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Astu lugude lõputusse maailma

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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

Few people outside Kazakhstan know of the famine that destroyed nomadic life in the 1930s, and left more than a third of the population dead or displaced to China and far beyond. The famine, called Asharshylyk in Kazakh, was one of the most deadly man-made famines of the 20th Century; even more so, proportionately, than the much better known Holodomor in Ukraine during the same period. It resulted from the coming of Soviet power, the violent suppression of nomadism and forced settlement into disastrous collective farms. During the Soviet years, no one mentioned the Asharshylyk in public and its history was not at schools or universities. Rose Kudabayeva's grandparents didn't breathe a word to her about the Asharshylyk although they lived through the worst of it, losing several of their children. Now she travels through Kazakhstan trying to fill out the story, meeting archivists, writers, musicians, camel farmers and of course her own relatives.

The great hunger: Stalin's famine in Kazakhstan

Kruger national park in South Africa is one of the most well known nature reserves in the world. But the legacy of Paul Kruger, who the park is named after, is complicated. He founded the park to protect South Africa's wildlife, but he is also considered to be a relic of the country's racist past and considered by some as an architect of apartheid. Khanyisile Ngcobo is a reporter for BBC Africa and she tells us more about the name change debate. 

Luiz Fernando Toledo BBC News Brazil tells the story of the successful conservation of the giant Amazon fish, the pirarucu. Its skin can be turned into leather, which is used to make high end fashion items. The fishermen who catch them do so in exchange for policing illegal fishing, which has pulled the fish numbers back from the brink of extinction. But despite their role in conservation, and providing the leather, these fishermen don't share in the economic benefits of this fish. 

Have you ever thought about the history of toothbrushes or dental hygiene? Tejas Vaidya of BBC Gujarati went to meet an Indian man who owns the world’s largest toothbrush collection.

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. 

Presented by Faranak Amidi. 

Produced by Caroline Ferguson, Rebecca Moore and Alice Gioia.

This is an EcoAudio certified production. 

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

Does Kruger deserve a park?

In a cinema in south-west Germany an audience is gathered to watch an Oscar winning film, 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. The topic was rarely visited during Kai's childhood. It was only after a school history lesson that Kai began to comprehend Rudolf’s role as head of the largest mass murder site in history.
Reporter Shiroma Silva travels to his home in Germany to question Kai on his personal struggle. She tracks Kai’s outlook today through Christianity, in which he uses his past to look forward and understand the particular place of Jewish people in the Bible. He questions how antisemitism thrived in Christian societies and his grandfather’s early life in a devout Catholic family.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world

Kai Höss: My grandfather, the Commandant of Auschwitz

After years of Chinese investment in Africa, the West is fighting back. Through the Lobito Corridor project, the US and European countries are investing billions in Angola’s Benguela Railway, which runs from southern Africa’s interior to Angola’s Atlantic coast. The aim is to build a quick and reliable supply chain to export African minerals to the West. These minerals power the chips in all our gadgets, so they are pivotal in the US’s tussle with China. Plus, the project promises huge economic gains for Angola. Marcia Veiga takes the train to find out if ordinary Angolans will benefit, or if it is another case of foreign powers extracting African resources for their own gain.

In the shadow of the railway

In July 2024, Bolivia discovered the Mayaya Centro-X1 gas field, its largest find in nearly 20 years. With an estimated 1.7 trillion cubic feet of reserves, the announcement sparked excitement across the country, promising to help reverse a steep decline in domestic production and inject billions into the national economy. South American based journalist Constance Malleret explores what this discovery means for Bolivia - not just beneath the ground, but above it. We hear from geologists working at the site, government officials spearheading the Upstream Reactivation Plan, and energy analysts questioning whether the country is leaning too heavily on fossil fuel optimism.

Striking gas in Bolivia

Ranches, rodeos and public land. This is the story of a surprising battle raging in the American West, and the unlikely coalition it’s forged. 
 
Nearly half of all land in the West of the United States is owned by the federal government. Some people are trying to change that; they argue that part of it should be used for housing, amid a nationwide shortage. But this debate about land and development has touched a nerve in the Western psyche - tapping into bigger fears that the old way of life is under threat. It’s about identity, trust, and the growing popularity of cowboy culture, driven in part by the TV series Yellowstone.
 
In an increasingly polarised United States, this debate about public land is uniting cowboys, environmental activists, conservatives, and progressives. Ellie House reports from Montana, a state where the prospect of a public land sell-off is deeply unpopular, and where people feel like their cultures and traditions are at stake.

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

The real ‘Yellowstone’: A battle for the cowboy way of life

Kurdish designer Lara Dizeyee is preparing a couture collection for Milan Fashion Week. Dizeyee fled Iraqi Kurdistan as a child, grew up in the US, and later returned to Erbil. Her designs draw on traditional Kurdish dress - layered garments, capes, and ornate headpieces - reimagined as bold evening wear. Her work is celebrated in Kurdistan, across the diaspora, and in the Arabian Gulf. Yet despite her growing profile, she lacked the funds to stage a show on the scale Milan demands. Arts journalist Melissa Gronlund follows her as she secures backing and races against time to source fabrics, sketch and sew designs, and collaborate with Kurdish artisans on jewellery and bespoke accessories. More than 30 outfits are completed and packed into suitcases carried by her extended family. On the big day, Dizeyee fits each model and navigates last-minute crises - models too short, earrings that won’t fit, designs that misfire. But as the models walk out in her reimagined Kurdish looks, the emotion in the room is unmistakable. And in that final moment, as the Kurdish flag is symbolically recreated on the runway, Dizeyee presents her culture to the world.

Lara Dizeyee's Kurdish couture

Blood spilled in Sudan's el-Fasher massacre is visible from space. What led to the latest dark turn of events that took place after the Rapid Support Forces seized the city in Northern Darfur from the Sudanese Armed Forces? 

In this episode, first recorded in 2024, the Global Jigsaw digs into the prehistory of Sudan’s civil war. We focus on the power struggle between two men: Hemedti, in charge of the RAF, and Burkhan, the general leading the SAF. We ask who are the foreign powers aiding them, and why.

What’s behind the war in Sudan?

Networks of bots - automated social media accounts - have been found to be targeting European elections including, in the last year, those in Moldova, Poland and Germany. But could their real intention be to tie up news organisations with fact-checking? Damien Sharkov from BBC Monitoring has been looking at how they operate. 

Earlier this year, news reports circulated online that a Vietnamese-American scientist called Anh Duong had a hand in creating the bombs used by America in its June airstrikes on Iran. Those reports turned out to be untrue, but Thuong Le from BBC Vietnamese has the real story of the chemical engineer known as 'the Bomb Lady.'

In India, pigeons are a much-loved part of city life for many, but a health risk for some.Sumedha Pal has the story. 

Presenter: Faranak Amidi
Producers: Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson

Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich

How Russian AI targets news organisations

Something unusual happened recently at the Miss USA beauty contest: Miss Nevada, 22-year-old Mary Sickler, walked on stage without any hair. She had lost it to a condition known as alopecia but, until that moment, had worn a wig in public. Tens of millions of women around the world suffer from some form of hair loss and the story has sparked a global conversation. We bring together three women with alopecia, in the US, South Africa and the Netherlands. Many people having cancer treatment can also lose their hair – it’s usually temporary but can be permanent. Three women whose hair fell out during cancer treatment share their experiences of baldness, wigs and dating mishaps.

Women share stories of losing their hair

Personal names have spiritual and religious meanings in the Christian tradition. But what if you carry an inherited surname that you feel is profoundly unchristian? Should you keep it or change it? Robert Beckford is going through this dilemma. His surname is a slave name, a brand of ownership passed down from his enslaved African ancestors in Jamaica. Over time, Robert has grown deeply uncomfortable with the meaning of this name and now wants to find a more spiritual alternative. Robert embarks on a journey of self-discovery, considering whether he should change or keep his inherited name.

Heart and Soul: Should I change my name?

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