What in the World

More than two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have ramped up their attempts to stifle Russia’s economy using sanctions. These are economic penalties imposed by one country on another to stop them acting aggressively or breaking international law. There are now around 16,500 sanctions against Russia that target sectors from energy to finance to aviation. Howev...

All of these African countries have suffered major internet disruption this month: Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Burkina Faso. This meant people couldn’t do everyday things like post on social media, send money to each other or order taxis. It’s because of damage to some of the underwater cables off the coast of west Africa. These cables, some only as thick as...

Havana Syndrome has confused scientists ever since it first emerged in Cuba in 2016. The mystery illness mostly affects American officials working in embassies abroad. They report symptoms like hearing buzzing and screeching noises, and often experience pulses of pain and intense pressure in their skulls. Among other theories, people have suggested it’s a side effect from some unknown surveillance...

Cookies are a way for organisations to collect data from people who visit their site or app. You might see banners popping up on sites you visit asking you to accept or decline them. Maria Clara Montoya from the What in the World team explains how cookies work and why we often see that choice. Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has rolled out a paid-subscription version of their soci...

Plane manufacturing giant Boeing has been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Videos of a dramatic door blowout onboard an Alaskan Airlines flight swept through social media in January. BBC reporter Thomas Mackintosh tells us about his chat with Cuong Tran, the man who was just inches away from the hole in the plane. We also hear from the BBC’s North America Business Correspondent Erin...

Some women with afro and curly textured hair use chemicals to straighten their hair. But using these products can lead to burns and skin irritation. And some of the ingredients, like formaldehyde, are carcinogens. Some studies have shown a link between their use and higher rates of some cancers. Kate Holden, a hair and scalp expert, tells us how chemical straighteners work. Dorcas Wangira, the BBC...

Idris Elba, one of the actors rumoured to be the next James Bond, is leading a project to turn an island in Sierra Leone into an eco-city. The new plans for Sherbro Island include wind-powered renewable electricity, solar farms and a film studio. The hope is that the island will become a tourist destination for people seeking the sun. The BBC’s David Waddell spoke to Elba about his new project. Da...

The Philippines is one of the most at risk countries in the world from the effects of climate change. At the same time, it has some of the most expensive energy in Southeast Asia and relies heavily on imported coal. But a recent report by the NGO Climate Analytics found that, by 2050, the Philippines could get its energy entirely from renewable sources. Is it feasible? Three Filipinos give us thei...

In Cameroon, 62 football players have been suspended from the domestic league for double identification or age fraud. One of them is 17 year old Wilfried Nathan Doualla who was part of the Indomitable Lions squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. There have been claims of age fraud in Cameroonian football for a long time now. Last year, 21 members of their under-17s squad failed age tests. Some...

At least six trans people have been killed in Mexico since the beginning of the year. Human rights groups say that Mexico is the second most dangerous country to be trans, after Brazil. One of the women killed was Samantha Gómez Fonseca, a trans activist and politician. She was shot multiple times in a taxi in Mexico City. Miguel Fuentes, from the LGTBQ organisation Yaaj, tells us about her life....

Muslims around the world are observing the holy month of Ramadan. It's a month of fasting, reflection, community and family time. But this year it feels different. Iqra Farooq, a BBC journalist in London, explains how people have traditionally marked Ramadan and how the Israel-Gaza war is impacting those traditions. We also hear from Muslims, from Gaza to Sudan, who discuss how the conflict is aff...

An online storm has engulfed Kate Middleton. Rumour and speculation have swirled ever since she underwent planned abdominal surgery at the start of the year. Kensington Palace said from the beginning that she wasn’t expected to resume Royal duties until after Easter but that did nothing to stop the pressure mounting over a lack of public appearances. Over the weekend the Palace released a photo of...

These days tickets for big music tours and sports events can sell out in a matter of seconds. And not everyone who buys a ticket is planning on going. Touts, scalpers, resellers (whatever you know them as) are using increasingly high-tech ways to snap up all the tickets before real fans get a chance, then selling them on for dizzying amounts. It’s not just big stars like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé,...

