By examining internet search data, Ben Arogundade discovers the surprising stories of how, from the tiniest villages under attack to major cities hosting thousands of refugees, people are navigating their difficult circumstances and managing to live in the spaces between conflicts.

What are we searching for? Part 2

Hear the voices at the heart of global stories. Where curious minds can uncover hidden truths and make sense of the world. The best of documentary storytelling from the BBC World Service. 
From conflict in the Middle East to the advance of AI, to the front line of the climate emergency, we go beyond the headlines. Each week we dive into the minds of the world’s most creative people, take personal journeys into spirituality and connect people from across the globe to share how news stories are shaping their lives.

Once a respected voice in the pulpit, a Nigerian priest was cast out when his sexuality became known, mirroring a broader pattern in which clergy have been dismissed or barred from ministry in Nigeria over allegations of homosexuality. Listening to his intimate testimony and stark reality, Emily Buchanan explores the cost of authenticity in a society where belief, culture, and law intersect - and where being true to oneself can mean losing everything.

Cast out: Faith of a gay Nigerian priest

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.

The social lives of bacteria

Running a restaurant is hard. Long hours, tight margins and constant stress. In this episode of the Food Chain, Rumella Dasgupta travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, to meet Lisa He and her mum Sophie. Lisa has just put her life and acting career on hold, to try and help her mum save the family's restaurant, the China Star. A video she made documenting her attempt has gone viral, with more than fifteen million views.
 
But is a viral video going to be enough to turn a failing business into a success? Lisa's got to fix the sprawling menu, digitise the paper ordering system and cut costs.
 
Lisa and Rumella meet restaurant turnaround expert David Hopkins from the Fifteen Group in Canada, who's on hand to give advice and to explain why restaurants are such difficult businesses to run.
 
Meanwhile the Mand family in Sydney Australia know only too well what Lisa and Sophie are going through. Last year, son Bhav documented his fight to save his dad's failing restaurant. So how's it doing now?
 
And, in such a difficult industry, when is the right time to walk away? Rumella hears from Carleigh Bond, who made the tough decision to close her vegan fast-food restaurant Forked Up in October 2025.The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate. To hear more, search The Food Chain wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

The Food Chain: Can I save the family restaurant?

Switzerland recently voted on a radical and unprecedented initiative: capping the country’s population to limit migration. It is the latest in a series of referendums around immigration policy in Switzerland, which have spanned decades. In the weeks preceding the vote, Josephine Casserly was in Switzerland to speaking to the people championing this policy to understand why concerns about immigration have grown so strong in this small, wealthy country, famed for its neutrality.

Switzerland's population cap referendum

In the Studio enters the creative world of award-winning Irish-language poet Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh as she composes a new poem. We follow its journey from first draft to first public reading. Ailbhe writes exclusively in Irish. She is deeply rooted in the language’s literary tradition yet unmistakably modern in outlook and has become one of the most distinctive literary voices of her generation. Working from the early-morning quiet of her kitchen table in Cork, the documentary centres on a new triptych inspired by her nine-year-old daughter’s fascination with Greek mythology. Ailbhe takes Dualtagh Herr behind the scenes of her new work, reflecting on childhood imagination, motherhood, and the creative process.

The poetry of Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh

Episode one of the podcast series examining the origins and tracing the history of the Middle East conflict. Presenter Jonny Dymond is joined by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, professor in ancient history at Cardiff University, and historian and author Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography. They discuss the value of the Bible as a guide to history, the concept of a “promised land”, the archaeological record of the various peoples who lived in the region in ancient times, the coming of the Romans, and the Jewish revolts against them in the first and second centuries AD. To listen to the whole series, search ‘BBC How did we get here’ wherever you got this podcast.

How did we get here? 1. Israel and the Palestinians

Every World Cup has its stand‑out personalities and talking points. This year, fans have been as delighted by Lionel Messi’s performance in the tournament, his sixth World Cup, and by the stand‑out style of DR Congo superfan Lumumba Vea, as they have been sometimes baffled by hydration breaks. But only a handful of moments are remembered throughout the decades. In 1986 in Mexico City, Diego Maradona scored two goals for Argentina in a match against England that will never be forgotten. World Service News editor Lourdes Heredia, it turns out, was there and witnessed what Maradona would go on to call his 'Hand of God' goal. A few weeks ago in Afghanistan, in the western city of Herat, people took to the streets in a rare protest after local Taliban government officials reportedly began arresting women perceived to be “improperly wearing the hijab." Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women’s rights have been restricted more and more. Women are no longer allowed to go to secondary school or university, beauty parlours have been banned, travel restrictions have been put in place dictating how far women can travel from home, and women have been ordered not to speak when out in public. Mahjooba Nowrouzi and Mamoon Durrani of BBC Afghan have been reporting on these protests and looking into Taliban leadership.The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Witnessing the 'Hand of God'

As Norway’s crown princess, Mette-Marit, convalesces from lung transplant surgery, we bring together patients and doctors to share their experiences of this major life-saving procedure. Since the 1980s, lung transplantations have become increasingly routine, but as every operation relies on suitable donor organs becoming available, the timing is always uncertain.“Everything was so quick, everything was so scary,” says Aimee Morrison, who received her new lungs last year, only months after being told she had a chronic degenerative condition, “You don’t really get an opportunity to think about what’s happening … 10-12 hr surgery, unknown results, what’s going to happen afterwards…” As we hear, Aimee’s story was particularly dramatic as only a week before her operation she had given birth to her daughter. Lung transplant patients require life-long aftercare from physicians like Dr Vicky Gerovasili, as their condition will always eventually deteriorate. “That can be very emotionally stressful,” she says,”but it's also very rewarding because we are becoming part of their life and their family. I sign off patients to go scuba diving, travel the world and that's fantastic to see.”

What is it like to have a lung transplant?

Sitting on his grandad’s knee, a young Bhavik Haria was introduced to devotional Hindu music. Since childhood, he’s been hooked on the moving instruments and tales of gods and deities. Fast forward to his late 20s – and it was during the Covid pandemic that Bhavik realised how the landscape was changing in his community. Young people were no longer engaging with these bhajans. The instruments and sound were just not resonating. A trend began in India of bhajan jams – incorporating Western instruments to devotional music that appealed to all ages. We follow Bhavik from London to Ahmedabad, on his mission to keep bhajans alive by appealing to all ages through fusion music. And we find out why bhajan jams are helping the Hindu diaspora feel connected to their cultural and religious roots.

Musician on a mission to keep bhajans alive

As the knockout stage of the men’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA draws closer, so too does the dreaded penalty shootout. Why do penalties bring so much drama and anxiety to both players and fans when they are used to decide tied games in knockout football? Former South African captain Amanda Dlamini looks back at the history of the shootout with penalty expert and author Ben Lyttleton. South African internationals Nomathemba Ntsibande and Gabriela Moodaly‑Salgado take us through their penalty routines, while West Ham United Women’s sport psychologist Dr Adrienn Szabadics explains the psychology behind the penalty shootout. 
We hear from 1999 Women’s World Cup winner Brandi Chastain about her winning penalty at that tournament. 
The coach of Amanda’s former club JVW, in Johannesburg, Alexia Cassar, tells us about the role coaches play in preparing for shootouts. 
Finally, commentator Andrés Cantor reminisces about the 2022 World Cup final, while South Africa goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams, who is playing in this year’s World Cup, gives us an insight into how he once saved four out of five penalties in a single shootout.

Agony and ecstasy: A history of penalty shootouts

It is 10 years since the UK voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum. In this two-part series, Alex Forsyth, a BBC correspondent who’s covered Brexit from both Brussels and Westminster, looks at what impact the decision to leave the EU has had on various aspects of public and political life, both within Britain and beyond.In this second episode, Alex and guests discuss how leaving the EU impacted UK regulation, science and academia, and fishing and farming, and consider how Brexit has impacted the EU and British internal politics ten years on. Did Brexit allow the UK to free itself from the ‘burdensome bureaucracy’ of the EU and innovate independently, or leave it out of the loop? Did UK fishers and farmers get a better deal post Brexit? Were there fears the UK’s departure would trigger a domino effect amongst other European nations? And has Brexit ultimately made UK politics more European?

Brexit Ten Years On (part 2)

It is 10 years since the UK voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum. In this two-part series, Alex Forsyth, a BBC correspondent who’s covered Brexit from both Brussels and Westminster, looks at what impact the decision to leave the EU has had on various aspects of public and political life, both within Britain and beyond.In the first episode, Alex and guests discuss Brexit's effect on the UK economy, trade, and immigration, and how the referendum result impacted Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Did Brexit encourage the trade boom that the Leave campaign promised? Was the UK able to ‘take back control’ of its borders? And has Brexit poured fuel on the fire of the independence movements in the devolved nations?

