The fires that devastated parts of Los Angeles in January this year killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Angelino Laura Hubber talks to those affected by the fires and looks at the ongoing impact on the artistic and cultural life of the city. She explores how LA is dealing with loss, and how it will rebuild, both physically and artistically. We hear from artist Alec Egan, who lost his home and studio, along with his paintings that were due to be shown at international exhi...
Mar 27, 2025•26 min
Life expectancy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, increased by 19 years (from 46 to 65) from 2000 to 2019 - mostly due to reductions in mortality from HIV, TB and malaria, and declines in childhood diseases. What does this very rapid demographic change mean for governments, policy planners and ordinary people now living so much longer? Will overstretched health and social protection services be able to cope with the demands that come with longer lives - rapidly increasing non...
Mar 26, 2025•36 min
The global online scamming industry is said to be worth some $500 billion a year. It operates in secret, in complexes hidden behind high fences in countries all over the world. It is a particular problem in the Philippines, where much of the industry is run by Chinese criminal organisations. The scammers, whose job it is to persuade their victims to part with their hard-earned money, are often themselves the victims of crime, people trafficked across borders by gangsters and held prisoner in the...
Mar 25, 2025•27 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 home-schooling reportedly the fastest growing form of education in the US. Why are families turning away from traditional schooling, and what does this mean...
Mar 24, 2025•28 min
In our time of looming ecological disaster, radical minds are needed to rethink the way we live. In Saudi Arabia, NEOM are building a futuristic new city: The Line. The Line will consist of two gigantic, unbroken rows of skyscrapers, with living space in-between. Nicknamed 'the groundscraper', The Line is planned to be taller than any building in Europe, Africa or Latin America - and 10 times denser than Manhattan, with nine million people expected to live inside. We meet the architects behind T...
Mar 24, 2025•27 min
European leaders have had cause to rethink their roles within Nato recently, in light of statements coming from the US Government. The Trump administration’s dealings with Russia to try and broker a peace deal in Ukraine, have called into question America’s support for the alliance. But whilst the Trump administration say they are not pulling out of Nato and remain committed to the defence partnership with Europe, they have warned that they will "no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship whi...
Mar 23, 2025•23 min
Georgia finds itself in political turmoil. For decades many Georgians have longed to be a part of the EU, feeling that their values align more closely than they do with neighbours such as Russia and Turkey. But the goverment, led by the conservative Georgian Dream party, has suspended talks to join the EU, in a move that critics say is kowtowing to Russia. Protests have been going on every day since November 2024. Journalists are left to navigate this complex picture as the country finds itself ...
Mar 22, 2025•26 min
For the first time in three years, there’s talk of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Negotiations are ongoing, but at the time of recording this programme, the conflict continues. We’ve heard many times from Ukrainians expressing their thoughts on the war – most recently in February in our episode Ukraine: Three Years of War. It’s been harder to find Russians who are happy to speak to Western journalists. But we’ve brought together three groups of ordinary Russian citizens to share their v...
Mar 22, 2025•23 min
In Bangladesh, hijras - once a revered community - have long lived on the margins. Also known as the third gender, hijras form a diverse group, including those born intersex - meaning their physical traits don’t fit neatly into ‘male’ or ‘female’ categories - and transgender individuals. Traditionally seen as spiritual figures with the power to bless or curse, they are now outcasts, denied homes, jobs, and opportunities. But in a quiet village in Mymensingh, a spiritual revolution is taking plac...
Mar 21, 2025•27 min
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 - the culprit, methanol. It made headlines around the world, but it was not an isolated incident. It is happening across South East Asia, Central America and the Middle East, often in countries where drinking alcohol is frowned upon, taboo, or even illegal. Matthew Hill investigates a devastating story of a rising death-toll, and travels to Bangladesh to m...
Mar 20, 2025•26 min
Daily protests across the country have continued in Georgia since disputed elections in October, particularly since the ruling Georgian Dream party announced it would suspend discussions about joining the EU. Outside election observers identified a number of shortcomings and violations in the voting process. Critics of Georgian Dream say it is cosying up to Moscow and using underhand and increasingly authoritarian tactics, mimicking Russia, to stay in power. New laws against protesting have been...
Mar 18, 2025•27 min
Artists Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser explore the complex weave of histories and myths around Britain’s imperial salt monopoly in India. Paul Waters joins them as they create an open-air installation at the Somerset House gallery in London, paired with a poignant indoor exhibition occupying spaces formerly used to administer Britain’s colonial-era salt tax. The 80 metre long fabric installation is to replicate the Inland Customs Line, a monumental 2,500 mile long hedge across India, ...
Mar 17, 2025•26 min
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 ...
Mar 16, 2025•49 min
According to Kenya’s Health Ministry, between 2020 and 2023, about 16,000 women in Kenya decided to undergo a sterilisation procedure known as tubal ligation. While some of them already had children and didn’t want any more, others were saying no to motherhood altogether: they’re women who define themselves as child-free, meaning they have consciously decided never to have children. BBC Africa's Danai Nesta Kupemba has been looking into the this movement and has spoken to two Kenyan women who ha...
