BBC Podcasts

Drop into BBC Minute every half an hour, 24/7, for the biggest news, sport, technology, health, science, social media and business stories; all in 60 secondsBy BBC World Service

The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service.By BBC World Service

Tom's had an accident! Can Anna sort out health and safety problems at work?By BBC Radio

An hour of top tunes from THE MYSTERINES, GEMMA CULLINGFORD, LARIZZLE, AMY MAY ELLIS, SCOTT LAVENE, MEGGIE BROWN, SKI LIFT, SPACE DOLPHIN, PHANTOM ISLE, MARIA UZOR, FAUXCHISELS, GRACE LIGHTMAN, RUDE FILMS, WANDERLAND, SIPHO, and OAK. handpicked by Tom Robinson from the BBC Introducing Uploader.By BBC Radio 6 Music

With the Taliban gaining territory following the exit of foreign forces from Afghanistan, we ask: can they retake the country? An MP from the city of Kandahar gives us his views, and the BBC's Lyse Doucet looks at the prospects for a political solution.Also in the programme: we hear from an academic who joined the resistance in the war-torn Ethiopi…

We hear about the start of the war in Darfur, through the eyes of a teenage boy whose life was changed when the Sudanese military allied to a local militia, the Janjaweed, laid waste to villages across the region, killing and raping as they went. We hear from a survivor of Norway's worst day of terror, when a far-right extremist, Anders Breivik, la…

Thousands of people say they’ve been shut out of their bank accounts without warning or explanation. MPs are investigating whether innocent customers have been caught up in a crackdown on money laundering. For the first time in 25 years the one-off payment given to adult prison leavers in England and Wales is to be raised. The Prison Discharge Gran…

In a segregated US, black audiences, entertainers and entrepreneurs established their own network of live performance venues known as the Chitlin’ Circuit. Concentrated primarily in the Deep South, it provided many pioneers of modern music with the platform to hone their craft and perfect their style as they travelled the country. Virtually every n…

Dr Freya Gowrley reveals how Georgian satirists used images of fatness to comment on the anxieties of the age From Britain's heaviest man who became a much-loved celebrity, to rotund imperialists mocked in humorous prints, Dr Freya Gowrley reveals how Georgian satirists used images of fatness to comment on the anxieties of the age. See acast.com/pr…

When Victoria Arlen was a child, she had dreams of being an athlete. But at the age of 11 she became unwell and lost consciousness, only to wake up years later in a hospital bed locked into her body, unable to communicate or move. For months she was alert, but nobody knew it and all she had were her thoughts. Slowly she recovered and took up para-s…

A year later than planned, due to the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics are underway. Yet Covid cases in the capital are rising, and a recent poll showed that 55% of people in Japan were opposed to the Games being held in Tokyo with fears that it could become a super spreader event. For the athletes, it’s business as usual, albeit under extraordinary ci…

The Delta Variant was first identified in India, fuelling a huge wave of cases and deaths. It is now spreading around the world, becoming the most dominant variant in many countries. This week we take a look at the numbers - where’s it spreading, how is this different to previous waves and what can be done to stop it?Tim Harford speaks to Professor…

Bangladesh has imposed strict lockdown measures after a spike in coronavirus infections. The BBC's Nagib Bahar in Dhaka explains the new restrictions. We also get reaction from Rubana Huq of Mohammadi Group, which makes clothing products including shirts and blouses, on the news that Bangladesh's garment factories will also have to close for the lo…

The long delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are finally underway - in a near deserted stadium; Haiti's assassinated president Jovenel Moïse is laid to rest...and why sales of foam clogs are soaring -- and dividing opinion among fashionistas.By BBC World Service

The Games have formally opened in Tokyo in a virtually empty stadium. It marked the official opening of Tokyo 2020, a year later than planned, and in the midst of a global pandemic.As skateboarding makes its debut as an Olympic event we speak to one of the sport's biggest stars, Tony Hawk.Also in the programme, China's President Xi has been on a su…

One CrowdScience listener finds herself unconcerned about much of the world’s problems, it leaves her wondering: am I a psychopath?Inspired by a previous episode on empathy, this listener asked is it true that psychopaths don’t empathise and what are the character traits of psychopathy? Marnie Chesterton talks with a diagnosed pro-social psychopath…