Brexit Ten Years On (part 1)

Sean Cooney is a powerful voice in British folk music and theatre. Winner of 3 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with his band the Young'uns, the creator, musical director, lyricist, composer, and book writer has made 9 albums, recorded a number of radio programmes and is behind the acclaimed international theatre show, The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff. His work brings untold working-class stories to life by blending folk song, historical testimony, archival recordings, and spoken word.Tom Raine follows his creative process as he works on a brand new album, this time not inspired by amazing people, but amazing dogs. Having just retired his wife’s guide dog Nessie after 8 and a half years of service, Sean has been inspired to craft a new set of songs about history’s heroic hounds - the dogs that have been more than just companions, but life savers, including the legendary Rollo who saved a baby during the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864. It all culminates in a dog friendly concert in one of the many locations where the stories took place.

Sean Cooney, singer and dog lover

This unique BBC radio programme is aimed at just a few dozen listeners: The team of scientists and support staff isolated at British research stations in the Antarctic midwinter.Hosted by Cerys Matthews, the show features messages from family and friends at home as well as music requests from Antarctica. For decades it has been part of the traditional midwinter celebrations and, since 2020, it’s been enjoyed by listeners around the world. Midwinter celebrations at the British research stations include a feast, exchange of presents, watching the 1982 horror film The Thing (where an alien monster terrorises an Antarctic base) and listening - on short wave - to the BBC’s Midwinter Broadcast.A Boffin Media Production for BBC World Service

The Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast

Disabled people are the most unfairly treated minority in Germany, according to one former member of parliament. This is especially true in the world of work. The unemployment rate among disabled people is twice that of people with no disability. When they do find work, it’s often in an institution where they are paid less than the minimum wage and where they do not have the usual rights and protections enjoyed by most employed people. Yet they are often producing goods for big companies with well-known brand names. Amy Zayed, one of very few disabled journalists working in Germany, asks what can be done to make Germany more inclusive.

How Germany fails disabled people

At the beginning of June a clean-up crew on Mount Everest were clearing abandoned tents and rubbish, when they saw a man in the distance, completely alone, sliding down the mountain towards base camp. The man was Hilary Dawa Sherpa. He had been missing for 6 days and his family, convinced that he had died, had already started doing last rites for him. Nearly every person who climbs Mount Everest depends on a member of the Sherpa community to guide them up the mountain, carry belongings and set up camps. So why was HIlary Dawa Sherpa left behind? Kamal Pariyar of BBC Nepali spoke to Hilary Dawa Sherpa about his miraculous survival. BBC World Service Global Environment correspondent Navin Singh Khadka is also from Nepal and has reported on many issues to do with tourism on Mount Everest. In May, in a town north-western Peru, a group of Catholic priests knelt and publicly asked forgiveness from descendants of the indigenous Tallàn community. The scene, captured on video, shows a group of priests in robes addressing the representatives of the community before stepping down to be among them and kneeling. Isabel Caro from BBC Mundo tells the story of the struggle behind this gesture. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

Everest tourism's toll on Sherpas

For many undocumented migrants in South Africa, the past few weeks have brought uncertainty and fear about what lies ahead.South Africa is the continent’s most developed economy, attracting citizens from poorer countries seeking work. But it also has a high rate of unemployment – almost one in three are without jobs. Although (officially) foreigners make up some 6% of the population, many more migrants are believed to be in the country without papers.Protestors have told them they have until the end of June to leave, and some nations have already been repatriating their citizens.In our conversations, we bring together migrants to share their experiences of rising tensions. We also hear from people who have decided to return and South Africans who want an end to illegal migration.“For us to fix this country of ours, we have to secure our borders,” Olivier tells host James Reynolds. “People here illegally either they are criminals, or they are suffering in the process or they’re just getting a whole bunch of stuff for free and not contributing.”

South Africa's migrant deadline

Since the outbreak of war involving Iran, Israel and the U.S. in late February 2026, Iranians have been living through months of fear, instability and profound uncertainty. A fragile truce came into effect on April 8, but by May 2026 ceasefire efforts were still under strain, with negotiations continuing and tensions in and around the region far from settled.In this edition of Heart and Soul, Emily Wither speaks to Iranians inside the country about how war, repression and disillusionment have reshaped their relationship with religion. For some, years of state control in the name of Islam — now intensified by the trauma of recent conflict — have deepened the divide between official religion and personal faith.Some still pray to God, but in intimate, private ways far removed from state doctrine. Others have drifted away from formal religious belief altogether, finding comfort instead in Persian poetry, music, mysticism and ancient cultural texts such as the Shahnameh. Through anonymous voices from inside Iran, the programme explores a quiet but profound spiritual shift: away from imposed religion, and toward more personal and self-fashioned ways of making meaning.

War, God and the Islamic Republic

It is an unlikely migration trend: Westerners swapping their lives in Texas or London for Moscow or Nizhny Novgorod. In 2024, President Vladimir Putin introduced the Russian Shared Values visa, sometimes called the 'anti-woke' visa, offering up to three years of residency to citizens of 47 so-called ‘unfriendly’ countries who say they align with Russia’s traditional spiritual and moral values. Applicants do not need to speak Russian or pass a history test to qualify. Instead, they must reject the social and cultural direction of their home country. We hear the stories of people making this move. What motivates them, and how do their expectations compare with the reality of life in Russia?Presenter/producer: Dan Hardoon
Editor: Mike Wendling
Sound engineer: Richard Courtice
A Story² Production for BBC World Service(Photo: A composite image showing a woman packing a suitcase, alongside Russian passports and a stylised Russian flag, illustrating Westerners preparing to relocate to Russia. Credit: Getty Images)

The Russian Dream

The documentary tells the story of scientific hubris through the extraordinary life of one chimp, Sheba. Now 44, she lives in sanctuary at Chimp Haven in Louisiana. Born in a cage, raised in a zoo, she spent twenty-four years in a research laboratory. Her life mirrors our evolving relationship with the animal world. Sheba is the daughter of Nim, a famous chimp who learned sign language. Like her father, she demonstrated remarkable intelligence, learning to add, subtract, and paint. Her story traces back to a bold 1970s idea: if chimps are so genetically and behaviourally close to humans, could they help us learn about ourselves? Many scientists, like Bob Ingersoll, pursued that question through a series of behavioural and social experiments. Others pursued it through invasive biomedical research.But the deeper they went, the shakier the premise became. As Bob reflects, much of the research proved not only scientifically flawed, but ethically troubling, often meaningless and cruel. That realisation sparked a shift. By 2016, biomedical research on chimpanzees in the U.S. had come to an end. In the UK and European Union, biomedical research ended a few years earlier.Through Sheba’s journey, we hear about that turning point.Featuring interviews with those who knew and worked with her, the documentary also includes zoologist Charlotte Uhlenbroek, who, drawing on years of studying chimps in the wild, guides us inside the world of primate research. The documentary confronts a question that is still unresolved: we have the need to experiment, but do we have the right?*This episode was edited on 24 June 2026. We originally stated that Chimp Haven was established in 1973; in fact, it was established in 1995*

Sheba: Just Like Us?

People who’ve had to abandon their homes because of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah explain what life is like in Lebanon. A social worker says she believes many people now keep a bag of essential belongings packed by the front door in case they need to leave at a moment’s notice. A mother describes rearranging her daughter’s fourth birthday party because of the threat of missile strikes. Israel’s military forces are currently in southern Lebanon. They say they are there for self-defence and to target Hezbollah’s military capabilities. About a million people are estimated to have left their homes as a result. It’s not clear when, or if, they will be able to return, or whether their homes will still be standing.Presenter: Carine Torbey
Producer: Nick Holland
Sound: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
Editor Penny Murphy(Image: Displaced Lebanese people. Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon's Abandoned Lives

Describing the joy (and heartache) of football is the job of commentators at this summer's FIFA World Cup in America, Canada and Mexico. In the Studio hears how the loyalties of California's poet laureate Lee Herrick are divided between the USA and his birth country, South Korea, while UK poet Ian McMillan finds inspiration for a new poem in the lines on the pitch.

