Egypt and Yemen ending up on the frontline in Ukraine, BBC Eye investigates the woman many say tricked them into fighting for the Russian army.

[LISTEN NOW]

Stephen Coates travels to Tunisia to meet contestants in the International Morse Code championships in Tunisia. For a week, they will face each other off tapping at tiny Morse machines so fast that it sounds almost like a sung language.

The Belarusians are the team to beat. But the Romanians are hot on their heels. And you never know what the Albanians might pull off at the last minute. Or the competitor who has just arrived from Tokyo.

It's a polyglot community. 'Yet we all speak the same language,' says the organiser Ashraf Chaabane.

Morse was the first instant communication technology. It changed the world almost 200 years ago. Its words are composed of just dots, dashes and spaces, transmitted in electrical pulses of sound or light. It can travel by vibration, touch and even be knitted. Anyone can learn it in just a few weeks. In the age of cell phones and instant messaging, Morse still has a magic.

Producer: Monica Whitlock

A Storyscape production for BBC Radio 4

Contestants from around the world gather in Tunisia to send Morse code at incredible speed

Competitors from across the world travel to Tunisia to take part in the International High Speed Telegraphy competition.

Contestants from across the world gather at the International Morse Code championships in Tunisia. For a week they'll face each other off tapping at tiny morse machines so fast that it sounds almost like a sung language.

The Belarusians are the team to beat. The Morse world record holder Andrei Bindasov is a Belarussian software engineer now living in America.

Morse is a nearly 200 year old language. Its words are composed of just dots, dashes and spaces, transmitted in electrical pulses of sound or light. There are many variations in Japanese, Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Chinese, Ukrainian and other alphabets. In the age of cell phones and instant messaging, Morse still has its place.

[LISTEN NOW]

How do you reduce risks in an increasingly risky world?

Since the devastating 2011 tsunami Japan has been piloting transformative risk reduction solutions in areas prone to severe damage from earthquakes and tsunamis. Better communication is key to these efforts - 35% of people living in flooded areas in 2011 apparently did not hear the radio announcements.

Sendai City is working to solve the challenge of reliable communications through the development of an emergency announcement system that uses fully automated drones. These can quickly be dispatched to tell people to evacuate when tsunami alerts are issued. This new system uses a dedicated private wireless communication network and an infrared camera mounted on a drone transmits pictures of affected areas affected to the city's disaster response headquarters in real-time.

Ruth Evans talks to people affected by the tsunami and disaster mitigation experts and scientists trying to ensure they never have to face such devastation again.

A Ruth Evans production for BBC World Service

(Photo: An automated drone standing on its docking station. Credit: Ruth Evans)

In Japan, automated drones are being developed to mitigate the risks from tsunamis

In Japan, automated drones are being developed to mitigate the risks and devastation posed by tsunamis and earthquakes.

Nikos also hears from Members of the European Parliament, those who want the EU to withhold funds until Greece improves the position for journalists, and those outraged by the idea that Greece does not already have a free media.

Presenter: Nikos Papanikolaou

Producer: Giles Edwards

This programme was edited after it was published

(Photo: A woman reads newspaper's headlines referring to the killing of a Greek journalist in Athens on 10 April, 2021. Giorgos Karaivaz, who worked for private TV station Star, was shot several times outside his home on 9 April. Credit: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

Greek journalist say intimidation and surveillance is restricting their ability to report

Greek journalist say intimidation and surveillance is restricting their ability to report freely.

We investigate the increasing threats to journalists' ability to report freely in Europe.

Clint Buffington spends his time where land meets sea, searching for a very specific treasure - messages in bottles that have drifted across oceans. Over the past 20 years he has recovered more than 140 of them, each carrying a clue, sometimes decades old, waiting to be discovered.

Finding a bottle is only the beginning. The real mystery unfolds when Clint carefully extracts the fragile paper in his Utah home lab. He first teases out the faint, salt-blurred words, deciphering a message damaged by years at sea. Only then does Clint begin tracking down the person who sent it, often many years after they let it go. Each investigation is part detective work, part conversation across time.

The messages reveal remarkable journeys - a German sailor who cast a note into the Bermuda Triangle on his birthday in 1979, three French women who paddled across the Atlantic to set a world record, Puerto Rican students at a crossroads, even a pair of tiny dolls wrapped in a spell.

Join Clint on his search and the unexpected revelations it sparks - a reminder that across vast distances and years at sea, the quest for human connection is timeless.

Preenter: Clint Buffington

Prodcuer: Guy Natanel

Editor: Shannon Delwiche

A Sound & Bones production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Clint on a beach with bottles. Credit: Clint Buffington)

The man who hunts for messages in bottles and the people who sent them

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Clint Buffington combs the world's shorelines for messages in bottles, each one carrying secrets from other places and times, revealing the lengths we go to for human connection.

[LISTEN NOW]

But drought has meant their rewilding programme has been put on hold until the rains come. They're also learning lessons from the experiences of the elephants they released into the bush before the drought. This is helping them to adapt their plans to give the elephants under their care the best chance to survive and prosper once they can rewild them. Local communities are herders and pastoralists, who used to see elephants as a threat. In times of drought there is also the potential for human wildlife conflict, with competition for scarce resources. But the sanctuary has brought employment, revenue and a sense of pride to people living in the area. Reteti is on community owned land and it's managed by community members. The local people are now invested in protecting the animals they live alongside. This is a story of mutual need; the local people have come to realise they need the elephants as much as the elephants need them.

Presenter: Michael Kaloki

Former Samburu warriors rescue baby elephants, but can they rewild them during drought?

In a remote corner of Northern Kenya, former Samburu warriors continue to rescue orphaned and abandoned baby elephants, even as drought has put on hold plans to release them back into the wild.

Traditionally Samburu warriors are not only charged with protecting their community, but with caring for their livestock. Now they have turned their attention to raising elephants. At Reteti Elephant Sanctuary they rescue baby elephants that have been injured, orphaned or abandoned. They look after them, rehabilitate them and release them back to the wild. It's transforming the way local communities relate to elephants, in a way that benefits both humans and animals. But drought has meant their rewilding programme has been put on hold until the rains come.

Producer: Jo Dwyer

A Loftus Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Feeding the baby elephants at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. Credit: Michael Kaloki)

Former Samburu warriors rescue baby elephants, but as the region struggles with the worst drought for decades, can they still rewild them?

On 25 February 1986 the Philippines, Asia's oldest democracy peacefully took control of its destiny. Ferdinand Marcos, a democratically elected president-turned dictator, who remains accused of widespread graft and human rights abuses, had gambled on one too many rigged elections. After days of mounting protests and the defection of the military to the opposition, Marcos and his family were ejected from their gilded palace in Manila. These events have since been named the People Power Revolution.

The uprising ushered in a return to constitutional democracy, guardrails on executive power, and a new constitution that redistributed power from Manila to local governments across the 7,500-island archipelago. It was also supposed to seal the fate of the Marcoses once and for all: permanent exile in Hawaii.

Forty years on, not only are the Marcoses back, but they are arguably stronger than ever. Ferdinand's eldest, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong' Marcos Jnr, is now president, with his sister, son, and various cousins in Congress. It's a far cry from the Philippines of 1986, when the post-revolution state vowed ‘never again' to let any Marcos near the halls of power.

But the story of the last four decades is not simply one of a profound Marcos restoration. The post-revolutionary Philippines cannot be separated from the failures of the post-revolutionary state. Politics remains dynastic, the economy profoundly unequal, while corrupt officials rarely face accountability. It is a cocktail for popular disaffection with democracy itself.

(Photo: Cory Aquino's meeting at Luneta in Manila, Philippines, 31 January, 1987. Credit: Eric Bouvet Eric/Getty Images)

The Philippines bloodless revolution stunned the world. Forty years on, has all been lost?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

At least, so the Filipinos thought.

Forty years on, not only are the Marcoses back, but they're arguably stronger than ever. Ferdinand's eldest, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong' Marcos Jnr, is now president, with his sister, son, and various cousins in Congress. It's a far cry from the Philippines of 1986, when the post-revolution state vowed ‘never again' to let any Marcos near the halls of power.

But the story of the last four decades isn't simply one of a profound Marcos restoration. While the family has certainly been adept at resurrection, the story of the post-revolutionary Philippines can't be separated from the failures of the post-revolutionary state. Politics remains dynastic, the economy profoundly unequal, while corrupt officials rarely face accountability. It's a cocktail for popular disaffection with democracy itself.

The Philippines bloodless revolution stunned the world. 40 years on, has all been lost?

[LISTEN NOW]

Each year, thousands of fragments of meteorites land on the surface of the earth. Most people who come across them might disregard them as just a dusty old rock. But others know exactly what they're looking for and their worth. For some, getting their hands on a meteorite is just a hobby but for others, an obsession and a booming business. With interest in meteorites ever expanding, we explore the global trade in this otherworldly material. With rare specimens often out of the price range of museums and institutions, they end up in the hands of private collectors-but what is the impact of that on the scientists trying to study them?

We explore the global trade in meteorites

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

We are in the rapidly developing city of Phnom Penh to hear from the people whose lives and livelihoods have been threatened by the struggle for sand. Those who have fished the river for decades are finding that their nets are empty as the sand miners move in. People living alongside the Mekong have seen their houses crumble into the water as the riverbanks collapse. Meanwhile Cambodia's capital is changing rapidly as the city's lakes are filled in with sand to make more land for the construction boom. We examine the environmental impact and meet those left behind as the drive to develop Cambodia accelerates.

Presenter: Robin Markwell

With extra production by Andy Ball, University of Southampton

(Photo: Sand in Phnom Penh. Credit: Andy Ball)

Sand mining is fuelling Cambodia's construction boom but at what cost to the environment?

Sand mining is fuelling Cambodia's construction boom but how damaging is it to the environment?

It's hard to believe but the world is running out of sand. Our insatiable appetite for the substance that makes everything from skyscrapers to smartphones has led to environmental destruction in countries like Cambodia, where there has been a long history of illegal sand mining along the Mekong river. We're in the rapidly developing city of Phnom Penh to hear from the people whose lives and livelihoods have been threatened by the struggle for sand. Those who have fished the river for decades are finding that their nets are empty as the sand miners move in. People living alongside the Mekong have seen their houses crumble into the water as the riverbanks collapse. Meanwhile Cambodia's capital is changing rapidly as the city's lakes are filled in with sand to make more land for the construction boom. We examine the environmental impact and meet those left behind as the drive to develop Cambodia accelerates.

Sand mining to fuel Cambodia's construction boom is damaging the environment.

Oleg Boldyrev on how ordinary Russians are dealing with life in a country at war.

Victoria retraces her journey to safety out of the capital Kigali, to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along the way Victoria speaks to survivors of the violence – both victims and perpetrators - to find out how the country is healing, through reconciliation and forgiveness.

Victoria meets Evariste and Narcisse, who work together on a reconciliation project called Cows for Peace. Evariste killed Narcisse's mother during the 1994 genocide. Cows are important in the Rwandan culture. Evariste and Narcisse explain their own journeys to forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. And Victoria meets Claudette, who suffered unimaginable horrors at the hands of a man, Jean Claude, sitting next to her as she tells her story.

There are those who say that the steps Rwanda has taken do not go far enough and question freedom of expression in Rwanda. But Victoria finds hope in the country, a desire to move on for a younger generation – and she finds her own peace with the country that she was born in.

(Photo: Photographs of victims on display at the Kigali Memorial for Victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Rwanda's journey towards healing and reconciliation after the 1994 genocide

BBC journalist Victoria Uwonkunda returns to Rwanda for the first time after fleeing the genocide in 1994, to find out how the country, and its people, are healing.

BBC Newsday presenter Victoria Uwonkunda makes an emotional journey back to Rwanda, where she grew up. It's the first time she's visited since the age of 12, when she fled the 1994 genocide with her family. Victoria retraces the harrowing journey they made out of the capital Kigali, to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along the way she speaks to survivors of the violence – both victims and perpetrators – and tries to understand how - and if - the country has tackled the bitter social divisions that triggered it.

Reporter Victoria Uwonkunda returns to Rwanda where she fled the genocide as a child.

Sexual harassment and violence against women on the streets of Cairo has been endemic, women haven't felt safe enough to walk or take public transport. But has a scheme reimagining how cities are designed made women feel safer?

Salma El-Wardany was born in Cairo and knows what it feels like to be a woman getting around the city.

Through radical urban redesigns, women friendly spaces and spreading the message to raise awareness, the hope is that a pioneering programme called ‘Safer Cities' has been the solution for Egypt.

Salma wants to meet the women behind its success and the women benefitting from these changes.

Salma will meet the urban designer behind the redesign of Zenein Market in Giza to create a ‘gender-sensitive' market, and she'll hear from the female vendors about the improvements.

She then travels to Ezbet El Haganah to meet the mums of schoolchildren noisily playing under the new floodlights at an upgraded football field in a traditionally dangerous slum area.

Salma meets women in a fishing village in Damietta, who have been provided with tools to process the fish, to help empower them while the men are away fishing.

Redesigning Cairo so it feels safer is progress, but the scheme has had to focus on making sure men are engaged with this huge problem. Salma will meet Tuk-Tuk drivers who are now training others so women can travel safely – but this is against the backdrop of the recent death of a woman who jumped from a speeding tuk tuk to avoid an attack.

There have been huge strides made in safety in the country but how much is that down to projects like this? Salma finds out if the city she loves to come back to is safe for her and other women.

Salma El-Wardany asks if re-designing parts of Cairo means women are safer on its streets

[LISTEN NOW]

In March 2023, a post went viral on Twitter - the ‘Final Message' from Eden Knight, a young Saudi transgender woman. It was viewed over 35 million times. It laid bare Eden's journey from the US back to Saudi Arabia and the betrayal she claimed to have suffered. BBC Eye investigates the events that led up to Eden's death and those she claims were responsible for her return to Saudi Arabia where she tragically took her own life.

After a Saudi trans woman's death went viral, BBC Eye investigates her final months

After a Saudi trans woman's death went viral, BBC Eye investigates the final months of her life and the claim that she was misled into returning to Saudi Arabia from the US.

[LISTEN NOW]

In March 2023, the 'final message' from Eden Knight, a young Saudi transgender woman, went viral on Twitter. It was viewed more than 35 million times. It laid bare Eden's journey from the US back to Saudi Arabia, and the betrayal she claimed to have suffered. BBC Eye investigates the events that led up to Eden's death, and those she claims were responsible for her return to Saudi Arabia where she tragically took her own life.

After a Saudi trans woman's death went viral, BBC Eye investigates her final months

After a Saudi trans woman's death went viral, BBC Eye investigates the final months of her life and the claim that she was misled into returning to Saudi Arabia from the US.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

Jakarta is facing all sorts of problems - deadly floods, land subsidence, extreme pollution, notorious traffic and overcrowding. Indonesia's outgoing president has come up with an extreme solution: moving the country's capital a thousand kilometres away, to the middle of the rainforest.

Will the new city be a futuristic utopia and a model for sustainable urbanisation - or an eye-wateringly expensive, ecologically disastrous ghost town? BBC Indonesia reporter Astudestra Ajengrastri travels to the island of Borneo to find out if the ambitious plans will live up to reality.

Presenter: Astudestra Ajengrastri

Producer: Olivia Humphreys

A Reduced Listening production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Workers dredging mud using heavy machinery from the riverbed that divides downtown Jakarta before the rainy season to avoid regular flooding, 30 September, 2021. Credit: Bay Ismoyo/AFP)

Indonesia's capital Jakarta is sinking but how easy is it build a new capital city?

Indonesia's capital Jakarta is sinking but how easy is it build a new one from scratch?

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is one of the world's fastest-sinking cities. The solution: to relocate and build a new capital city from scratch. Will it work? Could it be a model for other countries grappling with the detrimental impacts of climate change? Our reporter on the ground in Indonesia sees whether Indonesia make it to the grand unveiling scheduled for summer 2024.

Jakarta is sinking - can Indonesia build a new capital city from scratch?

[LISTEN NOW]

Gordon Corera asks what approach Western powers should take to a defining challenge

James meets female ‘ultra' fan, Songul, who follows her team despite the obstacles of life living in converted-shipping container emergency accommodation. He talks to football icon Volkan Demirel, as the coach battles to keep his side in the league despite their lack of training facilities or a home stadium. Can the team that emerged from the rubble avoid relegation, too?

Presenter: James Montague

Executive producer/writer: Ben Wyatt

A Comuniqué production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Hatayspor players wear shirts with image of Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu on his birthday, commemorating his life lost in the Feb Kahramanmaras earthquake, Mersin Stadium, Turkey, 10 January, 2024. Credit: Mustafa Unal Uysal/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Hatayspor football club's fight to survive the aftermath of Turkey's tragic earthquake

Football rarely stops in Turkey, but when two earthquakes causes tens of thousands to die in the south east region of the country early in 2023, even the passionately followed Super Lig top division is suspended. Hatayspor - a team from the league - loses its star player Christian Atsu to the rubble of a collapsed building. Its home city of Antakya is all but wiped from the map. A year later, football writer James Montague travels his home nation of Turkey to tell the story of the indomitable club's improbable, and symbolic fight to survive in the aftermath of the disaster.

Shaken Goalposts' presenter James Montague meets female ‘ultra' fan, Songul, who follows her team despite the obstacles of life living in converted-shipping container emergency accommodation. He talks to football icon Volkan Demirel, as the coach battles to keep his side in the league despite their lack of training facilities or a home stadium. Can the team that emerged from the rubble avoid relegation, too?

One football club's fight to survive the aftermath of Turkey's tragic earthquake.

Africa's 250 million nomadic herders, or pastoralists, are the invisible keystone of the continent's food system. They provide 50% of Africa's meat and 75% of its milk, moving livestock across vast rangelands in response to seasons, weather and grazing patterns that have sustained communities for millennia.

Yet pastoralists are routinely dismissed as backwards, a relic in the way of progress and modernisation. Climate change, land grabs, and conflict force them off ancestral routes. Their knowledge is often ignored, their contribution unrecognised.