Bernardine Evaristo argues that the racist abuse levelled at England players after the final of the Euros has troubling ramifications. She says it's the kind of "vile, in-yer-face bile many of us thought we'd left behind decades ago."The essay contains very strong racist language. Producer: Adele Armstrong…

Japan will open the 32nd Olympiad despite Tokyo recording its highest number of new coronavirus infections in six months. The show director of Friday's ceremony, Kentaro Kobayashi has been dismissed after footage emerged in which he appears to be making jokes about the Holocaust.Also in the programme: a human rights group says Angola faces its wors…

The opening ceremony highlighted the isolation endured by athletes battling to train during the pandemic and remembered the millions who have died of coronavirus. Also on the programme: the assassinated president of Haiti is to be buried in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien; and a Chinese leader visits Tibet for the first time in more than thirty ye…

Due to Coronavirus, a subdued ceremony launches the much-postponed Olympics. Fewer than 1000 invited guests and no spectators are inside the huge main stadium. Also, President Xi Jinping makes first official visit to Tibet by a Chinese leader in 30 years, and one of India's most flamboyant businessmen is arrested for allegedly making porn films.…

Mark and Simon are joined by Edgar Wright & Sparks, who talk about The Sparks Brothers.Mark reviews Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston in period romance The World to Come, about two neighbouring couples along the mid-19th century American East Coast frontier; action drama Riders of Justice, in which Mads Mikklesen plays Markus, who has to go hom…

Michael Burleigh discusses his book Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Murder, which considers what we can learn from looking at assassinations as a category of political violence. He also talks about some of the key assassinations through history, from Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln to the mysterious 1986 killing of the Swedish prime …

Kate takes on Paul in the final Ken PopMaster before he takes a well-earned week off.By BBC Radio 2

How the Pegasus software from Israel’s NSO Group has kept ahead of smartphone makers’ attempts to block it. Plus, can Zoom’s new app features keep people video-conferencing post-pandemic, or has everyone had enough of virtual meetings? And the AI designed to help wine producers take more risks with what they make. Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, wi…

Felicity Hannah looks at how the Olympic games are financed and the competitors are funded. She's joined by Sir Keith Mills, former Deputy Chair of London 2012 organising committee; Nigel Walker who's National Director of the English Institute of Sport; Marie Oldham, Executive chair of the advertising agency VCCP Media and Danny Downs of online spo…

Felicity Hannah hears from the Food and Drink Federation after the Government announced new plans to stop some people having to isolate when they're pinged.UK tech founder Mike Lynch *can* be extradited to the US to face charges of conspiracy and fraud.Unilever warnings on InflationToyota shuts its factories in Thailand because of Covid.…

It's August 2019. The Indian government has revoked Kashmir's special status and the region is now under curfew and communications blackout. Zameera (Mita Rahman) is a half-widow, the Kashmiri term for a woman whose husband is one of 'the disappeared'. She just wants a normal life, but she and her son are soon pulled in different directions. By Avi…

"I couldn't stand back anymore and just watch people die."In September 2020, drug policy activist Peter Krykant decided he'd had enough. The former heroin addict, turned frontline campaigner, bought a minivan and kitted it out with sanitisers and needles, a supply of naloxone- the medication used to reverse an opioid overdose- and a defibrillator.H…

South Africa is facing its deepest political crisis of the post-apartheid era. Days of violence and looting saw more than 200 people killed and thousands arrested. Stephen Sackur speaks to Fikile Mbalula, the country's transport minister. Is the ANC government being confronted with its own failure?By BBC World Service

Several popular websites were sent offline due to a problem connecting users, or a DNS error. Companies affected included AirBnB, McDonald's, HSBC and British Airways. We speak to Jason Crabtree, founder and CEO of cybersecurity company Qomplex, who explains what happened.More and more people in the UK are being notified - or 'pinged' - by a Covid …

The first Test is finally upon us. And Warren Gatland has named his team to face the Springboks in Cape Town. Ugo Monye, Chris Jones, Matt Dawson and James Hook give their take on selection, and try to predict how the Lions will play. World Cup winner Francois Louw gives us the lowdown on South Africa and there's a TMO storm on the way.…

