Mark Lowen in Rome brings people together to share their memories of the Pope, who died on Easter Monday. In our conversations, Mark hears from Catholics in Argentina, including one of Pope Francis’ friends who knew him when he was a priest in Buenos Aires. We also bring together three people from Northern Ireland who had a private audience with th…

A bonus episode from Dear Daughter - the award-winning podcast from the BBC World Service. You can find more episodes by searching for ‘Dear Daughter’ wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh joins Namulanta in the studio to share the letter she’s written to her three children. She tells them the importance of trusting their…

Members of the new age Anastasia movement espouse strong family values, farm small plots of land and try to educate their own children outside the public school system. Originating in Russia, the quasi-religious group has now spread to Germany, where there are more than a dozen ‘Anastasia’ rural settlements. But are they more than just a harmless f…

To mark Earth Day, we bring you remarkable stories of the history of the environmental movement, told by the people who were there. Selected from the BBC’s Witness History program, we hear about the major moments that changed our understanding of the planet we live on.By BBC

Following the death of Pope Francis, Edward Stourton looks at the life and legacy of the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide. He was elected at a time of crisis for his Church, but quickly transformed its reputation. He urged Christians to be less judgemental and more welcoming of gay and divorced people. And as the first Po…

A cancelled election, a cancelled candidate and a divided country – is Romania’s democracy under threat? Last December the country’s Constitutional Court cancelled the presidential election two days before the final vote, citing outside interference, with the nationalist pro-Putin candidate, Calin Georgescu, riding high in the polls. TikTok sensati…

Amin Gulgee defies easy categorisation: he’s a metal sculptor, a curator, and one of Pakistan’s most innovative and cherished artists, the beating heart of his home city of Karachi’s creative scene. His metalwork is as dramatic and eccentric as Amin is. He’s in your face, uncompromising, a living and breathing performance piece. Amin also comes fro…

In China today, looking good is seen as key to career success. With beauty videos promoting extreme weight-loss flooding social media, beauty apps making booking surgery click of a button away, China’s cosmetic surgery industry is booming. But the surge in demand has led to a shortage of qualified practitioners and licensed clinics. Hundreds of acc…

There are over 90,000 hi-definition CCTV cameras in Kabul, watching everyone’s movements. What are the Taliban using this footage for? BBC Afghan Services' journalist Mahjooba Nowrouzi was granted exclusive access into the country’s top security control room. Plus, BBC Mundo's William Márquez on the history of Charles Darwin's house, and Mayuresh G…

The issue of colourism was highlighted in a recent BBC news report about a Nigerian woman who bleached the skin of her six young children leaving them with discoloured skin, burns and scars. It is a form of racism where light skin is more highly valued than dark skin amongst people of the same ethnic group. In our conversations, we hear from women …

Sacred Harp pioneer and former punk frontman, Tim Eriksen, takes us into the hair-raising sound of shape note singing – an American choral tradition experiencing a resurgence across the US and in Europe. All people and all faiths are welcome. As a new edition of the songbook approaches publication, Tim explores why this music is drawing more singer…

Built around a game of Braille Scrabble, Emma Tracey presents a celebration of Braille, 200 years after it was invented. Emma, who’s been blind since birth, talks to others who love the six tiny dots: Geerat Vermeij, one of the world’s leading experts in molluscs; Yetnebersh Nigussie, an Ethiopian lawyer, who describes her blindness as ‘a lottery I…

Olympique Lyonnais is the most successful club in women’s football, dominating Europe over the last 15 years winning eight Champions League titles. Only Barcelona have recently been able to compete. Lyon's success is the vision of club president Jean-Michel Aulas who wanted to create an iconic team, with the best players, but in the case of Aulas h…

Maori have been protesting in large numbers, in a 9-day hikoi or march of defiance, walking from the top of New Zealand down to the capital Wellington, joined by non-Maori supporters too. They’re demonstrating against the current right-of-centre New Zealand government’s moves to abolish certain Maori-specific rights and privileges, that the previou…

For 60 years, New York composer Steve Reich has been one of classical music’s most celebrated revolutionaries. Pioneering minimalism in the 1960s, a musical style based on repetition and shifting rhythms, his strange experiments with cassette tape led to orchestral masterpieces – now performed around the world. His career has not only helped define…

On 8 May 1945 Britain, the US and many other countries were rejoicing. Germany had surrendered, and World War Two was over, at least in Europe. Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone - for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Milli…