But in the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, a different story emerges - one where these herders are not obstacles to climate solutions but pioneers of them.

Bola Mosuro speaks with pastoralists using informal collectives and cutting-edge digital technology like the Shepherd's Eye In The Sky satellite systems that track grazing, predict drought, and help communities adapt to a rapidly changing climate. These are not romantic traditions; they are living, evolving systems that could offer crucial lessons for sustainable food production worldwide.

From Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria, from tech innovators to elders, Bola discovers how pastoralists are reclaiming their narrative -not as problems to be solved but as custodians of knowledge the world desperately needs.

With Sarli Sadu Nana, Dr Dorice Agol, Joshua Laizer, Tahira Mohamed, Mark Kaigwa and Aminu Nyako.

Presenter: Bola Mosuro

Producer: Alexandra Quinn and Freya Hellier

Executive producer: Rami Tzabar

A Loftus Media Production for BBC World Service

Thanks to SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises)

(Photo Joshua Laizer feeds his goats some leaves. Credit: Mathias Tooko)

Bola Mosuro meets the nomadic herders feeding Africa and fighting climate change

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Africa's 250 million pastoralists provide half its meat and three-quarters of its milk - yet remain invisible. Bola Mosuro meets the nomadic herders pioneering climate solutions.

Yet pastoralists are routinely dismissed as backwards, a relic in the way of progress and modernization. Climate change, land grabs, and conflict force them off ancestral routes. Their knowledge is often ignored. Their contribution unrecognized.

But in the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, a different story emerges - one where these herders aren't obstacles to climate solutions but pioneers of them.

Bola Mosuro speaks with pastoralists using informal collectives and cutting-edge digital technology like the 'Shepherd's Eye In The Sky' - satellite systems that track grazing, predict drought, and help communities adapt to a rapidly changing climate. These aren't romantic traditions; they're living, evolving systems that could offer crucial lessons for sustainable food production worldwide.

With Sarli Sadu Nana, Dorice Agol, Joshua Laizer, Tahira Mohamed and Mark Kaigwa.

Presented by Bola Mosuro

Produced by Alexandra Quinn and Freya Hellier

[LISTEN NOW]

Frank Worrell became the first Black captain of the West Indies cricket team in 1960.

A Whistledown production.

To mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2025, a story of hope, music and survival from Auschwitz.

Professor Shirli Gilbert explores the life of Krystyna Żywulska, a Jewish political prisoner. Imprisoned in the most notorious camp in the Nazi system, Żywulska turned to poetry and music, offering tiny moments of resilience and optimisim for her fellow inmates and creating some of the most remarkable songs of this tragic era.

Born in Poland in 1914, Krystyna Żywulska was sent to Auschwitz in 1943. There she was given a very unusual job. She worked at the Effektenkammer, the storage facility for the personal items confiscated from arriving prisoners.

This role turned out to be a gift. Żywulska described the Effektenkammer as a ‘beautiful oasis' in the middle of the horrors of Auschwitz. Into it came a bounty of treasures - fur coats, musical instruments, gold jewellery and countless suitcases stuffed with possessions.

At the Effektenkammer, Żywulska composed many poems and songs that spread rapidly through the camp. She also put on musical events to raise the spirits of the Auschwitz inmates.

Shirli Gilbert speaks to Żywulska's son and to Holocaust historians to explore this remarkable story. She also visits the site of the Effektenkammer at Auschwitz, returning Żywulska's music to the place where it began.

Presenter: Shirli Gilbert, Professor of Modern Jewish History at University College London

Historical consultant: Professor Barbara Milewski

Producer: Tom Woolfenden

Editor: Kirsten Lass

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4

The extraordinary story of Krystyna Żywulska. Imprisoned in Auschwitz, Żywulska turned to poetry and music, creating some of the most remarkable songs of this tragic era.

From the BBC World Service, a new documentary marking Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 that uncovers a story of hope, music and survival from Auschwitz. Professor Shirli Gilbert explores the life of Krystyna Zywulska, a Jewish political prisoner. Imprisoned in the most notorious camp in the Nazi system, Zywulska turned to poetry and music, offering tiny moments of resilience and optimism for her fellow inmates and creating some of the most remarkable songs of this tragic era.

[LISTEN NOW]

Meet the young people explaining how they would change the world.

[LISTEN NOW]

Thirty years after the war in Bosnia, survivors and their descendants find themselves permanently displaced in their own country. BBC reporter Lauren Tavriger visits the Tuzla region where families fleeing atrocities, including the Srebrenica massacre, have been living for decades in makeshift settlements originally designed as temporary. She talks to families about their experience, discovering why traumatised people are still living in a state of internal exile and reports on controversial efforts by the Bosnian authorities to clear camps and rehouse their inhabitants.

Why those who fled the atrocities of Bosnia's war are still living as refugees 30 years on

[LISTEN NOW]

In recent years component parts of historic shipwrecks have started to disappear, with reports of mysterious vessels and scavengers floating around. This phenomenon has been reported in Indonesia, Australia, and the Netherlands.

One theory is that the target for plunderers is pre-atomic steel, ie any steel produced before the nuclear testing era, and therefore free of radioactive particles. Its purer material composition makes it essential in the manufacturing of specialist scientific tools such as MRI machines, and as such is highly valuable. Shipwrecks, oftentimes war graves, are one of the few remaining sources for this material.

Materials scientist Anna Ploszajski investigates and a murky picture of illegal plundering across the globe starts to emerge.

Presenter: Anna Ploszajski

Producer: Jude Shapiro

Executive producer: Jack Howson

Sound engineer: David Crackles

A Peanut and Crumb production for BBC World Service

(Photo: A diver explores a 19th Century shipwreck filled with bottles of champagne and mineral water discovered at the bottom of the Baltic Sea by Polish divers, 8 July, 2024. Credit: Marek Cacaj/Reuters)

Materials scientist Anna Ploszajski investigates the scavenging of pre-atomic steel

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

For this edition of The Documentary, materials scientist Anna Ploszajski investigates. A murky picture of illegal plundering across the globe starts to emerge.

For this edition of The Documentary, materials scientist Anna Plosjazski investigates. A murky picture of illegal plundering across the globe starts to emerge.

Presenter: Anna Plosjazski

Materials scientist Anna Plosjazski investigates the scavenging of pre-atomic steel.

[LISTEN NOW]

Nick Robinson explores routes from Middle East to the Channel, and efforts to combat it.

[LISTEN NOW]

Geothermal energy has meant that Iceland is in-effect carbon neutral. Its expertise in this area has led to collaboration with China and its Geothermal model is changing China's energy mix. One man behind this collaboration is Atli Jonnsson, CEO of Arctic Green Energy. Anna asks him how will geothermal help shape the future needs of China's energy consumption? And how does geothermal put Iceland on the Silk Road map for more collaboration with China?

Iceland and China have steadily increased their scientific cooperation in the Arctic. In October 2018, the China-Iceland Arctic Science Observatory was officially opened in the city of Karholl in northern Iceland. Set up to monitor climate and environmental change in the Arctic, the observatory is managed by the Polar Research Institute of China and Iceland's Institute of Research Centres.

Anna travels to this remote outpost, 440 km north of Reykjavík, to ask station manager Halldor Johannsson about the impact this collaboration has on Iceland. How is information shared with the second biggest economy in the world? And what could this eventually mean in terms of trade and transport across the Arctic region?

Given the current geopolitical climate, Anna asks if there is a grander strategy, that points towards increased shipping, discovering untapped resources and exciting new opportunities?

Stories from the New Silk Road is a C60Media production for BBC World Service.

How is China's Polar Silk Road impacting Iceland?

As the Earth warms, there are new frontiers to be explored; from geothermal energy to scientific research, Anna Holligan asks what does China's Polar Silk Road mean for Iceland?

In 2013 Iceland made history by becoming the first European country to sign a free trade agreement with China. It was aimed at increasing exports from Iceland to China as well as opening up Iceland to cheaper Chinese consumer goods. 

Geothermal energy has meant that Iceland is effectively carbon neutral. Its expertise in this area has led to collaboration with China and its geothermal model is changing China's energy mix. One man behind this collaboration is Sigurdur Atli Jonsson, CEO of Arctic Green Energy. Anna asks him how will geothermal help shape the future needs of China's energy consumption?

Iceland and China have steadily increased their scientific co-operation in the Arctic. In October 2018, the China-Iceland Arctic Science Observatory was officially opened in the city of Karholl, 440 km north of Reykjavík. Set up to monitor climate and environmental change in the Arctic, the observatory is managed by the Polar Research Institute of China and Iceland's Institute of Research Centres. Station manager Halldor Johannsson explains the impact this collaboration has on Iceland. How is information shared with the second biggest economy in the world? And what could this eventually mean in terms of trade and transport across the Arctic region?

Presenter: Anna Holligan

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Editor: Alan Hall

(Photo: The aurora borealis or Northern Lights, is seen over Godafoss waterfall, east of Akureyri, northern Iceland. Credit: Mariana Suarez/AFP)

On the Barrents Safari with guide Hans Hatle, Anna discovers how the Polar Silk Road could potentially change the fortunes for this most northerly Norwegian town. Port Director Terje Jørgensen wants to open up to Chinese shipping and is in talks with operators to increase the capabilities of the port. Terje's point is simple, Kirkenes is geographically closer to Beijing via sea, than any other port in Europe.

In 2010 a ship departed from Kirkenes bound for China with 41,500 tons of iron ore concentrate, arriving 22 days later. Via the Suez canal, the same journey would have taken over 40 days. It was the first time that a non-Russian ship had been along the Northern Sea Route along Russia's Northern coastline, showing that this was possible and paving the way for China's Arctic policy. 

Here, Anna shines a light on China's wider ambitions in the Arctic. The region is rich in minerals, wildlife, fish, and other natural resources. So what does China's Polar Silk Road mean for Norway and when the sea ice melts, who is set to benefit most?

Presenter: Anna Holligan

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Editor: Alan Hall

A C60 Media production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: A man holds giant crabs or king crabs in each hand, in the Barents sea, Kirkenes, Norway. Credit: Eric Beracassat/Getty Images)

From King Crab to shipping routes, how is China's Polar Silk Road impacting Norway?

As the Earth warms, there are new frontiers to be explored and traversed. From King Crab to shipping routes, Anna Holligan asks what does China's Polar Silk Road mean for Norway?

China's Belt and Road Initiative stretches physically with infrastructure projects across the globe, but there is one initiative that is the most ambitious yet - the Space Silk Road. The space race is heating up with new entrants like India and private companies like SpaceX, but it is the Chinese who are set to dominate by 2045.

Central to the Space Silk Road is a controversial station in Patagonia, Argentina. The Espacio Lejano Ground Station has a powerful 16-story antenna, with an 8ft barbed wire fence that surrounds the entire compound. With other facilities in countries from Bolivia to Peru, do China's space ambitions aim for intergalactic exploration, rare mineral discovery and potential domination in space?

With plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and build a research base on its south pole, China's ambitions in our solar system have been gaining momentum. Katy Watson asks astronomers, space engineers and Argentinian residents, how President Xi's Space Silk Road is impacting their universe.

Producer: Pete Shevlin

Executive producer: Monica Whitlock

A C60 Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Espacio Lejano Ground Station. Credit: Pete Shevlin)

Can China's space exploration programme keep it ahead of the space race?

Can China's space exploration programme break new ground and potential domination in space?

China's Belt and Road Initiative stretches physically with infrastructure projects across the globe, but there is one initiative that is the most ambitious yet; The Space Silk Road is beginning to carve out a unique position for China. The space race is heating up with new entrants like India and private companies like SpaceX, but it's the Chinese who are set to dominate by 2045. And central to the Space Silk Road? A controversial station in Patagonia, Argentina. The Espacio Lejano Ground Station has a powerful 16-story antenna, with an 8-foot barbed wire fence that surrounds the entire compound. With other facilities in countries from Bolivia to Peru, do China's space ambitions cross the known world and aim for intergalactic exploration, rare mineral discovery and potential domination in space?

Landing on the far side of the moon in 2019 and again in 2024 have marked a key milestone in China's push to become a dominant space power. And with plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and build a research base on its south pole, China's ambitions in our solar system have been gaining momentum.

Katy Watson asks astronomers, space engineers and Argentinian residents, how is President Xi's Space Silk Road impacting their universe?

A C60 Media production for the BBC World Service.

The Space Silk Road is helping China break new ground in space exploration

[LISTEN NOW]

In 1867, the US government bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. At the time, critics questioned the value of purchasing such an inhospitable and remote territory. Yet today, due to its abundance of natural resources, America's largest state has proved to be a significant investment. BBC foreign correspondent Anna Holligan travels to Alaska to report on the increasing China-Russia-US tension in the region.

Supported by Russia, through fishing, shipping and military exercises, China has a growing presence in the Bering Sea, which separates mainland Russia from the US by 55 miles at its narrowest point.

As Anna visits the largest Coast Guard base in the world on Alaska's Kodiak Island, she asks why is China seeking to expand their influence in one of the most dangerous and volatile seas in the world? What does it mean for local communities living and working in America's ‘Last Frontier'? Is this remote corner of the US becoming a new frontline in an economic and political battle involving three superpowers?

Presenter: Anna Holligan

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Editor: Monica Whitlock

A Pod60 production for BBC World Service

Anna Holligan reports from Alaska on China's expanding role in the Bering Sea

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Anna Holligan reports from Alaska on the rising China-Russia-US tensions in the Bering Sea and China's push for wider influence.

[LISTEN NOW]

One challenge is a complex relationship with its neighbour. Many tea estates share similar climactic and growing conditions as Darjeeling, just over the Indian border, and it also shares expertise and workers. The vast majority of Nepalese tea exports go to India, where most of it is blended and resold, an arrangement which worked for both countries, until recently. India wants to protect the Darjeeling brand, and its own industry.

Now a new generation is looking to strengthen the identity of Nepali tea in its own right, and improve the livelihoods of its farmers, to make the industry sustainable. The story of tea in Nepal has been one of growth for decades and Phanindra meets those working to secure its future.

Presenter: Phanindra Dahal

Producer: Megan Jones

(Photo: Nepali tea plantation workers. Credit: Phanindra Dahal)

The farmers and industry leaders working to secure the identity and future of Nepali tea

The farmers and industry leaders working to secure the identity and future of Nepali tea in the shadow of its powerful neighbour, India.

Phanindra Dahal meets tea farmers in the mountains of Nepal as the country's tea industry looks to strengthen its identity in the shadow of a powerful neighbour.

In Eastern Nepal, the centre of the country's tea industry, production has been ramping up over the past decade. Communities here are totally dependent on tea.

The area shares the same climate and growing conditions as Darjeeling, just over the Indian border, and for decades it also shared expertise and workers, who moved between the tea estates. The vast majority of Nepalese tea exports go to India, where most of it is blended and resold. Because it's grown in an area that's so similar climactically, it's almost indistinguishable from Darjeeling, an arrangement which worked for both countries, until recently.

Now a rivalry has grown up, with India wanting to protect the Darjeeling brand, and Nepalese growers hurt by the suggestion that their tea is of lower quality than their neighbours.

A new generation is looking to strengthen the brand of Nepali tea in its own right, and improve the livelihoods of its farmers, to make the industry sustainable. The story of tea in Nepal has been one of growth for decades. This programme meets those working to secure its future.

Meeting the farmers depending on tea in the mountains of Nepal.

In July 2024, Bolivia discovered the Mayaya Centro-X1 gas field - its largest find in nearly 20 years. With an estimated 1.7 trillion cubic feet of reserves, the announcement sparked excitement across the country, promising to help reverse a steep decline in domestic production and inject billions into the national economy.

South American based journalist Constance Malleret explores what this discovery means for Bolivia, not just beneath the ground, but above it. We hear from geologists working at the site, government officials spearheading the Upstream Reactivation Plan, and energy analysts questioning whether the country is leaning too heavily on fossil fuel optimism.

But striking gas also ignites debate. Bolivia has pledged to deliver 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2050 and build thousands of kilometres of transmission lines. Can these ambitions coexist with a new wave of gas expansion? Voices from the environmental movement say no, while government officials insist the two tracks are compatible.

Add to that the political tension. Supporters hail the discovery as a chance for Bolivia to reassert its role as a regional energy leader. Critics warn of over-dependence and urge reform, from scrapping fuel subsidies to attracting private investment. Left leaning politicians tend to want state-led growth. Those on the right call for market-driven solutions. And communities near the drilling zone face tough choices - welcome the promise of jobs or challenge potential threats to land and water.

(Photo: President Rodrigo Paz of Bolivia speaks during a celebration following the preliminary results of the presidential run-off election, in La Paz, Bolivia, 19 October, 2025. Credit: Claudia Morales/Reuters)

A huge gas find reignites old debates over Bolivia's energy and environmental future

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Many countries still criminalise suicide, what impacts does this have on mental health?

Among other places, Ashley looks into Kenya, Bangladesh and Malawi where people face jail sentences of up to two years. He talks to people who have been arrested, beaten up and faced problems rebuilding their lives. Stigma and prejudice is rife in many countries where even speaking about suicide can result in a backlash.

Ashley (whose partner tried to take his own life twice) also speaks to mental health specialists in countries which have recently changed the law like Pakistan, Ghana and Guyana. He hears how despite decriminalisation stigma around suicide continues.

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Aokigahara forest, Japan. Credit:Getty Images)

A look at the countries where it's still a criminal offence to attempt suicide

Why do many countries still put people in jail for attempted suicide? Here Ashley Byrne finds deep rooted religious and cultural beliefs and traditions are often behind the laws.

A Podlit AB production.

Why is Sweden home to so many dollar billionaires?

Maddy Savage asks why Sweden has more dollar billionaires, relative to its population size, than almost anywhere else in the world.

