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BBC World Service

A window into our world, through in-depth storytelling from the BBC. Investigating, reporting and uncovering true stories from everywhere. Award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and global issues. 

From Trump's new world order, to war in Sudan, to the legacy of football icon Mo Salah, The Documentary investigates major global stories.

We delve into social media, take you into the minds of the world's most creative people and explore personal approaches to spirituality. Every week, we also bring together people from around the globe to discuss how news stories are affecting their lives. 

A new episode most days, all year round. From our BBC World Service teams at: Assignment, Heart and Soul, In the Studio, OS Conversations, The Fifth Floor and Trending.

The Documentary Podcast

The history of Gaza dates back more than 5000 years. In antiquity, it was a key port on the Mediterranean coast. Assyrians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and the Ottomans have all left their mark on this small territory. This rich history is seen by Palestinians as central to their identity. Amid the death and destruction of the war, the BBC’s Middle East Correspondent Yolande Knell meets the Palestinians who’ve desperately tried to save what remains of Gaza’s past.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events

Saving Gaza's past

Over the past year, BBC Eye has documented life in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, helping to capture the deeply personal stories of those living under the continuing shadow of war. Just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, this Russian-speaking city has sustained some of the heaviest attacks of the war.

Reporter Albina Kovalyova follows the stories of people who have nevertheless chosen to continue to live in Kharkiv. One, a writer from the Czech Republic who unexpectedly found love during a visit to this frontline city last year – and who uprooted her life in Prague to move to Ukraine to be with him. He’s an artist from Kharkiv, Konstantin Zorkin, who describes his belief in the transformative power of art and love. 

These personal stories of love and life are intercut with the violence Russia continues to unleash on this city of over a million people. And they are set against a shifting geopolitical backdrop, of ultimatums and recriminations and talks, as all the while the attacks on Kharkiv and Ukraine continue.

Presenter & reporter: Albina Kovalyova 
Producer: Louise Hidalgo
Editor: Rebecca Henschke
Executive Producer: Michael Simkin

Image: Adela and Konstantin (Credit: Konstantin Zorkin)

Kharkiv: Love in a warzone

Rising sea levels and a worldwide shortage of buildable land make the prospect of floating buildings and infrastructure more beneficial than ever. MAST is an architectural firm based in the southern harbour of Copenhagen in Denmark. Surrounded by shipbuilders and workshops, the MAST studio, run by two young passionate architects, devises and builds houses, community centres, saunas and whole neighbourhoods on water. 

While many of their projects can be seen on the waters of Copenhagen, the team is inspired by the long tradition of waterborne dwellings across the world and are currently working on constructions in Thailand, the Maldives, the USA , India and Portugal. 

Architecture critic and author Jonathan Glancey is invited to Copenhagen to see the studio in action and to travel out by boat to look at some of the completed projects.

Presenter: Jonathan Glancey
Producer: Susan Marling
A Just Radio production

Image: MAST architects Marshall Blecher and Magnus Maarbjerg (Credit: Susan Marling)

MAST: Architecture on water

Deep inside the Colombian Amazon hi-tech submarines are being built. When it comes to making the cocaine trade more profitable, there’s nothing narco-traffickers aren’t willing to try. Some of the solutions they’re reportedly employing sound like something out of the American TV series Breaking Bad: GPS-trackers, remotely operated submarines and recruiting highly specialised scientists. Reporter José Carlos Cueto of BBC Mundo has been investigating the new trends and technologies used by cartels in Colombia and abroad. 

Labubu dolls, the elf-like plush toys from the Chinese toy maker Pop Mart, seem to have taken the world by storm. Singer Rihanna had one clipped to her bag, influencer Kim Kardashian shared her collection of 10 dolls on Instagram, and former England football captain Sir David Beckham also shared a photo of a Labubu, given to him by his daughter. So, what’s behind this craze? Fan Wang reports from Singapore. 

From the US to the Middle East, sand and dust storms have recently swept across many parts of the world, colouring the skies and leaving people with breathing problems. These storms traditionally originate in vast deserts. However, scientists believe that climate change means more people could be affected - with desertification and melting glaciers, exposing more dust. Maria Zaccaro, a BBC journalist reporting for the Global Journalism Science and Climate team, finds out more. 

Mumbai in India is one of the most densely populated cities in the world - and it’s also the perfect habitat for leopards. BBC Marathi recently posted a video on their YouTube channel, showing these majestic wild cats strolling down residential streets and even entering people’s homes. In the past, there were several reports of human-animal conflict, including some deadly attacks. But since 2022 there have been no accidents at all. So how did people and leopards manage to find a way to live together in harmony? Reporter Mayuresh Konnur has the story. 

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.

This is an EcoAudio certified production. 

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Colombia's cocaine submarines

There’s plenty of chat on social media about so-called ‘grey divorce’. But are older people around the world really splitting up in record numbers?

The truth is it’s hard to be sure, because reliable figures on global divorce rates don’t exist. Where research has been done - most notably in the US - there’s some evidence that rising numbers of people are deciding to go their separate ways later in life. 

We hear from three Americans, including 65 year-old Laura in Virginia. Her immediate feelings post break up - after almost 30 years of marriage - included loneliness and personal reappraisal. 

