One of the most eye-catching decisions by Donald Trump since becoming American President for a second time was to freeze foreign aid. USAID is the agency that’s given billions of dollars to global projects, from disaster relief to fighting malaria.

With this decision there will be a big hole in global financing, one that could potentially be filled by other leading global countries, such as China.

President Xi has already upped China’s foreign spending in places like Africa. Chinese investing in huge infrastructure projects abroad isn’t new, but could they use America’s decision to their advantage and extend their influence around the world?

Shawn Yuan, from the BBC’s Global China Unit, explains how Chinese aid models differ from the US. We also hear from Janice Nkajja, a Ugandan TikToker and social justice activist whose video went viral when USAID was frozen. And Daniel Dadzie, our reporter in Ghana, takes us through China’s funding strategy in Africa.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Emily Horler, Josh Jenkins and Mora Morrison Editor: Harriet Oliver

Half of the Kenyan population use TikTok everyday. But when the sun sets, darker content appears on the platform. Girls as young as fifteen are advertising their bodies through livestreams and avoiding being caught by using coded messages. It’s a way for them to make money - but TikTok is also profiting, despite their strict rules on underage and sexual content.

BBC Africa Eye reporter Debula Kemoli has been to Kenya to investigate. She tells us what she uncovered, and shares insights from content moderators and the women and teens participating in the livestreams.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: William Lee Adams and Emilia Jansson Editor: Verity Wilde

At the end of last year, astronomers detected 2024 YR4, an asteroid that could collide with Earth on the 22nd December 2032. It was dubbed the ‘city-killer’ and news reports warned of Armageddon, comparing the potential impact to a nuclear bomb explosion. But since YR4’s discovery, space agencies and scientists have been studying the asteroid’s size, potential path and what we can do to divert it. There’s only the tiniest risk it will hit earth and experts say there’s no need for alarm.

BBC science and climate reporter Georgina Rannard talks us through all the details of Asteroid 2024 YR4, and gives a quick history of how we’ve managed asteroids in the past.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Emily Horler, Adam Chowdhury and Benita Barden Editor: Verity Wilde

The illegal drug trade is booming in Europe due to a growing and profitable demand for cocaine. It can be sold for almost double the price you can get for it in the US. Belgium and the Netherlands have been named as the new cocaine capitals, as the major container ports there have been infiltrated by drug smuggling gangs, and the US market becomes saturated and turns to opiates instead.

But how does cocaine get to Europe? And who’s operating these gangs? We speak to two journalists who’ve been looking at the illegal drug trade in Europe; Anna Holligan, BBC correspondent in the Netherlands, and Gabriel Stargardter, a Reuters journalist in Paris.

As more drugs are routed to Europe, countries in West and Central Africa are increasingly being used as key transit zones. Lucia Bird from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime tells us what impact it’s having on those countries.

Plus David Hillier, a freelance British journalist, explains what kinds of illegal drugs Europeans are currently taking.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Julia Ross-Roy, Hayley Clarke and Benita Barden Editor: Rosanna La Falce

This podcast was edited on 28 February 2025.

Naomi Watanabe is a Japanese comedian, fashion icon and social media powerhouse. She shot to fame in 2008 with her viral Beyoncé impression, earning her the nickname ‘Japanese Beyoncé. Now, with 10 million followers, she’s one of Japan’s biggest influencers. But that wasn’t enough for her. Four years ago she moved to New York to do stand-up comedy on the global stage.

Hannah went to New York in October to see her debut stand-up show, speak to fans and meet Naomi in person. Naomi talks about adapting to life in NYC, the rats, and what it’s like on dating apps when you’re super famous.

She’s also a body positivity icon. In Japan, one in five young women is underweight and there’s immense pressure to be thin. Naomi shares her feelings on body image and explains why she set up her own fashion label, Punyus, which means ‘chubby’.

And Mariko Oi, a BBC reporter from Japan, tells us about her experiences with Japanese perceptions of the ideal body shape.

Watch out for the full interview between Hannah and Naomi on the BBC World Service YouTube channel.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Julia Ross-Roy, Hayley Clarke and Rebecca Thorn Editor: Verity Wilde

America’s Next Top Model — the reality competition series hosted by Tyra Banks — continues to face criticism years after it stopped airing. And it’s not the only reality show that critics say hasn’t aged well. From Cops to The Swan to Mr Beast’s new show Beast Games, reality TV routinely courts controversy.

We all know reality shows like The Traitors, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives and Love Island. But how did the genre become so popular in the first place? We hear from Danielle Lindemann, a sociologist at Lehigh University and the author of ‘True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us’. She explains how shows like The Real World and Survivor helped define the genre and unpacks some of the biggest scandals from reality TV history.

