Can sticking to our dreams end up holding us back? Diane and her husband promised they would sell their home on retirement and travel the world. Sadly, he passed away before they could do that. Diane wants to carry on with that plan but the pandemic has made her realise the richness of her community and given her a sense that as she gets older she needs to make best use of the time she has. Perhaps she is wrong to turn her back on where she lives and what she has. Sister Dang Nghiem, a Buddhist ...
Sep 18, 2021•25 min
The United States continues to record some of the highest infection and death rates in the world due to Covid-19. Host Nuala McGovern brings together two hospital nurses in Florida. They share the heartbreak and exhaustion of treating severely ill and dying patients, often young, who they say could have avoided hospital completely by getting vaccinated. Two doctors working in Delhi and Mumbai, say vaccination numbers are soaring. But they worry that festivals and other celebrations may lead to a...
Sep 18, 2021•25 min
The UK joins a growing number of rich countries offering Covid booster vaccines, whilst across Africa only 3% of people have been vaccinated against the virus. Ros Atkins looks into the issue of vaccine inequity
Sep 18, 2021•11 min
Assignment reveals the inside story of Ramon Abbas, one of a new breed of global cyber-fraudsters. Snared by the FBI in 2020, Abbas is better known as Instagram influencer Hushpuppi, who flaunted a life of designer clothes, private jets and penthouse apartments to millions of followers. Little did they know that his lavish lifestyle was funded through a complex web of cyber-heists. Most cyber-criminals remain nameless, faceless, anonymous and all but untraceable. Now, Assignment unmasks Ramon Ab...
Sep 16, 2021•26 min
A criminal case is brought against the so-called fake Paralympians and the team’s organisers. The prosecutor gives the inside take on the legal process and an outcome that left many frustrated. And Dan hears about the man accused of being the mastermind behind the scam and his surprising back story. Will he explain himself and apologise to the victims?
Sep 14, 2021•29 min
Jealousy, rudeness, lack of respect - it can be hard not to be troubled by the way people treat us. Sometimes we may feel that people that we know are jealous and are trying to hold us back. After a personal question from Sneha in India, author of 'Universal Human' Gary Zukav joins the BBC's Sana Safi to explore how to reduce the hurt and distress caused by what others may think.
Sep 11, 2021•19 min
The Taliban is stamping its authority on Afghanistan, and dealing forcefully with those demonstrating against the new regime. In recent days, the details of the new government's all-male cabinet have provoked some to take to the streets in protest. Host Karnie Sharp hears from people who have been caught up in the demonstrations. Two female medical professionals, a dentist and a doctor, describe how their working lives have changed, having been told they can no longer treat male patients - or ev...
Sep 11, 2021•24 min
Twenty years on from the 9/11 terror attacks, New Yorkers and those affected by the events recall where they were and how they have managed to process the horror of what happened. Presenter and New Yorker Joan Mastropaolo, now a volunteer at the 9/11 Tribute Museum, takes us on a tour of the 9/11 memorial and explains what it means to her. Former US poet laureate Billy Collins recalls how writing and performing the official memorial poem – Names. Annie Thoms, a teacher from one of the schools cl...
Sep 10, 2021•51 min
Gordon Corera investigates the mysterious illness that has struck American diplomats and spies. It began after some reported hearing strange sounds in Havana 2016, but reports have since spread around the world. Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials have all been trying to find out what exactly causes these sounds and the lingering health effects. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it is some new and secret form of surveillance while others believe it could ...
Sep 09, 2021•27 min
There are allegations the cheating went wider within intellectual disability sport, and that it wasn’t just the gold-winning Spanish basketball team. An investigator for the International Paralympic Committee reveals what he found, and discusses specific accusations he heard about another of the basketball teams. The probe has shocking consequences for intellectual disability sport: a total ban from the Paralympic Games. Dan has a heart-to-heart with his mum and dad about the impact on his buddi...