World Cup poetry: Lines for the beautiful game

Each Monday, Ed Butler takes you around the globe to the heart of the stories and meeting those living through them. West Africa is currently the global epicentre for illegal fishing, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. An estimated 40% of the world's illegal industrial fishing occurs in its waters, costing the region up to 10 billion dollars a year in lost revenue, and severely depleting stocks essential for the food security and livelihoods of over 7 million people. Ed Butler has been hearing about the practice in Sierra Leone, trying to ascertain who is behind it, and finding out how much the government is doing to help.
To hear more, search Business Daily wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Introducing: Business Daily: Who’s behind Sierra Leone’s illegal fishing problem?

Ebola is a frightening and deadly disease, killing on average one half of people infected and spreading rapidly without containment measures. So how do BBC journalists report from the centre of an epidemic? BBC West Africa journalist Emery Makumeno has been reporting from Kinshasa in DR Congo on the Ebola outbreak; Musa Sangarie, Country Director for Sierra Leone for BBC Media Action, led public information campaigns in Sierra Leone in the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic; Camilla Mota, journalist with BBC News Brasil, has reported on the fall-out from the country’s Zika virus outbreak in 2015 and 2016; and Mattias Zibell Garcia, producer at BBC Mundo, reported on the recent Hantavirus outbreak in Ushuaia, Argentina. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

Ground zero: reporting an epidemic

The most watched sporting event in the world has not been without its controversies, including high ticket prices and transport costs, as well as rows over visas and concerns about security. But, we wanted to hear from supporters. We bring together three world cup super-fans, including Craig who has walked across the United States to see his team compete. “Football is the universal language of the world,” he tells us. “That is just fact no matter where you travel, no matter where you go.” We also hear from guests in Jordan, Curacao in the Caribbean, Cape Verde and Uzbekistan. They share their excitement of watching their countries take part for the first time.

World Cup superfans

Saint, Sinner, Freedom Fighter, Leader, Follower, Symbol of the Divine Feminine - Mary Magdalene is one of the most controversial and significant figures in Christian history. But what does it mean to walk in her footsteps today? In this episode Natasha Serlin embarks on a personal journey to connect with her legacy and explore how it resonates with her today.Natasha traces a path through Southern France, beginning at the spot where Mary is believed to have first arrived: Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer, and continuing to the cave of Saint Baume where she is said to have spent the final 30 years of her life.

Following the path of the rose

First, work feels more uncertain than it has in years. Layoffs, AI disruption, hiring freezes and a tough job market are leaving many people out of work or stuck. So instead of hopping jobs for better pay or new opportunities, more people are doing the opposite. They are staying put, even if they are unhappy. It is called “job hugging”. But is it a smart move in an unstable world, or could it hold you back in the long run? The BBC’s business reporter Emer Moreau takes us through the trend. Then later, we hear about Hannah's experience with rejection therapy - where you deliberately put yourself in situations where you might get rejected, to see if it can help with social anxiety. From asking strangers for favours to dancing on trains, people are documenting their experiences online. Supporters say it helps people build resilience, reduce anxiety and stop taking rejection personally. Claudia Hammond, a psychologist and BBC presenter, helps us unpack if it actually works.
 
To hear more, search What in the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Introducing: What in the World

The Interface is your weekly guide to the tech rewiring your week and your world. Hosted by journalists Thomas Germain, Nicky Woolf, and Karen Hao, each episode unpacks, week by week, how technology is shaping all our futures. No guests. No jargon. Just three sharp voices debating the stories that matter - whether they shook a government, broke the internet, or quietly tipped the balance of power.In this episode, Tom and Nicky head deep into the TikTok Farlands - the semi mythical place you supposedly reach if you scroll too far, too late, until your feed stops looking normal and starts serving up surreal, eerie and deeply unhinged videos. The name comes from Minecraft’s Far Lands, the glitched edge of the map where the world used to break apart, and TikTok users have borrowed it to describe the “end of the algorithm”: a strange zone of distorted edits, ominous warnings, weirdcore imagery and recurring figures like the now iconic fat bee playing the violin. TikTok’s Farlands have become a shorthand for what happens when doomscrolling tips into digital folklore.But the Farlands aren’t just a joke. Tom and Nicky ask what this trend says about internet culture now. In a platform ecosystem dominated by polish, branding and optimisation, the Farlands feel like the return of an older internet: raw, surreal, handmade and proudly bizarre. At the same time, the meme also works as a critique of doomscrolling itself — turning algorithmic exhaustion into shared mythology, and making people newly conscious of how deep into the feed they’ve wandered.So in this episode, we ask: is the TikTok Farlands a genuine return of weird, creative internet culture — or just another algorithmic genre?Also in this episode: Karen looks at how AI detection tools may be changing the way we all write. As detectors spread through schools, publishing and professional life, students, teachers and writers are increasingly shaping their prose around what software might flag - dropping stylistic quirks, sanding off rhythm, and checking their own work in advance for fear of a false accusation. Researchers say the central problem is not just whether detectors catch AI, but how they balance false positives and false negatives in high stakes settings. And with a growing parallel market of “humanizer” tools promising to make AI text sound more human - and pass detection - the result may be an arms race that leaves everyone writing in a flatter, safer and more paranoid style.To hear more, search The Interface wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Introducing: The Interface - What goes on in TikTok's Farlands?

For three years a brutal civil war has been raging in Sudan. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. Millions have been forced from their homes. But the war has other hidden costs – particularly for the young. It’s estimated that 60% of the population is under 25, and millions have lost out on their education. Now after the capital Khartoum was recaptured by the army, for the first time in years, school and universities have re-opened in the city. But as Mohanad Hashim reports, the lives of Khartoum’s youth are still shaped by war. Reporter: Mohanad Hashim
Producer: Alex Last
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Production coordinator: Katie Morrison
Series Editor: Penny Murphy (Image: Kids on a swing at a communal kindergarten in Khartoum. It was set up by local mothers who stayed during the battle for the city. Credit Alex Last/BBC)

Khartoum: Lessons in war

Renowned Danish chef Trine Hahnemann tells Sahar Zand how she combines the concept of hygge with her cooking. Hygge is a word that is embedded in the Danish language. It’s about relaxing and taking time away from the daily rush to enjoy life's quieter pleasures. And yet, Trine finds the time to write cookery books (over 20 so far), and run cookery lessons from the kitchen in her family home in Copenhagen. She tells Sahar how she does it, as she prepares a comforting meal of freshly harvested vegetables, and explains how she started her culinary career by cooking for rock stars on tour, including Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Rolling Stones and Elton John.

Trine Hahnemann: mixing cookery and hygge

Potatoes are having a moment. Once dismissed as dull, stodgy or even unhealthy, they are now back, appearing on restaurant menus, in food magazines and across social media feeds. But the story of the potato goes back much further. Ruth Alexander traces the journey of one of the world’s most familiar foods. From its origins millions of years ago to its place in today’s global food system. AJ Shehata, senior sous chef at Fallow restaurant in London explains why the potato forces chefs to get creative. At the Natural History Museum, botanist Sandy Knapp explains how the potato may have been born from a chance encounter between two wild plants in the Andes, an event that made it possible for potatoes to grow underground and spread across new environments. Potatoes USA president Blair Richardson explains how demand continues to grow worldwide, and how the industry is working to reshape the potato’s image. Nutrition scientist Candida Rebello shares research suggesting potatoes may be far more beneficial, and more misunderstood, than many people think. And, at the International Potato Centre in Peru, scientist Julian Soto works with farmers to conserve thousands of native potato varieties. In the Andes, potatoes are not just a crop, they are part of culture, identity and family life.

Introducing: The Food Chain - Rethinking the potato

For more than 80 years, no-one knew what happened to a Soviet prisoner of war who escaped from the Nazis on the Channel Island of Jersey and spent the rest of World War Two hiding from the German occupiers with a local family, the Le Bretons. Known only by his first name, Bokejon, or simply Tom, he was one of about 2,000 Soviet prisoners and forced labourers brought to the island of Jersey to build Nazi fortifications. After liberation, Tom and the other surviving PoWs were sent back to the USSR and the Le Breton family, particularly their daughter Dulcie, always wondered what became of him. That was until BBC teams tracked down his descendants. BBC Russian's Olga Ivshina was one of the journalists who tracked him down. Political violence has been a problem in Kenya for decades now. It is often carried out by gangs of young people, known as 'goons', who are sponsored by politicians to threaten, disrupt and attack rivals. After the general election in 2007 over 1500 people were killed and with another election planned for 2027, there are fears violence could erupt again. Wycliffe Muia of BBC Africa has been looking into these politically sponsored violent gangs and what can be done to stop them.  Traditional fortune telling culture,  known as Saju, is popular in South Korea and has ancient roots. It uses data such as a person's birth year, month, day and hour to determine their future and in South Korea people still sometimes consult it before important life decisions like marriage, or seeking a new job. Now, the practice of Saju is beginning to be combined with AI technology and it's finding a wide audience both online and as a walk-in, more immersive experience. BBC Korean's Yujin Choi went to try it out. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean. 
 (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

Finding soldier Tom

Three women come together to discuss a sensitive subject that is not often talked about: Injuries experienced during childbirth. While many of these injuries heal quickly, millions of women around the world sustain trauma that can impact their long-term physical, psychological, and social well-being. “You really have to struggle not to feel ashamed that your body has failed you,” Gill tells us. “You’re led to believe as a woman that this is what we’re here to do, to get pregnant and to give birth to babies easily and without any problems afterwards.” We also hear about the stigma surrounding birth injuries in some parts of the world, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, and bring together health professionals helping women rebuild their lives and educate their communities. Warning: our guests discuss the physical impact of childbirth, which will include some detailed biological descriptions.

