Episodi
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What is the future for Africa's rapidly swelling cities? The stretch of nearly 1,000 km between Abidjan and Lagos, is by 2100 projected to be the largest zone of continuous, dense habitation on earth - and home to about half a billion people. In Ghana alone, the population which was around six million at the time of independence could exceed 50 million by 2050. There has been unprecedented migration into Accra and other cities from rural areas, straining the city’s ability to provide basic housing and services to people, and exacerbating existing inequalities. Presenter Mike Wooldridge and Ghanaian architect Ruth-Anne Richardson report on the opportunities and challenges this rapid urbanisation brings in West Africa.
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The term “narwhal” derives from the old Nordic for “nár + hvalr”, meaning corpse + whale, which, for these animals, is quickly becoming prophetic. Climate change, with its accompanying increase in human marine activity, has led to the Arctic Ocean becoming noisier. As narwhal rely on sound to communicate and navigate their surroundings, this could result in the extinction of populations like East Greenland's narwhal by as soon as 2025. Mary-Ann Ochota investigates how this issue is at once political, cultural, and environmental and speaks to the scientists, traditional hunters, and activists, who are seeking a solution.
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After its award winning premier in 2020, a new production of The Visitors by Indigenous playwright Jane Harrison sees us on the eve of colonisation. The first fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour on the 26 January 1788 bringing with them convicts, disease and violence. The play asks, what if we saw this moment from the Aboriginal perspective? What if they could decide whether or not to let the fleet land? As seven tribal elders watch the fleet arrive they must decide whether to stop them, or welcome them. Regina Botros follows the director Wesley Enoch, the writer Jane Harrison and the cast through the challenges of the play as it reflects, quite poignantly, the current political climate in Australia.
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It is a war with many names - The Yom Kippur War, the Ramadan War, the October War. What is clear 50 years after it was fought is that it was a conflict that really did change the world. Michael Goldfarb tells the story of the war that began on the 6 October 1973 and ended less than three weeks later - yet somehow the Israeli and Arab states combatants, as well as the rest of the world, still live with the aftermath today.
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Winter is approaching once again in the war and, for all the combat in the summer, the situation remains largely unchanged for both Ukrainian and Russian forces. There is talk that the conflict could go on for many years. President Volodymyr Zelensky is still firmly focused on victory for Ukraine but he admits that the mood among some of his international backers appears to be changing. But on the battlefields, what are the attitudes of Ukrainians? Host Lukwesa Burak speaks to two Ukrainian soldiers, journalists and families caught up in the conflict.
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Jake Emlyn’s musical talents were once hailed by international pop star Robbie Williams, who mentored the young English rapper. It lead him to feature on the albums of major stars and tour worldwide. However, 10 years ago, on the verge of signing a major record deal, Jake lost his father to cancer and it prompted a journey of reflection and self-discovery. A chance meeting with a Hare Krishna monk led Jake to visit the Radha Krishna temple in central London and from then on Jake was hooked to spiritual life. For the past decade, he has devoted his life to the Hare Krishna movement, combining his rapping skills with his religious life and becoming the world’s number one Hare Krishna rapper.
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In Germany you can go to prison for travelling on public transport without a ticket. It’s estimated that 7,000 people are serving a jail sentence for this at any one time. Most of them are serial offenders, usually unemployed or homeless, the poorest people in German society. The law that enables courts to imprison people for not paying a fare dates from the early 1930s when it was introduced by the Nazi government. The public transport companies defend its existence. They say they lose hundreds of millions of Euros a year to people cheating on their fares and that it’s important to retain the threat of prison as a deterrent.
As Tim Mansel discovers for Assignment, others disagree and are campaigning for the law to be abolished. Most eye-catching is a campaign run by the Freedom Fund, set up in Berlin in 2021, which has raised hundreds of thousands of Euros. Its founder, Arne Semsrott, describes the law as “deeply unjust,” saying it “discriminates heavily against people who don’t have money, against people who don’t have housing, against people who are already in crisis.”
Produced and presented by Tim Mansel
(Image: Gisa März, who served a prison sentence for fare dodging. Credit: Tim Mansel/BBC) -
For many people around the world, donation of sperm or an egg can be the difference between becoming parents and not. But while this donation can make their dream of parenthood come true, what are the considerations for the end result, the child themselves? Donation and IVF can help jump the hurdles when it comes to the physical process of conception for would-be parents, but what about the emotional and psychological impact on the people who eventually find out they are not biologically related to one or both of their parents? Louise Mcloughlin, herself donor-conceived, hears from people around the world who have been faced with the news they are not the identity they assumed they were.
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The shooting starts on The Old Oak and Sharuna Sagar is there to witness Ken Loach's unique style of directing. Throughout his career from Kes to The Wind That Shakes The Barley to I, Daniel Blake, the 87-year-old film-maker does not like to tell the cast what is going to happen in the next scene. He explains his reasons, while star Dave Turner reveals what it is like to be surprised every day on set.
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Storm Daniel delivered 300 times more rain than expected onto the north-east coast of Libya, causing two dams to burst and water up to 30 meters high to tear through the coastal city of Derna. The immense power of the flood smashed everything in its path, claiming thousands of lives and leaving shattered buildings, bridges and mountains of mud. Since the disaster, we have been hearing from people in the city, who have been sharing their thoughts and experiences.