President Biden has been under pressure to respond to anti-regime protests. Also: the Senate in the Czech Republic has approved a plan to compensate Roma women who were forcibly sterilised, and beset by scandals and Covid-19 concerns, Tokyo prepares to hold the opening ceremony for the Olympics.By BBC World Service

The Chinese authorities have moved nearly 400,000 people to safer ground in Henan province following deadly floods; we hear what happened to one resident of the city of Zhengzhou. Also: on the tenth anniversary of the mass shooting at Utøya in Norway, we'll speak to one of the survivors; and two sisters prepare for their first Olympics. (Picture: P…

Right across the world unpredictable and extreme weather has led to devastating consequences: homes washed away by floods in Europe and China with hundreds dead; extreme heat and giant wildfires in North America and in Siberia, and we now hear that the Amazon rainforest is emitting more carbon dioxide than it is soaking up. Scientists are clear tha…

Back in November it was announced that an AI company called DeepMind had essentially cracked the problem of protein folding – that is they had managed to successfully predict the 3D structures of complex biochemical molecules by only knowing the 2D sequence of amino acids from which they are made.They are not the only team to use machine learning t…

The decision to remove Kentaro Kobayashi comes just a day before the opening show is due to be held. It’s the latest scandal to hit the Tokyo Games. Also: Famine stalks Angola as the worst drought in forty years ravages the south of the country; and Norway pauses to recall the mass murder committed by a far-right extremist ten years ago today.…

Cidny Bullens is a singer-songwriter whose career first took off in the 1970s, touring with Elton John and singing on the soundtrack for the movie Grease. Solo success would follow with two Grammy nominations. Cidny's style was androgynous - big hair, jumpsuits, flares, leather jackets... topped off with an electric guitar. But hidden behind the ac…

Bill plays Mark in this Thursday edition of the PopMaster Podcast with Ken Bruce.By BBC Radio 2

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the people, plants and animals once living on land now under the North Sea, now called Doggerland after Dogger Bank, inhabited up to c7000BC or roughly 3000 years before the beginnings of Stonehenge. There are traces of this landscape at low tide, such as the tree stumps at Redcar (above); yet more is being learned f…

In the early 2000s, rebels in Sudan's Darfur region took up arms against the government. In response, the Khartoum regime launched a scorched earth campaign along ethnic lines. The Sudanese military allied to a local militia, the Janjaweed, laid waste to villages across the region, killing and raping as they went. Some 300,000 people are believed t…

Ida Pfeiffer's desire to see the world was like many childhood fantasies - destined to remain just that. And yet at the age of 44 once her sons had reached adulthood, she set off from her home in Vienna on a series of journeys that no woman of her time or background had contemplated. Beginning with a trip to the Middle East, Pfeiffer travelled most…

Some retailers are warning keeping shelves stocked is getting increasingly difficult as workers get pinged.And Britain and the EU are arguing over Northern Ireland trade, again.Despite Tokyo's empty streets the Olympics are going ahead, though the man in charge of its opening ceremony has been sacked.Tech and workplace training boss Gori Yahaya, fo…

We continue the story of the notorious Nazi officer and organiser of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann, as he goes on trial in Israel. Political theorist Hannah Arendt covers the case, and like so many others, expects to see a monster in a glass cage. Instead she arrives at the chilling conclusion that Eichmann is not a criminal mastermind nor a “monst…

The Mexican state of Sinaloa is synonymous with drug trafficking. With the profits from organised crime a driver of the local economy, the tentacles of ‘narco cultura’ extend deep into people’s lives – especially those of women. In the city of Culiacan, plastic surgeons service demand for the exaggerated feminine silhouette favoured by the men with…

China’s decades-long One Child Policy has led to a low birth rate, and a shrinking workforce. It has also been placing a heavy burden on the younger generations who will have to support two parents and four grandparents. It’s predicted that in five years’ time, a quarter of the population will be over 65. With a smaller workforce, the country risks…

Zhengzhou, a central Chinese city, with 10,000,000 inhabitants has been paralysed by record-breaking floods and more rain in one day than it usually gets in a year. So how the climate crisis be tackled? We get analysis from Micheal Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University and the author of The New Climate War. A…

Life expectancy in the US has suffered its sharpest fall since the second world war; Chinese scientists say global warming has made China's annual flood season much more dangerous; and a gold toilet is discovered at the home of a Russian policeman, arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes.By BBC World Service