Twenty years ago, reporter Julia Paul was teaching media to young women in an Afghanistan where the Taliban were in retreat, if only temporarily. Now she has tracked down two of them again to find out how their lives have fared in the decades since. Some have fled abroad while others are still in Afghanistan, imprisoned in their homes. But even for those who have escaped, life is far from easy. As one of the army of secular western aid workers that flooded Afghan society all those years ago, Jul...
Aug 30, 2024•27 min
One of the highlights of the Paralympics is wheelchair tennis and 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 did not stop her from pursuing her dreams. 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. She speaks to Brad Parks, who co-invented the ga...
Aug 29, 2024•28 min
Hezbollah has both political and military wings both of which are designated by several countries as terror organisations. It emerged several decades ago in Lebanon. Since Israel launched its war in Gaza in the wake of the Hamas attacks of October 7th, it has intensified its military activities along the border between Israel and Lebanon. The persistent question has been what is it trying to achieve? Are the attacks intended as a show of support for the Palestinians in Gaza or an attempt to take...
Aug 28, 2024•23 min
Why Armenians in Jerusalem say they are fighting an existential battle. Is the identity of the Old City of Jerusalem changing - house by house? This small patch of land is of vital importance to Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. But, amid accusations of dodgy deals, corruption and trickery, there are concerns that the Old City’s historic multi-ethnic and multi-religious identity is being altered. In the Armenian Quarter a battle is going on for the control of land which the local community say...
Aug 27, 2024•27 min
Daniel Libeskind is one of the world's leading architects. Amongst his many projects, he devised the masterplan for the redevelopment of Ground Zero in New York and designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin. He tells Samira Ahmed about the Albert Einstein House in Jerusalem, a new building which will house Einstein's work and belongings, from his favourite novels, his letters as a peace campaigner, to his papers laying out his famous theory of relativity. He also talks Samira through the many other g...
Aug 26, 2024•26 min
Deepthi Jeevanji grew up in a rural Indian village where she was bullied and mocked for being different. In Paris this summer, she will become India’s first ever Paralympian with an intellectual impairment. After winning 400m gold at this year’s World Para Athletics Championships, she may also come home with a medal. 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...
Aug 25, 2024•50 min
In 2022, the city of Bakhmut in Eastern Ukraine was attacked by Russian forces. The fight for Bakhmut lasted over 10 months and claimed the lives of thousands of people on both sides, becoming the longest and bloodiest battle in this war so far. But why was this sleepy town such an important target for Russia? And what role did the mercenary Wagner group play there? BBC Russian’s Olga Ivshina and Ukrainecast presenter Vitaly Shevchenko investigate. Produced by Alice Gioia and Hannah Dean. (Photo...
Aug 24, 2024•24 min
The recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor after a 36-hour hospital shift has, according to India’s top court, “shocked the conscience of the nation". It has produced protests, strikes and outrage and has focussed conversations on what it is like to be female in India, both at work and during everyday life. Arunima, for instance, lives close to the hospital, in Kolkata, where the murder happened. For her, even travelling on public transport has been traumatising after being touched inappropr...
Aug 24, 2024•23 min
Pope Francis was hailed as a reformist when he became Pope in 2013. He vowed to get a handle on the scandals plaguing the Catholic Church, including how the Vatican managed its money. In 2015, he appointed the Vatican's first ever auditor, former Deloitte CEO and chairman Libero Milone. Along with his business partner, they went through the various Vatican departments checking the books, but came up against resistance from the 'old guard'. In one Vatican office in particular, Milone claims he me...
Aug 23, 2024•27 min
For every 10 babies born across the world one 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. 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...
Aug 22, 2024•23 min
Fishermen from the Philippines, Ghana and Sri Lanka speak out about how badly, they say, they were treated by a Scottish fishing company that hired them. 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.
Aug 21, 2024•31 min
In Ukraine drone technology is transforming the battlefield and the rules of war are being rewritten. The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville travels to the frontlines in the northeast of the country, and meets some of the Ukrainian prisoners who could help solve a critical shortage of manpower in the country’s war with Russia.
Aug 20, 2024•28 min
Artist Ad Minoliti lives and works in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. They are known for their vibrant, geometric designs and the colours in their artworks often leap from the canvas onto the walls and floors of the gallery space. Nature and the environment are an important part of their work and Ad surrounds themselves with wildlife, from growing plants to encourage butterflies and bees at their home, to helping to cultivate green spaces in Buenos Aires. Ad is creating an installation for...
Aug 19, 2024•26 min
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. But the history of the town of Lahaina means it did not go from being the lush and prosperous capital of Hawaii it once was, to disappearing through flames overnight. 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 o...
Aug 18, 2024•49 min
India's ancient caste system can result in controversy and discrimination in the country. But a new trend has sprung up of young women flaunting their caste on social media. Our Delhi correspondent Divya Arya has met some of these women, to try and find out why they are so keen to express 'caste pride'. Plus BBC Mundo's Laura García meets the residents of a Parisian retirement home who have found their own way of embracing the Olympic spirit.