Sep 07, 2021•28 min
Zorba’s theme from the 1964 film is what the composer Mikis Theodorakis will always be known for outside his native Greece, but in his time he was a figure on the world stage, rubbing shoulders with poets, politicians and artists like Pablo Neruda, Olof Palme and Salvador Dali. His most powerful music evokes a spirit of heroic rebellion that resonated with liberation movements from Greece to Latin America. And, far beyond Zorba, he wrote classical symphonies, ballets, operas, and popular songs a...
Sep 05, 2021•51 min
When Covid restrictions are lifted, the effort to return to our former lives can present unexpected personal trials. Shops, restaurants and offices have re- opened in Detroit, USA but Alex is finding it very hard to go back into the outside world and start socialising again. Dr Shefali helps him find a way forward and discusses the challenges of leaving home and re-entering the public world in places that have started opening up again, with presenter Sana Safi.
Sep 04, 2021•19 min
The last US soldier has left Afghanistan, leaving the Taliban in control of the vast majority of the country. Working women have been told to stay at home for now, for their own safety. Host Nuala McGovern hears from two sisters, who say they feel trapped in their family home in Afghanistan, unable to set foot outside and terrified of the Taliban. She meets Afghan women, who are volunteering at a community centre in London, helping those who have fled their country. They share their own stories ...
Sep 04, 2021•24 min
The fire that destroyed the sprawling Moria asylum seekers’ camp on the Greek island of Lesvos last September made headlines around the world. For the asylum seekers who lost their makeshift home and most of their possessions, it was a devastating setback. For Greece, still hosting thousands of migrants Europe won’t take in, the fire intensified a determination to move them on elsewhere. What’s happened to some of Moria’s former residents since then? Working with Athens-based journalists Katy Fa...
Sep 02, 2021•27 min
The cheating is now out in the open and the players - including genuinely-disabled captain Ray - have to hand back their gold medals. But how and when did the cheating start? An ex-coach of the team, who was in charge until just two years before the scandal, says he began to suspect something was wrong way before Sydney 2000. Plus Dan tries to find an answer to one of the biggest questions of all - why did the cheats do it?
Aug 31, 2021•28 min
What can we learn about a culture from what they search online? From xenophobia in Nigeria, shut-in teenagers in Japan, India’s biometric identity card, and the creation of viral TikTok slang, we look at the search trends that have come to define us. Ben Arogundade investigates what the most popular searches reveal about our approach to death, dating, and digital identity. Tech journalist Nilesh Christopher tell us that India’s pandemic searches may be more complicated than they first appear, an...
Aug 28, 2021•50 min
Keeping some peace of mind when the world around you is in turmoil is a great challenge. Mohammed finds it hard to maintain concentration, he sleeps 12 hours a night but awakes exhausted. He lives in Afghanistan, which is in a state of conflict, and spends a lot of time on social media. Sister Dang Nghiem offers advice on how to make your mind a beautiful refuge from the chaos and insecurity in the outside world. She discusses the North Vietnamese communists taking over Saigon when she was a chi...
Aug 28, 2021•19 min
Despite terror warnings, Afghans continued to gather at Kabul’s airport, desperate to get onto a plane. What was feared, and what is sadly familiar in Afghanistan, happened - bomb blasts brought further devastation. Around 100,000 people have been flown out of the country though since the Taliban takeover. We hear stories from two women who have been at the airport and managed to get a flight. Also, two students in Kabul and Herat share their fears about being unable to continue their education ...
Aug 28, 2021•24 min
How Catalonia’s housing crisis spawns opportunities for organised crime… Spain has a history of squatting. After the property crash of 2008 many families were forced to occupy homes that did not belong to them because they could not pay their mortgages. Now a darker side to ‘okupacion’ has emerged. Organised crime has seen an opportunity. Some flats in Barcelona have become ‘narcopisos’ - properties used to process or sell drugs. Other empty properties have been ‘sub-let’ by gangs to families wh...
Aug 26, 2021•27 min
"We are our history," said James Baldwin. But how history is remembered depends on what materials survive, and who deems those materials worthy of preserving. Maya Millett - a writer, editor and founder of Race Women, an archive project dedicated to honouring early Black American feminists - speaks to the archivists who are working to ensure the voices and stories of African-Americans are not forgotten. As racism and violence against African-Americans continues, collecting, cataloguing, and pres...
