Belarus: Masking the virus

How do we learn to adapt when life doesn't go as we planned? Sometimes the life we believed we should be living and the expectation of the person we would become, no longer matches reality. Max, from Germany, became divorced during the pandemic. Therapist and author Dr Shefali, speaks to him about letting go of the idea of marriage as a ‘happily ever after’ and about how our own ego can stand in the way of personal growth.

12 Mar 202218min

Last year, San Francisco had twice as many deaths from drug abuse as Covid. In the central ‘Tenderloin’ district alone, where thousands of homeless people have pitched tents, three people a week are dying. Meanwhile drugs, including highly addictive and dangerous fentanyl, are sold and consumed openly on the street. Many types of crime are rising, and the city is struggling to entice people back after the pandemic exodus. The situation has led some politicians to ask if so-called progressive approaches to policing, homelessness and drug-taking are appropriate – or making things worse. In December, San Francisco’s Democratic Party Mayor said the city needed ‘tough love’ – and declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin. For Assignment, the BBC’s James Clayton meets addicts and their families, politicians, and charities, to tell the story of how one of America’s most beloved cities is having a crisis of confidence.(Image: Homeless people sitting on the street in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco, California, United States. Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

10 Mar 202227min

National and regional elections have frequently coincided with internet shutdowns or disruption. Shutdowns can occur whilst polls are open, or are sometimes imposed in response to protests that follow election results. National elections were held on 12 August 2021 in Zambia, and part way through voting, access to WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter was blocked. We hear from young voters in Lusaka about how the social media blocks affected them.

9 Mar 202227min

The war in Ukraine is bringing much destruction and devastation, with fighting and attacks in multiple cities. Host Karnie Sharp guides us through the stories of men and women who are living through it. Many have been forced to flee to find a safe haven, often leaving relatives behind to stay and fight or because they refuse to move from their homes. Hussain is one person we hear from in Kherson, the first major city to fall to Russian troops. Food is in increasingly short supply and he and his wife are restricting their intake, surviving mostly on water, in order to feed their two year-old daughter. We also hear from a couple who have chosen to remain in Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second largest city - which has been besieged by missiles.

5 Mar 202226min

When someone young dies it is very hard for those they leave behind, perhaps even more so when they have taken their own life. Jorge, from Mexico, speaks to Buddhist Nun, Sister Dang Nghiem, about how he struggles to forgive himself after his partner took her own life three years ago. Sister Dang shares her experience of losing her own partner. She suggests that acknowledging part of them lives on within you, and letting that part find peace, might help us deal with the guilt and grief that can arise when a loved one dies.

5 Mar 202218min

What would it be like if everyone believed you were dead? Lal Bihari knows exactly what that feels like. When he was 22 years old the Indian farmer was told by his local government office that he was dead and no protestations that he was standing before them would persuade the bureaucrats otherwise – after all, his death certificate was there as proof. Whether the victim of a scam or a clerical error, the end result for Bihari was to lose his business and all the land he was hoping to inherit. It took him more than two decades to reinstate himself among the living during which time he tried everything from going on hunger strike to kidnapping someone in the hopes that the police would be forced to concede that a dead man could not be arrested. Today, more than a quarter of a century later, Bihari runs the Association for the Living Dead of India through which he says he has helped thousands of people who have fallen victim to the same thing. He tells his extraordinary story to Chloe Hadjimatheou for Assignment. Production Team in India: Ajit Sarathi; Kinjal Pandya; Piyush Nagpal and Praveen Mudholkar Editor: Bridget Harney (This programme was originally broadcast in August 2021) (Image: Lal Bihari holding a banner for the Association of the Living Dead. Credit: Piyush Nagpal/BBC)

3 Mar 202226min

It is often claimed that shut downs are required to stop the spread of misinformation online, particularly during times of uncertainty or protest. In India, one of the world's largest democracy, internet shutdowns are a regular occurrence. According to data published by Access Now, an international digital rights, non-profit organisation, India has been responsible for more shutdowns each year than any other country. Felicia Anthonio, a campaigner for Access Now, identifies and verifies internet shutdowns as they happen around the world, and works to raise awareness of the human rights implications.

2 Mar 202227min

Each year Unicef, the United Nations children’s charity, procures billions of dollars of goods for delivery to those most in need all over the word. Many of those supplies will either have come from, or been organised by, the men and women working on the outskirts of Copenhagen in the biggest humanitarian warehouse in the world. The world’s disasters roll through here in waves, and as they do the warehouse takes on a purpose of its own.

1 Mar 202227min