On his first day as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order shutting down the asylum system at the US-Mexico border. He also promised huge changes to the US immigration system, including arrests and mass deportations of undocumented migrants. Santiago Vanegas from BBC Mundo has been following a group of Venezuelans who are trying to go ba…

Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on global trade has sent the world reeling. Stock markets have tanked. Gloomy economists have hit the airwaves. Governments, their backs against the wall, have responded with either stoic resignation or threats of revenge. But it’s business owners who find themselves at the centre of the storm. Steve in Bosto…

On 4 September 2024, the town of Winder in the US state of Georgia became the latest scene of a school mass shooting. Two students and two teachers were killed. The suspect was 14 years old. The deadly attack at Apalachee High School left a community torn apart by guns and brought together in grief. In each of the previous four years there have bee…

***This programme contains descriptions of genocide and violence against children*** Fifty years ago the fall of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, to the Khmer Rouge sparked a modern-day genocide that saw millions murdered in just four years. Today, a group that was almost entirely destroyed in the bloodshed is working both in person and online to he…

In South East Asia, cinema attendances are growing, thanks to a renewed interest in local product. For instance, the Thai movie How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, broke box office records this year. We hear from director Pat Boonnitipat about the reasons why he believes his film touched the hearts of so many people. The same is true in Vietn…

When mysterious orb-like lights were recorded in the sky above Koge, a small port town in Denmark, the UFO scene took notice. But it wasn't just believers who wanted to know what these unidentified flying objects were. Danish police and the Danish security services describe the objects as large drones - similar to the ones seen on the USA's East Co…

Contemporary classical music composer Anna Clyne is one of the most performed and in demand composers in the world. For her next commission, she is working on a new concerto for the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in Missouri, US. The piece is called PALETTE, and will feature seven movements related to seven colours: plum, amber, lava, ebony, teal, tan…

President Trump has upended the international order to promote his “America First” agenda. He has thrown countries and their leaders around the world off balance with his radical departure from decades-old United States foreign policy. With so many changes going in different and sometimes seemingly opposing directions, Jamie Coomarasamy tries to ge…

Delhi correspondent Divya Arya recently met a woman who claims to perform miracles. She’s called Radhe Maa and her devotees see her as a God. She’s not the only person in India who claims to have god-like powers, but she is unusual as mostly these people are men. Divya got rare access to the lavish home in which the 'godwoman' lives, to better unde…

The hit Netflix show, Adolescence, has prompted a global conversation on toxic masculinity. The series is based in the north of England and centres on a 13-year-old boy, Jamie, accused of murdering a teenage girl. In our conversations we explore some of the issues the series has raised, including the role of social media in promoting online misogyn…

School shootings in the USA continue to be a far too common tragedy. In January 2017, 16-year-old Logan Cole, who lives in a small town in the American mid-west was shot in the bathroom of his high school by a fellow student. His injuries were extensive. Afraid for their own lives, other students jumped out of school windows, running shoeless acros…

The 'accidental' severing of undersea cables or pipelines seem an almost daily occurrence these days but how reliant are we on this infrastructure, how much of it is there, and what steps are being taken to protect it? Business and economics editor Douglas Fraser investigates who might be behind these thinly veiled acts of sabotage and what their m…

Headphones and earbuds have experienced a phenomenal rise in popularity worldwide, transforming how people consume audio content and impacting on various aspects of daily life. Per Sennström, one of the creators of Swedish company Earin, shares insights into how wireless earbuds first came about and how the revolution in listening took hold so quic…

Hezbollah, the militia and political movement in Lebanon, has been battered by the war with Israel. Its leaders were assassinated, hundreds of fighters killed, and many of its communities now lie in ruins. Until recently a formidable power with the ability to paralyse the country, the group now appears a shadow of its former self. For the first tim…

Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros is the most expensive single artwork commission in Australian history. A $14 million, three-tonne, 10-metre wide freestanding shell of mirror-polished stainless steel with 48,000 individually cut plasma-cut perforations: Lindy calls the Ouroboros “her”. Mia Hull talks to artist Lindy Lee, NGA Director Nick Mitzevich, foundry d…

Five years on from the global lockdown we catch up with the "Covid Generation", the class of 2020 - school leavers and graduates from around the world, to find out how the coronavirus pandemic affected their lives and studies as well as employment prospects. Did they have to change plans, were their careers put on hold, did they spot a new opportun…

Faranak Amidi visits three places in Tbilisi, Georgia to find out more about its history and what's behind the current political turmoil in the country. The Parliament building has been the site of the recent protests, where people have been gathering for more than 100 days. The ‘Dezerter bazar’ was said to be founded by deserters from the Czar’s a…

