Scammed, robbed, traumatised – life after war for Russian soldiers

Internationally renowned Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan is midway through an ambitious public installation that will be shown in the Valley of Arts, in the desert of north-west Saudi Arabia. She has just returned from collecting stories and drawings from the inhabitants of AlUla, and is starting to transform them into her own artwork. Titled Oasis of Stories, the project pays tribute to the local people of AlUla. She will carve their drawings into her installation, just like their ancestors carved petroglyphs to tell their own stories thousands of years ago. She also talks about her early work challenging the restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, such as I Am, which questioned the way women were only allowed to perform certain roles in Saudi society.

1 Jan 202427min

A special programme remembering past HARDtalk guests who died in 2023. All of them left an indelible mark on public life and all, in their different ways, relished the opportunity we gave them to discuss their decision-making and motivation.(Photo: Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary committee during confirmation hearings as she seeks to become the first woman to take a seat on the US Supreme Court, Washington, DC, 9 September , 1981. Credit: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

31 Des 202323min

We have spent the last year here on BBC OS Conversations covering some of the World’s major news stories. As the year draws to a close, however, we thought it would be interesting to hear from three people who have been doing something completely different in 2023 for their perspective on the world. 53-year-old professional explorer from Australia, Geoff Wilson, joined us from Canada. He has just completed the first part of his latest expedition, Project Zero, a two-year journey to promote the concept of “carbon neutral exploring”. So far, the adventure has included crossing perilous crevasses in Patagonia and battling towering waves at sea.“I was woken up by my son and his mate Geordie who were on watch saying that the boat was surfing down 15, 16 metre waves at about 16 knots,” Geoff tells host, James Reynolds. “It just felt that everything had gone to custard very quickly.”We bring Geoff together with Kiyonah Mya Buckhalter, a 25-year-old New Yorker. Kiyonah is Muslim, black and blogs as the “Veiled Traveller” on Instagram.“Travelling the way I do,” she says, “I’ve had to grow my confidence to get people to understand that I do have a warm heart and I am smiling very hard under this veil, even though they may not see it.”We also hear from 29-year-old Noel Salmon from London. Noel has just completed a seven-month solo cycle of the old silk road from Turkey to China, which involved extreme temperatures and exploding inner tubes. A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC OS team.

30 Des 202324min

Some people said it was created by Peruvian scientists, that it gorged on the blood of farm animals, that it was a monster. Many myths have grown up in Bolivia around the Paiche, one of the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish which is native to Amazonian rivers of Brazil and Peru and can grow up to four metres long. But after young fish were accidentally released from a Peruvian fish farm, the Paiche has arrived big time in Bolivian rivers.Every year, it reaches another 40 km of river and is eating all before it, especially smaller native fish stocks including even the deadly piranha. At the same time, the Paiche is proving a boon to many local fisherman who sell it to families and restaurants who are acquiring a taste for it in a land-locked country where meat has always been the favourite form of protein. This gives scientists and the authorities a dilemma. Do they try and control or even eradicate the Paiche from rivers famed for their biodiversity where new species are being identified all the time? Or let its spread continue unabated and provide a useful livelihood for fishermen and a healthy addition to the Bolivian diet? For Assignment, Jane Chambers takes to the rivers of Bolivia

28 Des 202327min

Stephen Sackur looks back at some of HARDtalk’s most impactful and thought-provoking interviews of 2023.

27 Des 202323min

Photographer Andrea Hernández has been travelling around her native Venezuela documenting people and nature for her ongoing project called Mango Season. Mango season in Venezuela is a time of abundance, when mango fruit is plentiful on the trees. During this time of economic crisis and food scarcity in the country, many people can now be seen roaming the streets looking for these fruits to feed themselves and their families. Andrea doesn’t want to just take photographs of the hungry, but to dignify the struggle, showing how people are helping to solve this situation and help create a bridge between the people in the photographs and the viewer. Presenter: Francis Peña

25 Des 202327min

Mani Djazmi presents a special programme as Crystal Palace defender Joel Ward and the former Portsmouth player Linvoy Primus discuss their Christian faith. We also hear from former USA international Jaelene Daniels, whose religious beliefs led her to turn down the chance to continue playing for her country.

24 Des 202327min

There’s no doubt this has been Taylor Swift’s year. Just 34 years old, the American singer songwriter has been in the music industry for more than half her life. She’s a multi-award winning performer whose diehard fans have helped her break all sorts of records. Time Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year is also the most streamed female artist on Spotify and Apple and this week she achieved a record 90 weeks at number 1 on the US Billboard Artist 100 chart.Swift’s Eras tour, which began in March this year and concludes at the end of 2024, has become the first to gross over $1 billion. Wherever Swift’s concerts land, they bring a big boost in the local economy.Host James Reynolds hears about Swift’s appeal from those with a professional and personal interest in the singer-songwriter. They include the first full-time Taylor Swift reporter and also the professor who is about to start teaching a ‘Taylor Swift and her World’ course to students at Harvard University. We also meet fans - or Swifties - from across four continents about why her songs are so special.“I was in the southern most part of Africa,” says Agape, who is from Cape Town and currently studying in the UK. “But I felt, even in her song lyrics, like she was writing for me or about me.”   A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC OS team.

23 Des 202326min