The Documentary

The fighting and funerals in the Israel and Hamas war are constant. Thousands have been killed.The number of fatalities don’t tell the real stories though. In recent days, the OS team has been reaching out to people on both sides who have lost loved ones in the war; inviting them to tell the stories of those killed.Next week’s programme will feature Israeli families. This edition, hosted by James Reynolds, is a conversation with two Palestinians who now live in Scotland and Turkey.Yousef Almqayyad in Istanbul, had to have a heartbreaking discussion with his seven-year-old daughter about the deaths in his family.“Your grandfather, your grandmother, your uncles and aunts and your cousins, right now are in heaven, in a good place,” he said. “Better than Gaza, better than Turkey, better than any place in this world. I told her they are waiting for us.”Dr Ibrahim Khadra also shares his final conversation with a member of his family in Gaza, who said: “If we’ll survive, we’ll pray to God and if I’ll die just pray f

It’s been more than two decades since the Chinese government launched a crackdown on Falun Gong. The spiritual group claims practitioners face mass arrest, torture and are murdered by the state for their organs. The movement is seen as the most organised opposition group to the Chinese government. China calls Falun Gong an evil cult determined to bring down the Chinese Communist Party. Practitioners say the movement is non-political but critics claim the spiritual group is building an international fake news empire, are staunch supporters of Donald Trump and are sympathetic to far-right politicians. Banned in mainland China, Falun Gong believers once practiced and protested openly in Hong Kong. But since the introduction of a draconian national security law Falun Gong’s presence in the territory has all but vanished. The BBC’s Danny Vincent travels to the self-ruled island of Taiwan to talk to practitioners about their faith, persecution, the Chinese Communist Party and the future of Falun Gong. Producer: Dan

In Kenya, corporal punishment in schools has been banned for over twenty years, yet young students are being beaten by their teachers on a daily basis, and the consequences can be fatal. In the last five years alone, it’s believed more than 20 children have died at the hands of their teachers. In this week’s Assignment, BBC Africa Eye’s Tom Odula, whose own school years were marked by brutal and degrading treatment at the hands of teachers, goes on a journey to investigate the extent of the problem and what can be done to address it.He speaks to young victims who bear the scars of vicious beatings, to families who are seeking justice for their children who have reportedly been beaten, one of whom died - and to teachers who have turned their back on the cane and are now trying to spread the message that violence in the classroom is wrong. Through all of this, Tom asks the question, why is this happening, and what is being done to protect the most innocent in our society?Reporter: Tom Odula Producer: C

The ‘Raspberry Visa’ is the colloquial name given to the Portuguese passport that workers picking berries in Western Portugal can apply for after 7 years of work. Bhrikuti Rai and Fabian Federl visit Odemira, where the raspberries are grown, to find out what life is like for the workers here and whether their dream of earning an EU passport is worth the toil. Is this system the answer to the lack of workers in the West or simply another means for the unscrupulous to exploit the hopes of migrants with dreams of a better life?

Zoo designer Kieran Stanley has created some of the world's most impressive spaces to care for animals ranging from the Indian rhinoceros to the giant panda. He is passionate about animal welfare, wanting to inspire people to fall in love with wildlife in order to help protect nature.Originally from Cork, Ireland, Kieran now lives in Berlin where he plans and designs zoos across the globe. He lists milestone projects in countries including the UK, Denmark, South Korea, Uzbekistan, China, and Germany. From his studios in Berlin, we find Kieran overseeing multiple international projects including a major, and slightly mysterious, new zoo development in Gujarat, India, called simply ’Zoo India’.Working with a multidisciplinary team including architects, landscape architects, interior designers and communication designers, it quickly becomes clear that design is just one element of a complex and fascinating process. A Tandem Production for BBC World Service.