Across Turkey, hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets after the arrest of President Erdogan’s main political rival, the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu. It is the worst unrest for more than a decade and police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors and arrested hundreds of people. Presenter Mark Lowen was in …

In a cinema in south-west Germany, an audience is gathered to watch an Oscar-winning film, The Zone of Interest, about the life of Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz. Those present comprise Jewish people from around the world, and the special guest is Rudolf’s grandson, Kai. The topic was rarely visited during Kai's childhood. It was only after a…

The fires that devastated parts of Los Angeles in January this year killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Angelino Laura Hubber talks to those affected by the fires and looks at the ongoing impact on the artistic and cultural life of the city. She explores how LA is dealing with loss, and how it will rebuild, both physically a…

Life expectancy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, increased by 19 years (from 46 to 65) from 2000 to 2019 - mostly due to reductions in mortality from HIV, TB and malaria, and declines in childhood diseases. What does this very rapid demographic change mean for governments, policy planners and ordinary people now living so much …

The global online scamming industry is said to be worth some $500 billion a year. It operates in secret, in complexes hidden behind high fences in countries all over the world. It is a particular problem in the Philippines, where much of the industry is run by Chinese criminal organisations. The scammers, whose job it is to persuade their victims t…

Education is a hot topic in the United States. President Donald Trump recently began taking steps to dismantle the Department of Education, saying it’s a waste of money and it had failed students. However, in the US, it’s the individual states, not the federal government, that really decide education policy. The states run schools, set the curricul…

In our time of looming ecological disaster, radical minds are needed to rethink the way we live. In Saudi Arabia, NEOM are building a futuristic new city: The Line. The Line will consist of two gigantic, unbroken rows of skyscrapers, with living space in-between. Nicknamed 'the groundscraper', The Line is planned to be taller than any building in E…

European leaders have had cause to rethink their roles within Nato recently, in light of statements coming from the US Government. The Trump administration’s dealings with Russia to try and broker a peace deal in Ukraine, have called into question America’s support for the alliance. But whilst the Trump administration say they are not pulling out o…

Georgia finds itself in political turmoil. For decades many Georgians have longed to be a part of the EU, feeling that their values align more closely than they do with neighbours such as Russia and Turkey. But the goverment, led by the conservative Georgian Dream party, has suspended talks to join the EU, in a move that critics say is kowtowing to…

For the first time in three years, there’s talk of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Negotiations are ongoing, but at the time of recording this programme, the conflict continues. We’ve heard many times from Ukrainians expressing their thoughts on the war – most recently in February in our episode Ukraine: Three Years of War. It’s been harder…

In Bangladesh, hijras - once a revered community - have long lived on the margins. Also known as the third gender, hijras form a diverse group, including those born intersex - meaning their physical traits don’t fit neatly into ‘male’ or ‘female’ categories - and transgender individuals. Traditionally seen as spiritual figures with the power to ble…

In November 2024, six people died after visiting a bar in Vang Vieng, Laos. Authorities in the country said it was a suspected mass poisoning - the culprit, methanol. It made headlines around the world, but it was not an isolated incident. It is happening across South East Asia, Central America and the Middle East, often in countries where drinking…

Daily protests across the country have continued in Georgia since disputed elections in October, particularly since the ruling Georgian Dream party announced it would suspend discussions about joining the EU. Outside election observers identified a number of shortcomings and violations in the voting process. Critics of Georgian Dream say it is cosy…

Artists Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser explore the complex weave of histories and myths around Britain’s imperial salt monopoly in India. Paul Waters joins them as they create an open-air installation at the Somerset House gallery in London, paired with a poignant indoor exhibition occupying spaces formerly used to administer Britain’s c…

BBC health correspondent James Gallagher investigates how our noisy world is damaging our health. He finds out why noise increases our risk of health problems, like heart attacks, sleep problems and anxiety, and can even affect how long we live. James spends two days in Barcelona – one of the noisiest cities in Europe – to meet the people whose hea…

According to Kenya’s Health Ministry, between 2020 and 2023, about 16,000 women in Kenya decided to undergo a sterilisation procedure known as tubal ligation. While some of them already had children and didn’t want any more, others were saying no to motherhood altogether: they’re women who define themselves as child-free, meaning they have consciou…

On his first day in office, Donald Trump froze foreign aid funding, ordering an immediate review into USAID, the government agency which was running programmes in around 120 countries. The review was swift and the cuts severe. President Trump’s team concluded that tens of billions of dollars were being spent in ways which “did not serve” or “harmed…