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How a deadly scam is costing lives in India
What in the World
Oct 11, 2023

It starts with downloading an app but pretty soon some scammers are going through your data, messaging your contacts, threatening you with violence and destroying your life. Poonam Agarwal from the BBC Eye Investigation team tells us about the blackmailers and the string of at least sixty suicides they’re connected to.

Plus: How do young women in Afghanistan get an education when they’re banned from going to secondary school by the Taliban? We hear about Dars, the BBC programme that offers lessons online and through TV and radio. Mariam Aman, one of the show’s producers, and Shazia Haya, a Pashto-language co-host, tell us more.

If you’ve been affected by issues discussed in this episode, details of organisations offering information and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: William Lee Adams and Alex Rhodes Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

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Feb 5, 2025
USAID: Can the world live without it?

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is under fire. It is the world’s biggest donor and spends billions of dollars a year, funding programmes around the world, like fighting malaria in Bangladesh, clearing unexploded landmines in Cambodia and Laos and providing medical supplies in Sudan.

But President Trump says it is run by “radical lunatics” and he and billionaire Elon Musk, who’s got the job of trying to slash American government spending, want to shut it down. They have paused almost all international spending for 90 days and issued “stop work” orders to their staff. BBC journalist Nathalia Jimenez tells us what USAID does - and why the Trump administration wants to close it.

A large proportion of USAID funding goes towards healthcare and HIV medication in sub-Saharan Africa. Makuochi Okafor, the BBC’s Africa Health correspondent tells us what impact closing USAID could have in this region.

Anselm Gibbs, a BBC reporter based in Trinidad and Tobago, tells us about programmes USAID funds in the Caribbean. And Hilde Deman from Search for Common Ground, an international NGO that uses USAID funding in countries affected by violent conflict, talks about the impact to their work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Benita Barden and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Rosanna La Falce


13min 08sec




How a deadly scam is costing lives in India

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