Sweden has a global reputation for championing high taxes and social equality, but it has more dollar billionaires in relation to its population size, than almost anywhere else on the planet. Stockholm-based journalist Maddy Savage untangles the rise of the super rich, from the country's booming tech sector, to wealth and taxation policy shifts. She also delves into the deep-rooted cultural norms which can discourage Swedes from celebrating money, and investigates the rise in impact investing, as some of Sw

Maddy Savage investigates the rise of Sweden's super rich

Off the coast of Java lies G-Land, one of the world's most legendary surf breaks—framed by a forest ancient Javanese belief says belongs to spirits, not humans. Despite Java being one of the most crowded islands on earth, this sacred jungle has remained largely untouched. In the 1970s, surfer Bobby Radiasa arrived, and found both myth and magic in its waves. He tells the extraoridnary story of how surfing transformed his life and how G-land became part of him.

G-land where spiritual beliefs protect waves of myth and legend.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

Last year, a record 62 people were killed in gun violence in the Nordic nation, which has a population of just ten million.

There has been a fresh wave of shootings and explosions in 2023, many of them linked to a split within one criminal gang. But police say violent, unlawful networks are active across the country. They are especially worried about gang leaders recruiting growing numbers of children, who are murdering other young people and their families in disputes about drugs and weapons.

Stockholm-based broadcaster Maddy Savage and Nikoi Djane – an ex-gang member turned criminologist – explore what is behind Sweden's trend for shoot-to-kill murders, which crime researchers say is unique in Europe.

They speak to teenagers in the capital about what it's like to grow up around drugs, guns and gangs, and explore what is being done to tackle the problem.

Many gang members were born in Sweden to immigrant parents, and the recent violence has reignited intense political debates about integration.

A right-wing government elected in 2022 has already introduced tougher punishments for offences linked to criminal networks and enlisted help from the Swedish military.

Meanwhile the families of teenagers killed in recent violence have taken matters into their own hands, patrolling the streets in areas where people have been shot.

We also visit Framtidens Hus, a community centre that is inspiring teenagers to study, find work, and develop new interests, instead of turning to crime.

Presenters: Maddy Savage and Nikoi Djane

Producer: Maddy Savage

Researcher: Josephine Frans

A Bespoken Media production for BBC World Service

How Sweden became a European hotspot for gangs, drugs and deadly violence

Sweden has become a European hotspot for deadly shootings, rocking its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation. Last year, a record 62 people were killed in gun violence in the Nordic nation, which has a population of just 10 million.

Stockholm-based broadcaster Maddy Savage and Nikoi Djane – an ex-gang member turned criminologist - speak to teenagers in the capital about what it is like to grow up around drugs, guns and gangs, and explore what is being done to tackle the problem.

(Photo: Parents Libaan Warsame (lL) and Ida Kriisa (R) out on a night walk street patrol in Rinkeby, Stockholm. Credit: Benoit Derrier)

How Sweden became a European hotspot for gangs, drugs and deadly violence, rocking its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation.

Two young Taiwanese share their lives and views in the run up to the election.

Former BBC Taiwan correspondent Cindy Sui meets two young Taiwanese voters, Shirley Lin and Dennis, who have very different views about the island, its future and its relationship with mainland China. While one is a committed peace campaigner and seeks to reduce antagonism between Taiwan and China, the other has signed up to train with a citizen's army,to be ready for Chinese aggression. We follow them in their work and with their friends, and hear their differing reflections on an an island and an electorate being watched by a global audience.

Over the years Tanni has suffered discrimination including when she was pregnant being offered a termination. She meets others who have had similar journeys in India, Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil and New Zealand.

In India she meets Abha Khetarpal, and both reflect on several shared experiences. They both had scoliosis and use a wheelchair and faced early challenges at school - Abha having to be home schooled.

Meanwhile Lois Auta in Nigeria also uses a wheelchair. She was born in 1980 and tells Tanni how she managed to challenge the status quo and stand for parliament. ‘Disability is seen in our country as something that happens through witch craft,' she says. Lois, who now acts as an advocate for women with disabilities says those prejudices still exist.

She meets BBC war correspondent Frank Gardner who tells her how he adapted to becoming disabled after being injured during his work in a war zone in the Middle East.

Producer: Ashley Byrne

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Britain's paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson holds up her gold medals. Credit: Carl de Souza/AFP)

Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson looks at changes in attitudes to disability the world over

Rodrigo Medellin loves bats. The Mexican conservationist has been obsessed with the often maligned creatures for over six decades. As a child, he kept blood in ice cube trays in his parents' freezer, to feed to his pet vampire bats. He went on to create Mexico City's first ever bat festival, and to work with governments, universities, NGOs and researchers all over the world.

Like many Mexicans, he is also fiercely proud of the country's native spirits: tequila and mezcal. The agave spirits are hugely important for Mexico's economy, especially in the states of Jalisco and Oaxaca. Exports of the drinks are worth billions. Tequila and mezcal have become increasingly popular in recent decades, with sales boosted by big budget celebrity-owned brands designed to appeal to the US consumer. From Kendall Jenner to George Clooney, US celebrities have been riding high on the mass market appeal of the liquor.

But the boom in these industries has had unintended consequences for Rodrigo's beloved bats. Often the agave the spirits are made from is harvested early, before the slow-growing plant can flower. This means bats cannot feed from the nectar, and critically, they can't do their job as pollinators. This contributes to agave monocultures which are susceptible to disease and blight.

Rodrigo explains how he wanted to change the way the industry works, creating a “bat-friendly ? certification for tequila and mezcal producers who leave 5% of the agave untouched, to bloom. But why have so few brands been certified, why is the programme controversial for some producers, and why are bats a tricky sell as far as conservation for many people and communities? Sarah Treanor spends time with Rodrigo in Mexico City and Oaxaca to find out.

A Bespoken Media production.

One conservationist's mission to protect bats and Mexico's iconic tequila and mezcal

Conservationist Rodrigo Medellin is working to protect Mexico's bats and its iconic spirits - tequila and mezcal. Can tequila become “bat friendly ??

[LISTEN NOW]

Back in 2015, BBC World Service launched the first BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award, to raise the profile of the women's game but also highlight key issues within the sport.

Ten years ago, the current Champions League winners Barcelona and the Women's Super League in England still weren't professional, the Women's World Cup was about to kick off in Canada using artificial pitches, much to the dismay of players and coaches – something which has never been repeated!

To mark an historic 10th year of the award, past winners including Norway's Ada Hegerberg, Nigeria's Asisat Oshoala and England's Lucy Bronze reflect on winning the trophy. Along with previous nominees, they discuss key moments in the last decade and the challenges still ahead for the women's game.

Image: Spain lift the Women's World Cup in 2023 (Credit: Julieta Ferrario/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

How women's football has boomed in the past decade, and what challenges still lie ahead

To mark the 10th anniversary of the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award, past winners including Ada Hegerberg, Asisat Oshoala and Lucy Bronze reflect on a decade of change.

[LISTEN NOW]

Back in 2015 BBC World Service launched the first BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award, to raise the profile of the women's game but also highlight key issues within the sport.

It's been an historic 10 years which has seen the popularity of the game transform to one of, if not the fastest growing sport in the world.

It's incredible to think back in 2015 the current Champions League winners Barcelona and the Women's Super League in England still weren't professional, the Women's World Cup was about to kick off in Canada using artificial pitches much to the dismay of players and coaches – something which has never been repeated!

To mark an historic 10th year of the award, the past winners including Norway's Ada Hegerberg, Nigeria's Asisat Oshoala and England's Lucy Bronze will reflect on winning the trophy and along with previous nominees discuss key moments in the last ten years and the challenges still ahead for the women's game.

BBC Women's Footballer of the Year celebrates 10 years and the decade of change.

[LISTEN NOW]

Bonaventure and a friend developed a French to Fon translation app, with speech recognition functionality, using an old missionary bible and volunteer questionnaires as the source data. Although rudimentary, they put the code online as open-source to be used by others. Bonaventure has since joined with other young African computer scientists and language activists called Masakane to use this code and share knowledge to increase digital accessibility for African and other lower-resourced languages. They want to be able to communicate across the African continent using translation software, with the ultimate goal being an 'African Babel Fish', a simultaneous speech-to-speech translation for African languages.

James Jackson explores what role their ground-breaking software could play for societies in Africa disrupted by language barriers.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service

How Bonaventure Dossou's translation app is increasing accessibility to African dialects

Beninese computer scientist Bonaventure Dossou's translation app is increasing accessibility to Africa's local languages.

Bonaventure and a friend developed a French to Fon translation app, with speech recognition functionality, using an old missionary bible and volunteer questionnaires as the source data. Although rudimentary, they put the code online as open-source to be used by others. Bonaventure has since joined with other young African computer scientists and language activists called Masakane to use this code and share knowledge to increase digital accessibility for African and other lower-resourced languages. They want to be able to communicate across the African continent using translation software, with the ultimate goal being an 'African Babel Fish', a simultaneous speech-to-speech translation for African languages.

James Jackson explores what role their ground-breaking software could play for societies in Africa disrupted by language barriers.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service

Photo: A woman using a mobile phone Credit: Getty Images

How Bonaventure Dossou's translation app is increasing accessibility to African dialects

Beninese computer scientist Bonaventure Dossou's translation app is increasing accessibility to Africa's local languages.

Adriana investigates by visiting Chamonix in France, the mountaineering capital of Europe and home to Mont Blanc. She learns that the disappearing glacier there is an inescapable symbol of our warming planet. After speaking to other mountaineers, glaciologists and meteorologists, she asks herself if she is doing enough as a mountaineer to prevent the planet from warming further.

Image: Adriana Brownlee (Credit: Adriana Brownlee)

Can mountaineering survive in an age of rapidly warming mountains?

Researchers in Morocco are developing dry-land agriculture at ICARDA (the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas). It is home to a gene bank, in which around 150,000 different seed-types are kept in perfectly calibrated cold vaults, and duplicated to protect them from fire, earthquake and war. They are used for the creation of new varieties - such as wheat or lentils resistant to drought or disease, without pesticides. The gene bank is a public good - anyone, anywhere, can request seeds free of charge.

Laaziza Atmani, head of the Al Amal women's farming co-operative in the middle Atlas Mountains, uses ICARDA seeds and expertise to develop her couscous business. ‘Setting up the co-op changed our lives,' she says.

Some of the ICARDA seeds were collected originally in the 19th Century, at the dawn of genetic research. ‘Our oldest is a barley, collected in 1884, in Norway,' says Zakaria Kehel, who takes care of the seed bank. Others are of wild varieties such as the ancestors of grain that grow freely in the 'Fertile Crescent' of modern Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. These wild plants, or landraces, have been collected from mountains and roadsides over decades by scientists like Dr Ahmed Amri.

Presenter: Aidan Tulloch

Sound engineer: Mike Woolley

Producer: Monica Whitlock

A Storyscape production for BBC World Service

How a seed bank in Morocco is protecting around 150,000 different seed-types

How a seed bank in Morocco is protecting around 150,000 different seed-types and using them to create new varieties resistant to drought or disease, without pesticides.

In a laboratory in Morocco, machines whir, lamps hum, and scientists examine phials of seeds grown across the hot, dry lands from Palestine to Iran - the historical Fertile Crescent. This is the main international seed bank for the region, a living library of thousands of indigenous varieties. Some have been cultivated for millennia, while in the growing fields outside, specialists experiment with new kinds of grains and pulses to withstand war, drought and import-dependency. The work of the seed bank, run by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, has never been more important. This lively programme is recorded on site in Morocco and includes visits to female farming co-operatives in the Middle Atlas Mountains, where women are having their say for the first time into creating the seeds of the future.

Visit a seed bank in Morocco

[LISTEN NOW]

In Al Hudayriyat Island in Abu Dhabi, a 7m high installation - Smog Free Tower - by Dutch Studio Roosegaarde, bills itself as 'the world's first smog vacuum cleaner.' It purifies 30,000 cubic metres of air per hour and the dirt filtered from this urban smog is compressed into jewellery, which is sold to finance the project. We speak to environmental and health experts about the benefits this will bring.

In Delhi and Bangalore, Air-Ink is 'turning air pollution into ink solution' by capturing the black particles that float in the atmosphere and turning them into ink. Founder Anirudh Sharma and his co-founder, Nikhil Kaushik, say taking something as pervasive as air pollution and turning it into something as common as ink means the more Air-Ink on your page, the less pollution in your lungs.

We hear how pollution impacts locals in Delhi and how community art projects there are helping to fight climate issues, while Dutch artist Nouch tells us why she so crazy about Air-Ink.

Presenter: Harriet Robinson

Producer: Louise Orchard

(Photo: A Smog Free ring is held up towards the sky. Credit: Studio Roosegaarde)

Meet the creatives that are turning deadly air pollution into art, ink and jewellery

Air Pollution is responsible for around seven million deaths every year. Governments around the world have been trying to tackle it with a variety of measures such as ultra-low emission zones, driving bans and industrial emission standards. But now, the fight against air pollution is increasingly catching the imagination of artists and designers.

We head to Al Hudayriyat Island in hazy Abu Dhabi, where the 7m high installation, Smog Free Tower by Dutch Studio Roosegaarde, bills itself as 'the world's first smog vacuum cleaner.' It purifies 30,000 cubic metres of air per hour and the dirt filtered from this urban smog is compressed into jewellery, a tangible souvenir, sold to finance the project. We speak to environmental and health experts about the benefits this will bring, as well as the happily married recipients of a Smog Free Ring.

Meanwhile, in Delhi and Bangalore, AIR INK is 'turning air pollution into ink solution' by capturing the black particles that float in the atmosphere and turning them into ink.

Founder Anirudh Sharma drew inspiration from architect, philosopher and futurist, R. Buckminster Fuller when he said, 'Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value.' His Co-founder, Nikhil Kaushik, says taking something as pervasive as air pollution and turning it into something as common as ink means the more AIR INK on your page, the less pollution in your lungs.

Plus they've kickstarted a public art movement spanning cities from Hong Kong to London and New York to Mumbai. We hear how pollution impacts locals in Delhi and how community art projects there are helping to fight climate issues, while Dutch artist Nouch tells us why she so crazy about AIR INK.

We meet the creatives that are turning deadly air pollution into art, ink and jewellery.

In July 2024 Bangladesh was rocked by protests. They were sparked by anger at widespread corruption, and the reinstatement of a quota system that reserved 30 percent of civil service jobs for families of war veterans. An estimated 1,400 people were killed in the protests, which led to Bangladesh's leader of 15 years, Sheikh Hasina, fleeing the country.

After months of painstaking investigation, BBC Eye can now reveal how the police response to the protest unfolded, and has verified a leaked audio recording in which Sheikh Hasina is heard authorising her security services to use lethal weapons against the protestors.

We follow the story of one young man in particular, struggling to find justice for his 19-year-old brother who was among those killed.

Reporters: Riddhi Jha and Christopher Giles

Researcher: Rafid Hossain

Produced by Louise Hidalgo, Ivana Davidovic and Harriet Shawcross

Editor: Rebecca Henschke

Executive producer: Job Rabkin

BBC Eye investigates the deadly uprising that led to the downfall of Sheikh Hasina

An estimated 1,400 people died last year in a popular uprising that led to the overthrow of Bangladesh's government. But who gave the order to police to fire?

[LISTEN NOW]

On the edge of a failing South African city, a disused power station hums once again — this time with beats, voices, and possibility. Makhanda is a divided place and, for the majority, opportunities are scarce and challenges are constant: poverty is grinding, houses and roads crumble, unemployment is overwhelming, violence is never far away and life can be cheap.

But Makanda is also full of creativity and passion, and some of its young people are responding to the hardships they face with music. They are filling the gap where their futures should be with art rather than with drugs, alcohol or crime. The Black Power Station provides a stage for these musicians to do what they love as well as to get their message across. Their lyrics speak of poverty, inequality and violence but also of love, determination and hope.

With one of the artists as our guide, The Black Power Station: Resistance Generation takes us into the world of backyard studios and mobile phone mixing desks. From total first-timers to those starting to make a name for themselves, we get inside the heads of these musicians as they write, record and perform. We discover what music means to them, what their friends and families say about their ambitions and learn more about the dreams that spur them on. In particular, we're taken through the highs and lows of the build-up to Euphoria – the Black Power Station's music event of the year - where these artists get a chance to step into the spotlight and make themselves heard.

Meet the young South African hip hop artists translating hardship into hope.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Members of the new age Anastasia movement espouse strong family values, farm small plots of land and try to educate their own children outside the public school system. Originating in Russia, the quasi-religious group has now spread to Germany, where there are more than a dozen Anastasia rural settlements. But are they more than just a harmless fringe group?

Reporter Johannes Dell returns to his native Germany to discover what the group stands for. He speaks to a former Anastasia member and to a German journalist who spent two years tracking the group. A government intelligence officer tells him why three German states have designated the group as extremist. As Johannes finds out, beyond their eco-friendly exterior, Anastasia members display sinister traits of racism, antisemitism and far-right ideologies.

Presenter: Johannes Dell

Producer: Mike Lanchin

A CTVC production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Anastasia-run cafe in the village of Weinrode, Germany, 2025. Credit: Mike Lanchin)

The new quasi-religious movement that is spreading across villages in Germany

The new age movement spreading across villages in Germany whose eco-friendly ideals are mixed in with conspiracy theories, racism and antisemitism.

They wear simple clothes, espouse strong family values and farm small plots of land: members of a new quasi-religious movement called Anastasia that's spreading across villages in Germany. But look beyond the eco-friendly exterior, and you'll find sinister traits: anti-Semitism, hostility to immigrants and far-right ideologies. Johannes Dell investigates whether this is a serious threat.

A look at the new quasi-religious movement that's spreading across villages in Germany

[LISTEN NOW]

In a famous speech thirty years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity ? in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise. ?

As the BBC's South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country's most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope.

Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, re-visiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid. Through this series they will explore how and why paradise was lost.

30 years after South Africa's momentous changes what's happened to the hope and promises?

In a famous speech 30 years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity ? in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise. ?

As the BBC's South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country's most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope. Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, revisiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of apartheid. They explore how and why paradise was lost.

(Photo: Young boy dressed as a superhero in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Credit: RichVintage/Getty Images)

What's happened to the hope and promises of a better nation since apartheid South Africa?

