Russian aggression in Ukraine and the world's quest to end the dependence on Russian oil and gas has created an opportunity for Venezuela to negotiate an easing of the US-imposed oil sanctions. But, as Ivana Davidovic discovers, there are also many pitfalls on that journey.

Venezuela may have the world's largest oil reserves, but years of underinvestment have severely impacted output, as professor Terry Karl explains.

Former chairwoman of the refiner Citgo, Luisa Palacios, outlines where Venezuela still manages to sell its oil and the role played by Iran in that trade. She also thinks that a sanctions deal could be made if the Maduro administration is willing to relinquish some control over production.

But Venezuela expert David Smilde is worried that political, rather than practical, considerations - in the US and Venezuela - might muddy the waters.

Caracas-based journalist Francis Pena goes on a lengthy journey to buy petrol in her home city, illustrating how economic mismanagement and sanctions are affecting day-to-day lives.

Presenter/producer: Ivana Davidovic Image: A motorcycle passes in front of an oil-themed mural in Caracas, Venezuela. Credit: Javier Campos/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Tim Hayward takes a journey into the world of fungi. There’s a global wave of interest in the potential uses of fungi right now - and businesses are catching on and playing their part.

Tim starts at the Fungarium in Kew Gardens, the world’s biggest collection of dried fungal specimens, guided by collections curator Lee Davies. He then heads to a forest in Finland, where chief executive Eric Puro and lab manager Joette Crosier walk him through the setup at Kääpä Biotech - one of a new breed of fungally-focussed companies with big ambitions rooted in a passion for mushrooms and mycelium. Then he talks with Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Albert is part of a research team looking at the fungally-derived compound psilocybin - about which there’s a huge amount of interest relating to its therapeutic potential.

Presenter: Tim Hayward Producer : Richard Ward. Image: Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) mushrooms being cultivated at Kääpä Mushrooms, Karjalohja, Finland. Used with permission.

Tim’s three-part series about fungi, ‘Fungi: The New Frontier’, is available now on BBC Sounds.

China, the so-called engine of global growth, seems to be stalling badly right now. The country is facing rising unemployment, falling factory output and a collapsing property market. Plus, a growing number of regular Chinese citizens are complaining that the country's tough anti-Covid strategy isn't working. China has faced choppy economic waters before. But with record high-levels of domestic debt, does it now have the resources to shore up the holes when firms, banks and even local governments start to run out of money? And what are the implications for the rest of us?

Presenter/producer: Ed Butler Image: Children play basketball in front of a housing complex built by debt-laden Chinese property developer Evergrande in Beijing. Credit: Noel Celis/Getty Images.

Gambling has a long and complex relationship with sport. But betting is no longer a man's game. As women's sport grows, many companies are putting big money on its success.

In the last edition of our series looking at women, sport and business, we find out how one football side came back from the brink via a deal with Sweden's main gambling operator, Svenska Spel. We hear how England's victory in the Women's Euros could be a big win for the British betting sector.

But as other sports eye up sponsorship deals, some are calling for tighter controls on how - and to whom - bookmakers can advertise.

Presenter/Producer: Alex Bell (Image: Kristianstads DFF face their rivals Djurgardens IF DFF in Stockholm, Sweden. Credit: Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images.)

In 2020, after months of civil unrest, China introduced a new security law in Hong Kong. The UK authorities said it 'violated' the one country, two systems principle established after the former colony was handed back to China in 1997. In response the UK has expanded the British National Overseas visa scheme which now offers the right to live and work in the UK for five years, as well as a path to citizenship. In the first 15 months about 125,000 people applied. We catch up with those starting new lives in the UK and find out how they're establishing careers.

We hear from a journalist who's now working as a traffic warden, and a politician who has found a new role working for a High Street bank. Others explain how they organise regular litter picks to show their gratitude to the UK. Former Chinese diplomat Victor Gao gives the view from Beijing.

Producer/presenter: James Graham Additional production: Danny Vincent Image: A woman in Hong Kong at night. Credit: Getty Images

America’s rural hospitals face an uncertain future. One in three are now at risk of closure as doctors and nurses quit, patients struggle to pay their medical bills and government covid subsidies stop.

We hear from the front line of one rural hospital in Luray, Virginia. Travis Clark, the hospital's president, and Dr David Lee explain the everyday challenges facing patients and staff.

