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As Nepal deals with the aftermath of devastating floods, there have been renewed warnings about the impact of climate change on the Himalayas. As temperatures have risen, glaciers across the region have shrunk and the landscape has become more unstable. Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent reports from one remote Nepalese mountain community that faces an existential threat from a melting glacier. The ancient village of Halji, near the Tibetan border, is home to a thousand year-old Buddhist monastery, one of the oldest in Nepal. But high above the village, meltwater has created glacial lakes . In 2011, parts of the village were destroyed when a glacial lake burst and sent a torrent of water and rocks down the valley. Other communities in the area have abandoned their homes, yet here villagers remain. So why are they determined to stay? And can the community survive the dangers of this changing climate? Presented by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent Produced by Alex Last Sound Mix: James Beard Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Series Editor: Penny Murphy

Why has anti-Ukrainian feeling been growing in Poland? In 2022, when President Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Poland opened its doors and the Poles their hearts to Ukrainian refugees. Millions of Ukrainians passed through Poland, getting all kinds of help from local people and from the Polish government. Many stayed. But there has been a dramatic change in feelings towards Ukrainians, particularly in recent months. From a “love” of their neighbours, according to opinion polls, today more than half of Polish people express anti-Ukrainian sentiments. Cases of Ukrainians receiving verbal and physical abuse, both online and in real life have risen significantly. Polish military support for Kyiv remains vital. So why has this downturn happened and what could the consequences be? Does the answer lie in compassion fatigue or are there more sinister things going on? What role is dis-information online playing? And what about nationalist politics on both sides of the border? Producer and Presenter: John Murphy Fixer and translator: Grzegorz Sokol Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Studio Mix: James Beard Editor: Penny Murphy

Political analysts and human rights organisations say Turkey's courts are increasingly being used to silence political dissent and to shape a more socially conservative society. The most prominent defendant is Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, and the opposition figure opinion polls suggest is most likely to beat President Erdoğan at the ballot box. İmamoğlu has been held in Silivri prison since March 2025 and now stands trial alongside more than 400 co-defendants in a sprawling corruption case. Other elected mayors have been removed from office and replaced by government appointees. Journalists, musicians, and comedians too are now increasingly finding themselves in trouble with the law, jailed for jokes insulting the President or the state. The government insists its courts are independent and simply applying the law and that these are ordinary prosecutions, in a state entitled to defend itself after the violent coup attempt of 2016. But critics say President Erdoğan is using the courts as part of a "lawfare" campaign that aims to silence opponents, extend his more than two decades in power and shape the country in his own traditional, socially conservative Islamic vision. Emily Wither speaks to a former judge punished for criticising the changes to Turkey's judiciary, mayors held for months without conviction, court reporters accused of spreading "disinformation," and performers prosecuted for what they said on stage. Produced and presented by Emily Wither Mixed by Neil Churchill Production coordinator Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

Russian is the first language of millions of Ukrainians, including many of the country’s frontline troops. But it’s also the language of their enemy. And its public use is increasingly restricted by law, with ever more measures to enforce communication in Ukrainian. Ukrainians are allowed to speak Russian in private conversations. But they can be fined for playing a Russian language song in the street, if the singer or composer is a Russian citizen. The state says Russian must be policed because Russia uses the language as a weapon to spread its influence. But in primarily Russian-speaking places such as Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, many are unhappy about the language laws. One popular entertainer says they’re beyond Kafkaesque. Tim Whewell reports on the arguments dividing a city under constant Russian bombardment, as one side calls the Russian language a colonial hangover, while the other says cultural diversity is what Ukraine should be fighting for. Producer: Tim Whewell Sound engineer: James Beard. Assistant producer: Serhiy Solodko Security adviser: Jack Bleach Production coordinators: Gemma Ashman and Keshia Agyei Editor: Penny Murphy

