High school prom may have started off as an American tradition, but now, it’s spread across the globe. In Uganda, proms are often a super lavish event, with couples flying in on helicopters or pulling up in expensive cars, before doing multiple outfit changes through the night. But the government says it’s gone too far — and it’s brought in new rules to curb the celebrations. Uganda’s Ministry of Education has banned what it calls “indecent dressing” and has even introduced a 6PM curfew, arguing...
May 30, 2025•13 min
The Pyramids of Giza are among Egypt's most famous landmarks. The Great Pyramid is made up of 2.3 million stone blocks, weighing five million tonnes in total. For centuries no one has known precisely how they were built, or how the stones were transported. Using radar satellite imagery, historical maps and geophysical surveys, a research team has mapped a long-lost, ancient branch of the River Nile - which they believe was buried by a major drought and sandstorms thousands of years ago. They thi...
May 29, 2025•10 min
In South Korea, what presidential candidates are wearing is a hot topic. People use fashion to express themselves. Many of us think carefully about what we put on and how others will view our outfits, whether we choose an iconic hat or a monochrome look. But for politicians and their spouses, every look is carefully calculated to send a specific message. South Korea is having a snap election which means that image consultants are quietly shaping the new public faces of leadership, from tie colou...
May 28, 2025•12 min
From Taylor Swift to Michael Jackson, there’s been countless superstar musicians who have called out their record labels for how much they’re being paid for their music. For musicians at the start of their careers it can be even more challenging to make money. The emergence of streaming sites like Spotify has made understanding publishing a bit more complicated. So how does it all really work? BBC Newsbeat reporter Riyah Collins talks us through how musicians make their money - from royalties, t...
May 27, 2025•11 min
US president Donald Trump has claimed that white farmers in South Africa are being executed en masse. But this is simply not true. South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation went to Washington last week hoping for a boost and a reset after months of bitterness with the Donald Trump administration. Instead they got brutal, high-stakes diplomacy, peppered with insults, which played out to millions across the world in real time. This included Trump showing a video which supposedly ...
May 26, 2025•11 min
After cutting off the supply of aid to Gaza for more than two months, Israeli officials have allowed some trucks to enter. But despite over a hundred aid trucks carrying essential products like flour and baby food into Gaza, the United Nations says it’s only a “drop in the ocean”. There have also been significant delays to distributing the aid, lasting days in some cases. The UN estimates that one in five Gazans face starvation and that an average of 600 trucks a day are needed to start tackling...
May 23, 2025•15 min
If so, President Trump thinks you’re a “stupid person“. The royal family of Qatar wants to gift America a private jet. Critics say the gift is essentially a bribe to give Qatar influence with the U.S. And they’ve pointed out that, during his first term, President Trump accused Qatar of funding terror groups. On 21st April, it was formally announced that the US Defence Secretary had accepted the plane. BBC reporter, Nathalie Jimenez breaks it all down for us. It also got us thinking, what are the...
May 22, 2025•13 min
One of the biggest unions in the world representing a diverse range of creative professionals, including actors and voice artists, has filed a complaint against the makers of the video game Fortnite over its Darth Vader character. Epic Games used generative AI to recreate the voice of the Star Wars villain, after the late actor who played him in the film franchise signed over the rights in 2022. But Sag-Aftra says the gaming company should have negotiated with them first - and is worried the ris...
May 21, 2025•14 min
Skin-lightening is a multi-billion-dollar industry and impacts many women, and men, around the world. Within the African context, women in Nigeria use skin-whitening products the most: according to the World Health Organization 77% of women use them regularly. The situation is so bad that Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac) declared a state of emergency in 2023. The BBC’s Madina Maishanu has been speaking to a mother who has used skin-whitening product...
May 20, 2025•14 min
Hundreds of thousands of students in Nigeria have been told they can retake their JAMB university entrance exam. That’s after nearly 80 per cent of them failed the test in March amid power cuts and computer glitches during the exams. The low pass rate sparked a national outcry, especially after the Minister of Education initially claimed it was caused by students cheating. The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has now apologised - but what does the incident say about Nigeria’s digital inf...