Observing the suffering on both sides of the Israel and Gaza war, are couples and families around the world in which individuals with Jewish and Palestinian heritage have come together and built a shared life. For some there will be conflicting and mixed emotions, and some difficult questions.We hear their conversations as they talk about the beginnings of romantic relationships, and the realisation of the huge complications and family disputes that might ensure. Emotions are shared, and the challenges and decisions they face because of the present and also the past.Leya and Thaer, a Jewish-Palestinian couple living in the US, describe how both of their families were happy with the match, and how they’re bringing their son up to understand and celebrate both sides of his heritage, and to make his own choices.Becca, an American-Israeli describes meeting her Palestinian husband-to-be Mohammed in Israel, and the moment she realised the impact this could have on both of their lives. “We kissed for the first time,

Rachel Freier was 30 when she started her training to be an attorney, and many people told her she was making a mistake. Growing up in an ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, women having high-powered careers has not been the norm, and even discouraged. But for Rachel, a mother of six, she felt that she could be a good mother, a good housewife, stay true to her Jewish faith and beliefs, while still being able to have a career – even if she was a woman. With the support of her husband she graduated law school and became an attorney, and then made history becoming the first Hasidic woman to be appointed as a judge at the civil court. Now, she is making history again, having just been elevated to the New York Supreme Court. We pay a visit to her home in Brooklyn to hear how she balances everything in her life, while managing a hugely demanding career.

Tatiana Frolova wasn’t born to be a theatre director. She grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s in a cut-off part of a closed country, the Soviet Far East. She was a shy, nervous girl brought up by a silent mother in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the bleak “City of the Dawn” built on Stalin’s orders in the early 1930s and celebrated officially as a Communist “hero-project.” But in 1985, aged 24, as the first glimmerings of glasnost appeared, Tatyana founded the Soviet Union’s first independent theatre since 1927 – known as KnAM - in Komsomolsk. It was tiny – with only 26 seats. But it tried to push back the boundaries of what could be discussed, building new plays around the memories and experiences of local people. They dealt with fear and violence transmitted from generation to generation. The theatre survived for 37 years despite the narrowing of possibilities for free speech under Vladimir Putin. But when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began last year, Tatiana realised she and her actors had to leave. Now, they’re tour

Faced with the ever-quickening pace of urbanisation, what is the future for Africa's swelling cities? Experts predict that Africa could be home to forty percent of humanity by the end of this century, and that the twenty fastest-growing cities in the world will be in sub-Saharan Africa. Will the continent have the potential for a brilliant urban future – or for an increasingly bleak one? Much will depend, in large part, on how it’s managed. How can already highly pressurised African cities provide better opportunities for all their inhabitants?In the final episode of 'Africa's Urban Future', a four-part series from the BBC World Service, Mike Wooldridge considers the future - and nothing is more pressing than the combination of this rapid urbanisation and accelerating climate change. In many cities, climate change will only add to the challenges. How the continent manages this, will not only affect the daily lives of the millions of Africans, but shape everything from migration and global economic prosperit

September 2023 sees the opening of PAC NYC – the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York. It’s the final building in the new piazza, situated on the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, which was destroyed on the 11th September 2001, when hijackers seized US passenger jets and crashed them into the Twin Towers, killing thousands of people. Jeff Lunden follows PAC NYC’s artistic director Bill Rauch and his behind the scenes team, as they get the specially built, flexible theatres ready for their opening season.

Mothers from all over the world leave their families in search of economic opportunities elsewhere – and they often end up working as nannies, which means they spend their days with children while their own are far away.How does it feel to nurture other people’s children while someone else takes care of yours? How does it shape a family when the mother works abroad? What’s the impact on the children, and their relationship with their parents?Namulanta Kombo - host of the multi-award-winning World Service podcast Dear Daughter – explores the personal stories behind this “global care chain.”She speaks to women all over the world who’ve been in this situation, from the Philippines to Romania to Nairobi to Dubai.They tell her what led them to leave, and what it’s been like for them - the birthdays missed and late night phone calls.They talk about the thrill of watching someone else’s child take their first steps, and the challenges of keeping your family together when you’re thousands of miles apart.And she speak

In recent days, there have been warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza amid continual bombardment. In Israel, the discovery of bodies continues in the communities near the border, following the attack by Hamas on 7 October. Many of those caught up in this conflict are young people. Host James Reynolds hears from teenagers, on both sides. In Gaza, roughly half the population is under 18, and although communications are very difficult, young people have been sending us voice messages when they have enough internet. Sanabel (16) is sheltering with her family. In her messages, she said: “No one cares about us.” In Israel, Neta (18) is preparing to be a solider for Israel.

A guide to the history and context of the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Katya Adler and guests explain the key players and set out the background to help you get to grips with what’s going on today. They explain the history of the creation of the state of Israel and look at the experience of Palestinians. They take a closer look at Hamas, the group responsible for orchestrating the recent attacks on Israel. They are regarded as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the UK, but how are they seen by Palestinians? Of course outsiders have also played a crucial role. We take a tour of this Middle Eastern neighbourhood to set out the relationships with Lebanon, Hezbollah, Jordan and Egypt and explain the role global powers like the USA and Iran have had at times of war and peace.

Following a dramatic train accident, David Ditchfield was dragged under a speeding train in Cambridgeshire and nearly lost his life. As he lay in hospital, just before being taken into surgery, he had an extraordinary spiritual experience characterised by overwhelming love, white light and spiritual beings The experience awakened a previously hidden talent for painting and music. Despite his vision of angelic beings and a white tunnel of light, he doesn’t view his life-changing spiritual awakening as a religious experience. He tells his remarkable story and meets the founder of Near Death Experience UK who too had a profound spiritual awakening while in a critical condition.

A village in northern Portugal is fighting to prevent what could be the first large scale battery grade lithium mine in Europe from going into operation on its doorstep. For Assignment, Caroline Bayley travels to Covas do Barroso - the remote farming community with World Agricultural Heritage status and a tiny population - where villagers have formed a protest group which has gained international support. Portugal has one of the largest deposits of lithium in Europe and the Government is in favour of exploiting these resources as part of the green transition as lithium is used in electric vehicle batteries. The mining company needs to lease common land jointly owned by the villagers to access the lithium but the residents are holding out against this, in spite of the compensation on offer. They fear that the four open pit mines would destroy their agricultural way of life. The Barroso mine has been given the green light by Portugal’s environment agency subject to certain strict criteria being met. Owned by S

Apartheid may now be long buried politically but in and around South Africa’s main cities it has left a visible legacy. Those entrenched historical problems could be about to get worse as cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town continue to grow rapidly, as a result of both migration and the natural population growth. Persistent power cuts and creaking infrastructure are major challenges to the ever-quickening pace of urbanisation. Can an ambitious new plan for Stellenbosch, the place where apartheid was reportedly conceived, help to break down the post-apartheid legacy of urban planning?

Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf takes us behind the scenes of the making of Kandahar, his film about life in Afghanistan that captured the world's attention when President Bush asked to see it after the attacks on 9/11. He reveals how he managed to film on a smugglers' route between Iran and Afghanistan, and how he avoided the attentions of the Taliban.

“I’m in love with the mountains.” A special episode from Kalki Presents: My Indian Life. Savita Kanswal was an inspirational climber, who had scaled Mount Everest. At the age of 26, she was tragically killed in an avalanche in the Himalayas. Kalki Presents: My Indian Life explores stories of being young and Indian in the 21st Century. Presented by Bollywood actor Kalki Koechlin. www.bbcworldservice.com/myindianlife #MyIndianLife

This is an historical conflict with decades of bloodshed but the unprecedented violence of the past week has thrown the crisis into unknown territory. It was triggered by the Islamist militant group Hamas – which is designated a terror organisation by many Western governments – breaking through the barrier between Israel and Gaza and launching a range of surprise attacks. Israel immediately announced it was at war and made threats to destroy Hamas; firing rocket attacks into Gaza. We speak to Israelis and Palestinians living in Gaza.

It has been 100 years since a young animator sold his first film series, called Alice Comedies, to a distributor. Without knowing, he was starting what became one of the world’s biggest media empires. The company took his family name: Disney. The studio has led and shaped the animation industry for generations, and it’s now in the very heart of global culture. In this episode of The Cultural Frontline, we speak to animators responsible for some of Disney and Pixar’s most successful films. We also explore the creative, technological and cultural challenges Disney and the wider animation industry are facing today. Veteran animator Floyd Norman has worked with Disney since the 1950s, on films like Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book. His colleague Tony Bancroft was the co-director of Mulan and the creator of one of the most beloved Disney characters, Pumbaa the warthog, in The Lion King. They talk about the milestones of Disney history. Oscar-winning director Brenda Chapman reflects on the role of women on scree