Afghan girls given a sporting chance

In a bonus episode of The Global Story podcast - Divorce: The art of breaking up. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC World Service. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/globalstory or search for The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts.Divorce rates have been in decline across the West for decades. Experts put this down to a variety of factors, from fewer marriages to a widening dating pool, but cultural differences mean it is difficult to draw broad conclusions on the trends around splitting up. So how can we judge how attitudes to divorce have changed? On today's episode Lucy Hockings is joined by divorce mediator and former BBC presenter Joanna Gosling, as well as Marina Adshade, a professor at the University of British Columbia who focusses on the economics of sex and relationships. They interrogate some of the stats on divorce, and discuss how the process of dissolving marriage is portrayed in popular culture. The Global Story brings you trusted insights from BBC journalists worldwide. We want your ideas, stories and experiences to help us understand and tell #TheGlobalStory. Email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com You can also message us or leave a voice note via WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480. Producer: Alice Aylett Roberts, Laurie Kalus and Emilia Jansson Sound engineer: Hannah Montgomery and Phil Bull Assistant editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas Editor is Richard Fenton-Smith

31 Jul 202424min

In a special edition of HARDtalk Stephen Sackur looks back at some of the guests who have risked their personal freedom to disclose secret information. What motivates these whistleblowers?This is a bonus episode from HARDtalk, a show that brings you in-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities. For more episodes search for HARDtalk wherever your get your BBC podcasts.

30 Jul 202423min

Dr Willard Wigan MBE creates the smallest handmade sculptures in the world. He uses high powered microscopes and custom-made tools formed from shards of diamond, hypodermic needles, and paintbrushes made from eyelashes. Willard’s talent and determination propelled him to international acclaim. His work sells for six-figure sums, and he has exhibited internationally. However, his path to success has been far from easy. As a schoolboy, he struggled with reading and writing due to unrecognised autism, his teachers dismissed him, and he endured routine bullying and racism. Willard's latest sculpture, a tribute to Charles Darwin, is crafted on the end of a pencil – a canvas rich in symbolism.

29 Jul 202426min

We visit the Las Patronas women 30 years on from when the young Romero Vazquez sisters first threw a loaf of bread onto the infamously dangerous La Bestia train. A train meant only for cargo, but which has become a dangerous mode of transport for more than 400,000 migrants every year. It begins from near the border of Guatemala, and along its 2000 mile journey migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico itself cling to its roof, heading north to America. Norma Romero guides us through the last 30 years since her and her sister first made the decision to help the passing migrants.

28 Jul 202426min

In countries like Somalia and Iran, where women are largely expected to present themselves with modesty, what role can make-up play? Bella Hassan of BBC Focus on Africa is from Somalia and Mina Joshaghani of BBC Persian is from Iran. They tell us about how make-up functions in a conservative society. Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean.(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

27 Jul 202427min

Could a woman of colour be the next president of the United States? That is what much of America has been asking this week and it is at the heart of our conversations. Race remains a major political and social issue in the US and there is plenty of discussion about Ms Harris’s background as a black and Asian-American woman. We bring together three black women Democratic party supporters: Kay in New York, Ashley in Oklahoma City and Keosha in Washington DC. With President Biden standing down, we get their reaction to the new choice for Democratic candidate in November’s elections.

27 Jul 202423min

On a busy street in Los Angeles a group of people in yellow vests are holding a ladder against a lamppost. Up the ladder, 34-year-old Evan Clark is ripping down a sign that is nailed to the post. It reads “Jesus: The way, the truth, the life”. These are members of the Atheist Street Pirates, local activists who track and remove religious signs affixed to public property. This group say that there are laws that forbid the erection of religious messages on public property. Nastaran Tavakoli-Far travels to Los Angeles and joins the Atheist Street Pirates out on a hunt for religious signs.

26 Jul 202426min

In the industrial town of Haryana in Northern India, young girls are breaking barriers training hard to become the next generation of gold medal-winning wrestlers, following their idols who have tasted Olympic glory abroad and made a stand against attitudes to women at home. But their success has come at a price. BBC journalist Divya Arya looks at what it takes for these girls to become an Indian wrestling heroine.

25 Jul 202426min