The Pope is on an 11 day trip around 4 African countries - Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. This isn’t the only reason why the Pope is in the news though, there’s also been some drama with President Trump, where they clashed over the war in Iran.

A major message from the Pope on this tour (and generally) is “peace”. He’s said “the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.” Some of the countries the Catholic leader is travelling to are dealing with active conflicts.

His visit also shows the increasing importance of Africa to Catholicism - more than a fifth of the world's Catholics live on the continent.

Makuochi Okafor, takes us through it all, from Nigeria. Plus we hear from two young Catholics in Cameroon about their feelings about the Pope’s visit.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Emily Horler and Benita Barden Editor: Julia Ross-Roy

Today we’re talking talc… that white powder that is sometimes found in make-up. There’s been a lot of chat recently about the safety of talc. So, in this episode we find out why it’s in our make-up and cosmetics, and whether we should be avoiding it.

BBC journalist Phoebe Keane, who produced the podcast series Talc Tales, explains what talc is and its link to asbestos, a known carcinogen. We also discuss the different tests that are used to determine if talc has been contaminated with asbestos.

The World Health Organization has classified talc as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Several companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Chanel and L’Oreal have been quietly moving away from using talc-based products in recent years. But do consumers care about this? We hear from Savannah, a PhD student and make-up content creator. And what can you use if you want to avoid talc in make-up? Jen Novakovich, a science communicator and cosmetic scientist, suggests some alternatives.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Mora Morrison and Benita Barden Video producer: Tim Hodges Editor: Verity Wilde and Harriet Oliver

Hippos were first introduced to Colombia by drug lord Pablo Escobar. After his death in 1993, the hippos were left roaming free on his abandoned estate and their population kept on growing.

Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with a wild hippo population and they’ve become a tourist attraction there. But like other invasive species, they are an issue - tearing through villages and competing with native wildlife. The government has tried sterilising and relocating them but this has been expensive and unsuccessful. So now, they’ve decided to cull around 80 hippos to limit their growth but animal rights groups think other options might still be possible.

We speak to the BBC’s Climate and Science reporter, Esme Stallard, who explains how these decisions are made and why invasive species can be such an issue. And we hear from Manuel Rueda, a freelance journalist in Bogota, who has previously visited the hippos.

India has the biggest youth population in the world and more and more people are graduating from colleges and universities. 5 million people are coming out of education each year, but nearly 40% of graduates aged between 15-25 can’t get a job. In fact, the unemployment rates are way higher for graduates than for people who are less educated.

White-collar job creation - graduate office jobs - has fallen from 11% growth before 2020 to just 1% today, according to Naukri Jobspeak Index. Big employers like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro are all cutting jobs or freezing recruitment. And AI is also playing a role here. The Indian government estimates that by 2031, AI could eliminate close to three million IT and customer service jobs.

So what’s it like to be an unemployed graduate in India right now? How do you get through the daily grind of job applications and interviews? How do you deal with pressure from your family to find a job? We chat to Karmanya Batra, Anjali Mekala and Bhadra Ashok Kumar.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Ash Mohamed and Julia Ross-Roy Video producer: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde

After 16 years in power, Victor Orbán is no longer in charge in Hungary, after losing the election in a landslide vote. He’s friends with President Trump - who sent his deputy JD Vance to support his campaign - and he’s also close to President Putin.

The man replacing him as Prime Minister - Péter Magyar - hinted at making big changes during his campaign, including stamping out alleged corruption and moving away from Russia to get closer to the EU. But his win isn’t just a big moment for Hungarians - it also marks a huge change for politics across Europe and could have ripple effects that will be felt across the world.

In this episode, we hear from the BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan, who’s in Budapest reporting on the election, and explains why this result is so significant. And we also hear from young Hungarians who voted for Magyar - and their hopes for the future after his win. Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Benita Barden and Chelsea Coates Editor: Harriet Oliver

India has passed a controversial bill that seeks to change how transgender people are legally recognised and their right to self-identify. The government says this legislation is meant to protect vulnerable groups from being exploited. But it’s caused protests by opposition parties and members of the LGBTQ community.