We also chat to Angelea Preston, a journalist in New York and a former ANTM contestant. She won Cycle 17 — the show’s All-Stars edition — but had her title revoked after producers learned that she had worked briefly as an escort. She gives her take on some of the show’s most infamous photo shoots.

And what about makeover shows? Well Tawnya Perrotta — who appeared on TV as Tawnya Cooke — underwent several procedures for The Swan, a show where contestants spent months undergoing plastic surgery and therapy before competing in a beauty pageant.

And we hear from Big Brother Naija contestant Mr KayVee, who famously walked out of the house after having what he calls a “mental breakdown.”

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producer: Emily Horler Video Journalist: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde

Ne Zha 2 has just become the highest-grossing animated film of all time globally. It’s a fantasy film about a boy’s quest, fighting demons with magical powers, based on Chinese mythology. It’s now in the top 10 biggest movies in history and it could end up beating Avatar, as people are still going to see it. This is the first time the Chinese film industry - which is in large part controlled by the information arm of the Chinese Communist Party - has created such a successful film.

BBC journalist Koh Ewe explains why this film has been such a hit, and what this tells us about Chinese cinema. Kerry Allen, who monitors Chinese media for the BBC, explains what the reaction’s been like in China and film reviewer Sully from @SullyStreams on YouTube gives us his verdict on the film.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Mora Morrison, Kevyah Cardoso and Adam Chowdhury Editor: Verity Wilde

The Academy Awards take place this Sunday in Los Angeles concluding this year’s awards season. It’s been an unpredictable one with films Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist sweeping up big prizes at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and the SAG Awards. They’ll face blockbuster hits Dune: Part Two and Wicked in the Best Film category at the Oscars.

We speak to the BBC Culture Reporter Yasmin Rufo about what topics and controversies have got film fans, voters and critics speaking this season.

Plus we hear how artificial intelligence is being used in film and why it’s controversial from Dominic Lees, an Associate Professor and AI Expert at the University of Reading in the UK.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Josh Jenkins and Benita Barden Editor: Verity Wilde

Three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands more have been injured. Now U.S. President Donald Trump thinks he can broker peace by negotiating directly with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.

Vitaliy Shevchenko, BBC Monitoring’s Russia editor, explains how the war started and how severe it has become, assesses some of the misinformation that President Trump has repeated over the past week, and unpacks what we know about the proposed peace plan.

A generation of young people have had to come of age during the war. We hear from three of them — Maryna, Olga and Volodymyr. They explain how their lives have changed, how they feel about President Trump’s recent comments, and how they keep hope alive.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: William Lee Adams and Adam Chowdhury Editor: Verity Wilde

People should have access to around 50 to 100 litres of clean water per day, according to the UN. But this is not always the case, especially in countries with desert areas or affected by droughts.

There’s a technique called fog catching that’s been used on a small scale for decades. Nets are used to trap fog and water is channelled into pipes and storage tanks. But now, in the Atacama Desert in Chile, researchers want to scale it up massively and meet the entire water demand of Alto Hospicio, which is in one of the world's driest regions.

How much water can fog catching provide? And is it clean? The BBC’s Science Correspondent Victoria Gill runs us through how it all works. And we hear from two organisations working on improving access to water across Africa and Latin America.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Nadia Gyane, Josh Jenkins and Maria Clara Montoya Editor: Emily Horler

In December 2024, a huge, red-hot metal ring fell from the sky and landed in a small village in Kenya. It turned out to be a piece of space junk. There are millions of pieces of space debris and rubbish floating around in space.

And we’re sending more and more stuff up there. Now it’s not just governments, but private companies like SpaceX and Amazon who are launching satellites. Some reports suggest that by 2030, we could have more than 60,000 active satellites in space. So what happens when they’re no longer needed?

BBC Science reporter Caroline Steel explains why space junk is such a big issue, and how people are trying to get rid of it.

And Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, a Kenyan PHD student studying aerospace engineering, tells us about some of the potential solutions, like using nets or lasers.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Mora Morrison and Julia Ross-Roy Video Journalist: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde

South Africa faced the wrath of US President Donald Trump recently when he incorrectly accused the country’s government of confiscating land from white people.

Trump said South Africa was pursuing what he called "unjust and immoral practices" against the white minority Afrikaner community. As a result he’s frozen American foreign aid to the country and threatened to cut off all future funding, causing shockwaves across South Africa.

So how did we get here? What exactly is South Africa's Expropriation Act? And what influence is one of President Trump’s closest allies, South African born Elon Musk, having on the decisions being made? The BBC's Karnie Sharp talks us through what we need to know.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Mora Morrison and Josh Jenkins Editor: Verity Wilde