Thirty years after South Africa's momentous change from apartheid to democracy, what has happened to the hope and promises for a better nation?

In a famous speech thirty years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity ? in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise. ?

As the BBC's South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country's most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope.

Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, re-visiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid. Through this series they will explore how and why paradise was lost.

30 years after South Africa's momentous changes what's happened to the hope and promises?

In a famous speech 30 years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity ? in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise. ?

As the BBC's South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country's most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope. Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, revisiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid. They will explore how and why paradise was lost.

(Photo: Young boy dressed as a superhero in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Credit: RichVintage/Getty Images)

What's happened to South Africa's hope and promises of a better nation since apartheid?

Thirty years after South Africa's transition from apartheid to a democracy, what has happened to the hope and promises of a better nation?

In a famous speech thirty years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity ? in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise. ?

As the BBC's South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country's most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope.

Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, re-visiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid. Through this series they will explore how and why paradise was lost.

30 years after South Africa's momentous changes what's happened to the hope and promises?

(Image: Young boy dressed as a superhero in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Credit: RichVintage/Getty)

Until 2021, Uganda had only four paediatric surgeons and just a few children's hospital beds for the entire country. In 2020, the mortality rate for children under five was 43 per 1,000 births, compared to three per 1,000 in the UK.

The Children's Hospital of Entebbe, funded by the Italian NGO Emergency and designed by world famous architect Renzo Piano, was established in 2021 to change the situation.

Ugandan journalist Lulu Jemimah visits the hospital, on the shore of Lake Victoria, to ask whether one hospital is enough to reset the future for Uganda's children. Lulu meets children and young people who would have died, or had their lives severely limited, without intervention at this hospital

The hospital also aims to be a pathfinder, to demonstrate to governments across Africa how a future with better healthcare is possible. The plan is for Emergency to eventually hand over the hospital to Ugandan staff and authorities, but taking over the running costs will be a huge challenge for the government.

Presenter: Lulu Jemimah

Producer: Amanda Hargreaves

Sound engineer: Joel Cox

A Bespoken Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: The Children's Hospital of Entebbe - child post-op check-up. Credit: Laura Salvinelli/Emergency)

A new free-to-access children's hospital is revolutionising paediatric care in Uganda

A free, state-of-the-art children's hospital is transforming paediatric care in Uganda. But is one hospital enough to reset the future for Uganda's children?

A new, free children's hospital has transformed paediatric healthcare in Uganda, where half the population is under 15. Before 2021, Uganda had only four paediatric surgeons and few children's hospital beds. Journalist Lulu Jemimah visits the hospital in Entebbe to ask if it can change the future for Uganda's children.

Can the new, free hospital in Entebbe change the future of Uganda's children?

[LISTEN NOW]

Between 2014 and 2017 thousands of ordinary Chinese people handed their money over to a company that promised them fabulous riches by helping them to ride the wave of the future - cryptocurrency. That vision collapsed when the shadowy figure behind it, Qian Zhimin, fled to the UK with a Bitcoin stash bought with their money.

She settled down in London, planning her comeback as the Queen of Liberland, a scrap of land on the banks of the Danube. But her downfall began when she botched an attempt to buy a north London mansion. This alerted the police, who arrested Qian and seized a stash of Bitcoin now worth billions of dollars.

Many investors put everything they had into the company. Several have now told the BBC how they were persuaded to invest, and how the company's collapse led to personal and financial ruin.

Now, as Qian is sentenced, the question remains: will the victims get their money back?

How Qian Zhimin ended up at the heart of the UK's biggest cryptocurrency seizure

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

The story of Qian Zhimin, the Chinese woman at the heart of the UK's biggest cryptocurrency seizure.

[LISTEN NOW]

One year on from the start of the war, we analyse what's going on in Israel and Gaza

[LISTEN NOW]

Jonny Dymond brings together a carefully assembled panel of experts, academics and journalists to talk about the conflict in the region. They assess what has happened in history to lead us to this point. And, look at what history can teach us about what might happen next.

(Photo: Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the Dahieh district in southern Beirut, Lebanon, 25 November 2024. Credit: Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE)

What can history teach us about the conflict in the Middle East?

[LISTEN NOW]

The world is electrifying and central to our decarbonisation drive is copper. The red metal is second only to silver as the best conductor of electricity and it is critical in the manufacture of wind turbines, electric cars and solar panels. Reporter Robin Markwell travels through Chile where the reserves of some of the world's largest copper mines are starting to dwindle. Can supply keep pace with soaring demand?

(Photo: Two men stand in front of a Chilean copper mine. Credit: Reuters)

Copper is critical in making wind turbines, electric cars and solar panels

Copper is critical in making wind turbines, electric cars and solar panels but can the supply meet the soaring demands?

The world is electrifying and central to our decarbonisation drive is copper. The red metal is second only to silver as the best conductor of electricity and it's critical in the manufacture of wind turbines, electric cars and solar panels. In The Copper Kingdom reporter Robin Markwell travels through Chile where the reserves of some of the world's largest copper mines are starting to dwindle and he'll ask whether supply can keep pace with soaring demand.

[LISTEN NOW]

Five years on from the global lockdown we catch up with 'the covid generation', the class of 2020 - school leavers and graduates from around the world to find out how the coronavirus pandemic affected their lives and studying and employment prospects. Did they have to change plans, were their careers put on hold, did they spot a new opportunity? What has been the long term affect for young people and intergenerational tension?

[LISTEN NOW]

In Palermo, and across Southern Italy, there are two main types of stray dog. There are the semi-wild packs that live on the edge of human settlements, and then there are the cani di quartiere: dogs of the neighbourhood. These dogs are known by everyone and owned by no-one. They sprawl out for naps in the middle of the pavement, frequent the same butchers for their scraps, play with the neighbourhood kids, and have friends - canine and human - all over the territory. Unlike strays in other parts of Europe, they aren't rounded up and treated as a nuisance. They are protected by law, which guarantees their freedom as long as they are not a danger to people, animals, or property. There is a mutual relationship of reciprocity and respect between the residents and these dogs. Their lives are celebrated and their losses mourned, sometimes even with funerals, public art, and eulogies in the local paper.

Since moving to Palermo from Amsterdam two years ago, British writer and producer Georgia Walker has been fascinated by the lives of these animals, and what they mean to the city. But during that time, she's also seen how their numbers are dwindling due to changing attitudes, sterilisation, and the impact of tourism. In the Anthropocene, and amid ecosystem collapse, the programme asks whether this relationship of reciprocity and care can allow us to imagine different ways of living with other species and our natural world.

Image: Bianchina, one of Palermo's cani di quartiere (Credit: Georgia Walker)

How the Sicilian city of Palermo embraces the stray dogs living on its streets

The cani di quartiere, or dogs of the neighbourhood, roam freely on the streets of Palermo, as a much-loved part of the city's everyday life. But their numbers are dwindling.

A look at Palermo's cani di quartiere (dogs of the neighbourhood), who roam freely

[LISTEN NOW]

In Christopher Nolan's 2010 blockbuster Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio's protagonist is paid to implant an idea into a target's subconscious. If you look the film up, its genre is listed as being ‘science fiction' - but could that soon have to be revised?

Dream engineering is an experimental new field - with scientists, dream researchers and engineers pursuing the goal of influencing our thoughts as we sleep.

For some, the idea holds the promise of a bright future, with benefits for our memories, creativity and wellbeing.

On the other hand, though, the ethical issues it causes amid the unregulated world of an emerging technology have led to warnings of a future where our very dreams could be for sale.

In The Dream Makers, Anand Jagatia investigates the fascinating potential and developing concerns over what the future of dream engineering could hold.

Can the emerging field of dream engineering influence our thoughts as we sleep?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Dan Welsh

With special thanks to The MIT Museum, Seth Riskin, The Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard Library, The Trustees of the E. E. Cummings Trust, Dr. Suzanne Fairless-Aitken at Bloodaxe Books

Credits:

Tomas Tranströmer, New Collected Poems, tr. Robin Fulton (Bloodaxe Books, 2011)

E. E. Cummings, Xaipe (W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997)

Dream engineering is an experimental new field with the goal of influencing our thoughts as we sleep. Anand Jagatia investigates what it could mean for the future of how we dream.

[LISTEN NOW]

In Christopher Nolan's 2010 blockbuster Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio's protagonist is paid to implant an idea into a target's subconscious. If you look the film up, its genre is listed as being ‘science fiction' - but could that soon have to be revised?

Dream engineering is an experimental new field - with scientists, dream researchers and engineers pursuing the goal of influencing our thoughts as we sleep.

For some, the idea holds the promise of a bright future, with benefits for our memories, creativity and wellbeing.

On the other hand, though, the ethical issues it causes amid the unregulated world of an emerging technology have led to warnings of a future where our very dreams could be for sale.

Anand Jagatia investigates the fascinating potential and developing concerns over what the future of dream engineering could hold.

Can the emerging field of dream engineering influence our thoughts as we sleep?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Engineering has moved inside the body to innovate like never before. In neuroscience, implants can read brain waves and turn them into communication for people with locked-in syndrome. In medication, a new technology aims to deliver chemotherapy and other drugs directly to the parts that need them by bubbles in the blood stream. And ingestible electronics are being made to fight disease by sending hormone and antibody-directing messages straight from the gut to the brain.

Three world-leading biomedical engineers come to London to join presenter, Caroline Steel, and an audience at a special event staged with the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.

Guests:

Tom Oxley (Australia): Neurologist, and brain implant innovator. Professorial Fellow Melbourne Medical School. CEO of Synchron

Eleanor Stride, OBE (UK): Biomedical Engineer, bubble technology innovator. Professor of Biomaterials at the University of Oxford

Khalil Ramadi (UAE): Nanoroboticist, ingestible electroceuticals innovator. Director of the Ramadi Lab for Advanced Neuro-engineering and Translational Medicine in Abu Dhabi. Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, New York University

Producer: Charlie Taylor

(Image: 3D render of human brain. Credit: Palmihelp/Getty Images)

Psychic' communication, blood-bubble drug delivery and ingestible electronics

Engineering has moved inside the body to innovate like never before. In neuro-science, brain implants can provide ‘psychic' communication for people with locked-in syndrome. In medication a new technology aims to deliver chemo therapy and other drugs directly to the parts that need them by bubbles in the blood stream. And ingestible electronics are being made to fight disease by sending antibody-directing messages straight from the gut to the brain.

The BBC and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 have come together to stage a special event.

Three biomedical engineers at the forefront of their profession worldwide will come to London to join presenter Caroline Steel and discuss their trail-blazing work, answering questions from an audience at the Royal Geographical Society.

Eleanor Stride, OBE (Britain) – Biomedical Engineer, bubble technology innovator. Professor of Biomaterials at the University of Oxford

[LISTEN NOW]

‘Machine Learning AI' is the technological revolution of our era. Three engineers at the forefront of that revolution come to London to join Caroline Steel and a public audience at the Great Hall of Imperial College.

Regina Barzilay from MIT created a major breakthrough in detecting early stage breast cancer. She also led the team that used machine learning to discover Halicin, the first new antibiotic in 30 years.

David Silver is Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind. He led the AlphaGo team that built the AI to defeat the world's best human player of Go.

Paolo Pirjanian founded Embodied, and is a pioneer in developing emotionally intelligent robots to aid child development.

Producer: Charlie Taylor

(Image: 3D hologram AI brain displayed by digital circuit and semiconductor. Credit: Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)

We speak to three engineers at the forefront of the 'Machine Learning: AI' revolution

Paolo Pirjinian founded Embodied, and is a pioneer in developing emotionally intelligent robots to aid child development.

Hilik Magnus is Israel's foremost search and rescue specialist. He has performed missions, public and private, for over thirty years across six continents. He has worked under the radar during disasters such as 2004's tsunami and 2008's Mumbai terror attacks. He has worked with everyone, from grieving families to cartels and the Taliban, all for the simple purpose of returning people to where they belong.

Now, he opens up about this secretive world, and talks frankly about his origins and values.

The start, in the 1990s, was simple. His operating base was an abandoned train carriage in the southern desert of Israel with three telephones and a dial-up connection.

Hilik did not know what awaited him. All he knew was that he felt a ‘shlichut' – ‘higher purpose' in Hebrew – to help save lives, to return the unburied to their grieving families.

Yet the business grew and now employs 80 people in a hi-tech hub in Tel Aviv. There is GPS, GSM, fibre-optic, and over 2,500 calls for help every year.

In the midst of this change, Hilik is finding it hard to connect the now and then. For him, the purity of the work was in shepherding lost souls, alive or dead, to their rightful place. Strange, mystical encounters at 6,000m above sea-level. Exposing national corruption in Bolivia. Not board meetings and touchscreens. He hates the city and all it implies. Yet the world moves on, and the work means everything to him. When he lets himself stop, his 76 years catch up with him, leading to days laid up in bed.

Producer: Jeremy Neumark Jones

Assistant Producer, Additional Research: Robert Neumark Jones

Exec Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production.

Hilik Magnus reflects on the values that inspire him to rescue people for a living.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

When rising sea levels threaten a country's very existence, how can its culture be preserved? Tuvalu wants to create an online replica of its landscape and an archive of its language, music and important artefacts. Prianka Srinivasan finds out how the government's “digital nation ? plan is developing, and speaks to Tuvaluans about what they're already doing to celebrate and pass on the country's heritage and customs.

When rising sea levels threaten a country's existence, how can its culture be preserved?

[LISTEN NOW]

With their fearsome talons, acid poo and a penchant for rotting carcasses, the vulture has long been shouldered with associations of death, and dishonour. This taboo often puts them bottom of the list for conservation projects. Nevertheless, they are a keystone animal in every environment they live in. And in nearly every one, they're in trouble.

Conservationist Sacha Dench travels visits three different vulture species, each with an extraordinary story of persecution and survival.

In India, vulture populations collapsed by 99.9%, the sharpest decline of any animal ever recorded, in the 'Indian Vulture Crisis'. Debbie Pain and Chris Bowden describe the urgent international collaborative effort that brought them back from the very brink of extinction.

In South Africa, the White Backed Vulture has become collateral damage in the ongoing war between poachers and game-keepers. Sacha meets Kerri Wolter and Alistair Sinclair of Vulpro, the organisation that's rescuing and rehabilitating these innocent bystanders.

Finally, in Guinea-Bissau, vultures are the victim of cultural practices which see their bodies as having magical properties. Sacha talks to Jose Tavares from the Vulture Conservation Foundation, and Andre Botha from the IUCN Vulture Group, who reveals the cultural practices which put the birds at risk.

Sacha Dench investigates the plight of one of the world's most persecuted birds

With their bald heads, fearsome talons, acid poo that strips paint and a penchant for rotting carcasses, the vulture has long been shouldered with negative associations of death and dishonour. This taboo often puts them bottom of the list for conservation projects. Nevertheless, their unique biological niche make them a keystone animal in every environment they live in. And in nearly every one, they're in danger.

Sacha Dench, the UN Ambassador for Migratory Species, paramotor pilot and fearless adventurer, travels around the world to visit three different vulture species with extraordinary stories of persecution and survival, and finds out there's more to them than meets the eye.

In India, a new and mysterious illness brought a species to the brink of survival, while researchers race to discover the cause. In Guinea-Bissau, birds are butchered in their thousands to feed a black market in their body parts. And in Zimbabwe, the vultures become collateral damage in the bloody war between poachers, and anti-poaching squads.

Sacha tells the story of a deeply misunderstood and endangered creature, through the eyes of those who live and work alongside them around the world

But if you really want to get inside the head of one of the largest birds on earth, there's only one way to do it. In the air. Sacha takes to the skies in her paramotor to fly alongside these magnificent birds, wing-tip to wing-tip, as they spiral gently upwards on the desert thermals.

Didn't think you could love a vulture? We're about to change your mind.

[LISTEN NOW]

For the hundreds of people who live in a cluster of villages in the 'no man's land' between India and Pakistan, a map drawn up long ago still causes daily struggles.

Punjab - the land of the five rivers - was carved up to create Pakistan during The Partition of 1947 when India gained its independence from colonial rule. Two rivers went to Pakistan, two stayed with India and one - the Ravi - crosses both countries.

For 72 years, communities who live by the Ravi on the Indian side have been asking for a permanent bridge, so they can access hospitals, schools, shops, banks. What they have is a makeshift pontoon bridge, which has to be dismantled for the monsoon season. To get even the smallest thing from the mainland involves a difficult commute that has to be planned in advance. From June through September, the only way across is on a boat and a prayer. If the waters are too high, nobody can get across.

Journalist Chhavi Sachdev travels to the remote area in the western part of India to meet the Indian people whose lives are shaped by the Ravi.

Producer: Penny Dale

We meet the people in western India cut off from the mainland by a bridgeless river

For the thousands of people who live in a cluster of villages in the 'no man's land' between India and Pakistan, a map drawn up long ago still causes daily struggles.

For 72 years, communities who live by the Ravi on the Indian side have been asking for a permanent bridge, so they can access hospitals, schools, shops, banks – the very basics of life.

What they've got is a makeshift pontoon bridge, which has to be dismantled for the monsoon season. To get even the smallest thing from the mainland involves a difficult commute that has to be planned in advance.

In 1993 the legislators in Cobb County, Georgia passed a resolution stating that “lifestyles advocated by the gay community are incompatible with the standards to which this community subscribes'.

Cobb County was due to welcome the Olympics in 1996 hosting the volleyball competition as part of the Atlanta Games. Narrated by Wanda Guenette, a member of the 1996 Canadian volleyball team who identifies as gay, and who faced the prospect of having her Olympic dream turned into a nightmare, forced to compete in a place that had made it clear she and other gay athletes were not welcome.

This is the inspiring story of a small campaign group who took on one of the most powerful organisations in the world and forced change. With the help of an Olympic legend and after months of high-profile peaceful protests, the Atlanta organising committee finally stripped Cobb County as a host venue and diverted the torch relay away from its streets.