In this episode the BBC’s Anahita Sachdev, based in Delhi, breaks down everything we need to know about the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act 2026, including how this law could impact India’s ‘third gender’. We also hear from trans-rights activist Don Hasar who shares why some people are worried.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producer: Mora Morrison Editor: Harriet Oliver

Four astronauts have travelled further from Earth than anyone ever before. It's part of the Artemis II mission - which saw humans go to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.

You’ve been sending us your questions - and in this episode we put them to two former Nasa astronauts, Steve Swanson and Nicole Stott.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Mora Morrison, Chelsea Coates and Julia Ross-Roy Video producer: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde

The US and Iran have agreed to a conditional two-week ceasefire, hours after President Trump threatened that "a whole civilisation” would die if the Strait of Hormuz did not reopen.

Iran has agreed to open the key shipping route while the US stops its strikes— but it’s also put forward a 10-point plan with several other demands, including compensation for the damage caused by the war.

Pakistan has been acting as a mediator between the two countries and it will host talks between the US and Iran this Friday - so what can we expect from the negotiations?

In this episode we look at the terms of this ceasefire, what it means for the countries involved in the conflict and what could happen next.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Mora Morrison and Chelsea Coates Editor: Verity Wilde

There’s a growing trend of young people taking to social media to share their Christian faith with the world. These influencers include Bryce Crawford, Redeemed Zoomer and @BreakingInTheHabit. We chat to Adeline in Australia and IBQuake in Nigeria, who both make Christian content online. We hear why they do it and find out why they think faith-based content is becoming more popular. And Chelsea from the What in the World team explains why we’re seeing more of this content right now.

You might have seen some headlines about Gen-Z being the most Christian generation yet - but is it true? We get the facts from Conrad Hackett at Pew Research Center, a US think tank.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Mora Morrison, Chelsea Coates and Julia Ross-Roy Video producer: Baldeep Chahal Editor: Verity Wilde

Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon this week. It’s as the US-Israel war with Iran also continues. A new front in the war opened in Lebanon on 2nd March when the Iran-backed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel. This was in retaliation to the death of Iran’s supreme leader and ceasefire violations.

More than a million people in Lebanon - roughly one in every six - have been displaced from their homes. And more than 1,400 people have been killed.

We chat to the BBC's Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega, who’s based in Beirut. He walks us through what’s happening in Lebanon, the background to Hezbollah, and when the war might come to an end.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Mora Morrison, Julia Ross-Roy and Benita Barden Editor: Harriet Oliver

Lebanon, Kenya and Jamaica are among the handful of countries that have gotten rid of the ‘period tax’ - the additional charge the government adds to the retail price of sanitary products like pads or tampons. Now, a new campaign has started to scrap the tax in Pakistan. According to UNICEF, the tax can add up to 40% to the retail price of sanitary pads in the country, making them out of reach for many women and girls, especially in impoverished communities.

Mahnoor Omer, the 25-year-old lawyer from Pakistan who has started a legal case to cut the tax, talks us through attitudes to periods in her home country and explains why this campaign is so important to her. And we hear from young women in Pakistan who tell us what they think of the tax.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producer: Chelsea Coates and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Harriet Oliver

From boosting muscle mass to improving metabolism and skin, there’s now tonnes of claims about what peptides can do on social media. Peptides are short amino acids produced by our bodies naturally, and they aren’t a new concept, they’ve been used in medicine for centuries, Insulin, used to treat diabetes being the most common one.

But the peptide wellness shot craze has led to growing amount of people buying ‘research peptides’ which are unregulated and not approved for human use. BBC’s health and wellbeing reporter, Ruth Clegg tells us all about the grey market of research peptide drugs, the health risks of taking them and why people are opting to become peptide ‘lab-rats’ despite this.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Iqra Farooq Producers: Emily Horler, Benita Barden and Mora Morrison Editor: Verity Wilde