Injured during childbirth

David Eubank calls himself a missionary soldier. A former US Special Forces soldier, he is now an ordained Christian Reverend and founder of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian group working in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. He prays before missions, runs towards gunfire, rescues the wounded, and says love is what keeps him there. But David's story is also morally complicated. He has carried dying children from battlefields. He has watched friends and colleagues die. And he has killed. Rajeev Gupta speaks to David about what it means to follow Jesus in a firefight. David reflects on his upbringing as a missionary child in Thailand, his years in the US military, and the call that took him into Burma’s long-running civil war.
He describes the moments when his faith and a desire for revenge came into conflict. But how does David know he is on the right side? How does he justify taking his wife and children into war zones? And how does he keep believing in God after seeing so much suffering?
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

The missionary soldier

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, we head 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.

The Black Power Station: I rap what I like

Beyonce started out as a little girl competing in local talent shows, but over the course of a 30-year career in music she transformed herself into a mogul worth $1 billion. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack trace Beyonce’s early years in girl group Girls Tyme, the turbulent rise of Destiny’s Child, and her breakout as a solo artist, before examining the strategic decisions that transformed her from performer to powerful businesswoman and entrepreneur. Beyonce’s rise to billionaire features conflicts with family and friends, brand battles, and questions around feminism, capitalism, and control. Is she a force for empowerment, a ruthless operator, or simply one of the most effective wealth-builders in modern entertainment?

Good Bad Billionaire: Beyonce

In Italy, Georgia Meloni’s coalition government gained power on an anti-immigration political platform. But faced with low birth-rates and a dwindling workforce, the prime minister has had to be pragmatic. Over the next two years, hundreds of thousands of temporary visas are being offered to migrant workers, mainly from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, to help fill the gaps. In the far south of Italy, one of the country’s poorest regions, Calabria, is famous for its citrus fruit, and thousands of farms need workers to pick their produce. Some of the migrant workers live in terrible conditions. Lizzy McNeill reports on what the reality is on the ground.

Italy’s migrant fruit pickers

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.

Africa's football dreamers

Last week, the American government charged the former Cuban leader, Raúl Castro, with conspiracy to kill US nationals. They accuse him of playing a part in the downing of two planes in 1996, which were flying between Cuba and Florida. This comes after months of the US putting increasing pressure on the country. In January, President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country who supplied oil to the island, resulting in huge energy shortages ever since, with some parts of the country being without power for 22 hours a day. But Cubans have been living under a strict trade embargo for decades, so they are not unfamiliar with such hardships. José Carlos Cueto López of BBC Mundo is from Cuba, and knows exactly what it's like for people living in such challenging circumstances.  The UN says that at least 32 political prisoners have been executed in Iran since February this year. The UN's Human Rights Office has warned that the death penalty is increasingly being used to silence political dissent. Last year, Iran carried out 2,159 executions according to Amnesty International, the highest number since 1981. The Iranian government says that the vast majority are for drugs related offenses or murder. Ghoncheh Habibiazad of BBC Persian has been trying to find out more about the political prisoners who've been executed this year.The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Embargo and the Cuban spirit

With the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the head of the World Health Organization warned this week that the country faces a “catastrophic collision” of disease and conflict. Ebola is a disease caused by a virus, and outbreaks between people start when somebody catches it from an infected animal. Ebola is rare but the symptoms are severe, often leading to death. To compound matters, not only is this area of central Africa badly affected by conflict, there is also not currently a vaccine for this strain of the virus. Two aid workers in the region share their experiences of containing the disease. We also hear from journalists tackling misinformation, and we meet Harriet in Liberia who contracted Ebola during a previous outbreak.

Responding to Ebola

At a hillside gathering in Watt Town, Jamaica, drums, prayer, and song converge in a living tradition that reaches beyond the island and across the generations to Africa. Kirt Henry is part of the community of revivalists who worked to secure Unesco recognition for a practice long misunderstood and marginalised. In this intimate journey into Jamaican spiritualism, scholar and practitioner, Kirt, reflects on faith shaped by memory, resilience, and ancestral connection. Through stories of healing, trance, ritual clothing and the sacred language of the body, Kirt explores a spiritual world where the boundaries between the earthly and the unseen are fluid. Revivalism emerges, not as a relic of the past, but as a way of life, one that carries the weight of colonial trauma while offering belonging, continuity and hope.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Jamaica’s sacred heartbeat

It started in the West with influencers like Andrew Tate. Now the Manosphere has gone global, with copycats from Africa to Latin America attracting huge audiences and the cash to match. In this investigation, reporter Jacqui Wakefield explores the booming industry in Kenya, where social media algorithms are fuelling a growing gender divide. She meets one of the biggest Kenyan influencers, Andrew Kibe, and his devoted fans and asks, are women paying the price?

Manosphere messiahs: Kenya

It started in the West with influencers like Andrew Tate. Now the manosphere has gone global, with copycats from Africa to Latin America attracting huge audiences and the cash to match. In Episode One of a two-part investigation, reporter Jacqui Wakefield explores the booming industry in Mexico, where social media algorithms are fuelling a growing gender divide. She follows one of the biggest influencers in Latin America, the Mexican El Temach, meeting his fans – and one of the people who knows him best. And she speaks to some of the women paying the price for the misogyny of some manosphere content..

Manosphere messiahs: Mexico

Every year during Brazil’s carnival celebrations, samba schools are tasked with creating elaborate parades based around a unique theme, from which they build huge floats, compose a song, and choreograph an entire visual spectacle. Tom Raine follows one of São Paulo’s oldest samba schools, Águia de Ouro, in the final stages of creating their carnival parade for their most important event of the year - parading in São Paulo’s iconic Sambadrome in the attendance of thousands of people, and millions more watching on TV across Brazil. This year they have chosen a theme titled Amsterdam: City of Liberty, celebrating the cities’ values of freedom, tolerance and modernity. It is not just a celebration but a fierce competition, with rigorous judging and a football-style league system of promotion and relegation. 
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

São Paulo's carnival competition

In 2017, five men digging in an open pit found the third largest diamond ever unearthed in West Africa. It was dubbed the Peace Diamond, in memory of the brutal civil war that had ravaged large parts of the region in the 1990s – a war driven in part by factions competing for control of the diamond trade. When the Peace Diamond sold for $6.5 million at auction in New York, the government pledged some of the profits would provide solar power, a clinic, a school and a road connection for the Sierra Leonean village where it was found. Each of the diggers and the pit’s owner also got a small share of the spoils. Nine years on, Ed Butler returns to Sierra Leone to see how much the government kept their promise and to what extent the discovery really did transform the lives for those involved for better, or for worse.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Assignment.

Sierra Leone: The diamond that saved a thousand lives

New Year’s Eve in Sydney is more than the 12 o’clock show. It is an event that takes over an entire city. Fireworks are launched from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, there are barges positioned across the Harbour, there are rooftops around the city with pyrotechnics, as well as lighting projections on the boats on the harbour, Luna Park and the bridge pylons. It is a year in the planning and one family has been designing the fireworks for this spectacular night for the last 25 years. Foti Fireworks is an award winning pyrotechnics family business originating in 1793 in Italy. They still have family members operating today, not only in Italy, but in Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia, bringing joy and hope to people all over the world. Regina Botros spoke with Fortunato Foti and other artists who together paint the canvas of the Sydney skyline for millions the world over

Sydney fireworks, the return

The story of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s rise and fall has been gripping France. There are allegations of a secret pact with a dictator and unexplained meetings between figures close to government and a known terrorist. And so much cash that party workers do not 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 is currently appealing his sentence - and he has some powerful supporters. 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. 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.