Aug 17, 2024•27 min
International condemnation followed the elections in Venezuela at the end of July that saw President Maduro declared the winner for a third consecutive term. Those who oppose him have been protesting. There has been violence, many injuries and hundreds arrested and detained. We bring together Venezuelans inside the country and those aboard. You can hear the pride and hope that people have for their country, but also their underlying fears. We hear from a family that is spread across the world. T...
Aug 17, 2024•23 min
Despite some opposition from within their own faith communities, Muti’ah and Angelica are on a mission to teach other Muslim women how to have healthy and safe sex lives. Geeta Pendse meets them both and finds out how to deliver sex education that is both useful and appropriate for their students. Presenter: Geeta Pendse Producer: Linda Walker Series producer: Rajeev Gupta Production co-ordinator: Mica Nepomuceno
Aug 16, 2024•27 min
In 2015, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation set out their blueprints to eradicate Tuberculosis by 2030. TB is a potentially deadly bacterial disease that, despite being preventable and curable, kills just over a million people around the world every year. The disease is prevalent in India, where one person dies every 90 seconds from TB. In 2017, the Indian government announced their plans to eradicate TB by 2025. But with that date looming, can the country with the highest glob...
Aug 15, 2024•27 min
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. But now, the fight against air pollution is increasingly catching the imagination of artists and designers. 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 filtere...
Aug 14, 2024•23 min
The so-called ‘parents’ revolution’ is happening in America - and it’s a revolt against the public education system. School choice campaigns are gaining ground across the country, fighting for tax-funded vouchers giving parents the opportunity to select their preferred school. More and more families are ditching institutions altogether, with homeschooling reportedly the fastest growing form of education in the US. Why are families turning away from traditional schooling, and what does this mean ...
Aug 13, 2024•27 min
The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is best known for his expressionist painting The Scream. A pastel version of it fetched $ 120 million when it was last auctioned in 2012, making it the most expensive piece of art ever sold at an auction. The art exhibition Edvard Munch: Trembling, shifts the focus to his landscape paintings, revealing a very different side of the artist and showing the vivid colours he used. Presenting this exhibition on both sides of the Atlantic - in the US, then in Germany a...
Aug 12, 2024•26 min
The US is home to around seven million undocumented migrants from central and south America. Many have been in the US for years, providing a vital workforce for many sectors of the US economy. But they have no health cover, or workplace benefits and many live under the constant threat of deportation back home. 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...
Aug 11, 2024•26 min
According to the UN, from 2008-2018 over 18,000 Vietnamese citizens a year married foreigners. The vast majority of them are women, and many find their foreign husbands through special matchmaking agencies. Thuong Le from BBC Vietnamese has been looking into this profitable and controversial business. Produced by Caroline Ferguson, Hannah Dean and Alice Gioia. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)
Aug 10, 2024•19 min
After weeks of student-led demonstrations and violence across Bangladesh, which caused the deaths of hundreds of people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has fled to India and resigned after 15 years of controversial rule. Many of those left behind are celebrating what they are describing as a second independence. The man brought in to temporarily lead the country – the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus – has called on young people to help rebuild the South Asian country. Generation Z, who a...
Aug 10, 2024•23 min
New digital technologies including AI have started to find a place in the grieving process, sometimes alongside more traditional religious rituals. 'Grief tech' concepts are springing up across the world, aiming to mask the finality of death for those left behind. Nkem Ifejika, who lost his mother three years ago, samples some grief tech products. He meets Stephen Smith, creator of StoryFile, a system which enables him to interact with his late mother almost as if he was interviewing her on vide...
Aug 09, 2024•26 min
A bonus episode from The Global Jigsaw looks at how the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan has led to the erasure of women from public life. There’s a UN-led campaign to recognise it as “gender apartheid”, but the international community is divided and lacking leverage. Three years after the group took the capital Kabul, our experts explain what life is like for half of the population and why women have become a proxy for the nation’s image of itself. Producer: Kriszta Satori, Elchin Suley...
Aug 08, 2024•37 min
This is a bonus episode for The Documentary of The Engineers: Intelligent Machines. This year, we speak to a panel of three engineers at the forefront of the 'Machine Learning: AI' revolution with an enthusiastic live audience. Intelligent machines are remaking our world. The speed of their improvement is accelerating fast and every day there are more things they can do better than us. There are risks, but the opportunities for human society are enormous. ‘Machine Learning: AI’ is the technologi...
Aug 08, 2024•49 min
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 emerg...
Aug 07, 2024•23 min
The Italian town of Monfalcone on the Adriatic coast has an ethnic make-up unique to the country. Of a population of just over thirty thousand, more than six thousand are from Bangladesh. They’ve come to help construct huge cruise ships, providing labour to do the type of manual jobs which Italians no longer want to do. For years, they worshipped at two Islamic centres in the town. Then, in November, the town’s far right mayor, Anna Maria Cisint, tried to effectively ban collective prayer there,...
Aug 06, 2024•27 min
Known to many as breakdancing, breaking sprung up in the economic and social unrest of 1970s New York, as a form of expressive protest. Today, it is also a globalised and dizzyingly virtuosic competitive dance sport - and now it is making its debut at the Paris Olympics. We follow Australian competitor Rachael Gunn (B-girl Raygun) as she hits pause on her day-job as a university lecturer and prepares for her debut on the Olympics stage. In conversations across the final 100 days, as she practise...
Aug 05, 2024•26 min