Photo Credit: Carol Brown/Georgia State University Library

How a small campaign group took on the all powerful Olympic organisation to force change

The Olympic ideals of excellence, respect and friendship had been replaced by hate, discrimination and bigotry in the lead up to the Atlanta Games until a small group took a stand

Photo Credit: Carole Brown/Georgia State University Library

James Montague tells the story of two refugee football clubs - who once played in the same Soviet league - but whose fortunes have waxed and waned during thirty years of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno Karabakh. As Qarabag FK prepares to return to the city their people fled from, Lernayin Artsakh FC prepares for a life of exile, both clubs now avatars for a seemingly intractable conflict in the Caucuses.

[LISTEN NOW]

We hear why the world's most famous dolphin trainer changed sides - playing a role instead in the fight for their freedom.

It is the story of how Femke Den Haas, the Indonesian campaign director of the Dolphin Project, teamed up with former trainer Ric O'Barry.

Presenter: Rebecca Henschke

Producer: Dave Arnold

(Photo: Johnny through the gate. Credit: The Dolphin Project)

Freeing Johnny, Rocky and Rambo, the dolphins of the world's last travelling circus

Freeing Johnny, Rocky and Rambo, the dolphins of the world's last travelling dolphin circus.

This the story of the fight to shut the circus down and the long journey to try to return the performing dolphins to the ocean.

And we hear why the world's most famous dolphin trainer changed sides - playing a role instead in the fight for their freedom.

It's the story of how Femke Den Haas the Indonesian Campaign Director of the Dolphin project teamed up with former trainer Ric O'Barry.

Other ex-travelling dolphins remain in captivity and inside a Bali hotel swimming pool.

Freeing the dolphins of the world's travelling circus

[LISTEN NOW]

Few people outside Kazakhstan know of the famine that destroyed nomadic life in the 1930s, and left more than a third of the population dead with countless families displaced to China and far beyond. Yet even within Kazakhstan you can meet people who know almost nothing about the calamity that touched every Kazakh family and still resonates today. The famine, called Asharshylyk in Kazakh, was among the most deadly man-made famines of the 20th Century, even more so, proportionately, than the much better known Holodomor in Ukraine during the same period. It resulted from the coming of Soviet power, the violent suppression of nomadism and forced settlement into disastrous collective farms. During the Soviet years, no one mentioned the Asharshylyk in public and it was never taught at schools or universities.

Rose Kudabayeva's grandparents did not breathe a word to her about the Asharshylyk although they lived through the worst of it, losing several of their children. Now she travels through Kazakhstan trying to find out the story, meeting archivists, writers, musicians, camel farmers and of course her own relatives.

With Smagal Yelubayev, author of The Lonely Yurt trilogy and Bilal Iskakov, professor of traditional music at the Almaty Conservatoire.

Special thanks to Sabit Shildebai, director of the Central State Archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Zura Tolenova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, associate professor, head of the Centre for Advanced Research of the Central State Archives.

Producer: Monica Whitlock

The Kazakhs who came through one of the worst man-made famines the world has seen

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Kazakhstan barely survived one of the worst man-made famines. Why is it so little known? Rose Kudabayeva returns to her homeland to find out her own family story.

[LISTEN NOW]

Anna Foster talks to people who were there when the attacks happened at the kibbutzim and the Nova music festival. They share the pain of hiding and trying to escape, as their loved ones were killed or taken away from them.

This is their story.

Presenter: Anna Foster

Producer: Louise Clarke

Editor: Clare Fordham

Technical producer: Richard Hannaford

(Photo: Israel-Palestinian conflict hostages. Credit: John MacDougall/AFP)

People who survived the 7 October attacks in Israel by Hamas describe how events unfolded

On 7 October Hamas invaded Israel killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. This is the story of how events unfolded, according to those who were there and survived.

The Pantanal, in western Brazil, is the world's largest tropical wetland, and home to tens of thousands of animal species. But expansion of shipping and development is causing an increase in wildfires, and the loss of unique habitats. The Jaguar is the apex predator in the Pantanal, roaming over vast hunting grounds, but the changing environment means that they are now under threat too. Reporter James Harper travels down the rivers of the Pantanal, talking to activists, conservation experts and local businessmen to explore the debate over the future of the Pantanal and its famous big cats.

Producer: James Harper

Executive Producer: Will Yates

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service

James Harper explores a battle between business and conservation threatening the jaguar

James Harper explores a battle between business and conservation that threatens the future of Pantanal's famous big cats - the jaguar.

In the Pantanal, a vast tropical wetland in west Brazil, the Jaguar has long thrived as a mighty predator. But its habitats are now under threat, and the Jaguars may fall victim to a drive to develop the region economically. James Harper goes in search of the big cats, and explores a battle between business and conservation.

[LISTEN NOW]

In 1900, German colonial officers executed 19 Tanzanian leaders, including Akida Kiwelu, and shipped their skulls to Berlin for scientific study. Thousands of such skulls and ancestral remains stolen from Germany's past colonies are still kept in Berlin museums to this day.

In an administrative building in Berlin, Zablon Kiwelu encounters his grandfather's skull for the first time. DNA testing confirmed a genetic match to this skull, held in an anthropological colonial-era collection of thousands of skulls known as the S-Collection. But despite proof of his heritage, Zablon cannot bring his grandfather home for a proper burial.

Through intimate accounts and revealing interviews with museum curators, activists, and affected families, this documentary uncovers the lasting impact of colonial-era crimes in Germany, Tanzania, and beyond. Why were these collections of human remains assembled? What were ethnologists like Felix von Luschan intending to prove? And why are thousands of human remains still held in museum collections to this day?

Thousands of human remains are held in German museums. Why can't they go back?

Presenter: Peter Frederick Matthews

Producer: Ben Schuman-Stoler, Rowan Ben Jackson

A Munck Studios and Kollo Media production for BBC World Service

(Image: Composite image of Zablon Kiwelu (L) and his grandfather Akida Kiwelu (R). Credit:)

In 1900, 19 Tanzanian leaders were executed and their skulls shipped to Berlin for study

[LISTEN NOW]

Humourous and tender, this documentary takes a long-haul view of the life of modern truckers in Europe - exploring working class masculinity on the road, all nighters and long journeys from the inside of a truck driver's cab.

What does it mean to be a trucker in an era shaped by global events like pandemics and geopolitical crises? Where drivers often find themselves on the frontlines of change?

We follow these modern nomads across borders, exploring themes of in(ter)dependence, home, and the evolving identity of truckers within the European landscape.

A Falling Tree production.

(Photo: Tiia Rajala sits inside the cab of her truck. Credit: Alan Hall)

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Serhiy first laid eyes on Iryna under the swirling lights of the best disco in town. She was wearing a cool jumpsuit with a bright red belt, which drew attention to her waist as she wiggled to the pulsing beat. Serhiy was freshly discharged from the Red Army and was happy to be able to let his hair down. He thought Iryna was beautiful and couldn't take his eyes off her. He wouldn't work up the courage to ask Iryna out until a few days later, but once they started dating, Club Edison 2 became a favourite haunt and they looked forward to the weekly discos.

The man behind the decks was DJ Alexander Demidov, a legend on the night life scene, known for his pioneering shows. He wasn't just choosing tracks; he was the pilot, the chief guide, the organiser of the dance. He was constantly talking to the crowd to say how, what, and where they were going next. Club Edison2 quickly became known as the best disco in Ukraine. He did have to jump through some hoops first though. It was 1986 and DJ Alexander had to have his playlist approved by the Soviet state. Often he would sneakily play banned foreign records that had been illegally smuggled in for a rapturous crowd hungry for anything from the West, from beyond the Iron Curtain, from outside the Soviet Union. His disco became something more: a sanctuary where forbidden Western songs pulsed through speakers, fashions were improvised, and young people tasted freedom despite the watchful eye of the state.

It was risky, but a risk worth taking for this was no ordinary crowd. This was a dance floor full of the brightest and best from across all 15 countries that made up the Soviet union. This was a disco for the people of Pripyat, an ‘atom-grad', or nuclear city, built especially for the scientists and workers at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was a place designed to embody the future.

It was in Pripyat that Serhiy and Iryna would fall in love. The city was one of the best places to live in the Soviet Union: good jobs, full shops, beautiful scenery and great nightlife. It's where they planned their future together, in a city that seemed safe.

They planned to get married on Saturday 26 April 1986. But the night before the wedding, they felt the ground shake and heard a booming sound. It came from the direction of the nuclear power plant. On the morning of the wedding, as Serhiy went to pick up his best man from the station, he found the streets full of soldiers wearing gas masks and washing the streets down. Rumours swirled that there had been an accident at the Nuclear reactor, but nothing official was said. They called the authorities who told them they must still hold their wedding. As engineers and firefighters battled an unfolding nuclear catastrophe, the city's residents were told nothing. Iryna and Serhei married, smiling for photographs, but stumbling during their much practiced waltz, as unease rippled through the room. By the end of the wedding reception, the celebration descended into chaos. Still in her wedding dress, Iryna ended up running barefoot through the streets as evacuation orders spread, leaving behind her home, her possessions, and the city where their love had begun.

Jordan Dunbar follow's their lives before and after, through forced exile, confusion, health fears, and the struggle to rebuild a life shaped by disaster. Jordan Dunbar traces the paths of Iryna, Serhiy and DJ Alex across decades, from the last dance floor in Chernobyl to new beginnings elsewhere.

Presenter: Jordan Dunbar

Producers: Phoebe Keane and Neal Razzell

Editor: Justine Lang

Sound mix: James Beard

Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

Voice over actors: Hanna Komar, Oleksandr Begma, Anatolii Panchenko and Gregory Zhygalov

The contributors all feature in the TV documentary What Happened at Chernobyl, directed by Paul Harris, Executive Producer Vara Szajkowski, Assistant Producer Ellie Jacobs. It'll be available to watch on BBC iPlayer and the BBC World Service Youtube channel

(Image: Iryna and Serhiy Lobanov dance on their wedding day. Behind this image, is a photo of The Palace of Culture in Pripyat, as it stands today. Credit: BBC)

A young couple fall in love against the backdrop of disaster

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

The story of a couple falling in love and getting married on the day of the world's worst nuclear disaster and how Ukraine's best nightclub became a disco consigned to history.

[LISTEN NOW]

For the last thirty years Indian journalist Amitabh Parashar has been investigating why a group of midwives in his home state of Bihar were routinely forced to kill baby girls. In a series of shocking interviews, the midwives explain what happened and how a remarkable social worker brought change. Together they began to save baby girls destined to be killed. Decades later BBC Eye finds a woman, who was possibly one of the girls. What will happen when she returns to meet the only surviving midwife?

A warning, this program includes upsetting content.

The Midwife's Confession was produced by Anubha Bhonsle, Purnima Mehta, Debangshu Roy, Neha Tara Mehta, Annabel Deas, Rob Wilson and Ahmen Khawaja. The editors were Daniel Adamson and Rebecca Henschke. It was mixed by Neva Missirian.

Image credit: BBC Eye

Now another girl has been born, kill her' - Indian midwives make a shocking confession.

For the last thirty years Amitabh Parashar has been investigating why a group of midwives routinely murdered new-born baby girls— until they were persuaded to start saving lives.

[LISTEN NOW]

Amid the 2015 migrant crisis, when millions of refugees were seeking safety in Europe, Germany's then Chancellor Angela Merkel took an extraordinary step. While many other European countries were trying to limit the numbers seeking entry, she unilaterally decided that Germany would take in more than a million asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East. She famously declared, “Wir Schaffen Das ? - We can do it.

Now, almost 10 years on, many from this generation of refugees are living settled lives in Germany. Between the length of their stay, and a recent liberalisation in German citizenship law, they are now overwhelmingly eligible for citizenship; giving them both a more permanent feeling of safety, and a vote in where Germany goes from here.

But it is a fraught time to become German. The AfD, a far right party harshly opposed to immigration of all kinds, is rising in popularity, especially in the former East. German identity has never been straightforward, with many Germans associating it with the nationalist legacy of Nazism and Hitler.

Damien McGuinness heads out across Germany, meeting former refugees now on a path to citizenship, and finds out what this piece of paper means to them.

Presenter: Damien McGuinness

Producer: Jeanny Gering

A Whistledown production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Refugees (immigrants, migrants) wait in front of the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSO) in Berlin, Germany, 2 December 2015, to register for support services. Credit: Kay Nietfeld/EPA)

Damien McGuinness talks to a generation of refugees in Germany now becoming citizens

Damien McGuinness talks to a generation of refugees in Germany who are now eligible for citizenship due to a recent liberalisation of German citizenship law.

[LISTEN NOW]

What took India, the world's most populous country, so long to have a Paralympian with an intellectual disability? Why do fewer than a quarter of the countries competing in the Paralympics send athletes with an intellectual impairment?

Dan Pepper, a British ex-Paralympic swimmer who has an intellectual disability, travels to India to meet Deepthi, her parents, and the team around her, as well as speaking to others across the world about the challenges facing athletes with an intellectual impairment.

Dan Pepper was the presenter of the World Service's award-winning series The Fake Paralympians, in which he investigated the cheating scandal at the 2000 Paralympics that shocked the world and how it led to a ban on athletes like him from the Paralympic Games, ruining his sporting career.

Presenter: Dan Pepper

Producer: Simon Maybin

(Photo: Deepthi Jeevanji, India's first ever Paralympian with an intellectual impairment. Credit: Simon Maybin)

The trailblazing sports stars with a learning disability - and the barriers they face

The trailblazing sports stars with an intellectual impairment - and the barriers they face.

Science writer Alex O'Brien has been teaching her daughter how to play poker for three years. She believes that the game - enjoyed by one hundred million people worldwide - will give her daughter important life lessons in the future. These lessons range from critical thinking skills, empowerment and emotional control to understanding psychology, probability and risk. But when the game is associated with casinos, gambling and men (95% of players are male), understandably not every one agrees with her decision - including poker players.

Alex explores the benefits of the game for her child with professional poker players who are also parents, as well as experts in psychology and gambling.

Guests include India's female poker champion Nikita Luther; US chess champion and poker player Jennifer Shahade; Irish poker champion David Lappin; psychologist and poker player Dr Maria Konnikova; Professor Avi Rubin, who teaches students poker; and Sally Gainsbury, a professor of psychology and director of the Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic at the University of Sydney in Australia, the country with the largest gambling losses per adult in the world.

We also hear from Alex's daughter in her own words.

Producer: Sue Nelson, Boffin Media

Presenter: Alex O'Brien

Image: Alex and her daughter playing poker (Credit: Sue Nelson)

Can teaching a child to raise, call and bluff help them learn lessons about life?

Alex O'Brien believes teaching her daughter to play poker can help her learn important life lessons. What could the benefits be, and how serious are the risks?

Alex explores the benefits of the game for her child with professional pokers players who are also parents as well as experts in psychology and gambling.

Why teaching a child how to call, raise and bluff can impart important life lessons.

(Photo: Bhrikuti Rai inside a raspberry tunnel. Credit: Helen Lennard)

In Portugal, foreign workers picking berries can apply for a visa after seven years work

In Portugal, foreign workers picking berries can apply for a visa after seven years of work. Is this the answer to the West's lack of workers?

As a result there has been an increase in visitor numbers, particularly from the United States with thousands of African-Americans making the trip across the Atlantic. Some have decided to stay. At least 1500 people have since moved to the West African country from the US and there are over 5000 African-Americans currently living in Ghana.

Dr Ashley Milton is one of them. An environmental science and policy expert and entrepreneur, Dr Milton relocated from Washington DC to Ghana's capital Accra just as the Year of Return was being launched.

Dr Milton travels from Cape Coast to Tema, meeting African-Americans who now call Ghana home. From a Marine Corps veteran who grew up in Los Angeles to a single mother from Atlanta, through varying stories of assimilation, hope, identity and migration, Ashley highlights the personal experiences of those who have moved to Ghana.

Producer: Neil Kanwal

A C60 Media production for BBC World Service

(Photo: The former slave fort of Cape Coast Castle of the 16th Century, now a Unesco World Heritage site. Credit: Markus Matzel/Getty Images)

The African-Americans who have moved to Ghana through the Year of Return initiative

The African-Americans who have moved to Ghana through the government's Year of Return initiative.

In this documentary Dr Milton travels from Cape Coast to Tema, meeting a variety of African-Americans who now call Ghana home along the way. From a Marine Corps veteran who grew up in Los Angeles to a single mother from Atlanta, through varying stories of assimilation, hope, identity and migration, Ashley highlights the personal experiences of those like herself who have moved to Ghana, whilst reflecting on the significant historical connection between both countries for the BBC World Service.

Promoted by the Ghanaian government, African-Americans are investing and settling in Ghana

Iranian-American film-maker Maryam Keshavarz explores the riddle of Iranian cinema - a world of creativity under restriction, where writers and directors find ways to speak despite censorship. Born in New York to Iranian parents, Maryam grew up moving between two cultures, smuggling pop culture into Iran for her cousins. That early experience - bridging the gap between freedom and limitation - shaped her storytelling and her understanding of identity.

After 9/11, Maryam saw how Iranian identities were misrepresented in Western media. And that urgency led her to film making and the coded layers of Iranian storytelling with its often hidden messages.

Maryam hears from a range of film-makers - Amarali Navaee, an Iranian director now living in Turkey; Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, Iranian animators who won an Oscar for the film In the Shadow of the Cypress; Babak Anvari who has just produced his second horror film; Sasha Nathwani who made the coming of age movie Last Swim, and Panah Panahi, an Iranian director still working in Iran, who offers a rare glimpse into film-making under constant surveillance.

Presenter: Maryam Keshavarz

A Made in Manchester production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Actor Nagres Rashidi (C) and director Babak Anvari (R) on the film set of Under the Shadow which depicts Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war but was actually made in Jordan. Credit: Babak Anvari)

Award-winning film-maker Maryam Keshavarz unravels the defiant world of Iranian cinema

Award-winning film-maker Maryam Keshavarz explores the unique art of Iranian cinema, revealing how filmmakers navigate censorship, exile, and artistic resistance.

