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Original BBC documentary storytelling, bringing award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and “unputdownable” audio. New episodes every week from The Documentary, Assignment, Heart and Soul, In the Studio and OS Conversations.
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The news you know, the science you don’t. Unexpected Elements looks beyond everyday narratives to discover a goldmine of scientific stories and connections from around the globe. From Afronauts, to why we argue, to a deep dive on animal lifespans: see the world in a new way.
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Leading artists, writers, thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives & links between past & present and new academic research. Broadcast as Free Thinking Tues – Thurs 10pm on BBC Radio 3 + Proms Plus events
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Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.
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Haiti is facing its most most acute humanitarian crisis for more than a decade. There’s been a surge in violence with armed gangs in control of most of the capital. The prime minister has resigned, there’s a month long state of emergency and a curfew has been extended. The gangs have destroyed police buildings and, after storming a prison in the ca…
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Andy Zaltzman quizzes the news. Providing all the answers are Zoe Lyons, Andrew Maxwell, Rachel Parris, and Danny Finkelstein. In this week of Lent and Love Andy and the panel address Labour's difficult relationship with itself, Trump's flirtations with Putin, and giving up on the idea of home ownership. Written by Andy Zaltzman With additional mat…
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The Gulf Stream, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is essential to stable global climate, and the reason we have moderate temperatures in Northern Europe. Now, a new modelling study suggests that this circulation could, at some point, be at a tipping point and collapse. We hear from one of the minds behind the mo…
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Israel has denied preventing food from getting into Gaza. Also: Israeli officials tell Palestinians to evacuate the area around al-Shifa hospital as its forces raid the facility, the latest from Haiti as an aid agency compares life in the capital to a horror film and why the pop star Ed Sheeran is singing in Punjabi.…
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In 1958, a brand new writing system was introduced in China called Pinyin. It used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words. The mastermind behind Pinyin was a professor called Zhou Youguang who'd previously worked in the United States as a banker. Pinyin helped to rapidly increase literacy levels in China. When it was intr…
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Stephen Sackur speaks to Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. He’s just back from Gaza; before that, he was on the Chad/Sudan border. Hundreds of thousands of people are in life threatening danger. Is the international community failing to protect the most vulnerable?By BBC World Service
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Jazz Emu sets out to write his friends the most romantic song ever created, in order to save their crumbling relationship and make everything in his friendship group nice again. Digging back into his alternative musical archives, Jazz takes inspiration from Barry White, George Michael and ACDC in order to learn about what makes a song romantic. Arm…
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Irish author Colm Tóibín is among the world’s most celebrated contemporary writers. His works includes novels such as Nora Webster and The Blackwater Lightship, but also journalism, criticism, drama and more. His book Brooklyn was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film starring Saoirse Ronan, and his writing has been translated into over 30 languages…
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The Austrian house where a doctor experimented on children. Evy Mages grew up in and out of foster care in 1970s and 80s Austria. But even when she started a new life in the US, she was haunted by traumatic memories of a strange yellow house high up in the Alps, where she had been placed as an eight-year-old. It took an idle internet search in her …
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The president says his victory will allow Russia to become stronger and more effective. Also: The Israeli prime minister promises that Palestinian civilians will be able to leave Rafah before Israeli forces launch their assault on the southern Gazan city, and what's the secret to happiness?By BBC World Service
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President Putin has claimed a landslide victory in an election that featured no genuine competition. The last day of voting was marked by silent protests at polling stations. But how does his expected victory matter? And what might securing a fifth term mean for the war in Ukraine? Lyse and Vitaly are joined by the BBC’s Russia editor Steve Rosenbe…
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The government of Uruguay has launched ambitious plans to make hydrogen and green fuels. The country generates far more of its electricity from renewables than most countries - Uruguay produces more than 90% of its electricity from sustainable resources, like wind. And that, the government says, puts it in a good position to start producing green h…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has been handed a landslide victory in an election his opponents condemned as a sham. The last day of voting was marked by silent protests at polling stations. Also on the programme: We speak to the prime minister of the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and Grenadines about the political plan for Haiti; and the Moroc…
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Aid agencies warn that the humanitarian situation in the country is deteriorating amid gang warfare and lawlessness. Police have launched an operation to wrest control of the capital from gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier. Also on the programme: history is made in Wales as Vaughan Gething is set to become the first black national leader in Eur…
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Around 50 protesters have been arrested in Russian cities on the final day of a vote set to confirm Vladimir Putin in office. Long queues formed outside polling stations, heeding a call to gather in protest. The call came from the wife of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died suddenly last month at a penal colony above the Arctic Circle. We he…
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A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast. What keeps China’s president up at night? The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC, with Katya Adler. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/globalstory or search for The Global Story wherever …
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Clive Oppenheimer is a volcanologist, filmmaker and Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge. His research has taken him on expeditions across the world, from Antarctica, where he discovered the camp of Captain Scott’s attempt to reach the South Pole, to Ethiopia where he was held at gunpoint by rebels. Clive was born in London, and …
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A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast. Panama Canal: It's running dry and it's going to cost us. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC, with Katya Adler. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/globalstory or search for The Global…
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Police in Haiti are reported to have launched an operation to arrest the leader of the coalition of gangs which now control most of the capital. Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier is seen as the main instigator of the protests which forced the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, to resign last week. We hear from a former US diplomat to Haiti. Also in the programm…
