Afghanistan’s secret schools for women

Kate Adie introduces stories from Afghanistan, East Jerusalem, Jamaica, Thailand and Russia.

In Afghanistan women are facing ever tighter restrictions in almost every aspect of public life. Yogita Limaye has been in Afghanistan where she spoke to a young woman determined to keep her dreams alive by covertly flouting Taliban rules.

Wyre Davies reports on how the decades old agreement known as the 'Status Quo' is under threat, as Israeli nationalists flout the rules that govern Jerusalem's holiest site, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).

Last October, Hurricane Melissa - one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record - hit Jamaica, killing at least 45 people, and causing widespread devastation across the island. Eight months on, communities are rebuilding and recovering - Antonia Windsor went to visit them.

In Thailand’s capital Bangkok, emergency service a receive snake-related call roughly every 15 minutes. Rebecca Root spent time with experts exploring the rise of human-snake encounters - and why their work on anti-venom production is vital.

And after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow enacted new laws that made public criticism of the war a potential imprisonable offence. For the country’s comedians – for whom political satire has long been a staple of their performance - there’s now a tricky tightrope to tread, reports Ben Tavener in Moscow.

This podcast was first published on Sat 27 June and republished on Mon 29 June following a factual error in the introduction of the Jerusalem dispatch.