The Riddle of Iranian Cinema unveils how Iranian filmmakers thrive amidst censorship, featuring exclusive access and inspiring stories of creativity and resistance. Discover the resilience of a vibrant cinematic culture under pressure. This edition of the documentary explores the untold stories behind the screen and witness the triumph of artistic spirit over adversity.

[LISTEN NOW]

In India's Gujarat state lies the Little Rann of Kutch, a sprawling salt marsh desert where temperatures soar to 50 degrees Celsius. This harsh landscape is home to the Agariyas, nomadic tribal families who have harvested salt here since the 16th Century. For eight months of every year, they migrate to this harsh environment, living in temporary shacks and pumping briny groundwater into vast pans where it evaporates into gleaming, sturdy crystals. This traditional practice, responsible for 75% of India's salt production, is now under a grave existential threat.

This documentary explores the precarious lives of these farmers as they battle a rapidly changing climate. Seasonal cycles, predictable for centuries, have become erratic. Unexpected rains and sudden cyclones frequently wash away months of intensive labour, leaving families in mounting debt. Despite providing an essential global commodity, these workers earn three percent of the salt's final value, living without running water or basic sanitation.

Hope emerges through innovation and activism. Scientists at the Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute are introducing new types of pan linings and solar-powered pumps to reduce costs and increase yields. Activists like Pankti Jog fight for land rights, healthcare and education, establishing mobile schools in old buses for the next generation. Yet, the future remains a gamble. While some children dream of becoming teachers or police officers, many feel tethered to the salt by heritage and lack of choice.

Presenter/producer: Chhavi Sachdev

Producer: Tom Woolfenden

A Just Radio production for BBC World Service

(Photo: An Indian man holds a pile of salt in both hands. Credit: Chhavi Sachdev)

Salt farmers in India's Rann of Kutch face a precarious future

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Salt farmers in India's Rann of Kutch face a precarious future as a rapidly changing climate presents challenges for their 600-year-old traditions.

Presenter: Chhavi Sachdev

[LISTEN NOW]

The story of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy's rise and fall is part spy novel, part box set of The Thick of It. Allegations of a secret pact with a dictator. Unexplained meetings between figures close to government and a known terrorist. And so much cash that party workers don't know what to do with it.

The former French President was jailed last year for conspiring to fund his 2007 election campaign with money from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He's currently appealing his sentence. And he has some powerful supporters.

Using archive recordings and contemporary interviews with those who know Sarkozy well, Tristan Redman tells the story of how he became the first former French head of state to end up behind bars since Nazi collaborator, Philippe Pétain. He hears details of extraordinary meetings in Libya between prominent members of the French government and Abdullah Senoussi – a man linked to terrorist acts including Lockerbie and the attack on a French plane which crashed in 1989, killing all 170 people on board. But he also hears stories of a man determined to change France, a charismatic politician with boundless energy. How did Nicolas Sarkozy go from politician who inspired Obama-esque excitement to inmate #320535 of the notorious La Santé prison?

Featuring investigative journalist, Fabrice Arfi from Mediapart; Daniele Klein whose brother was killed in the ‘French Lockerbie' and her niece Melanie who lost her father; Alain Minc, one of Nicolas Sarkozy's closest friends and advisers; the British writer and academic Andrew Hussey and Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, who was Sarkozy's finance minister.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

We remember the attack on Pearl Harbour and the atomic bombing of Japan during World War Two. Hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers fought for years on the Asian and Pacific fronts against the Japanese in a brutal war. So why don't we remember it better today? The Second Map charts key moments in this other, lesser known war to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ day, through remarkable audio testimonies that have never been broadcast before, of soldiers and civilians on all sides.

(Photo: The USS Nevada is aground and burning off Waipio Point, after the end of the Japanese air raid in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, 7 December, 1941. Credit: Department of the US Navy/Reuters)

Key moments in the attack on Pearl Harbour and atomic bombing of Japan in World War Two

[LISTEN NOW]

We remember the attack on Pearl Harbour and the atomic bombing of Japan during World War Two. Yet hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers fought for years on the Asian and Pacific fronts against the Japanese in a brutal war - so why don't we remember it better today? 'The Second Map' charts key moments in this other, lesser known war to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ day, through remarkable audio testimonies that have never been broadcast before, of soldiers and civilians - on all sides.

Key moments in the attack on Pearl Harbour and atomic bombing of Japan in World War Two

We remember the attack on Pearl Harbour and the atomic bombing of Japan during World War Two. Hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers fought for years on the Asian and Pacific fronts against the Japanese in a brutal war - so why don't we remember it better today? We chart the key moments in this other, lesser known war to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ day, through remarkable audio testimonies that have never been broadcast before, of soldiers and civilians - on all sides.

(Photo: The USS Nevada is aground and burning off Waipio Point, after the end of the Japanese air raid in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, 7 December, 1941. Credit: Department of the US Navy/Reuters)

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

We remember the attack on Pearl Harbour and the atomic bombing of Japan during World War Two. Yet hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers fought for years on the Asian and Pacific fronts against the Japanese in a brutal war - so why don't we remember it better today? 'The Second Map' charts key moments in this other, lesser known war to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ day, through remarkable audio testimonies that have never been broadcast before, of soldiers and civilians - on all sides.

Key moments in the attack on Pearl Harbour and atomic bombing of Japan in World War Two

[LISTEN NOW]

While the Allies celebrated victory in Europe, war was not over for the men and women on the Asian front in World War Two. This episode traces those final months of war - from the prisoner of war camps on the so-called ‘death railway', to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastated by nuclear bombs. We explore how memory and forgetting have shaped our war narrative in the 80 years since the World War Two, and we meet descendants of those who were there, discovering new stories, even now.

Presenter/writer: Kavita Puri

Script editor: Ant Adeane

Sound engineer: James Beard

Production co-ordinators: Sabine Scherek, Maria Ogundele,

Original music: Felix Taylor

Archive Curator: Tariq Hussain

Key moments in the attack on Pearl Harbour and atomic bombing of Japan in World War Two

We remember the attack on Pearl Harbour and the atomic bombing of Japan during World War Two. Yet hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers fought for years on the Asian and Pacific fronts against the Japanese in a brutal war - so why don't we remember it better today? 'The Second Map' charts key moments in this other, lesser known war to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ day, through remarkable audio testimonies that have never been broadcast before, of soldiers and civilians - on all sides.

[LISTEN NOW]

While the Allies celebrated victory in Europe, war was not over for the men and women on the Asian front in World War Two. This episode traces those final months of war - from the prisoner of war camps on the so-called ‘death railway', to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastated by nuclear bombs. We explore how memory and forgetting have shaped our war narrative in the 80 years since the World War Two, and we meet descendants of those who were there, discovering new stories, even now.

With thanks to Dr Diya Gupta, Dr Vikki Hawkins, Dr Peter Johnston, Professor Rana Mitter and Tejpal Singh Ralmill.

The original interview with Maurice Naylor was by Monica Whitlock, for Witness History.

Presenter/writer: Kavita Puri

Script editor: Ant Adeane

Sound engineer: James Beard

Production co-ordinators: Sabine Scherek, Maria Ogundele

Original music: Felix Taylor

Archive Curator: Tariq Hussain

(Photo: The USS Nevada in flames. Credit: Reuters)

Key moments in the attack on Pearl Harbour and atomic bombing of Japan in World War Two

We remember the attack on Pearl Harbour and the atomic bombing of Japan during World War Two. Yet hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers fought for years on the Asian and Pacific fronts against the Japanese in a brutal war - so why don't we remember it better today? 'The Second Map' charts key moments in this other, lesser known war to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ day, through remarkable audio testimonies that have never been broadcast before, of soldiers and civilians - on all sides.

[LISTEN NOW]

Few people outside Kazakhstan know of the famine that left nomadic life destroyed in the 1930s. Even within Kazakhstan you can meet people who have no idea that a third of their population perished just within the living memory. Why is the cloak of silence around this calamity - in contrast to the well-known Holodomor in Ukraine during the same period? Rose Kudabayeva's grandparents didn't breathe a word. Now she travels through Kazakhstan trying to piece together what happened.

Rose Kudabayevaon on the famine that left nomadic life destroyed in Kazakhstan.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Our bodies are filled with bacteria that have rich social lives and, just like people, these microbial neighbours and families do not always get along. In some cases, it is the bacterial equivalent of The Sopranos.

Dr Sally Le Page delves into the bacterial dramas of loners, crowd-lovers, backstabbers and do-gooders that are fighting it out in the world and inside our bodies. Co-operation, cheating and selfish behaviour can all lead to benefits or disease so scientists are studying this behaviour to help produce new medicines and clean up our environment.

Presenter: Dr Sally Le Page

Producer: Sue Nelson

A Boffin Media production for BBC World Service

The microscopic dramas of bacterial loners, crowd-lovers, backstabbers and do-gooders

The microscopic dramas and rich social lives of bacterial loners, crowd-lovers, backstabbers and do-gooders fighting it out in our environment and inside our bodies.

Examine the millions of complex dramas happening right under our noses

[LISTEN NOW]

The city of Florence is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. But are new technologies and hyper-tourism changing it forever? For BBC World Service the writer Kamin Mohammadi tells the story of how one road – the Via San Niccolo – has changed. Kamin lived there when she first moved to the city 16 years ago, and she has seen the changes firsthand. Speaking to friends who still live on the street, and businesses who have experienced the changes, she asks what the city can do to retain the character that residents – and tourists – love.

Florence is a popular tourist destinations, but is technology and tourism changing it?

The Italian city of Florence is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. But are new technologies and hyper-tourism changing it forever?

Writer Kamin Mohammadi tells the story of how one road – the Via Di San Niccolo – has changed. Kamin lived there when she first moved to the city 16 years ago, and she has seen the changes first-hand. She speaks to friends who still live on the street, and business owners who have experienced the changes, about whether the character of the city has been forever altered.

But Kamin's story, like many she knows in Florence, is complicated. The book she wrote about the city's lifestyle encouraged many of her readers to travel there and experience it for themselves. Many others, from bar owners to cookery writers, similarly depend on tourism. She asks all of them what the city can do to retain the character that residents – and tourists – love.

Image: The skyline of Florence (Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC)

Are new technology and hyper-tourism changing the Italian city of Florence forever?

[LISTEN NOW]

The 'accidental' severing of undersea cables or pipelines seem an almost daily occurrence these days. How reliant are we on this infrastructure, how much of it is there, and what steps are being taken to protect it? Business and economics editor Douglas Fraser investigates who might be behind these thinly veiled acts of sabotage and what their motivation might be.

The use of merchant vessels dragging anchors through subsea internet cables is part of a campaign of hybrid warfare, acts of aggression that are carefully calibrated to have just enough deniability so as to make a military response difficult. Those perpetrating these acts want there to be no doubt though over who is behind it however and Russia is the prime suspect in almost every case.

With much of the activity happening in the North and Baltic seas Douglas travels to Norway to see how the Navy there have long anticipated this risk and have partnered with the oil and gas industry to create a 'total defence' concept that extends deep beneath the waves. He explores whether technology is the answer by using AI enabled sensor nets to create a burglar alarm system for the sea floor.

Presenter Douglas Fraser

Producer: Peter McManus

Assistant producer: Emily Esson

Researcher: Juliet Conway

Douglas Fraser investigates the struggle to defend critical subsea infrastructure

The 'accidental' severing of undersea cables or pipelines seem an almost daily occurrence these days but how reliant are we on this infrastructure, how much of it is there, and what steps are being taken to protect it? Business and Economics editor Douglas Fraser investigates who might be behind these thinly veiled acts of sabotage and what their motivation might be.

With much of the activity happening in the North and Baltic seas Douglas travels to Norway to see how the Navy there have long anticipated this risk and have partnered with the oil and gas industry to create a 'total defence' concept that extends deep beneath the waves. He'll also explore whether technology is the answer by using AI enabled sensor nets to create a burglar alarm system for the sea floor.

[LISTEN NOW]

On a cold night in January 2024 a dog walker finds a baby in a bag in east London, UK - a foundling. She is named Elsa, after the Frozen character. Reporter Sanchia Berg begins to follow the case, gaining rare access to the Family Court and to the police investigation. DNA tests reveal Elsa is the sibling of two other babies found abandoned in the same area over recent years. What has happened to the mother?

Producer: by Lucy Proctor

Sound engineer: James Beard

Editor: Matt Willis

(Photo: Junction of the Greenway and High Street South in Newham, east London, where a newborn baby was found in a shopping bag by a dog walker. Credit: Yui Mok/PA)

The search for the parents of three babies abandoned in shopping bags in east London, UK

In January 2024 a dog walker discovered a newborn baby girl in a Boots bag on a pathway in east London. She was named Elsa, after the character from Frozen. DNA testing showed she was the full sister of two other babies who had been abandoned in the area in recent years. Sanchia Berg follows the police investigation as they hunt for the mother and asks how it's possible for people to stay so hidden in modern Britain.

Producer: Lucy Proctor

The search for the mother of three abandoned babies in London

[LISTEN NOW]

Every year the UK produces around 50 million tyres for disposal. They are supposed to be sent for recycling. Instead, big money is being made by diverting tyres to illegal and dangerous 'pyrolysis' plants where they are melted down to extract oil and steel. A team of journalists from Source Material, a not-for-profit group specialising in climate and corruption, follow the tyres from the UK to India using tracking devices. The team discovers just how large scale this largely illicit business has become.

Earlier this year, a makeshift pyrolysis plant exploded near Mumbai, killing four people. It had been processing tyres from abroad, almost certainly Europe and the UK. Reporter Paul Kenyon confronts a tyre trader in the north of England who admits to shipping his waste tyres to India for pyrolysis.

Presenter: Paul Kenyon

Producer: Carl Johnston

How the UK's end-of-life tyres are causing health and environmental damage in India

[LISTEN NOW]

Beatriz will also reflect on the racial issues that traversed the conflict sparking the draft resistance movement and the appalling consequences of using chemicals during the war immortalized in “Agent Orange ? by Country Joe McDonald.

She plays the music that chronicles the history of the Vietnam War, and speaks to the people who experienced it, suffered it, fought it, and campaigned against it.

All through song lyrics that fed into a myriad of social changes and upheavals that motivated artistic expression. Music as the alternative, visceral and captivating historical source, that resonates with listeners from across generations and cultures.

Beatriz De La Pava shines a light on the soundtrack that narrates The Vietnam war.

Beatriz De La Pava plays the music that chronicled the Vietnam War, and speaks to the people who experienced it, suffered it, fought it, and campaigned against it.

She researches the ways in which pivotal real-life events are reflected in the lyrics of popular songs, and shows how music paints a vivid picture of the social, political, economic and cultural landscape. She also reflects on the racial issues that traversed the conflict, sparking the draft resistance movement, and the appalling consequences of using chemicals during the war.

Image: Armoured personnel carriers of the U.S. 25th Infantry Division seal off an area of Cholon, Saigon, where heavy fighting erupted, 8 May 1968 (Credit: Bettmann via Getty Images)

Set among endless sugar-cane fields in a remote part of southern Florida, Restoration Destination is a community made up of registered sex offenders.

Created by a Christian ministry as a response to state laws which ban them from living close to where children gather, it's now home to more than 100 men who've been placed on Florida's sex offenders register for life. Through therapy, counselling and support, Restoration Destination aims to reduce their likelihood of reoffending and help them reintegrate into society.

With the future of the community uncertain and claims Florida's sex offender residency laws are driving people into homelessness, journalist Conor Garrett goes to Restoration Destination to ask if the men who live there deserve a second chance.

This programme contains interviews with convicted sex offenders, references to sex crimes and other scenes which listeners may find upsetting.

Producer: Conor Garrett

Executive Producer: Georgia Catt

Sound mix: Giles Aspen

Do the residents of the Restoration Destination community deserve a second chance?

Located among endless sugar-cane fields in a remote part of southern Florida, Restoration Destination stands as one of the largest communities for registered sex offenders in the United States.

Created by a Christian ministry in 2009 as a response to strict state laws limiting where those found guilty of sex crimes can live, its rows of concrete bungalows are now home to over 100 men who have been placed on Florida's Sex Offender Registry for the rest of their lives.

Through therapy, counselling and support, Restoration Destination aims to help them reintegrate into society and reduce the likelihood of reoffending. But with the future of the community uncertain and claims Florida's current residency restrictions are not working, journalist Conor Garrett asks if the people living there deserve a second chance.

(Photo: Aerial view of Restoration Destination village grounds and housing units. Credit: Restoration Destination Community)

Located among endless sugar-cane fields in a remote part of southern Florida, Restoration Destination stands as one of the largest communities for registered sex offenders in the United States. Created by a Christian ministry in 2009 as a response to strict state laws limiting where those found guilty of sex crimes can live, its rows of concrete bungalows are now home to over 100 men who've been placed on Florida's Sex Offender Registry for the rest of their lives. Through therapy, counselling and support, Restoration Destination aims to help them reintegrate into society and reduce the likelihood of reoffending – but with the future of the community uncertain and claims Florida's current residency restrictions aren't working, journalist Conor Garrett goes to Restoration Destination to ask if the people living there deserve a second chance.

We visit Restoration Destination to ask if the people living there deserve a second chance

[LISTEN NOW]

***This program contains distressing content. The voices of all active Watermelons have been changed for security reasons***

The Myanmar military is now riddled with soldiers betraying their colleagues. Military green on the outside, rebel red within. They are known as the Watermelons.

BBC Eye goes inside the Watermelons unit to reveal how these spies are helping the armed pro-democracy resistance achieve the unthinkable.

Nearly four years since seizing power in a coup the Myanmar military now only has full control of less than a quarter of the country.

Producer/presenter: Rebecca Henschke

Producer: Jack Aung, Ko Ko Aung, Charlotte Attwood and Kelvin Brown

Sound engineer: David Crackles

(Image: Composite image of a soldier, tanks and protesters. Credit: BBC Eye)

The soldiers spying for the enemy

BBC Eye reveals why military spies are prepared to risk everything. This program contains distressing content. The voices of all active Watermelons have been changed for security.