AI cameras. Drones. Facial recognition. Sound detection. Flock. The United States is monitored through a growing, high-tech, and increasingly interconnected surveillance network. The police say this is all for public safety - to prevent crime and assist investigations. Critics think it’s an invasion of privacy, open to misuse, and a sneaky tool aiding ICE in President Trump’s deportation drive. One company is bearing the brunt of the backlash: Flock Safety. Its network of AI-powered licence plate readers spans over 7000 communities, generating 20 billion vehicle scans a month. In some cities - like Houston, Texas - which has over 60 different law enforcement agencies, the full extent of the system is unclear. Many of these authorities won’t say publicly how many Flock devices they have. Vigilantes have been cutting down licence plate readers. Social media is full of tips on how to obstruct or disable the cameras. City halls across America are debating their Flock contracts. Meanwhile Flock employees are facing threats to their own safety. Ellie House is in Houston, Texas, investigating the surveillance network authorities want to keep quiet. She sees how Flock has been used by police to fight crime, and gets inside the anti-surveillance ‘techlash’. And she sits down with Flock CEO Garrett Langley in his Atlanta HQ. Presented and produced by Ellie House. Edited by Penny Murphy. Sound mix by Neil Churchill. The Production Coordinator was Gemma Ashman.

The figures are startling. 2.1 million Brazilians have a clinical addiction to betting. 7.5 million are problem gamblers. Women now comprise 40% of all gamblers, having been 25% just a decade ago. Online sports and casino betting have exploded in Brazil to make it one of the largest gambling markets in the world. The self-help group Gamblers Anonymous says it's receiving thousands of calls each month and millions of Brazilians are estimated be suffering financial, emotional or relationship problems as a result of betting. Camilla Mota talks to football fans in Sao Paulo on why they’re gambling on their team’s result. She also speaks to a man who gambled away $75, 000 on a corporate credit card over just one weekend and a businesswoman who locked herself in the toilet of her family home in order to bet in secret. Camilla also meets two psychiatrists offering treatment to addicts at a special clinic. What can be done to protect problem gamblers while at the same time avoid driving legal gambling underground? Produced by Bob Howard Studio mix: Neva Missirian Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

What do the stolen love letters of John Keats have to do with homicide on the streets of New York?  Prosecuting both crimes falls under the remit of assistant district attorney Matthew Bogdanos.   A retired Marine colonel with both law and classics degrees, he has been the head of the Manhattan District Attorney's Antiquities Trafficking Unit since its creation in 2017. In his time on the job, the office has has seized more than six thousand pieces of stolen art and antiquities from various museums, art galleries and private homes in order to return them to their countries of origin. In this Crossing Continents, Sandra Kanthal travels to New York to learn more about this special unit of law enforcement and the reasons why one man thinks tracking down stolen treasures of the art world and reuniting them with their rightful owners is vitally important to our past and for our future. Presenter and Producer: Sandra Kanthal Editor: Penny Murphy Studio Mix: James Beard Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

The Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe is one of the natural wonders of the world. It's also one of Africa's great tourist attractions. As both countries seek to grow the tourism economy, there’s been a push to develop land around the Falls. But as Isa Jacobson reports from Zambia, it's led to fears for the preservation of the World Heritage Site, and warnings that the loss of land will exacerbate a deadly conflict between local people and wildlife. Presenter: Isa Jacobson Producer: Alex Last Sound Mix: Neil Churchill Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Series Editor: Penny Murphy

How amid the tents and the rubble Gaza is developing once again as an unlikely tech hub. Even before the October 7th 2023 attack and the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas, NGOs, with the backing of Google, had sought to develop tech start-ups in the Gaza strip. The digital economy was one of the few areas in which young Gazans in particular could seek to earn money for their families. During the two years of war they struggled for food and water. Forced to move from place to place, most of them lost their homes, their work, sometimes their laptops and plenty lost family members. Now 80% of Gazans are unemployed and have no income. Many of them live amid the rubble in tents. Stable electricity and internet are difficult to come by. And yet co-working hubs have begun to pop up, giving well educated graduates a chance to work remotely for foreign companies as coders, software engineers and app developers. With Israel controlling what comes in and out of Gaza, they still face significant obstacles, not least finding decent internet, electricity and spare parts for their laptops. And with near-daily bombings continuing, Gaza’s wider recovery remains uncertain. Yolande Knell reports on how its tech workers give a glimpse of a brighter, possible future, open to the world beyond Gaza’s borders. Producer: John Murphy Studio mix: Gareth Jones Programme co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