Alan Morgan from the National Rural Health Association tells us why rural hospitals are struggling. Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute in Washington DC argues that rural hospitals should stop relying on subsidies and close their doors if they can’t become more efficient.

Presenter and producer: Szu Ping Chan.

Image: Dr David Lee in the emergency room of Page Memorial Hospital in Luray, Virginia; Credit: BBC

After 37 years, the longest-running drama in Australian TV history is coming to an end.

We ask why the Neighbours funding model ultimately failed.

We speak to Rob Mills, who played the notorious villain Finn Kelly, about his efforts for the show to be rescued. We also look at how the series launched so many careers both on and off the screen.

And we go behind the scenes of the Neighbours set and speak to super-fans taking one last trip down their favourite fictional street.

Presenter: Vivienne Nunis Producer: Izzy Greenfield

(Photo: Ramsey St, the fictional street where the progarmme is set. Credit: Fairfax Media/Getty Images)

Skateboarding is one of the fastest growing sports in the world; it was included for the first time in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan. It's becoming increasingly popular among women and girls, but it does come with a price tag.

Hannah Mullane speaks to Boipelo Awuah, one of only two female African athletes to qualify to compete in skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics. Wendy Gila, the head of the South African Roller Sports Association, gives us her insight into how much it costs to make a sport like skateboarding accessible to everyone.

Mark Sedgwick meets Thato Moet, Founder of IslandGals, a girls only skate group in Johannesburg. She gives her perspective on what it’s like to be a female skater in South Africa. We’ll also hear from Pieter Retief, who helps to build skateparks all over the world and explains how they help to bring together communities. Presenter and producer: Hannah Mullane Reporter and producer: Mark Sedgwick

Image: Girls skating in Soweto; Credit: BBC

As part of our mini-series on women, sport and business we meet Cynt Marshall. She's the chief executive officer of the Dallas Mavericks and the first black female CEO in the history of the National Basketball Association, a professional basketball league in North America.

Cynt tells us about her background, where she found the drive to forge an enormously successful career and how she’s changed the toxic and very male workplace culture she found when she arrived at the Mavericks.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon Production: Helen Thomas and Carmel O’Grady Image: Cynt Marshall; Credit: Getty

The Commonwealth Games 2022 is coming to England's second biggest city, Birmingham, which is home to almost six million people and more than 450,000 businesses. It's expected to create 35,000 new jobs and skills opportunities and generate an extra £1.2bn ($1.4bn) for the city's economy.

Organisers are promising that it will be the most sustainable Commonwealth Games ever and will leave a carbon neutral legacy. That means any CO2 released into the atmosphere from the event will be balanced by an equivalent amount being removed.

Nisha Patel travels to Birmingham to speak to some of the people behind the games to get an insight into how they plan to achieve this and to find out how important the event is to the city.

Produced and presented by Nisha Patel.

Image: Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, Credit: Birmingham City Council

Climate change - which the United Nations defines as long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns - is a growing global problem, particularly for farmers. A recent UN report found agricultural productivity growth in Africa has decreased by 34 percent since 1961. That's more than any other region in the world.

Michael Kaloki takes a road trip around Kenya, speaking to farmers about their struggles to grow crops with the increasingly unpredictable weather.

He asks Rachel Bezner Kerr, a professor at the Department of Global Development at Cornell University in the United States why climate change is happening and what the future holds.

He visits the organisations that are trying to help farmers adapt to climate change. Dr Ivan Rwomushana, from the non-profit inter-governmental organisation CABI, and Oliver Furechi from the charity Practical Action tell him what strategies and solutions they're teaching farmers.

Presenter: Michael Kaloki Producer: Jo Critcher

Image: Nancy, a farmer in the county of Nakuru in Kenya; Credit: BBC

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw trained as a master brewer, but in late-1970s India she was rejected by the beer industry – it wasn’t seen as a job for a woman. Undeterred, she put her scientific mind and entrepreneurial prowess to setting up what would become one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Biocon. She tells Rahul Tandon about her humble beginnings in business, overcoming challenges and inspiring other female entrepreneurs.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producers: Rahul Tandon, Sam Clack, Rory Claydon Image: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw; Credit: Biocon