“It was also a complete loss of my sense of identity,” said Laura. “I had my ex husband’s last name longer than I had my own name. I was a mother and my divorce coincided with my kids launching. So it was, okay, who am I now?”

For 68-year-old Steven in North Carolina, who split from his husband eight years ago, new relationships also required adjustment.

“It has taken time to rebuild that kind of trust on the emotional level,” he said, “and then taking your clothes off at 60 is different to taking your clothes off at 45!” 

Two women from Malaysia and South Africa also reveal what grey divorce is like from an adult child’s point of view. 

Hosted by Rahul Tandon. Conversations by Luke Jones. 

A Boffin Media production with producer Sue Nelson in partnership with the BBC OS team and producers Iqra Farooq and Laura Cress.

Grey divorce

To Italians, bread is life. With 250 varieties across the country, it’s eaten with almost every meal. Its importance speaks to national values of community, tradition, quality and - above all - religion.

Australian-Japanese food writer Emiko Davies takes a tasty journey into the spiritual significance of bread in Italy, her adopted home. In the west of Sicily, residents honour Saint Joseph by constructing intricate sculptural breads, adorning altars with baked symbols, and staging a ritualised feast attended by the entire community. On the coast of Puglia, locals queue to receive blessed loaves in celebration of Saint Anthony. Finally, with food historian Fabrizia Lanza, she reflects on the origins of religious superstitions surrounding bread, and what the nation's diverse culinary traditions tell us about faith in Italy today.

Presenter: Emiko Davies
Producer: Jude Shapiro
Executive Producer: Jack Howson
Production Coordinator: Ieva Sabaliauskaite

A Peanut & Crumb production for BBC World Service

Blessed with bread

On the outskirts of Hamburg, Dr Gerald Koch is surrounded by wooden objects - chairs, board games, paint brushes - ready for inspection. His team of scientists at the Thünen Institute of Wood Research are known as the timber detectives. They spend their days putting wood samples under the microscope to find out where they've come from, and if they’re suspect. 

Berlin based environmental journalist Becca Warner explores the ongoing problem of illegal deforestation.

Why is it proving so hard to tackle, despite tightening EU regulations? What are the consequences for those living in Papua New Guinea where much of this timber originates? And what makes this group of German scientists so important in the battle to protect the world’s forests?

Presenter: Becca Warner
Producer: Tom Pooley 

A 4 kicks production for the BBC World Service. 

Image: Gerald Koch and Becca Warner inspect timber samples (Credit: Tom Pooley)

This programme has been edited for clarity.

Germany's timber detectives

BBC Trending: Why are some Americans yelling at clouds?

On 4 July, just hours after flash floods hit the US state of Texas, killing more than 130 people, social media was inundated with unfounded theories about the causes of this tragedy. 

The main allegation was that the extreme rainfall was somehow man-made, with many users blaming Rainmaker, a weather modification company based in California. 

These baseless claims were quickly debunked by scientists. 

And yet, online, calls for the company’s CEO, Augustus Doricko, to be arrested, punished - or, more sinisterly, executed - continued to multiply. 

Suggestions that sinister forces may be controlling the weather by spraying chemicals in the atmosphere may have once been the preserve of niche websites and forums. Not anymore.

As several US states consider banning weather modification and geoengineering, BBC Trending investigates how fringe conspiracy theories have gone mainstream.
 
Reporter: Marco Silva
Editor: Flora Carmichael

Floods hit Texas, then came the cloud talk

Europe’s largest herd of wild horses, in north-west Spain, is under threat. Numbers have halved in the last fifty years. Now around ten thousand wild horses roam freely in the hills and mountains of Galicia. But they are facing a number of challenges, not least the loss of their habitat and the threat from their main predator, wolves. There are also legal demands imposed by the regional government which have placed added financial burdens on the local people who, in effect, “own” these horses. And yet Galicia’s wild horses have been an integral part of the local culture for centuries, particularly during annual festivals known as “rapas das bestas,” the shearing of the beasts. The horses are also known as engineers of the landscape, credited with boosting the local flora and fauna and with helping to control forest fires.

John Murphy travels to Galicia to hear what is happening to these extraordinary animals and why they are so important.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Galicia’s wild horses in peril

The Delacorte Theater, home to New York's beloved free outdoor Shakespeare performances in Central Park, has undergone an $85 million refurbishment. Now clad in redwood timber from disused water tanks from each of New York’s boroughs, the structure has been made accessible for disabled audiences, actors and backstage workers. It's also been made water and raccoon-proof. Presenter Jeff Lunden has been following its progress – from a hard-hat tour in freezing February to the summer previews of a new production of Twelfth Night, starring Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave actor Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh from Killing Eve, and Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

The Delacorte Theater

George Weah, former World Footballer of the Year and star of AC Milan, Chelsea and Monaco, was elected president of Liberia in a landslide victory just over a year ago. Having been raised in one of Liberia’s worst slums, many saw him as a man who understood the needs of the poor. But some now doubt that he will deliver on campaign promises to help lift people out of poverty. Mike Thomson, who was granted a rare interview with the President, reports from Monrovia.

George Weah: The footballing president

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