May 19, 2025•12 min
You might have seen videos on TikTok of guys with shaved heads and black sweatbands walking round Turkish airports, or sitting on planes on the way home. Turkey is becoming one of the most popular destinations to get a hair transplant. Turkish officials estimate the hair transplant market was worth $1billion in 2024. People travel there from all around the world, but especially the US and Europe, because it’s so much cheaper than getting it done in their home country. Christopher Mizzoni, 22 (@c...
May 16, 2025•15 min
More and more people are using snus. Maybe you’ve noticed this where you live: people walking around with circular plastic tubs in their pockets and slipping small white parcels into their gums? There are two types: brown snus and white snus. Brown snus has been around for a while, and contains tobacco, whereas white snus is newer and tobacco-free; it’s a nicotine pouch. Some of the biggest brands are Zyn, Velo and On! and they’re made by the big tobacco companies. White snus is a booming market...
May 15, 2025•11 min
One of the world’s biggest sporting stars, Virat Kohli, has announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket via an Instagram post to his 270 million followers. It’s got people talking about his impact and many tributes to his career have been shared online. But what does this mean for Indian cricket? The BBC’s Luke Wolstenholme talks us through why Virat Kohli is such a big deal and the legacy he leaves behind. We also hear from Virat Kohli fans Anwaya Mane and Tanisha Crasto, who played Ba...
May 14, 2025•12 min
Big Ocean are the world’s first K-Pop boy band with hearing loss. Each of the three members; Jiseok, PJ and Chanyeon, has a different level of hearing. They use hearing aids and cochlear implants to hear sounds and use lip reading for communication. The band use metronomes that display lights and smartwatches that communicate the beat through vibrations to help them when dancing. And they have used AI technology trained with the members' voice data to help them hit the correct pitch. As part of ...
May 13, 2025•11 min
India and Pakistan have largely seen each other as rivals since they got their independence from Britain in 1947. Recently, tensions have erupted there again, and over the past week both sides have launched cross-border military strikes. It’s been over Kashmir - a Himalayan region which both India and Pakistan claim as theirs. Each administers part of it, and they’ve fought wars over it before. With this latest flare up, many are worried it could lead to another- and both sides have nuclear weap...
May 12, 2025•13 min
White smoke from the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City on Thursday 8th May announced that a new Pope had been elected. Pope Leo XIV is the 267th Pope to be exact and the first American. He also has Peruvian citizenship. In this episode we’re going to explain what we know about the new Pope, Robert Prevost, and his views. We find out what a Pope actually does. Also why are people so surprised that an American Pope has been elected? And we hear from young Catholics around the world - who tell us what...
May 09, 2025•12 min
True crime series are hugely popular around the world. These are non-fiction TV shows and podcasts which look at victims of crimes and investigate the motives of the perpetrator, often covering grim topics like assault and murder. You might have heard of some of them like Serial, American Manhunt: OJ Simpson, The Menendez Brothers, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and My Lover My Killer. Why are they so popular? And what positive and negative effects can they have on the cases th...
May 08, 2025•12 min
Election season in Australia is drawing to a close with the re-election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party. Around 18 million people in the country are eligible to vote, and many of them turned up to the polls as it is a legal obligation to do so. If you fail to turn up, you can face a fine. So what’s it like to vote in an election, when you have to? And how is enforced? BBC’s Australia correspondent Katy Watson tells us how it all works. Compulsory voting is popular across m...
May 07, 2025•11 min
When you picture Bali, you might think of sandy beaches, laid-back surfers, ancient temples and lush green rice paddies. As a tourist hotspot, single-use plastic is common and it has a problem with disposing of plastic waste. A study from 2021 ranked Indonesia as the fifth biggest contributor of marine waste in the world. Now, Bali’s governor has set an ambitious goal: to make the island waste-free by 2027. But how realistic is that? And what would it actually take to make it happen? Hanna Samos...
May 06, 2025•10 min
Shea butter, a rich silky fat loved for its versatility, is under threat. It’s a key ingredient in everything from moisturisers to pharmaceuticals, and it has a huge global market. The shea trees where it’s extracted from grow from West to East Africa in a vast strip known as the "shea belt". BBC Africa’s Anne Okumu has been to visit the Mount Kei Central Forest Reserve in Uganda, an area which used to be lush with wild shea trees, but has now been turned into a near-barren expanse dotted with s...