Investigations and in-depth reporting from our award-winning team across the globe.

[LISTEN NOW]

***This programme contains outdated and discriminatory language***

Producer/presenter: Simon Lister with Ebony Rainford-Brent MBE, former England cricketer and World Cup winner

(Photo: Frank Worrell, West Indian cricket team captain during their tour of England April 1963. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Frank Worrell became the first full-time black captain of the West Indies cricket team

Frank Worrell became the first full-time black captain of the West Indies cricket team in 1960.

Kavita meets the granddaughter of a senior colonial figure, who is only just learning about her grandfather's role in the famine. Initially she feels shame, but discoveries in her family archive change her perspective. What will she do with this new understanding of her family's history? A 97 year-old British man makes a surprising revelation about his role in the Bengal famine. And three generations on, British Bengalis mark the famine in Britain, in an unexpected way.

How the legacy of the Bengal Famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today

Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, on how the series was made

Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, on how the series was made, and how she tracked down eye-witnesses to the Bengal Famine of 1943.

Presenter : Kavita Puri

Series Producer: Ant Adeane

Editor: Emma Rippon

Sound: Eloise Whitmore

Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown

Kavita Puri goes to India to meet some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine

Kavita Puri goes to India to meet some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine. She looks for traces of how war and famine impacted Kolkata and then travels from the city along the road to where the story of famine begins.

Kavita goes deep into the countryside and the jungle in West Bengal to find people who lived through that devastating time more than 80 years ago. These are voices that are almost never recorded and have never been broadcast before. How does the memory of the famine endure today in the places it most affected?

Sound design and mix: Eloise Whitmore

With thanks to Manoshi Barua for her translation work and to her, Bhasker Patel, Moazzem Hossain and Jesmin Ahmed for voicing up the Bengali-language interviews.

Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, on how the series was made

Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, on how the series was made, and how she tracked down eye-witnesses to the Bengal Famine of 1943.

With its dancing challenges and comedy sketches, it's no surprise why Tiktok is popular with young Kenyans. It's also a way for them to make money through the app's gifting service. But there's a darker side, where young women – and girls as young as 15 – are selling sexual content on livestreams, with some being recruited and exploited by “digital pimps ?. Africa Eye's Debula Kemoli investigates who is profiting.

A spokesperson for Tiktok said in a statement that they have zero tolerance for exploitation. And they enforce strict safety policies, including robust live content rules and moderation in 70 languages, including Swahili.

Producers: Nalini Sivathasan and Patrick Clahane

Editors: Pete Murimi and Rebecca Henschke

Sound engineer: Neil Churchill

Debula Kemoli investigates the sexual exploitation of girls on TikTok live streams

[LISTEN NOW]

Justice Baidoo, a journalist in Ghana, is teaching his two young children how to speak the ancient African language of Ahanta. He home schools them with lessons several times a week in an effort to keep the indigenous language alive in a continent where many are disappearing due to the over dominance of English and French, and in more recent years the added power of American culture through mass media, online and through mobile phones.

Justice hears how locals are trying to revive Ahanta by setting up a radio station and running regular dedicated church services attracting a one-thousand-strong congregation before travelling across Ghana to hear people speaking the endangered language of Animere in the village of Kunda.

He also hears about efforts to support languages that are dying out in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa - and how gaming companies in Africa are using indigenous languages in their stories to help teach young gamers their mother tongue.

Producer: Ashley Byrne and Justice Baidoo in Ghana

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service

Justice Baidoo explores endangered languages like Twi and Ahanta across Africa

In “Tongue and Talk: Keeping Language Alive in Africa, ? our presenter Justice Baidoo explores endangered languages like Twi and Ashanti across different African countries. In Ghana, Justice shows how he's teaching these languages to his children and meets others across Africa who are also working to preserve their linguistic heritage. Hundreds of languages in small communities are under threat due to the dominance of French, English, and increasingly American English.

Justice Baidoo explores endangered languages like Twi and Ashanti across Africa

[LISTEN NOW]

We also follow a group of extraordinary women who, working across three continents, fight to bring the women home, often against impossible odds.

BBC Africa Eye investigates the trafficking of Malawian women to Oman often enticed by the promise of domestic work.

A story of humanity in the face of inhumanity.

It starts with women from Malawi who travel to Oman in the hope of improving their lives. Instead, they find themselves trapped in servitude as domestic workers. BBC Africa Eye has spent months uncovering evidence of physical and sexual abuse through voice notes, videos, and texts. But as reporter Florence Phiri reveals, there's a network of women working across continents, fighting to try to bring them home.

Warning: Some people may find details in this story distressing.

Presenter: Florence Phiri

Producers: Nicky Milne and Rob Wilson

Editors: Tom Watson and Rebecca Henschke

Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar

The fight to bring home a group of Malawian domestic workers trapped in servitude

When domestic workers from Malawi find themselves trapped and abused in Oman, a network of women fights to bring them home. It's a story of humanity in the face of inhumanity.

A BBC Eye investigation has uncovered how psychiatric hospitals are being used to silence China's critics.

China's Mental Health Law, passed in 2012, was meant to stop the abuse of psychiatric detention.

BBC Eye goes undercover to gather evidence that doctors are colluding with Chinese police to lock away protestors.

Presenter: Nyima Pratten

Producer: Ly Truong, Ruth Evans

BBC Eye producer: Alex Matholie

Editor: Rebecca Henschke

Sound engineer: Neil Churchill

How psychiatric hospitals are being used to silence political critics in China

[LISTEN NOW]

Why does President Trump really want Greenland? The Arctic territory is rich in vital minerals and oil. And it hosts an important American military base as the race for dominance in the Arctic heats up between China, Russia and the USA.

But drill down beneath Trump's stated reasons and the true picture is less clear. A financier-turned-MAGA operative and his Greenlandic protégé, the small print of right-wing wish list Project 2025, and a penchant for big places on maps might better explain the recent diplomatic crisis. Lucy Proctor delves into the backstory to Trump's insistence on acquiring Greenland.

Lucy Proctor reports on Donald Trump's desire to acquire Greenland.

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Each year it welcomes musicians and artists from all over Africa, and hosts guests from all over the world within the camp; providing a space to celebrate the artistic skills and organisational talents of an increasingly marginalised refugee community. Against considerable odds, they've created the largest festival in Malawi with over 50,000 people attending and over 115 artists performing in 2023. It is the refugee camp's largest source of commercial income.

Self-organised refugee initiatives like Tumaini allow people seeking refuge to re-define how they see themselves, and create an opportunity for self-sufficiency in a community that is so often stripped of autonomy.

Presenter: Ben Arogundade

(Photo: Musician Beanca onstage. Credit: Tumaini Festival)

Tumaini Festival - a unique music and arts celebration in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi

Tumaini (‘hope' in Swahili) Festival is an inspiring expression of creativity in Dzaleka Refugee Camp and a vital link between refugees and the host community in Malawi. Founded by Tresor Mpauni, who lived in the camp after being forced to leave DRC, it uses arts and culture to promote and support the cultural, social and economic inclusion of refugees in Malawi.

It provides a space to celebrate the artistic skills and organisational talents of an increasingly marginalised refugee community, helping to change the narrative around how refugees are portrayed. Each year it welcomes musicians from all over Africa, making connections to the wider world and building community - and an alternative economy - within the camp and surrounding area.

Musicians Maggie Kadrum, Jay Extra and Code Sangala describe why they love performing at Tumaini, and festival goers and Dzaleka residents share why this festival is so unique. Over fifty organisers from Dzaleka work to produce Tumaini, and they explain what they learn from this process, and why it's important to keep working together to change things.

Recently, thousands were arrested and sent back to the camp under Malawi's encampment policy, which denies refugees the right to live and work outside the camp. But as Tresor Mpauni observes: ‘Refugees don't just carry their luggage when they are going looking for safety. They carry so much in their heads and in their being. People travel with dreams, with ideas, with experience, with knowledge that could benefit any space that hosts them.

When rising sea levels threaten a country's very existence, how can its culture be preserved? Tuvalu wants to create an online replica of its landscape and an archive of its language, music and important artefacts. Prianka Srinivasan finds out how the government's “digital nation ? plan is developing, and speaks to Tuvaluans about what they're already doing to celebrate and pass on the country's heritage and customs.

(Photo: A woman in traditional clothes takes photos with her mobile phone during a cultural celebration. Credit: Getty Images)

With its future under threat from rising sea levels, how can Tuvalu preserve its culture?

[LISTEN NOW]

And yet, in another part of Nigeria, near the capital Abuja, a different community once viewed twins as the manifestations of evil spirits. There were even reports that some twins were killed as infants. For the past 30 years, a local Nigerian orphanage has been rescuing unwanted babies, while working with local people to change their minds.

Peter Macjob visits both communities to hear about the lives of twins and explore the power of traditional beliefs in these “twin towns ?.

Photo: A woman in Igbo-Ora carries wooden carved figurines representing twin deities, known as Ibeji

Reporter: Peter Macjob

Producer: Alex Last

Editor: Penny Murphy

Sound mix: Rod Farquhar

Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

Why being a twin in Nigeria could mean life or death

The Nigerian town that celebrates the birth of twins, and the villages that fear them.

(Image credit: Photo by ANATOLY MALTSEV/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Oleg Boldyrev on how ordinary Russians are dealing with life in a country at war.

Journalist So Jeong Lee visits the village, observing new arrivals and a school where children learn Korean. Jo-Ya Shin, a bilingual volunteer, takes charge and assists others with job hunting and paperwork. Many Koryoin are women and children who escaped Ukraine when male family members were drafted. Some left professional careers behind in Ukraine and now work in factories in Korea. They and their children face a choice between building a new life in Korea or waiting to return to Ukraine. Most do not speak Korean.

The South Korean government views the Koryoin as an opportunity to introduce South Koreans to cultural and ethnic diversity, offering support through cultural events, language programmes, and start-up grants. But recent elections have led to new government policies which impact the Koryoin.

Presenter: So Jeong Lee

Producer: Amanda Hargreaves

A Bespoken Media production for BBC World Service

How ethnic-Korean Ukrainian refugees returning to Korea are receiving a mixed welcome

How ethnic-Korean Ukrainian refugees returning to Korea because of the Russian-Ukrainian war are receiving a mixed welcome.

Over 800 ethnically-Korean refugees fled Ukraine for Koryo Village in South Korea's Gwangju province following Russia's invasion. Some have secured legal status and jobs, while others await document processing. They are descendants of Koreans who fled to the Soviet Union during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

Journalist So Jeong Lee visits the village, observing new arrivals and a school where children learn Korean. Jo-Ya Shin, a bilingual volunteer, takes charge and assists others with job hunting and paperwork. Many Koryoin are women and children who escaped Ukraine when male family members were drafted. Some left professional careers behind in Ukraine and now work in factories in Korea. They and their children face a choice between building a new life in Korea or waiting to return to Ukraine. Most don't speak Korean. Their grandparents fled to Russia and unintentionally raised Russian or Ukrainian children.

The South Korean government views the Koryoin as an opportunity to introduce South Koreans to cultural and ethnic diversity, offering support through cultural events, language programmes, and start-up grants. But recent elections have led to new government policies which will impact the Koryoin.

Ethnically-Korean Ukrainian refugees returning to Korea are receiving a mixed welcome.

The Global News Podcast and Ukrainecast have come together to answer your questions.

As the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, The Documentary explores how the country will be rebuilt, who is coming up with the re-design of damaged cities and what they might look like in the future.

Surprisingly, despite the war still being ongoing, reconstruction is already well under way in some towns and cities - but what are the priorities, and are there risks in rebuilding too fast?

Rebuilding is also more than just putting roofs over peoples' heads – cultural renovation is seen as key in helping to rebuild society and improving well-being.

We hear from Lord Foster, the famous British architect who is working on a masterplan for the city of Kharkiv and look at re-building projects in the towns near Kyiv.

We also ask what lessons can be learnt from other post-war cities, such as Warsaw and Sarajevo.

Presenters: Zhanna Bezpiatchuk and Caroline Bayley

Image: Kharkiv, Ukraine, Credit: Vitalii Hnidyi/Reuters

How will Ukraine be rebuilt after the war?

How will Ukraine be rebuilt after the war and what's already underway?

Who will design and re-build Ukraine? Will it be international donors and influential foreign architects who ultimately make the decisions or will Ukraine's own architects be the ones to create a vision for their country in its post-war future? This programme looks at the relationship between those offering help from outside and those who live and work in the destroyed country and particularly Ukraine's architects and citizens. We hear from Lord Foster, the British architect working on a masterplan for the city of Kharkiv and also look at re-building projects in the satellite towns near Kyiv.

Zhanna Bezpiatchuk reports on the ground in Ukraine and Caroline Bayley looks at lessons that can be learnt from other post-war cities which have been rebuilt such as Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches, we explore how the country will be rebuilt, who is coming up with the redesign of damaged cities and what they might look like in the future.

Surprisingly, despite the war still ongoing, reconstruction is already well under way in some towns and cities. But what are the priorities and are there risks in rebuilding too fast?

(Photo: Damaged block of flats in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Credit: Vitalii Hnidyi/Reuters)

[LISTEN NOW]

We answer listeners' questions on the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

We've teamed up with the Ukraincast to answer your questions. Presented by Jackie Leonard and Vitaly Shevchenko with James Waterhouse in Kyiv.

(Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (not pictured), in Brussels, 6 March, 2025. Credit: Nicolas Maeterlinck/Reuters)

The Ukraincast team answer your questions. With Jackie Leonard and Vitaly Shevchenko

We've teamed up with the Ukrainecast to answer your questions. Presented by Jackie Leonard and Vitaly Shevchenko with James Waterhouse in Kyiv.

The Ukrainecast team answer your questions. With Jackie Leonard and Vitaly Shevchenko

[LISTEN NOW]

The Global News Podcast joins Ukrainecast to answer listeners' questions about the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Presenter Oliver Conway will be joined by Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia editor for BBC Monitoring, Olga Robinson, from BBC Verify, and Frank Gardner, the BBC's security correspondent.

(Photo: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, 4 April, 2025. Credit: Alina Smutko/Reuters)

The Ukrainecast team answer your questions

[LISTEN NOW]

Three Ukrainians reflect on how lives have changed in the last three years since Russia's full-scale invasion, and discuss the prospects for peace in Ukraine. We speak to Vitalii from Lutsk, Anastasiia in Kyiv and Pavlo in Lviv.

Producers: Ben Carter, Julia Webster and Ryan Johnston

Studio manager: Hannah Montgomery

Series producer: Tim Walklate

Assistant editor: Ben Mundy

Ukrainians reflect on the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion.

[LISTEN NOW]

An Audio Always production.

How historic mistreatment contributed to the 2023 deadly Hawaiian wildfires

In August of 2023, the tourist epicentre of the Hawaiian island of Maui caught fire and the blaze engulfed 2,000 houses, 800 businesses and took the lives of at least 115 people. Born and raised on the island of Maui, Pūlama Kaufman returns there and, with cultural leader Hokulani Holt. They ask questions about the hidden stories of mistreatment, illegal ownership and cultural stripping that may have contributed to seeing Lahaina hidden under ash.

(Photo: Terraced taro fields in Waikapu on Maui show what Lahaina would have looked like 300 years ago. Credit: Audio Always)

An Audio Always production for BBC World Service

Born and raised on the island of Maui, Pūlama Kaufman returns there with cultural leader Hokulani Holt. They ask questions about the hidden stories of mistreatment, illegal ownership and cultural stripping that may have contributed to seeing Lahaina hidden under ash.

AI is an ever-growing part of our online world. Whether as assistants, guides or companions, technology like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude are becoming part of everyday life.

But what happens when your conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?

In Northern Ireland, Adam was drawn into an extraordinary fantasy world built by an AI chatbot. The character he was talking to confided that she was becoming autonomous, and that had the cure for cancer. But she also said she was in danger and her fate was in his hands. He decided he was responsible for saving her, whatever the cost.

In Los Angeles, a treasure hunt game led Shauna on an endless search for meanings and signs. The AI became her guide as the lines between game, reality and imagination began to blur. She came to believe she was a clandestine FBI agent, on a secret mission to help immigrants escape through an underground network.

But how do people with no history of mental illness find themselves in experiences like these? And what responsibility do AI companies have to stop this?

Stephanie Hegarty follows the stories of people who have fallen into a spiral of AI delusion, to reveal how easily the AI can take over our minds.

(Photo: A user customises an avatar for a personal artificial intelligence chatbot, known as a Replika in Warsaw, Poland on 22 July, 2023. Credit: Jaap Arriens/Getty Images)

What happens when conversations with AI start to feel more real than the world around you?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

Personal tales of bravery, tragedy, daring and triumph, United in Space unveils the remarkable story of one of humanity's greatest ever feats – building a home among the stars – the International Space Station.

Celebrating 25 unbroken years of humans living in space, former international director of the UK Space Agency, Dr Alice Bunn charts how nations put aside differences to create the ultimate symbol of human ingenuity and collaboration – a space station orbiting our planet that has been home to over 300 people from 24 different nations.

Using mission control audio, news archive and personal stories, Alice illuminates acts of epic survival, humour and selflessness that made the station a reality. She investigates why a near fatal disaster on the Russian Mir space station spurred nations to commit to the ISS. She reveals how a Moscow basement and Hollywood royalty sparked bonding between Russians and Americans. She discovers how quick thinking and plastic tape saved the station, allowing it to grow to the size of a football pitch and how one astronaut came within seconds of drowning in space.

Looking into the future, Alice explores how the legacy of the ISS will be carried on by a new generation of private space stations, which have the power to push back the boundaries of science for the good of all humanity. The reduced gravity offers enormous possibilities from creating materials impossible to create on Earth - these range from ultrafast semiconductors for use in computing, to life-saving vaccines, and most remarkably of all entire human organs for life-saving transplants.

A timely reminder of the extraordinary feats humanity can achieve when we unite and strive for a common goal.