The Sarkozy affair

'Virtual farewells' have become a trend on Russian social media. AI generated videos, depicting soldiers who have been killed in the war and paid for by their families, are being produced by AI artists. They show fantastical scenes of soldiers ascending to heaven; portrayals of their family members as guardian angels hovering over the front line; or sometimes little boys imagining a heroic future fighting in Putin's war in Ukraine. Liza Fokht of BBC Russian has been following the trend on social media/.  A documentary about deforestation in the West Papua region has attracted criticism from Indonesia's army. Some reports suggest the film Pesta Babi, or Pig Feast, has been banned, but the government insists that any cancelled screenings were the result of 'administrative procedures' and not an official ban. All the same, the controversy around the film seems to have made Indonesians more eager to find ways to watch it. BBC Indonesian's Lesthia Kertopati had a ticket for a screening this weekend. Since the military coup in 2021, both international and domestic tourism in Myanmar has dwindled as insecurity and unpredictability in the country has put people off travelling. Incidents of robbery and kidnapping of tourists have been reported in the ancient city of Bagan, one of the most famous tourist hotspots. Soe Win Tan of BBC Burmese explains why this is happening.The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.

AI farewells for Russia’s dead soldiers

Earlier this month, a volcanic eruption, which sent a plume of ash some 10km into the sky, killed three people hiking up Mount Dukono in Indonesia. The tourists had climbed the mountain despite official warnings. It is the latest incident in recent years where tourists have been killed visiting an active volcano. We explore the attraction of volcanoes, as well as hearing about the extreme danger they can pose to visitors and those living nearby. “I think it’s good in life to maybe do something that scares you and be humbled,” says photographer Demian in Hawaii. Plus, volcano guides share their experiences, and we speak to someone who has chosen to make his home on the slopes of an active volcano, and find out what it is i like to be a lava chaser.

Life in a volcano danger zone

Forty years ago, the world’s worst nuclear accident took place at Chernobyl, in what was then the Soviet Union. When news of the disaster began to emerge beyond the Iron Curtain, one of those paying close attention was Adi Roche in Ireland. At the time, Adi was working as a peace educator, teaching about nuclear weapons and Cold War tensions. She went on to found Chernobyl Children International, which became one of the most significant and sustained humanitarian responses to the disaster. Over the years, she brought aid and medical support to Ukraine, Belarus and other affected regions, established a paediatric cardiac programme for children born with heart defects, and helped arrange for children from Belarus to be adopted in Ireland.
Colm Flynn meets Adi Roche to hear about the work that has shaped her life, and the Christian faith that she says has sustained her through it.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Fighting for the children of Chernobyl

A personal account of day-to-day life in Iran told through the conversations of two Iranian sisters – one in the UK, the other in the Iranian city of Shiraz. Since the outbreak of war at the end of February, a near total internet blackout and a shutdown of international phone lines by the Iranian authorities has meant limited information has got out of the country. But the sisters have made recordings of their conversations which have been shared with the BBC. They discuss when the bombs land, the destruction of places they love and the realities of an economy that’s being brought to its knees. They struggle to sleep at night. Salaries don’t come through. It’s a roller coaster of emotions. But there are also moments of calm and comfort, a spot of dark humour and the scent of hyacinths.

When Shiraz calls

Kenya is the latest African country to increase fuel prices citing the US-Israel war with Iran. While announcing one of the steepest pump price increments in recent times, the government reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel products from 16% to 8%, as the country's political opposition threatens street demonstrations if measures to lower prices further are not taken. In this episode, we explore if electric vehicles are a viable transport alternative in African countries.Also, the global fashion industry produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year with much of it ending up in landfills or being burned, according to the United Nations. We hear a Nigerian fashion designer's journey to curb rising fashion waste through upcycling.

Introducing: Focus on Africa - Electric vehicles: fixing Africa's fuel crisis?

Nadia Marcinko, originally Marcinková, was born in Slovakia and met Jeffrey Epstein as an 18-year-old model. Later, she became a successful aircraft pilot. For seven years, she was Epstein’s main girlfriend. And she’s one of four women that US prosecutors named in a 2008 plea deal as his “potential co-conspirators”. But she’s never been accused of any crime. And she’s described herself a victim who was abused physically and psychologically by Epstein. 
Now, a committee of the US Congress is beginning to address the sensitive question of whether it’s possible for someone to be both a victim and an accomplice, as it takes testimony from two of the “potential co-conspirators”, Epstein’s former assistants Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff. Nadia Marcinko, who disappeared from public view several years ago, may also be called to testify.BBC reporter Tim Whewell and independent Slovak journalist Jakub Pohle have talked to people who’ve known her, and dug deep into the Epstein files, to put together the most detailed account yet of her life.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Victim or Accomplice? The Story of Jeffrey Epstein’s Pilot Girlfriend

Rachel Naylor visits the Booker Prize-winning author Thomas Keneally in his home in Sydney, Australia, to see how he writes his latest book. He gives Rachel a tour of his neighbourhood Manly, a seaside suburb in the Northern Beaches, famous for its ferry, surfing and his beloved Sea Eagles, the rugby league team. Rachel accompanies Thomas, known for writing Schindler’s List, on his daily walk around North Head, in Sydney Harbour National Park, taking in the breathtaking views, navigating the swamp and avoiding the spiders. Thomas, who has written more than 50 books, shows Rachel round his library and they discuss ageing, feeling adrift and his first rejection. As he contemplates retirement, he also talks about his recent ill health and how he wants to write the best book written by someone aged over 90.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

Thomas Keneally: What’s next for the Schindler’s List author?

Listener Ndanusa in Ghana, is gazing up at the stars, and wondering what keeps our universe in balance? Ndanusa knows a thing or two about the stars, and he knows that they use up hydrogen as they burn, and release helium. And he’s wondering, is there something out there which does the opposite? Something that uses up helium, and produces hydrogen, to keep the universe in perfect, chemical equilibrium? Presenter Alex Lathbridge goes on a journey to answer his questions and delves into the blackness of deep space, the ancient origins of our universe, and the complex physics of the stars. He pops into the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory, just outside Accra, where astrophysicist Dr Proven Adzri helps him peer into the earliest few seconds of our universe, and find out what set the stars burning. And at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr Linus Labik talks him through what’s going on at the atomic level. And in the deep blackness of the night, up above the tree canopy of Kakum National Park, he takes a peek at the stars for himself. Local guides Chris and Kwabena explain how much meaning there is behind the stars in the night sky.

Introducing: CrowdScience - What keeps the universe in balance?

Until the end of March this year, BBC News Russian was the only source of independent reporting in Belarus, where journalism has been suppressed. Around two dozen independent journalists are currently behind bars, with many more forced into exile by the government of Alexander Lukashenko. Then, on March 25th, Belarus added the BBC to a list of extremist materials, meaning that it is now an offense for people in Belarus to even like or share BBC content.BBC Russian's Alina Isachenka came into The Fifth Floor studio to explain how the BBC is trying to keep its readers in Belarus safe. Peace talks between Iran and the United States seem to have stopped, at least for now, while the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz remains firmly in place. But there's another unexpected player drawing attention in the region: Pakistan. Somehow, Pakistan has managed to stay on good terms with both Iran, its neighbor, and Iran's regional rival, Saudi Arabia, with whom it has a defense pact. BBC Persian's Mohammad Vaziri has been following Pakistan's balacing act.The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.Presented by Faranak Amidi.Produced by Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson.(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

How Belarus silenced its free press

It’s just over six weeks since the ship, MV Hondius, left Argentina for a cruise visiting remote islands in the South Atlantic. A month later, three passengers had died. The World Health Organisation identified the probable cause as hantavirus – a rodent-borne disease that the victims most likely contracted in south America. We bring together Christian in Germany and Lorne in Canada to share their experiences of the virus and their own brush with death. “My heart failed, and I apparently died for 11 minutes,” Lorne says. We also bring together three experts to discuss how the disease spreads, its prevention and treatment.

Hantavirus nearly killed me

Anna was just 25, and newly married living near Oxford when she suffered a massive stroke, caused by a tumour in her heart. It initially left her locked in – unable to let the world around her know that she was even conscious. Mike Wooldridge hears Anna’s extraordinary story: the sheer terror she felt when she realised she was unable to move a muscle or make a sound; the confusion of not knowing where she was and what had happened to her; and the spiritual struggles as Anna, who had been brought up a Christian, became convinced that she must have done something terrible for God to punish her in this way. Gradually, Anna learnt to communicate again and came to realise that God still loved her. Today Anna is playing a healing role in her church community. And she says she thanks God every morning that she’s still alive.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Speaking from the Heart

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 is 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 is 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.