Mar 15, 2025•27 min
On his first day in office, Donald Trump froze foreign aid funding, ordering an immediate review into USAID, the government agency which was running programmes in around 120 countries. The review was swift and the cuts severe. President Trump’s team concluded that tens of billions of dollars were being spent in ways which “did not serve” or “harmed" US interests. We hear from USAID employees who describe the shock of suddenly losing their own jobs, and the grim anticipation of the impact the cut...
Mar 15, 2025•23 min
For centuries, ayahuasca has been a sacred plant for the Shipibo-Konibo peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. Part medicine, part spiritual ceremony, ayahuasca and other plant medicines are revered practices. But in recent years, a boom in Western interest in psychedelics has started to reshape ayahuasca ceremonies and practise. Fuelled by celebrity endorsements, a new wave of tourists are heading to purpose-built resorts in the Peruvian jungle to take ayahuasca, guided by shamans from the Shipibo-Kon...
Mar 14, 2025•27 min
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 is now home to more than 100 men who have 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 r...
Mar 13, 2025•27 min
Guatemala’s been going through huge political upheavals. Protestors brought the country to a standstill with roadblocks and national strikes which lasted more than one hundred days, until they got the government they had voted for. Many of the protestors came from different indigenous communities, descended from the Mayans, who have their own language and culture and make up more than half of the 18 million population. Now there’s talk of an ‘Indigenous Spring’ after years of racism and discrimi...
Mar 11, 2025•27 min
Ghanaian fashion innovator Kwaku Bediako is redefining luxury with sustainability at its heart. We step inside his world as he transforms second-hand garments into bold, high-fashion pieces, worn by global stars such as Stevie Wonder and Ian Wright. It was when he noticed how much material was being thrown away, that he decided to create a new brand, Cacao, where discarded fabrics can become the material for garments worn to red carpet events across the world. Kwaku has been commissioned by musi...
Mar 10, 2025•26 min
Extraordinary stories from global women's history, as told by the people who were there. We hear about the Jewish feminists who demanded to pray as freely as men, the fight for transgender women rights in Indonesia, and the career of legendary American painter Georgia O'Keeffe.
Mar 09, 2025•52 min
The head of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation has recently fallen from glory. Irina Viner has been the most powerful person in the sport for nearly 20 years, and has produced multiple world champions. But her reign is finally over, as the Ministry of Sport recently dissolved the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation to create a new gymnastics body in which Irina Viner has no part. Meanwhile, another name in Russian rhythmic gymnastics is back in the spotlight. A previous student of Iri...
Mar 08, 2025•26 min
After 13 years of civil war, a transitional government is now in charge in Syria, led by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist rebel group – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS. Syria is home to many different religious and ethnic groups and some fear that more conservative members of HTS could influence government policy. Nor is the fighting over. Forces linked to the new government have been battling Assad loyalists in in the port cities of Latakia and Tartous, where dozens of ...
Mar 08, 2025•23 min
Amie Liebowitz interviews matchmaker and dating coach Aleeza Ben Shalom from the Netflix show Jewish Matchmaker. She then goes on her own quest to learn about the traditional and religious values of matchmaking. From a mass dating event to going through her own matchmaking experience, Amie asks herself the question: Is she being open enough to exploring new connections and can tradition save her love life in this modern world?
Mar 07, 2025•26 min
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 proce...
Mar 06, 2025•26 min
America’s Next Top Model, the reality competition series hosted by Tyra Banks, continues to face criticism years after it stopped airing. And it is not the only reality show that critics say has not aged well. From Cops to The Swan to Mr Beast’s new show Beast Games, reality TV routinely courts controversy. We all know reality shows like The Traitors, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives and Love Island. But how did the genre become so popular in the first place? We hear from Dan...
Mar 05, 2025•22 min
Russians who sign up to fight in Ukraine earn big money in salaries and bonuses – and the Kremlin is even more generous to families of those killed in battle. Average compensation packages for a dead son or husband are worth about US$130,000. In less-wealthy Russian provinces, where most recruits are from, that’s enough to turn your life around. Reporter Arsenii Sokolov finds out how the relatives of the tens of thousands of men Russia has lost in the war are spending the money – and asks whethe...
Mar 04, 2025•27 min
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 exp...
Mar 03, 2025•26 min
Mark Burman follows artist Marcin Dudek as he works on his sound sculpture The Ground Harbours The Soul, which is made from the sounds of the crowd at Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Visitors get to experience all the highs and lows of fans watching a football game in real time.
Mar 02, 2025•27 min
The Korean skincare industry is booming around the world, but some brands faced backlash because of the lack of products for people with darker skin tones. Korean journalist Soo Min Kim looked into how companies responded and spoke to the influencers driving this change. Plus, can radio help save a farmer's livelihood? Boyd Chibale from BBC Media Action in Zambia talks about the work they've done to help local communities cope with droughts and power cuts; and the art of balancing rocks, as film...
Mar 01, 2025•27 min
A video of American R&B singer Ne-Yo kissing three of his girlfriends backstage has had loads of attention and highlighted the practice of polyamory. This is when people have several partners at once and are completely open about it. To find out more, we bring together four polyamorous men and women in the US and the UK to tell us what their lives are like. Apart from the positives, we also hear about the stigma and the jealousy that can arise from having more than one partner.
Mar 01, 2025•23 min