By the end of March, the Academy Awards and the Grammys will have finished, with hours of dedicate coverage, posts and memes galore. But viewing figures in the US show less people are tuning in. There’s a tendency to highlight the glitziness and importance of these events in the US, UK and Europe, but are award shows held to the same standard everywhere? And do these shows even matter anymore? Noo...

South Korea has had the world’s lowest birth rate for several years. And recent figures show that it has dropping even further. Yuna Ku, a reporter in the BBC’s Seoul bureau, explains why the high cost of childcare and expectations about women in the workplace have really put young people off. She also tells us about government efforts to encourage women to have kids, including subsidised housing,...

Senegal has a reputation as being a beacon of stability in West Africa. Even (whisper it) a bit boring when it comes to politics - but in the last few months all that has changed. Senegal was supposed to hold a presidential election in February but that hasn’t happened and no new date has been set. Critics of the current president, Macky Sall, say they’re worried he’s trying to stay on for a third...

Doctors in Kenya have been on the streets protesting against the state of healthcare in the country. They’re angry about a shortage of staff in hospitals and other public medical facilities. The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union or KMPDU want the government to plug the gaps by paying for medical interns to start working in hospitals immediately. But the country’s Ministry...

Haiti is battling a wave of gang violence. On Sunday armed gangs stormed a major prison in the capital Port-au-Prince. At least 12 people were killed and around 4,000 inmates escaped. The United Nations says the country has reached a critical point, with more than 1,100 people killed, injured or kidnapped in January alone. Kenya’s government has offered to help. It’s agreed to lead a multinational...

If you’ve made a TikTok recently, you might not have been able to add your favourite artist’s music. That’s because Universal, a massive record label that represents a third of all music in the world, won’t let TikTok use music by any of its signed artists - or songs that were written by any of its artists either. It’s part of a huge dispute that’s been going on in the music industry. We break thi...

Shaikh Mohammad Sarfaraz, a young Indian man from Kolkata, thought he’d landed a great job in another country; the pay was good and he believed he’d get a passport after just a few months’ work. He was told he was going to be a helper for the Russian military, working as a security guard or in the kitchens. But once he got there he found out he wasn’t going to be a helper, he was going to be a sol...

Singeli is a style of electronic dance music that developed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in the mid-2000s. The genre fuses incredibly rapid beats, with MCing and more traditional Tanzanian music. It started in underground parties but is now making waves globally. It’s played at Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival, as well as in Boiler Room sets. Popular artists include Jay Mitta, Abbas Jazza and Sisso. G...

There are more than 7000 languages spoken around the world. However, nearly 40 percent of them are considered endangered and are at risk of dying out completely. It’s estimated that in the next one hundred years, at least half of the languages spoken today won’t be around anymore. To find out why and whether anything can be done to save them, we spoke to Stephanie Witkowski, the head of ‘7000 Lang...

Darryl George, an 18-year-old student, has been in in-school suspension since August for refusing to cut his dreadlocks. They violate his school’s dress code. His lives in the U.S. state of Texas which had just passed the Crown Act, a law designed to prohibit race-based hair discrimination. A judge has ruled that this does not apply in Darryl’s case. Brandon Drenon, a BBC journalist based in Washi...

American company Intuitive Machines has successfully landed its Odysseus robot near the lunar south pole. The US space agency Nasa had purchased room on it for six scientific instruments. It’s also carrying a box containing 125 small stainless steel balls or mini moons by the American artist Jeff Koons to be left there. There’s now hundreds of tonnes of human objects on the Moon - from old space b...

Farmers in India are protesting in the country once again, wanting assured prices for their crops. There have already been four rounds of talks with the government which have failed to reach an agreement. Many have been marching on the capital Delhi, with barricades and barbed wire lined up across the city to stop protesters from entering the city. The last major farming protest in India took plac...