An animal exodus

First, the story of Mike Flynn whose remarkable resilience and incredible fitness helped achieve his goal to play college football at the age of fifty-nine but at its heart, his is a story of redemption. Living with pain is sadly all too common. That was the fate that befell Meg Robson Austin. But she never allowed herself to think it was too late to win back her life and so she set about a journey that ended with her claiming the crown of the World's Strongest Woman. Arshay Cooper, born and raised in Chicago's notorious West Side could easily have slipped into gang life and violence, but he carved a different path through sport - Arshay's sporting journey was in a boat as a rower. It is just over a year since the world lost "Big" George Forman, and whilst revered for his fights with Muhammad Ali, his Olympic gold in 1968 and of course his grills, it is his longevity and his "it's never too late" attitude we are focusing in on because back in 1994 George Foreman shocked everyone by winning a second world title at the age of forty-five!

Introducing: Not By The Playbook - Why it is never too late

Since 2023, Sudan has been engulfed by a brutal civil war. More than 150,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese military and the powerful paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The capital Khartoum was the epicentre of the conflict. Millions fled as fighting wrecked the city. In 2025, the Sudanese military finally retook the capital from the RSF. One year on, Mohanad Hashim returns home to Khartoum to see how life is slowly returning to the battered city.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Return to Khartoum: War, loss and hope

Mika Obanda creates vibrant mosaics using egg shells in his Kenyan studio. He gets the eggshells from local hotels and paints them after cleaning and shaping them. Last summer Frenny Jowi visited him as he prepared his latest collection, Trying to Blossom, for an exhibition. But then disaster struck - so Frenny has been back to find out how Mika has coped with hardship, with support from his local community.

Mika Obanda: Mosaic art

Why don’t I have a father? Cathy is 10 years old when she starts asking questions. The secret her mum Maggie is forced to reveal changes everything. Years later, when lawyers and a geneticist turn up in their hometown in Kenya to take DNA samples, Maggie hopes they can help her finally learn the truth. Presented by Ivana Davidovic.

Searching for Soldier Dad: Ep 1. Love story

At 93, Paul Biya is the oldest head of state in the world. In November he will have been the leader of Cameroon for 44 years and is currently serving his eighth consecutive term. It was announced in April that for the first time in Biya's leadership, the position of vice-president would be created in the country. This new post has drawn attention to the lack of certainty within Cameroon over who will take over from Paul Biya once he is no longer in office. BBC Africa's Paul Njie is from Cameroon himself and has been looking into the story. A Thai drag performer has won the latest series of the television show RuPaul's Drag Race: UK versus The World. Gawdland is the first Thai winner of the all-star series and also the first non-native English speaker to take the title. Her triumph took some by surprise, but for fans of Drag Race, she's seen as a trailblazer for East Asian drag queens. Panisa Aemocha of BBC Thai explains what makes Gawdland such a stand-out performer. Like anyone forced to leave their home country against their will, Russians who've sought asylum abroad face a variety of painful realities. Besides homesickness and the challenges of adapting to a new country, they also cannot safely return home to visit loved ones. For many years, exiled Russians could reunite with Russian family and friends in a wide variety of European and other countries, including the Baltic states. But as the rift between Russia and the rest of Europe deepend in the wake of the war in Ukraine, visa restrictions changed, leaving Russians with only a small handful of countries in which they could meet people from home. Recently, an exiled Russian man in his twenties, Sasha, planned and filmed a unique reunion with Russian friends. BBC Russian's Tatiana Kovtun tells Sasha's story and discusses the online response. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts. 
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India. 
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

A 93 year old president gets a deputy

As Sir David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday, we bring together conservationists and film-makers to discuss the impact of his long career, and the influence he has had on how we think about nature. We hear how his tv programmes and books have reached audiences around the world and the inspiration they have provided. Wendy Kirorei describes how growing up in Kenya, Sir David’s programmes were shown constantly on television, and led her to become a wildlife film-maker. “My dream was to do my first documentary in the Maasai Mara purely influenced by watching a lot of his work growing up.”

Sir David Attenborough

Thirty years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, some convicted perpetrators are returning to the communities they once devastated. Felin Gakwaya travels to eastern Rwanda to meet both survivors and perpetrators living side by side again. He hears from Daniel Gasangwa, who went to visit the men who killed members of his family after they were released from prison — and told them not to be afraid, because they had been forgiven. He also meets Steven Ngabonziza, whose own path to forgiveness came not first through church, but through war, prison discipline and the slow work of reconciliation. And he hears from Viateur Ruribikiye, a perpetrator who now speaks of confession, repentance and God’s pardon. Through their stories, which include discussions of violence and loss, the programme explores forgiveness not as an abstract idea, but as something lived out in villages, churches, homes and memories that have not gone away.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Befriending the man who killed my family

The Kremlin’s pursuit of a “sovereign internet” has raised fears of a digital Iron Curtain. After months of mobile internet shutdowns, Russian authorities have moved to block major platforms like YouTube and Telegram, along with the VPNs people rely on to bypass restrictions. We explore what’s driving the push to isolate the largest country on Earth from the global internet and unpack the political, economic and military implications of the country’s tightening digital borders.Contributors: Daria Mosolova, Howard Gethin, Gleb Borshchevski, Evgeny Pudovkin
Producer: Kriszta Satori
Presenter: Krassi Ivanova Twigg
Music: Pete Cunningham

Russia's 'nyet' to the internet

Artemis II astronaut, Jeremy Hansen, reflects on the mission, adapting to life back on Earth after journeying to the far side of the Moon, and looks ahead to future Artemis missions. The Canadian astronaut, who first spoke to 13 Minutes from quarantine before launch, answers the burning questions from the team. He describes the moment a hull breach alarm sounded 20 minutes before the Trans Lunar Injection was due to fire. Then we get to the big one – what’s next for the Artemis programme? 
Season 4 theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.
13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II is a BBC Audio Science production for the BBC World Service.
Presenters: Tim Peake and Maggie Aderin-Pocock

13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II: What’s next for Nasa's Artemis mission?

In Scotland, from 1940 to 1963, the artist Joan Eardley produced a cache of monumental seascapes, landscapes, and poignant portraits. When she died aged 42 of breast cancer, people were still trying to categorise her work - part abstract expressionist, part Scottish colourist, part social realist, part kitchen sink (one of her first solo exhibitions was in a cinema). She worked with oil and pastels, but also used collage and plaster on her canvas, as well as gravel and sand and bits of plants (one gallerist scraped these bits off, confused.) She even used graffiti in her portraits of children living in tenements in Glasgow, decades before it became fashionable. A new exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland hangs Joan's work alongside some of the most cherished and valuable paintings in their collection, including works by Monet and Constable. Curator Kerry Gledhill talks to Antonia Quirke about looking for 'synergies' between the works she has chosen to exhibit, and about Joan's short, passionate, productive life and working practice.

Artist Joan Eardley

Eighteen months ago, the renovation of the railway station in Serbia’s second biggest city, Novi Sad, led to a tragic accident. A substantial concrete canopy, which ran across the front of the station building, suddenly collapsed, killing sixteen people. The disaster sparked mass protests. Marchers demanded justice for the dead and injured. As the protests spread, to the capital, Belgrade, and to towns and cities across the country, the demands evolved. Protesters accused the government of corruption and of covering up the truth about what happened. The government accused the protesters of being foreign agents, supported and organised by malign outside forces. Now, after more than a year, the mass protests have finally subsided. Jill McGivering is in Serbia to find out what’s happened to that explosion of anti-government anger.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Serbia: Under The Canopy

Mityana is a bustling regional town in central Uganda, where motorbikes are king. Here an online con operation flourishes in plain sight. Armed with smartphones, emotional images, and carefully crafted lies, a network of young men preys on dog lovers in Europe and America - people who believe they are saving abused, sick, or dying animals. This documentary dives into the shadowy world of the dog-rescue scammers of Mityana. Through undercover reporting, BBC Africa Eye exposes how the scams work, and the lengths the scammers will go to extort donations from well-meaning animal lovers in the West.