In 2017, five men digging in an open pit found the third largest diamond ever unearthed in west Africa. It was dubbed the Peace Diamond, in memory of the brutal civil war that had ravaged large parts of the region in the 1990's – a war driven in part by factions competing for control of the diamond trade. When the Peace Diamond sold for $6.5 million at auction in New York, the government pledged some of the profits would provide solar power, a clinic, a school and a road connection for the Sierra Leonean village where it was found. Each of the diggers and the pit’s owner also got a small share of the spoils. Nine years on, we return to Sierra Leone to see how much the government kept their promise and to what extent the discovery really did transform the lives for those involved for better, or for worse. Presented and produced by Ed Butler Studio mix by Neil Churchill Production coordinator: Katie Morrison Series editor: Penny Murphy

Nadia Marcinko, originally Marcinková, was born in Slovakia and met Jeffrey Epstein as an 18-year-old model. Later, she became a successful aircraft pilot. For seven years, she was Epstein’s main girlfriend. And she’s one of four women that US prosecutors named in a 2008 plea deal as his “potential co-conspirators”. But she’s never been accused of any crime. And she’s described herself a victim who was abused physically and psychologically by Epstein. Now, a committee of the US Congress is beginning to address the sensitive question of whether it’s possible for someone to be both a victim and an accomplice, as it takes testimony from two of the “potential co-conspirators”, Epstein’s former assistants Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff. Nadia Marcinko, who disappeared from public view several years ago, may also be called to testify. BBC reporter Tim Whewell and independent Slovak journalist Jakub Pohle have talked to people who’ve known her, and dug deep into the Epstein files, to put together the most detailed account yet of her life. Presented and produced by Tim Whewell and Jakub Pohle Additional research: Oscar Brophy Actors: Tara Gadomski, Kerry Shale, Simona Vrabcova, Rebeka Jurcackova, Jozef Radovsky Sound mixing: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Penny Murphy

Since 2023, Sudan has been engulfed by a brutal civil war. More than 150,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese military and the powerful paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The capital Khartoum was the epicentre of the conflict. Millions fled as fighting wrecked the city. In 2025, the Sudanese military finally retook the capital from the RSF. One year on, Mohanad Hashim returns home to Khartoum to see how life is slowly returning to the battered city. Reporter: Mohanad Hashim Producer: Alex Last Sound mix: Neil Churchill Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy

Eighteen months ago, the renovation of the railway station in Serbia’s second biggest city, Novi Sad, led to a tragic accident. A substantial concrete canopy, which ran across the front of the station building, suddenly collapsed, killing sixteen people. The disaster sparked mass protests. Marchers demanded justice for the dead and injured. As the protests spread, to the capital, Belgrade, and to towns and cities across the country, the demands evolved. Protesters accused the government of corruption and of covering up the truth about what happened. The government accused the protesters of being foreign agents, supported and organised by malign outside forces. Now, after more than a year, the mass protests have finally subsided. Jill McGivering is in Serbia to find out what’s happened to that explosion of anti-government anger. Presented by Jill McGivering Produced by Caroline Finnigan Studio mix: Neil Churchill Editor: Penny Murphy

Is defence of the petrol car and liberated motoring becoming the new battleground for Europe’s populist parties? Chris Bowlby visits one of the homes of German car culture and a populist stronghold, Zwickau, to see how motoring is rising up the German agenda. Is Zwickau a foretaste of something affecting all of Germany – a car-loving, car-manufacturing powerhouse in the past, now wondering anxiously what the future holds against the emergence of Chinese electric cars. And less than a hundred miles from Zwickau, just across the border in the Czech Republic, a new coalition government has recently taken power, including ministers from a populist party called Motorists for Themselves – muscular defenders of the old petrol car. Producer: Jim Frank Studio engineer: Neil Churchill Production coordinator: Katie Morrison Editor: Penny Murphy

Iceland is an island of great beauty and even greater strategic importance. Its position in the Greenland Iceland UK Gap, the gateway between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, makes it crucial to Nato operations in the High North. But Iceland is one of the few nations in the world with no military of its own. A country of approximately 400,000 people, its security relies on the umbrella of protection it derives from being a founding member of NATO, a bilateral agreement with the United States signed in 1951 and a highly skilled coast guard and police force. In a climate of fracturing political alliances, is entrusting national defence so heavily on the guarantees of allies a sustainable strategy? Sandra Kanthal travelled to Reykjavik to find out. Produced and presented by Sandra Kanthal Studio mix: Neil Churchill Production coordinator: Katie Morrison Series editor: Penny Murphy