What in the World

White smoke from the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City on Thursday 8th May announced that a new Pope had been elected. Pope Leo XIV is the 267th Pope to be exact and the first American. He also has Peruvian citizenship.

In this episode we’re going to explain what we know about the new Pope, Robert Prevost, and his views. We find out what a Pope actually does. Also why are people so surprised that an American Pope has been elected?

And w...

True crime series are hugely popular around the world. These are non-fiction TV shows and podcasts which look at victims of crimes and investigate the motives of the perpetrator, often covering grim topics like assault and murder. You might have heard of some of them like Serial, American Manhunt: OJ Simpson, The Menendez Brothers, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and My Lover My Killer.

Why are they so popular? And...

Election season in Australia is drawing to a close with the re-election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party. Around 18 million people in the country are eligible to vote, and many of them turned up to the polls as it is a legal obligation to do so. If you fail to turn up, you can face a fine. So what’s it like to vote in an election, when you have to? And how is enforced? BBC’s Australia correspondent Katy Watson...

When you picture Bali, you might think of sandy beaches, laid-back surfers, ancient temples and lush green rice paddies. As a tourist hotspot, single-use plastic is common and it has a problem with disposing of plastic waste. A study from 2021 ranked Indonesia as the fifth biggest contributor of marine waste in the world.

Now, Bali’s governor has set an ambitious goal: to make the island waste-free by 2027. But how realistic is that...

Shea butter, a rich silky fat loved for its versatility, is under threat. It’s a key ingredient in everything from moisturisers to pharmaceuticals, and it has a huge global market. The shea trees where it’s extracted from grow from West to East Africa in a vast strip known as the "shea belt".

BBC Africa’s Anne Okumu has been to visit the Mount Kei Central Forest Reserve in Uganda, an area which used to be lush with wild shea trees,...

Axolotls are only found in the wild in one place in the world; an area of wetland just outside Mexico City. They are one of the world’s most endangered, and arguably most adorable, amphibians. Not just meme-worthy, they are also scientifically fascinating - they don’t really age and they can regrow body parts, including their brains. Very few are left in the wild, but now scientists have released captive-bred axolotls back into ...

Sean "Diddy" Combs is one of the most successful music moguls in the history of rap. He has been arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. Prosecutors allege that he “abused, threatened, and coerced women” and that he created “a criminal enterprise” involving forced labour, kidnapping and bribery. Mr. Combs denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

Ahead of the trial later this month, Anoushka Mutanda-Doughert...

Two Belgian teenagers have plead guilty to trying to smuggle thousands of giant African harvester ants out of Kenya. The authorities said they were allegedly planning to sell the ants on the growing exotic pet market in Europe and Asia, where ant keepers put the insects in special habitats and watch them build their colonies. BBC reporter Akisa Wandera talks us through this landmark case.

We also hear from two ant keepers, Kaden (En...

Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams recently returned to Earth after a longer-than-expected nine months on the International Space Station (ISS). And when the astronauts emerged from their space craft they were helped on to a stretcher, which is standard practice after spending so long in a weightless environment.

The BBC’s Caroline Steel has been looking into how going into space impacts the body. She talks us through h...

China’s cosmetic surgery industry has exploded over the past decade and in turn, put even more pressure on young women to conform to unrealistic beauty standards. On Chinese social media there are hundreds of filtered faces, extreme weight-loss hacks, and even apps that scan your face and let you book cosmetic surgery as easily as ordering a taxi.

BBC reporter Natalia Zuo, takes us through the culture in China and what she found ou...

Many economists have warned that the world is poised for an economic downturn. The warnings come after President Trump's recent changes to America’s tariff policies. Changes in consumer spending — including their fashion choices — are one potential “recession indicator.”

Erin Delmore, the BBC’s North America business correspondent, explains what a recession is and discusses how people’s purchasing decisions — regarding everything fr...

Finding the right shade of makeup can be a struggle, especially if you have really fair or dark skin. But things are changing. Some brands, including Korean ones are looking at their shade ranges and making them more inclusive.

Soo Min Kim, a BBC reporter, takes us through the K-beauty industry and what’s changing.

We also hear from two beauty influencers - May Akhtar and Oceanne Comtois. Have they seen much change and could K-beaut...

The title of Ed Sheeran’s new single ‘Azizam’ means ‘my love’ in the Persian language. The track and accompanying music video includes references to Persian culture and features famous Iranian pop star Googoosh. She’s been banned from singing in Iran since the 1970s.

The song has received an outpouring of support from Iranian communities worldwide for its positive and heartfelt representation of Iran. But Googoosh’s featuring role h...

Pope Francis led the Catholic church for more than a decade. He was the first Latin American pope, and the first non-European in more than a thousand years.

Many saw him as a more liberal pope than his predecessors - he talked about things like climate change, migration and LGBTQ rights but there are also those who felt he should have been more progressive.

After his funeral, a conclave will begin and his successor will be chosen. We...

Over the past few weeks social media has been flooded with TikTok videos of people claiming that expensive European designer goods are actually made in China, and that you can buy the same luxury handbags and clothes for a fraction of the usual price. Many of these videos have since been taken down, but it’s led many to wonder if any of these claims are true. Are consumers being ripped off? And does President Donald Trump’s increas...

It’s 2025 and Katy Perry has officially gone to space. On Monday 14th April, she strapped herself into the Blue Origin rocket and blasted off like a “Firework” with five other well-known women. The rocket is owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancé Lauren Sanchez was also on board. The women claimed this all-female mission was to “take up space” but the reaction to the trip has been “Hot N Cold“. Some argue this wasn’t...

‘Tell Your Papa’ by Eedris Abdulkareem is an Afrobeats song which criticises Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu and calls on his son, Seyi Tinubu, to let his father know that "people are dying" because of hardship and insecurity, and that there is "hunger" in the country.

After its release, Nigeria’s National Broadcast Commission (NBC) ordered TV and radio stations not to play the track. They classed it as "inappropriate for broadcast...

A pet can bring so much joy to a person’s life. Usually, the owner will outlive their pet. But advances in modern veterinary care has made more treatments available to keep animals alive for longer. It can be expensive, with owners spending thousands of dollars to keep their beloved pet alive. But are these treatments worth it? And when does medical care for pets cross a line?

BBC Brasil journalist Julia Braun joins us in the studio...

An enormous fifty-year-old ocean liner, the SS United States, is set to be sunk and become the world’s biggest artificial reef, off the coast of Florida in the US. The area already has over 500 artificial reefs. These are manmade structures that may mimic some of the characteristics of a natural reef. The people behind it say it’ll improve biodiversity, local tourism and fishing.

And it’s not just old ships; people have sunk oil rig...