Aug 25, 2021•28 min
A basketball journalist in Spain recognises three of the players in the gold-medal-winning intellectual disability basketball team - and they are not disabled. He has even played on the same team as one of them. But when he publishes his story in a national basketball magazine, the team’s organisers show certificates supposedly proving the players’ disability status. The denials continue until another of the players - who turns out to have been a journalist - publishes his own article exposing t...
Aug 24, 2021•25 min
Twenty years ago, the brash Texan energy company Enron collapsed after its massive fraud was finally exposed. Investors and pension funds worldwide lost billions of dollars. The case was meant to signal a sea-change in the way businesses were policed. How difficult would it be to weave a similar web of financial deceit today? Lesley Curwen travels to the dark side of business to find out whether it is still just as easy to fleece investors – which in the end means us – out of our money.
Aug 21, 2021•50 min
Akinkunmi has lost both his mother and his sister. Dr Shefali Tsabary helps him come to terms with bereavement, and discusses the idea of 'acceptance' and how we can learn from brutal realities. In a series of intimate one to one conversations presented by the BBC’s Sana Safi ,three spiritual advisers – Sister Dang Nghiem, Dr Shefali Tsabary and Eckhart Tolle offer guidance to members of the public from across the world as they ask for advice and inspiration.
Aug 21, 2021•19 min
As the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan, thousands are attempting to leave the country, fearful for their safety. During the 20-year conflict, some Afghans worked as translators, interpreters and support staff with international armies and foreign organisations. Taliban officials have been keen to allay widespread safety fears but reports suggest the militant group are intensifying their hunt for such residents. Some of those who are afraid managed to immediately relocate to other countries,...
Aug 21, 2021•24 min
What would it be like if everyone believed you were dead? Lal Bihari knows exactly what that feels like. When he was 22 years old the Indian farmer was told by his local government office that he was dead and no protestations that he was standing before them would persuade the bureaucrats otherwise – after all, his death certificate was there as proof. Whether the victim of a scam or a clerical error, the end result for Bihari was to lose his business and all the land he was hoping to inherit. I...
Aug 19, 2021•27 min
Ex-Paralympic swimmer Dan Pepper investigates the cheats who won gold and left a devastating legacy for learning disability sport. Ray Torres used to get beaten up every day at school. He stood out because he had a learning disability. But when his dad gave him a basketball, he found an escape and a kind of friend that didn’t hit him or call him names. He took the ball everywhere - even using it as a pillow. When Spain started an intellectual disability basketball team, Ray was picked as one of ...
Aug 17, 2021•25 min
This audio was updated on 16th August. The Taliban is advancing towards Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as foreign forces prepare to fully withdraw from the country. Thousands of people are being displaced and many more are fearful about what lies ahead. Reporting the news in the country can result in death threats and loss of life, and host Nuala McGovern hears from Afghan journalists who are determined to continue working despite the dangers, including losing colleagues. Two women also share the...
Aug 16, 2021•24 min
Life presents many personal challenges. Three spiritual advisors – Sister Dang Nghiem, Dr Shefali Tsabary and Eckhart Tolle offer guidance to members of the public from across the world on coping with anxiety, the pressures of parenting and how to learn life-lessons from the pandemic.
Aug 13, 2021•18 min
Israel’s Arab population is in the grip of a violent and deadly crime wave. Since the start of the year, scores of Arab citizens have lost their lives and increasingly, even women and children are victims of drive-by killings, point-blank shootings and escalating gang warfare. Arabs account for only around one in five of all Israelis, yet they are now the majority of the country’s murder victims. Many say the problem of organised crime has grown out of control within their communities; others ar...
Aug 12, 2021•26 min
When photographer Haruka Sakaguchi set out to Hiroshima to document atomic bomb survivors' stories, she discovered they were far more difficult to find than she expected. Stigmatisation and survivor’s guilt discourage many from disclosing their past, and with dwindling survivors left to tell their story, memories of the atomic bomb are fading. But a new generation has developed an unusual method of keeping those memories alive. Denshosha are the designated guardians of survivors’ memories. They ...
Aug 10, 2021•27 min