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Kate Adie presents dispatches from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, the United States, Croatia and France. The brutality of Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army once made headlines around the world, as #Kony2012 became a global social media cause. While the world soon moved on, the forgotten victims of LRA violence living in the Democr…
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‘Always pass the salt and pepper together, even if your fellow diner has asked just for one of them’. That’s the standard advice given by countless dining etiquette manuals, one of the many rules regarding proper manners that have been handed down from generation to generation. But what if some of the rules have become outdated, silly or just wrong…
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According to the head of the British military, the Russian government spends 40% of its budget on its war machine. But is it true? With the help of Professor Bettina Renz from Nottingham University and Dr Richard Connolly from The Royal United Services Institute, Olga Smirnova investigates the figure. Presenter: Tom CollsProducer: Olga SmirnovaProd…
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First, we go back to 1992, when off the coast of Ireland, a Swiss geology student accidentally discovered the longest set of footprints made by the first four-legged animals to walk on earth. They pointed to a new date for the key milestone in evolution, when the first amphibians left the water 385 million years ago. Dr Frankie Dunn, who is a senio…
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The United States is warning the rest of the world that the US is the canary in the coalmine when it comes to the global opioid crisis. Our presenter Will Bain will be hearing what the US plans on doing. Also, the man who bankrolled Nikki Haley's failed bid for the US Presidency warns where his cash might go next. And there is big news in K-pop for…
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Vladimir Putin faces no serious opposition. The election comes just a month after the death of the President's most prominent and vocal critic, Alexei Navalny, in a penal colony in Siberia. We hear from a young voter who plans to spoil her vote in protest. Also on the programme: The judge overseeing an election fraud case against Donald Trump has r…
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Crowd Science listener Maik wants to know what the BMI is and what his BMI score says about his body. He trains dogs for a living and wonders if, like different breeds of dog, we simply have different body types? Marnie Chesterton comes up with some answers, talking to doctors about how the BMI is used and misused in clinical practice, and looks at…
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When Saved was banned in 1965 by the Lord Chamberlain's office, the Royal Court theatre turned itself into a private club to allow performances of Edward Bond's drama to be staged. This may be the most famous incident in the career of the playwright, who has died aged 89, but he was the author of over 50 plays, including several written for young p…
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Russia’s elections have kicked off and bizarre scenes have already begun to unfold at polling stations across the country - including live pop performances, free pancakes, a bride and groom and a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Tucker Carlson. President Putin is considered very likely to win, despite having already served four terms - the ex-KGB sp…
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Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs, In this week's episode……four years after they declared COVID 19 a global pandemic, we speak to the World Health Organization to get their recollections and perspectives. A surprising finding about the particles shed from the brake pads on our ca…
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We take a look at Russia's economy as the nation holds the first presidential elections since the beginning of war with Ukraine. Major internet disruption has been reported in various countries across Africa. We hear about the consequences it is having on businesses. And Japanese carmakers Nissan and Hinda want to join forces in the electric vehicl…
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Polls open in Russia’s presidential election, but few are in doubt about the eventual result, with Vladimir Putin certain to win another six year term. Any serious challengers to the President, including anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin, have already been disqualified from the ballot. Also on the programme: we investigate what many are calling an…
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The US House of Representatives has passed a landmark bill that could see TikTok effectively banned. It would give the social media giant's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell its controlling stake or the app would face blocks in the US. Supporters of the bill say the app’s links with China make it a national security risk. Oppone…
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The Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii in 79AD is well known, but far fewer people know about the last time the volcano erupted in 1944. It was World War Two, and families in southern Italy had already lived through a German invasion, air bombardment, and surrender to the Allies. And then at 16:30 on 18 March, Vesuvius erupted. The sky fil…
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Greg Jenner and his guests lift the lid on one of Ancient Egypt's greatest rulers, Ramesses the Great. How did Ramesses acquire the nickname 'The Great'? What were the reasons for the adulation he received from his subjects? How long did he rule and how many temples were built in his honour? Greg discusses these questions and many more with his gue…
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Following wide ranging farmers' protests across Europe, now British farmers are starting to show their discontent with thousands of farmers meeting in Wales, as well as protests taking place in England. BBC Radio 4 Farming Today's Charlotte Smith joins farmers as they are protesting and asks if the industry is now at breaking point. Will the new pr…
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They are the top questions asked to anyone who is fasting for Ramadan: no food or water? But what is Ramadan? Why Fast? And how do young Muslims manage Ramadan in their respective lives and work? Former teacher turned journalist Mehreen Baig goes in search of the answers by speaking to Muslims from different cultural backgrounds. She explores all a…
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Andy Yen is founder and CEO of tech company Proton, best known for its encrypted email service Proton Mail. He was born in Taiwan, studied in California, then moved to Switzerland to work at CERN as a particle physicist. He then set up Proton from Geneva. Dougal Shaw talks to the entrepreneur about growing up in the shadow of China, personal privac…
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Former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Steven Mnuchin said he is arranging a team of investors to purchase Chinese social media giant TikTok. Our presenter Roger Hearing will be looking at how significant this move will be to stop Chinese influence in America. There is a defeat in the UK courts for the Australian who claims to be the man who founded…
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Israel's military says it plans to move displaced Palestinians in Gaza to what it called "humanitarian islands" in the middle of the strip, ahead of any offensive in Rafah, but critcs say they haven't offered many details on who they will operate. Also in the programme: thousands of Haitians are deported every day from the Dominican Republic despit…
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