May 05, 2025•9 min
Axolotls are only found in the wild in one place in the world; an area of wetland just outside Mexico City. They are one of the world’s most endangered, and arguably most adorable, amphibians. Not just meme-worthy, they are also scientifically fascinating - they don’t really age and they can regrow body parts, including their brains. Very few are left in the wild, but now scientists have released captive-bred axolotls back into the wetlands and found that they not only survived, but even put on ...
May 02, 2025•11 min
Sean "Diddy" Combs is one of the most successful music moguls in the history of rap. He has been arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. Prosecutors allege that he “abused, threatened, and coerced women” and that he created “a criminal enterprise” involving forced labour, kidnapping and bribery. Mr. Combs denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty. Ahead of the trial later this month, Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, host of the BBC podcast, Diddy on Trial, explains the charges...
May 01, 2025•13 min
Two Belgian teenagers have plead guilty to trying to smuggle thousands of giant African harvester ants out of Kenya. The authorities said they were allegedly planning to sell the ants on the growing exotic pet market in Europe and Asia, where ant keepers put the insects in special habitats and watch them build their colonies. BBC reporter Akisa Wandera talks us through this landmark case. We also hear from two ant keepers, Kaden (Ender Ants) and Mauro (Bruma Ants) on why they love their pets. An...
Apr 30, 2025•13 min
Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams recently returned to Earth after a longer-than-expected nine months on the International Space Station (ISS). And when the astronauts emerged from their space craft they were helped on to a stretcher, which is standard practice after spending so long in a weightless environment. The BBC’s Caroline Steel has been looking into how going into space impacts the body. She talks us through how muscles, bones and even vision are affected, and how astronau...
Apr 29, 2025•13 min
China’s cosmetic surgery industry has exploded over the past decade and in turn, put even more pressure on young women to conform to unrealistic beauty standards. On Chinese social media there are hundreds of filtered faces, extreme weight-loss hacks, and even apps that scan your face and let you book cosmetic surgery as easily as ordering a taxi. BBC reporter Natalia Zuo, takes us through the culture in China and what she found out when working on a documentary for the BBC about the boom. You c...
Apr 28, 2025•13 min
Many economists have warned that the world is poised for an economic downturn. The warnings come after President Trump's recent changes to America’s tariff policies. Changes in consumer spending — including their fashion choices — are one potential “recession indicator.” Erin Delmore, the BBC’s North America business correspondent, explains what a recession is and discusses how people’s purchasing decisions — regarding everything from clothes to salon visits — offer clues to what’s going on with...
Apr 25, 2025•12 min
Finding the right shade of makeup can be a struggle, especially if you have really fair or dark skin. But things are changing. Some brands, including Korean ones are looking at their shade ranges and making them more inclusive. Soo Min Kim, a BBC reporter, takes us through the K-beauty industry and what’s changing. We also hear from two beauty influencers - May Akhtar and Oceanne Comtois. Have they seen much change and could K-beauty be what the market needs? Gloria Achieng is a BBC reporter in ...
Apr 24, 2025•15 min
The title of Ed Sheeran’s new single ‘Azizam’ means ‘my love’ in the Persian language. The track and accompanying music video includes references to Persian culture and features famous Iranian pop star Googoosh. She’s been banned from singing in Iran since the 1970s. The song has received an outpouring of support from Iranian communities worldwide for its positive and heartfelt representation of Iran. But Googoosh’s featuring role has also shed light on the restrictions that women face in Iran, ...
Apr 23, 2025•13 min
Pope Francis led the Catholic church for more than a decade. He was the first Latin American pope, and the first non-European in more than a thousand years. Many saw him as a more liberal pope than his predecessors - he talked about things like climate change, migration and LGBTQ rights but there are also those who felt he should have been more progressive. After his funeral, a conclave will begin and his successor will be chosen. We explain what this process involves and we hear young voices fr...
Apr 22, 2025•10 min
Over the past few weeks social media has been flooded with TikTok videos of people claiming that expensive European designer goods are actually made in China, and that you can buy the same luxury handbags and clothes for a fraction of the usual price. Many of these videos have since been taken down, but it’s led many to wonder if any of these claims are true. Are consumers being ripped off? And does President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on Chinese imports have anything to do with these vide...
Apr 21, 2025•13 min