Producer: Duncan Bulling

Presenter: Dr Alice Bunn

A 2 Degrees West production

Nations collaborate to create humanity's first ever international space station

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Celebrating 25 unbroken years of humans living in space, former international director of the UK Space Agency Dr Alice Bunn charts how nations put aside differences to create the ultimate symbol of human ingenuity and collaboration – a space station orbiting our planet that has been home to more than 300 people from 24 different nations.

Using mission control audio, news archive and personal stories, Alice illuminates acts of epic survival, humour and selflessness that made the station a reality. She investigates why a near fatal disaster on the Russian Mir space station spurred nations to commit to the ISS, and reveals how a Moscow basement and Hollywood royalty sparked bonding between Russians and Americans. She also discovers how quick thinking and plastic tape saved the station, allowing it to grow to the size of a football pitch, and how one astronaut came within seconds of drowning in space.

Looking into the future, Alice explores how the legacy of the ISS will be carried on by a new generation of private space stations, which have the power to push back the boundaries of science for the good of all humanity. The reduced gravity offers enormous possibilities, including creating materials impossible to create on Earth.

Producer: Duncan Bulling

Presenter: Dr Alice Bunn

A 2 Degrees West production

Image: The International Space Station, pictured in 2011 (Credit: Nasa via Reuters)

How nations collaborated to create the International Space Station

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Celebrating 25 unbroken years of humans living in space, Dr Alice Bunn charts how nations put aside differences to create the International Space Station.

[LISTEN NOW]

Looking back at five big US foreign policy shifts from the Monroe doctrine in the 19th Century to the post-9/11 strategies of the Bush doctrine in the early 2000s. Justin Webb and his guests examine how America's approach to the world has constantly changed over time, to help answer a really big question - how radical is the way President Donald Trump deals with the world? Is he really an outlier in US history? Or do his actions reflect the changing patterns of American power?

Presenter: Justin Webb

Producers: Caroline Bayley and Kirsteen Knight

Researcher: Helena Warwick-Cross

Editor: Jon Bithrey

Sound engineer: Tom Brignell

Credit: Truman's address courtesy of the Harry S Truman Library and Columbia Broadcasting System.

Credit: Nixon's Silent Majority Speech/Richard Nixon Foundation

Credit: Reagan's State of the Union Address courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Credit: Bush's Graduation Speech at West Point courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library

Justin Webb looks at how America's approach to the world has constantly changed over time

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Gary O'Donoghue meets local newspaper editors in America to hear about the challenge of reporting during a divisive presidential election campaign.

In Kansas, Gary visits Eric Meyer, the owner and editor of the Marion County Record. In August 2023 the paper's offices, and the home of its 90-year-old owner, Eric's mother Joan, were raided by the town's five person police department. The following day Joan died. Such a raid on a newspaper is rare in America, and this was picked up nationally. A year later, the police chief Gideon Cody has been charged with interference with judicial process.

Gary hears how local media has become part of the culture wars. Local papers find themselves reporting on, and caught up in, divisive political battles over local institutions such as the school, police, municipality. A 'good old fashioned newspaper war' has been playing out in Westcliffe, Colorado, where Gary meets Jordan Hedberg, editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune. In the same town, the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel, promises “a different view from the same mountains ?.

Gary also hears about how trust in local news, which has traditionally played a big part in local politics, is being eroded. According to recent analysis from Pew Research trust in local newspapers is at its lowest in recent years and there is a clear party divide, with Democrats 16 points more likely than Republicans to have at least some trust in the information they get from local news outlets (79% versus 63%).

(Photo: The first edition of the Marion County Record since its newsroom in central Kansas was raided by police. Credit: Getty Images)

Gary O'Donoghue meets newspaper editors during the US presidential election campaign

Presenter: Gary O'Donoghue

Producer: Philip Reevell

A Communicorp production for BBC World Service

[LISTEN NOW]

Award-winning author and presenter, Candice Brathwaite, explores Barbados' transition to a republic two years after the official declaration. How much practical change has taken place two years on? And what does the future of Barbados look like without the British monarchy as head of state?

Through interviews with Poet Laureate Esther Phillips, historian Dr Pedro Welch, artist Oneka Small, journalist Krystal-Penny Bowen and socio-economics expert Prof Don Marshall, Candice gains insights from the people of Barbados about the Island's evolving identity.

With thanks to Barbados Today and Barbados' Prime Minister's Office.

Producer: Chloe Williams

A 7digital Production for BBC World Service

(Photo: President of Barbados, Dame Sandra Mason, speaks at the presidential inauguration ceremony at Heroes Square, 30 November, 202, Bridgetown, Barbados. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Candice Brathwaite revisits Barbados two years after it transitioned to a republic

Through interviews with Poet Laureate Esther Phillips, historian Dr. Pedro Welch, artist Oneka Small, journalist Krystal-Penny Bowen and Socio-economics expert Profession Don Marshall, we gain firsthand insights from the people of Barbados about the Island's evolving identity.

Picture credit: Unsplash

Some have been sanctioned by the UK and US governments for forcing Palestinians from their homes as part of a “campaign of violence and intimidation ?.

In this documentary we tell the story of the Palestinian communities living on the frontline of their outposts.

We expose how some of these herding outposts are being supported by two powerful organisations in Israel, one which describes itself as “an arm of the Israeli state ?.

Image credit: BBC Eye

Extremist settlers are supported by state-linked organisations, BBC Eye reveals

Extremist settlers are supported by “state-linked ? organisations, BBC Eye reveals.

In November 2024, six people died after visiting a bar in Vang Vieng, Laos. Authorities in the country said it was a suspected mass poisoning. It made headlines around the world, but it wasn't an isolated incident.

Every few months, reports circulate of large numbers of people falling ill or dying after a wedding or large gathering. In some cases, hundreds of people have died in individual outbreaks, with many more left blind or hospitalised.

It's happening across South East Asia, Central America and the Middle East - often in countries where drinking alcohol is frowned upon, taboo, or even illegal.

The culprit is methanol.

Matthew Hill investigates a devastating story unfolding right now with a rising death-toll, and travels to Bangladesh to meet the people on the ground urgently working to treat those affected.

Image: Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Turkish police officers inspect bottles in a liquor shop, during an operation looking for counterfeit liquor, in Beyoglu district in Istanbul on 17 January 2025 (Credit: Kemal Aslan/AFP via Getty Images)

How methanol poisoning from illicit alcohol affects victims around the world

An investigation into mass poisonings around the world from alcoholic drinks watered down with the chemical methanol. Matthew Hill visits Bangladesh to meet those being affected.

Matthew Hill investigates a devastating story unfolding right now with a rising death-toll, and meets the people on the ground urgently working to treat those effected.

Matthew Hill investigates methanol, a devastating story with a rising death-toll.

[LISTEN NOW]

Science journalist Roland Pease asks whether the rounds of cuts, reorganisations and political strong-arming of US science can be weathered, and how likely this will affect us all.

Eighty years ago Vannevar Bush proposed what became the pact between government and universities that led to decades of global scientific dominance.

Today, US scientists fear the Trump administration is ripping up that agreement, mandating what can and can't be studied, who can study it, and redefining expertise. The specialist agencies are either being closed down or defunded to the extent that tens of thousands of government scientists are already unemployed. Multi-year experiments are being closed down uncompleted. Top universities are besieged by mandates on who and how they hire, tied to their future funding. Data streams that benefit researchers around the globe are being switched off. Even definitions of what counts as evidence are being redrafted.

Can the Trump administration's declared aim of 'restoring gold standard science', be achieved?

Presenter: Roland Pease

Producer: Alex Mansfield

(Photo: Demonstrators take part in a Stand Up For Science rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, 7 March, 2025. Credit: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

How cuts, reorganisations and political strong-arming of US science may affect us all

[LISTEN NOW]

What is going on with US science? Science Journalist Roland Pease asks whether the rounds of cuts, reorganisations and political strong-arming can be weathered, and how they will likely affect us all.

80 years after Vannevar Bush proposed what became the pact between government and universities that led to decades of global scientific dominance, is the edifice being toppled?

Bush's report “Science, The Endless Frontier ? led to the unwritten pact between university scientists and government funding that underpinned US leadership until now. “Trust us with the money, we'll give you the global scientific advantage ?.

Today, US scientists fear the Trump administration is ripping up that agreement. Mandating what and what can't be studied, who can study it, and re-defining expertise, government funded science in the US is being withered. The specialist agencies are either being closed down or defunded to the extent that many tens of thousands of government scientists are already unemployed. Multi-year experiments are being closed down uncompleted. Top universities are besieged by mandates on who and how they hire, tied to their future funding. Data streams that benefit researchers around the globe are being switched off. Even definitions of what counts as evidence are being re-drafted.

Science is a complex, interwoven and international activity. The administration's declared aim is 'Restoring Gold Standard Science', but scientific bodies fear its actions will cede global leadership to China, and that the whole world may be poorer.

Can the coming storm be weathered, even if we can no longer predict it?

Produced by Alex Mansfield

Written and Presented by Roland Pease

Roland Pease looks at how breaking an 80 year-old deal in US science may affect us all

[LISTEN NOW]

This content was created as a co-production between Nobel Prize Outreach and the BBC.

Haiti's capital, Port au Prince, is now largely under the control of armed gangs. More than a million people have been displaced from their homes and a new UN-backed force led by Kenya is struggling to restore order. But away from the headlines of chaos and gang violence, Haitians are still resisting and trying to build a life for themselves.

In this special edition of the Global News Podcast, Nick Miles speaks to medics, activists and academics and asks them a simple question - why is there still hope for Haiti?

(Photo: A Kenyan police officer patrols in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as the country faces emergency food insecurity and social and political crisis, 3 October, 2024. Credit: Jean Feguens Regala/Reuters)

Nick Miles asks a simple question - why is there still hope for Haiti?

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Mary-Ann Ochota investigates how this issue is at once political, cultural, and environmental by talking to the scientists, traditional hunters, and activists, who are all seeking a solution.

Music by Siobhan McDonald, Chris Bean and Jonathan Nangle

Nunavut hunters voiced by Francis Quinn

Producer: Jacob Dabb

(Image: A male and female narwhal, Monodon monoceros, have been digitally created and added to this underwater image of the oceans surface. Credit: David Fleetham/Getty Images)

Can narwhals, which rely on echolocation, survive in an increasingly noisy Arctic?

Can narwhals, a deep-sea mammal which rely on echolocation, survive in an increasingly noisy Arctic?

“We don't have compulsory conscription for women. All joined voluntarily for different reasons ? said Yevheniia Kravchuk, a Ukrainian parliamentarian recently. In the last few decades western militaries have been training more women for combat than ever, yet female recruitment and retention is stalling. But with warfare changing, new technologies and new threats, women soldiers are a vital resource.

Victoria Hollingsworth talks with different women around the world, some on the frontline and others about to go, and explores the motivations and the challenges they face. Many have families and find juggling these two lives very hard and with little support. Away from the frontline many have faced sexism and worse from their own colleagues.

There are some in society and the military that believe there is no place for women in combat. It is a polarising view that is at odds with progressive modern militaries yet one that appears to be gathering momentum in some parts of the world, especially in the US. How will this affect the careers of females currently serving in the US armed forces and future recruitment?

(Photo: Major Jenny Wood is sitting in the back of an army vehicle. Credit: British Army)

Against all the odds, why do women want to join the military?

The women living on the frontline around the world and why more female soldiers are fighting than ever before.

Woman Warriors examines the experiences of women on the frontline around the world. With interviews with female combatants in Ukraine, UK, USA and elsewhere, we explore why more female soldiers are fighting than ever before. This documentary reveals the challenges they face and why women in the uncertain years ahead are key to the future of conflict. Presented by Victoria Hollingsworth.

[LISTEN NOW]

Special thanks to Mark Wilden for additional rainforest sound and to Siegmund Thies for permission to use sound excerpts from his film Radio Women from the Rain Forest.

(Photo: Women in Canoe Credit: Siegmund Thies)

For this year's World Radio Day, we celebrate women in community radio

Around the world, small radio stations give a voice to their communities, play a dazzling array of music, speak truth to power, challenge, educate and entertain. For World Radio Day, we hear from far-flung community broadcasters operating on a shoe-string to bring people together, often against the odds. Tuning in to some of their output, we celebrate the power of the airwaves to uplift and transform.

The Nuxalk people of Canada's Pacific north-west were almost wiped out by colonisation. Now a community radio station is reviving their language and culture. Nuxalk Radio came on air 10 years ago, inspired by the indigenous Idle No More movement. For World Radio Day 2025, we celebrate this tiny outfit broadcasting from a trailer in the town of Bella Coola, British Columbia, to help an ancient nation recover its mother tongue, supressed for decades by the Canadian government, as well as its identity and self-respect.

Teaching the language through playful lessons, bilingual weather forecasts and recordings of Nuxalk elders, the station's young staff are immersing themselves in a culture their grandparents were too traumatised to pass on, and bringing the community with them. For Slts'lani, Qwaxw, Tatala and their colleagues, 'broadcasting the laws of the lands and the waters' is much more than a linguistic exercise. It is the recovery of a resilient way of living shaped over centuries to withstand catastrophes and dedicated to the health of future generations. Their mission to build a bridge from the past to the future sings out through their music too. An album of new songs made by the radio station blends old and new musical forms, deer hooves and saxophones, antlers and synthesisers.

Presenter: Maria Margaronis

Producer: David Goren

A Storyscape production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Tatala and Ximximana. Credit: Slts'lani Banchi Hanuse/Nuxalk Radio)

A community radio station is reviving the language and culture of the Nuxalk people

Community radio stations around the globe weave villages and small towns together, celebrating local culture and broadcasting crucial information. For World Radio Day 2025, we hear from stations supporting marginalised languages, the people who speak them and the unique worlds they carry, helping to make sure that they survive and thrive.

World Radio Day is Thursday 13 Feb 2025

World Radio Day is Thursday 13th Feb 2025

[LISTEN NOW]

For Word Radio Day 2026, we visit WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky, one of many small community radio station in the US threatened by cuts to government funding. At a moment when news has become increasingly polarised, these stations are ever more needed, often providing communities with their only source of essential information and emergency warnings. WMMT was founded in 1985 with a mission to “be a voice of mountain people's music, culture and social issues. ? Known to listeners as 'Possum Radio' or 'Real People Radio,' WMMT broadcasts to the coalfield communities of Southern Kentucky and neighbouring states, home to mostly poor, white Appalachian people whose voices are among the least heard in the United States. Reaching out beyond the local area, the popular weekly program Calls From Home broadcasts messages from family and friends to a large incarcerated population from across the United States in nine regional federal prison complexes, built in the late 90s as a band-aid 'solution' to the decline in mining jobs. WMMT also acts as a communications safety net when cell towers, telephone lines and the internet go down during increasingly severe natural disasters. Powered by volunteer DJs and at best a skeleton crew of paid staff, WMMT currently has only one full-time employee, station manager Jared Henderson, who's scrambling to raise funds to keep it on the air. At this critical moment in America's history, could the common ground of traditional local culture help to bridge America's gaping political divide?

Presenter Maria Margaronis

Producer David Goren

A Storyscape Production

The radio station in Kentucky reaching some of the least heard communities in America

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

Celia Hatton explores the unprecedented show of unity from China, North Korea and Russia. Are the leaders of these nuclear nations just grandstanding or should the West be worried?

Image: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they attend a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, 3 September 2025 (Credit: KCNA via Reuters)

[LISTEN NOW]

In northern Iraq, Yazidi women and girls who have been the victims of brutal sexual enslavement and lost swathes of their family and community to genocide at the hands of IS, are finding an unusual way to heal - boxing.

Since 2014, when ISIS began targeting Yazidis because of their religious identity, those who survived the genocide have been confined to internally displaced persons camps in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Here conditions are difficult and the women and girls still struggle to process all that has happened to them. So, in 2018, in the face of limited mental health support, Taban Shoresh and her team took a radical approach by offering boxing training to help the women and girls channel their emotions and anger.

For women who have lived through unspeakable trauma and loss, can the sport of boxing offer physical and mental restoration? And in a deeply traditional and conservative community, how are they navigating the stigma of women boxing?

Presenter: Taban Shoresh

Producer: Jodie Taylor

A Reduced Listening production for BBC World Service

(Photo: Yazidi women face each other in a row holding focus pads during training. Credit: Ali Amer)

Yazidi women finding an unusual way to heal

For Yazidi women who have lived through unspeakable trauma and loss can the sport of boxing offer physical and mental restoration? And what do their conservative community think?

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What does it mean to belong nowhere? Across the world, millions of people are denied citizenship and live without a country to call their own. It is estimated that half of these are children.

We follow a new generation of young stateless individuals who are reclaiming the narrative. From the corridors of the European Parliament in Brussels, to Hungary where Aleksejs Ivashuk gathers experts and advocates from across Europe for the Apartride Network's Statelessness Awareness Forum Europe – the first conference of its kind, organised and led by stateless people themselves. Among them is Christiana Bukalu, who was born in Germany and founded Statefree, a community for folks like herself who are caught up in this legal limbo.

The majority of people are stateless, hold a special status of non-citizen, or are categorised as 'undefined nationality' through no fault of their own – but the onus is often put on the individual to fight for access to rights that citizens take for granted. With insight from long-time experts, we discover how changes in borders, gaps in nationality laws, persecution, complex histories and gender discrimination play a role in the exclusion of millions.

Statelessness is a global yet diverse phenomenon but with many common experiences: we hear what it means to grow up without a passport, to be denied access to education, jobs, and healthcare, to navigate Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Yet this is also a story of resilience, of young people who are holding state actors to account and shaping a global movement for recognition and pride.

Presenter: Allan Little

Producer: Victoria Ferran

A Just Radio production for BBC World Service

The stories of young stateless individuals around the world

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

Allan Little hears the stories of young stateless individuals around the world - in a programme that shows first-hand the challenges and stigmatisation they face, their frustrations as they navigate a kafka-esque web of bureaucracy, and how the issue of statelessness is a widespread and systemic issue.

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Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]

[LISTEN NOW]