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, IVF treatment and even cash handouts.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Beverly Ochieng Producers: Josh Jenkins and William Lee Adams Editors: Simon Peeks

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 term - which is prohibited under the country’s constitution. Young protestors have been out on the streets, they don’t think they’re getting enough opportunities and are worried that if the chance to vote is taken away then nothing is going to change.

The BBC’s West Africa Correspondent Mayeni Jones helps us take a complicated situation back to basics and explains why what happens in Senegal might have big consequences for the entire region.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Beverly Ochieng Producer: Alex Rhodes Editors: Simon Peeks

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 of Health says it doesn’t have the funds to do that.

Dorcas Wangira, the BBC’s Africa Health correspondent, explains the doctors’ main demands and discusses how a planned 14-day strike could impact the health system.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Beverly Ochieng Producers: Josh Jenkins and William Lee Adams Editors: Simon Peeks

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 security force in the country and will deploy 1,000 troops to Haiti. Pascal Fletcher, a journalist with BBC Monitoring, explains the roots of Haiti’s instability.

We also hear from women across the Haitian diaspora including Bertrhude Albert, Monique Clesca, Gessica Geneus and Dr. Tatiana Behrmann.

This episode contains discussion about sexual assault, kidnapping and violence. Details of organisations offering information and support with these issues are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Beverly Ochieng Producers: Benita Barden and William Lee Adams Editors: Simon Peeks

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 this down with BBC Radio 1 presenter Maia Beth and producer and music journalist Siobhán McAndrew. Who’s going to lose out? And can Tiktok survive without all that music?

Plus former Manchester United midfielder and World Cup winner Paul Pogba has been banned by Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal (Nado) from playing football for four years for a doping offence. BBC Sport Africa’s Kelvin Kimathi tells us all about it.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Josh Jenkins and Baldeep Chahal Editor: Julia Ross-Roy

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 soldier - and he was being sent to fight in Ukraine.

Neyaz Farooquee, a reporter from the BBC’s Delhi bureau, has spoken to a number of Indian men who say they were also tricked. He describes their experiences. Plus Veronika Malinboym from BBC Monitoring in Georgia tells us about the other foreign nationals fighting in the Russia Ukraine war - on both sides of the conflict.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Alex Rhodes and Baldeep Chahal Editor: Julia Ross-Roy

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.

Gloria Achieng and Macharia Maina have been researching the genre for the past year for the BBC. They explain its origins and unique dance style.

We also hear how Mimah, and other female artists, are challenging negative stereotypes around the genre.

Plus, 23-year-old DJ Travella - a producer from Dar es Salaam - shares his hopes for the future.

The Singeli track in this episode is Agaba Kibati by Bamba Pana.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Mora Morrison and Benita Barden Editor: Julia Ross-Roy

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 Languages’, an organisation that works to keep endangered tongues alive and kicking.

And if you’re looking to learn a new language, we’ve got some tips for you from polyglots - people that can speak more than three!

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Adam Chowdhury, Baldeep Chahal and Alex Rhodes Editors: Simon Peeks

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 Washington, explains.

We also hear from Beverly Ochieng, from BBC Monitoring based in Nairobi, who explains hair standards in Kenya.

Plus, BBC news presenter Lukwesa Burak tells us what it was like when she stated to wearing her natural afro on screen.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Benita Barden Producers: Mora Morrison and William Lee Adams Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

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 boots and moon buggies to family photos and a javelin. There are also bags of vomit, urine and poo. It’s becoming a lunar junkyard.

Professor Jill Stuart from the London School of Economics explains the laws governing the moon and BBC journalist Daniel Dadzie tells us what’s up there and what people might take in future.

Also, two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, what’s life like as a student there? We hear from Vitalii Pashchenko, 21, Arina Stolbtsova, 21 and Yehor Olshevskiy, 17.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Julia Ross-Roy and Elena Angelides Researcher: Maria Clara Montoya Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

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 place in 2020, with dozens of people dying in the year-long protest.

BBC Monitoring reporter Rupsha Mukherjee is in Delhi and explains what people in India are saying, and why the protests take extra significance due to the country’s upcoming general election.

Meanwhile in Ghana, the country’s parliament looks set to pass a strong anti-LGBT bill which would bring in harsher penalties. The BBC’s Favour Nunoo explains what the new law would mean for gay people in the country.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Josh Jenkins and Adam Chowdhury Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

Nigeria is struggling with a kidnapping epidemic. Every year hundreds of people are abducted and held for ransom. The kidnap crisis hit the headlines ten years ago when the Chibok school girls were snatched by Boko Haram militants - but now, arguably, the problem has got worse. We speak to Chimezie Ucheagbo, a journalist with BBC Igbo, about how it’s affecting every day life for Nigerians. Plus, we hear from a family who had to deal with the problem first hand.

Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Emily Horler and Alex Rhodes Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks