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What in the World

What in the World

By: BBC World Service
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About this listen

Helping you make sense of what’s happening in your world. Big stories, small stories and everything in between. Understand more, feel better. Five days a week, Monday to Friday.

(C) BBC 2025
Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Are we using the wrong world map?
    Sep 9 2025

    The Mercator projection, a map that’s been around for over 450 years and which most people use, distorts size. It stretches land masses farther from the equator. It can make Greenland looks the same size as Africa, when in reality Africa is actually around 14 times bigger.

    Campaigners want schools, organisations and governments to use a different one - the Equal Earth map. And now the African Union, which represents all 55 states on the continent, has endorsed the “Correct the Map” campaign.

    The BBC’s Makuochi Okafor explains some of the arguments for switching to a different map and also the wider implications of showing Africa as smaller than it really is.

    Moky Makura, from Africa No Filter, tells us what her organisation is hoping to achieve with the Correct the Map campaign. Plus Edwin Rijkaart, known to his YouTube subscribers as Geodiode tells us why we use the Mercator projection in the first place.

    Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Benita Barden, Chelsea Coates and Abiona Boja Editor: Verity Wilde

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    9 mins
  • Charli XCX Apple dance lawsuit: Can you copyright a dance move?
    Sep 8 2025

    TikTok is full of people doing the choreography to Charlie XCX’s Apple dance - as well as many other dances. But can you get in trouble for copying someone’s routine online? Well, not if you’re doing it for fun on your page, but potentially yes if you’re a company using it for profit without the artist's permission.

    Copyright law can be super confusing, so we sat down with Tony Iliakostas to demystify it. Tony - also known as @theipprofessor TikTok - is a professor in entertainment and Intellectual Property Law at New York Law School.

    Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Mora Morrison and William Lee Adams Editor: Verity Wilde

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    12 mins
  • Why do tennis players smash up their rackets?
    Sep 5 2025

    If you’ve been watching the US Open this year, chances are you’ll have seen that there’s been some drama on the court. There was a heated exchange between players Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend. Ostapenko has been fined in the past before for throwing her water bottle and knocking over a chair, after she lost a match.

    So today, we’re talking about bad behaviour in tennis, and what the rules are for tennis players who throw things, shout, and even smash up their rackets. Someone who has seen many a Grand Slam spat in their time is Ben Rothenberg, former NYT tennis correspondent and writer behind the blog Bounces. He takes us through some top tennis meltdowns and explains why it’s such a high pressure sport.

    Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Emily Horler and Chelsea Coates Editor: Verity Wilde

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    12 mins
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