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What happens when a Catholic nun in Poland chooses to leave her religious community? Nuns are rejecting their orders after experiencing what they now regard as abuse. Some say they have even been sexually abused by priests. Izabela Moscicka recently made this journey. She stopped being a nun and is now living independently in Krakow. She knows how hard it can be, so she is setting up an aid centre for nuns and former nuns, who are looking for assistance and refuge. For the first time, Izabela shares her life story, the realities of the day to day life of Polish nuns, and the difficulties they have if they decide to leave the church.
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Kirkenes, in the far north-east of Norway, once thrived on its close ties with neighbouring Russia. All that changed after the invasion of Ukraine. Now it’s become home to Ukrainian refugees and a safe haven for some Russian journalists escaping President Putin’s media clampdown.
For decades this area popularised the phrase “High North, Low Tension.” Close economic and cultural ties developed with brisk cross-border trade. Hundreds of Russians settled in the town. But now new cross-border restrictions have been imposed and co-operation has ended. The local economy has taken a significant hit and cross-border cultural groups no longer meet. However, despite this being a NATO member, the Norwegian government is keeping the border open. Russian fishing vessels still unload their catch in Kirkenes but are no longer allowed to undergo repairs. The Norwegians have stepped up checks on these Russian boats amid concern of a rise in Russian spying and potential sabotage.
For Assignment, John Murphy travels to Norway’s Arctic to see how war has changed the town and to ask what’s next for this unique community.
Presenter: John Murphy
Producer: Alex Last
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Penny Murphy
(Image: Kirkenes, in the far north-east of Norway. Credit: BBC) -
In March 2023, the first season of the Women’s India Premier League, the world’s second most valuable cricketing league, behind only the men’s IPL, was played. Five teams battled it out to claim the crown, comprised of international teams of women cricketers at the top of their game who earned ten times more than they can elsewhere. While Indian players dominated, there was another factor that marked them out - many Indian women cricketers are single. As Indian women’s cricket has shot to the top of the global stage, how does this rapid change reflect broader changes in Indian society?
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Alexandre Farto aka Vhils is a Portuguese artist, known for his striking huge murals that have appeared on city walls from Brazil and the US, to Senegal and Vietnam. He uses a bas-relief carving technique, which involves using chisels and even hammer drills to scrape away at the fabric of the wall, revealing the history in the layers below the surface. Abi McNeil talks to Vhils as he works on his latest project – a 31 metre long mural for the Paris headquarters of Unesco.
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What is a war crime? How is it different to a crime against humanity and genocide? And who holds those responsible to account? Find out in this bonus episode of The Explanation, from the BBC World Service.
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The BBC's Audrey Brown looks back at the life of South Africa's Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who died earlier in September aged 95. He played a vital - and controversial - role in the country's history during both the Apartheid era and the transition to multiracial democracy.
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The earthquake struck in a region of the High Atlas Mountains. Its force destroyed entire villages and could be felt across the country, and even in neighbouring Algeria. Around 3,000 people lost their lives and thousands were injured. It’s described as the worst earthquake in the country in 60 years. Tour guide Mohamed and Majda, an architect, tell host James Reynolds what it was like when the earthquake struck their hometown of Marrakesh. We speak to Paul Philipp, a rescue volunteer in Germany and Ayça Aydın, a Turkish rescue worker, from the organisation Global Empowerment Mission. She visited some of the worst affected areas to care for survivors.
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Dr Jennifer Bryson interrogated suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists at the infamous Guantanamo Bay. She worked at the detention centre in Cuba for two years and says that some of the inmates bragged openly about helping to organise the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that killed 3,000 people. Bryson was the first woman to take up the role of lead interrogator at Guantanamo, and the first who was not a member of the military. She would carry out interrogations herself but was also responsible for signing off methods and techniques used by other interrogators. After some time, she started to feel uneasy about some of the 'enhanced interrogation' methods she was asked to approve - in her gut, she felt something was not right. She says it was her faith-formed conscience that led her to deny her colleagues’ requests to use such interrogation techniques.
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There are one hundred thousand missing Syrians, according to the UN, who’ve been detained or have disappeared since the beginning of the uprising in Syria twelve years ago and the civil war that followed. Most of their families have no idea where they are and whether they’re alive or dead. Many are paying thousands of dollars for information about them which almost always comes to nothing. For Assignment, Lina Sinjab reports from Turkey and Beirut where she’s been talking to Syrian refugees about the desperate measures they'll go to in their search for their missing relatives.
Presenter: Lina Sinjab
Producer : Caroline Bayley
Editor: Penny Murphy
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
(Image: Framed photographs of some of the people who are missing in Syria. Credit: Guevara Namer/The Syria Campaign) -
Prime Minister Narendra Modi describes India’s new parliament as a reflection of the “aspirations and dreams” of all Indians. But the huge triangular structure that sits next to its colonial-era predecessor is controversial: some opposition parties boycotted its inauguration. From Delhi, Shalu Yadav reports on a story that is about cost, architecture and urban design, but also power, democracy and India’s future.
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