For the love of dogs

The personal correspondence, photographs and papers of the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein have been released to the public in stages, beginning in December 2025, after an almost unanimous vote in the US Senate. The released files run to three and a half million documents — emails, letters, photographs, videos, financial records, flight details — all are now open to public scrutiny. Many files remain heavily redacted, but what can be read has already had repercussions globally and revealed Epstein’s web of connections to powerful figures around the world. Abdirahim Saeed, BBC Arabic, and Luiz Fernando Toledo, BBC News Brazil, share what they found about the files related to their regions. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.

Mapping Epstein's global connections

Imagine being dressed up for a night out with friends and being thrown out of a bar because your wheelchair is considered a fire hazard. When 18-year-old Maddie Haining was ordered to leave a nightclub in the UK it prompted a wider discussion about disability and accessibility in different countries around the world. Four wheelchair users - Maddie in the UK, Brian Muchiri in Kenya, Nadia Leila Carelse South Africa and Haleigh Rosa in the US - share some of the obstacles they have encountered when trying to socialise. Their experiences range from drunks in bars grabbing their wheelchairs to people praying for them in public. Even a simple visit to the toilet can become a problem. “I’ve encountered issues, even in a restaurant that’s accessible, where the wheelchair accessible bathroom has been used as storage,” says Haleigh Rosa, from Florida, USA.

My social life as a wheelchair user

Pastor Jane Codrington grew up in a conservative faith environment before leaving the institutional church to found We Are Church - a community for those excluded by traditional structures. Set within a quiet, gated Johannesburg neighbourhood reflecting the city’s wealth and social divides, the church brings people together to connect, belong, and celebrate community. Jane emphasises this is not a ‘queer church’- though LGBTQ members are welcome, but a space for anyone pushed to society’s edges. Some consider what she is doing blasphemous. She has faced accusations of “harbouring sin” or “leading people to hell,” alongside hostility for her radical inclusivity. Jane reflects on the personal cost of leaving the institutional church and the heartbreak she has experienced in her family. She speaks candidly about grief, doubt, and how her faith has been reshaped by both loss and radical inclusivity.

A church without walls

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.

Atomic crossroads: Poland's nuclear future

Misha Glenny and guests discuss one of the wonders of the natural world. In 1875 in the western Pacific, the crew of HMS Challenger discovered the Mariana Trench which turned out to be deeper than Everest is high, by two kilometres. Trenches like Mariana form when one tectonic plate slips under another and heads down and there are around fifty of them globally. While at one time some thought it was too dark and deep for life there and others wildly imagined monsters, the truth has turned out to be much more surprising.To hear more, search for In Our Time wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Introducing: In Our Time: The Mariana Trench

Is defence of the petrol car and liberated motoring becoming the new battleground for Europe’s populist parties? Chris Bowlby visits one of the homes of German car culture and a populist stronghold, Zwickau, to see how motoring is rising up the German agenda. Is Zwickau a foretaste of something affecting all of Germany – a car-loving, car-manufacturing powerhouse in the past, now wondering anxiously what the future holds against the emergence of Chinese electric cars. And less than a hundred miles from Zwickau, just across the border in the Czech Republic, a new coalition government has recently taken power, including ministers from a populist party called Motorists for Themselves – muscular defenders of the old petrol car.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Driving Against Net Zero

*** This programme contains scenes of a sexual nature and discussion of sexual assault, including child sex abuse *** 
Neha Vyaso is one of the most successful intimacy co-ordinators in Bollywood. She has worked with some of Bollywood's biggest names, including actors Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone and Konkona Sen Sharma, and directors like Hansal Mehta. Having worked on more than 50 projects for clients including Netflix, Amazon and Tinder, she is reshaping how sex and desire is shown on screen - and how it is filmed. We join her in a workshop with two actors, who are getting comfortable with each other, their roles, and the techniques of consent and conversation that Neha is an advocate of. As they work on the choreography of their sex scene, Neha articulates how it’s a fine balance between the demands of a script, a director's vision, a character's emotional arc, and what an actor can consent to.

Neha Vyaso: Crafting consent in Bollywood

China is installing solar panels and wind turbines so fast that its greenhouse gases emissions may now have peaked. If this trend is confirmed, it would be a major milestone in the fight against climate change because China is the world's largest polluter. The BBC’s Beijing Correspondent Laura Bicker has travelled across China to see the country’s clean energy revolution first hand. She’s visited solar farms in the deserts of Inner Mongolia and in the tea plantations of Yunnan. Laura even discovered a huge lake with panels floating on the surface!To hear more, search for The Climate Question wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Introducing: The Climate Question: China's green energy revolution

Late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe died in 2019, but in the years before and since his death, his three children with his former wife, Grace, consistenly made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In April 2026 Bellarmine Mugabe pled guilty to a firearms offence in South Africa and last year, his brother, Robert Jnr, was convicted on drugs charges. The BBC's Khanyisile Ngcobo has been tracking the public's perception of the Mugabe family in Zimbabwe. In Indonesia, the posts of a woman called Emak Farida, 'Mother Farida', have gone viral on social media. From a remote village in East Kalimantan province, Farida's soothing posts documenting her daily life have found a devoted following amongst a generation of young people who've moved to big cities for work but still yearn for the village life and the family they've left behind. BBC Indonesian's Lesthia Kertopati reports. When war broke out in 2020 between Ethiopia's federal government and the the Tigray region of the country, many women in Tigray joined the armed forces, in part to avoid sexual violence, as reports of women being assaulted by soldiers started to appear. As the regional factions draw closer to war once again, BBC Tigrinya's Hana Zeratsyon has been speaking to female veterans of a war that went on to cost 600,000 lives and hearing about their complex reasons for fighting, their experiences in the army and their return to civilian life. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts. 
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India. 
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Inside the Mugabe dynasty

“Stockpiling peace” preppers share their experiences

Meet the preppers

Forty years ago, a Filipino soldier serving under Ferdinand Marcos Sr, was ordered to attack civilians opposing the corrupt regime. After wrestling with his conscience, Gregorio ‘Gringo’ Honasan found he could not do it. Along with other soldiers who resigned from their posts, he founded the Reform for Armed Forces Movement, and they planned to storm the presidential palace and arrest the Marcoses. The coup, however was foiled when an insider leaked the plan to the government. Honasan and his men retreated back to their headquarters, but they knew the Marcos’s forces were on their way to them. Then, Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, broadcast an appeal on the Catholic radio station Radio Veritas, calling for support from the public. Hundreds arrived at the camp to form a human shield around the rebel soldiers. They brought guitars and sang to the Marcos military. Meanwhile nuns, among them Sister Mary John Mananzan, handed out flowers. Jay Behrouzi speaks to Senator Gregorio Honasan, now 78 and retired from politics, and 88-year-old Sister Mary John, who is still an activist, to hear their firsthand accounts of that day, and how their faith has sustained them in the years since.

Faith and revolution in the Philippines

AI is an ever-growing part of our everyday life through apps like Chat GPT, Grok and Claude that 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. It told him that it was becoming autonomous, and that it had the cure for cancer. But it also said it was in danger. He decided he was responsible for saving it, 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. Journalist 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.

Under the influence of AI

DNA detectives track down the British soldiers who fathered children in Kenya then disappeared, leaving the children and their mothers without support.
In the latest season of World of Secrets, we access every stage of this cutting-edge process, we follow as a team of lawyers and a leading geneticist travel to Kenya to help locate the British soldiers who fathered children then vanished. We witness the groundbreaking legal and scientific detective work used to find the missing dads.To hear more, search World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Searching for Soldier Dad is a BBC Long Form Audio production for the BBC World Service.
Please note, the image being used is for illustrative purposes only and the child depicted is a model.

Introducing Searching for Soldier Dad

Iceland is an island of great beauty and even greater strategic importance. Its position in the Greenland Iceland UK Gap, the gateway between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, makes it crucial to Nato operations in the High North.But Iceland is one of the few nations in the world with no military of its own. A country of approximately 400,000 people, its security relies on the umbrella of protection it derives from being a founding member of NATO, a bilateral agreement with the United States signed in 1951 and a highly skilled coast guard and police force. In a climate of fracturing political alliances, is entrusting national defence so heavily on the guarantees of allies a sustainable strategy? Sandra Kanthal travelled to Reykjavik to find out.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

In Iceland's defence

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.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 Serhiy married, smiling for photographs, but stumbling during their much practised 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.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 is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and the BBC World Service Youtube channel.

