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Tropical cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons: What's the difference?
What in the World
Jul 3, 2024

Hurricane Beryl has been tearing through the southeast Caribbean and is now moving towards Jamaica. It’s expected to reach Mexico after.

Hurricanes form every year from June to November - with varying degrees of severity. There are also typhoons, cyclones and storms that rip through countries.

But what’s the difference, when does a storm become a hurricane and are they getting worse? Esme Stallard is our Climate and Science Reporter.

And Angelie Nieves-Jimenez is a graduate research assistant at Colorado State University, her department works on predicting and calculating storms and she’s actually flown into a hurricane! she tells us how predictions work.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Alex Rhodes Producers: Emily Horler, Benita Barden and María Clara Montoya Editors: Verity Wilde

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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




Tropical cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons: What's the difference?

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