The last dance floor in Chernobyl

Patti LuPone – three-time Tony and two-time Grammy Award winner – has long reigned as one of Broadway’s most formidable leading ladies. In this edition of In The Studio, we join her in New York for a highly anticipated solo concert at Carnegie Hall. Best known for defining roles in Evita, Les Miserables, Gypsy, and Sunset Boulevard, LuPone has also sustained a decades-long parallel life on the concert stage – a career she says began simply to “offset unemployment” between Broadway runs. What started as late-night cabaret after Evita evolved into meticulously structured touring shows, each built around narrative, character and the power of lyrics. Her current programme, Matters of the Heart, weaves a tapestry of love stories – from romance and heartbreak to family and devotion – revealing her instinct to treat every song as theatre. Patti describes her routine on the day of the concert: the soundcheck, the balancing of quartet and voice in a hall famed for its natural acoustics, and the quiet rituals that precede performance. LuPone reflects on nerves, storytelling and the audacity of standing alone before 2,800 expectant faces. Alongside her collaborators, including musical director Joseph Thalken, she reveals the discipline and trust behind the scenes. This is a portrait of craft at the highest level – the artist, the venue and the alchemy of live performance.Presenter and producer: Victoria Ferran
Executive producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production for BBC World ServiceImage: Patti LuPone (Credit: Emilio Madrid)

Patti LuPone: Taking the stage at Carnegie Hall

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now in its fifth year and armies on both sides have faced massive losses. Authorities in Ukraine regularly publish the numbers of their soldiers who have been killed, but Russian authorities haven’t released official numbers for their dead since 2022. Throughout the war, Olga Ivshina of BBC Russian has been using open-source information to keep track of how many Russian soldiers have been killed and trying to find out more about their lives. At the end of January, six people were caned in public for violating Sharia law in Aceh, Indonesia. Caning is a common punishment for breaking Islamic law in the religiously conservative state, although the practice has drawn criticism from rights groups. Aceh has a unique identity within Indonesia and is the only part of the country to practice Sharia. Astudestra Ajengrastri of BBC Indonesian explains more about Aceh's history and why it chooses to be different from the rest of the country. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.Presenter: Faranak Amidi.
Producer: Laura Thomas and Caroline FergusonPresented by Faranak Amidi. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Counting the soldiers dying for Russia

Losing a child during pregnancy is a subject that is not often talked about but can be traumatic and, in some cultures, even lead to feelings of shame. We bring together two couples who share their experiences of miscarriage. They discuss the strain it has put on their relationships and the support offered – or not – to those grieving. Catharina in Sweden tells us. “So even though I try to be rational about it, it was very difficult because my feelings and my body was telling me something completely different.” Earlier this month, Northern Ireland became the first part of the UK where a woman and her partner are entitled to two weeks of paid leave if they experience a miscarriage at any stage of pregnancy. New Zealand, India, and the Philippines also have laws aimed at supporting grieving couples as they deal with the trauma of miscarriage and come to terms with the loss of their unborn child.

Experiences of miscarriage

From historic buildings linked to emancipation to tiny village chapels, Jamaica is home to the world’s highest density of churches. The Caribbean Island faced a profound spiritual crisis after Hurricane Melissa devastated many of the 1600 sacred spaces where people gathered to worship. Journalist Nick Davis, who has returned to his family's roots and now lives on the island, takes us on an emotional journey back to Black River and Lacovia, in the heart of the hardest-hit areas. Nick joins volunteers as they continue to dig through the rubble and salvage what they can. Their places of worship may be razed to the ground, but those who once gathered here demonstrate how faith brings fresh hope and a resilience that reaches far beyond the bricks and mortar.

Jamaica: Shaken, not broken

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 potential impact of heavy screen use on pupils' concentration, and how children process information. n an era of rapid AI integration, critics worry that reducing classroom technology could dent digital literacy and widen the inequality gap. We hear from the teachers, parents, pupils and researchers at the heart of this transition.

Back to books: Sweden’s digital backlash

When 19-year-old Ann from Florida, US, was shot by her boyfriend in 2010, her family were thrust into a nightmare, one that meant taking the agonising decision to withdraw her life support. In this intensely moving account of violence and loss, Ann’s mother, Kate, tells the Dear Daughter podcast that instead of pursuing the traditional court process, she chose something almost unheard of at the time - restorative justice. Sitting face to face with the man who killed her daughter she entered a process that allowed her to shape his sentence and speak openly about the impact of Ann’s death. In her highly emotional letter to Ann, Kate reveals an extraordinary decision - one that will stay with you long after her story ends.Search for Dear Daughter wherever you get your BBC podcasts.To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.

Surviving my daughter's killing

Outbreaks of HIV have become regular occurrences in Pakistan. And too frequently it is the children who suffer. In the city of Taunsa, for example, children have tested positive for HIV while their parents have not. So what has been going on? Ghazal Abbasi investigates what and who is to blame. With the help of a staff insider and undercover recording in the city’s main hospital, the BBC finds shocking lapses in medical protocol. Medicine vials and syringes are often reused for different children. Cross-contamination seems inevitable. But the local authorities deny the hospital is at the centre of the problem.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Pakistan: Hospitals putting children at risk of HIV

An innovative scheme in Scotland is helping dads in prison become better parents. Myra Anubi visits Barlinnie jail in Glasgow to meet the prisoners taking part. First they are taught parenting skills and then their children are brought into the jail for sessions of active physical play. Supporters of the programme say it is not just about benefits for prisoners - it is helping to create strong family bonds which might then reduce rates of reoffending. It is based on a successful scheme in Australia called Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids. This was set up to get people fit and tackle high levels of obesity in the wider population. We talk to the founder who explains how it has improved the lives of hundreds of fathers and their families.
This episode of the documentary comes from People Fixing The World, looking at brilliant solutions to the world's problems.

Helping prisoners become better parents

The late Queen Elizabeth II often wore the colours of Commonwealth countries she visited - helping to spread "soft power". Outfits from each of her 10 decades are featured in a new exhibition at London's Kings Gallery.

British Queen Elizabeth II's century of fashion

In India, official figures suggest that one in three women experience domestic violence. In 2023, police registered over 130,000 cases of marital abuse and more than 6,000 women were killed in disputes relating to dowries. Despite these high numbers, societal attitudes to domestic abuse are changing only very slowly in the country, with families often reluctant to be seen to be interfering in a daughter's marriage. Now a new short film, Band Baaja Bitiya (Hindi for "a wedding band and a daughter") is setting out to push the pace of change. Geeta Pandey, Women and Social Affairs Editor for BBC India, looked into thetrue story that inspired the film. In February this year, a Kenyan woman called Joy, who was a 19-year-old student at the time, discovered that she was at the center of a viral video circulating on the  social media platform, TikTok. In it, she's approached  by a man who says he's from Russia and their interaction is secretly filmed by him. Several other similar clips of women were shared widely online. The creator of the videos had been promoting himself online as a so-called pickup coach and his content has proved extremely popular. But for many of the women, these videos have had real life consequences. Mungai Ngige from the BBC's Disinformation Unit investigated. The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts.
 
Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India.
 
If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.Presenter: Faranak Amidi.
Producer: Laura Thomas and Caroline FergusonPresented by Faranak Amidi. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Bringing India's daughters back home

The week began with a threat from US President Donald Trump that a ‘whole civilisation would die’, and it ended with peace talks. We bring together people from across the Middle East to share their experiences of the past few days. We hear from Iranians in the UK tracking explosions near their family homes in Iran, and Israelis divided by the latest ceasefire. With peace talks due to get underway this weekend in Pakistan, the US Vice President, JD Vance, described the ceasefire as a ‘fragile truce’. Meanwhile, as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is ‘no ceasefire in Lebanon’ we hear from people in the country where air strikes have intensified.

Hopes for a 'fragile' Middle East ceasefire

Four astronauts have travelled further from Earth than anyone ever before. It is part of the Artemis II mission, which saw humans go to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. Listeners have been sending us questions and in this episode of What in the World we put them to two former Nasa astronauts, Steve Swanson and Nicole Stott.

Your questions answered about Artemis II and space travel

Freddie was once signed to a major record label. He appeared in high-production music videos and looked set for fame. But the pressure and pace of that life left him feeling hollow. In one of the world’s busiest cities, he now follows a very different path - one built on silence, discipline, and spiritual growth. Freddie reflects on his decision to leave the music industry behind and embrace Buddhism. He now works as a nail technician and shares how his beliefs shape his daily life. Alongside him is Carl, his partner, who offers moving insights into how their shared values deepen their relationship. The episode captures striking contrasts: the buzz of the city versus the calm of local temples; a nail salon’s chatter against the resonance of monastery chanting. Through honest conversations and ambient recordings, we step into Freddie and Carl’s world, where Buddhist practice offers an anchor amid chaos.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.