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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
  • How easy will it be to go to the 2026 World Cup?
    Dec 23 2025

    Football fans all around the world are gearing up for the 2026 Men’s World Cup. It’s set to be a historic tournament and will be hosted by three countries for the first time: the United States, Canada and Mexico. But some fans says it will make the history books for the wrong reasons - because of the jump in ticket prices.

    Group-stage tickets are up to three times more than those for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the cheapest ticket for the final will cost hundreds of dollars. FIFA has announced that it will release a small number of more affordable tickets, but some fans say this is not enough.

    BBC Africa Sports Reporter Celestine Karoney explains the costs of attending the 2026 World Cup - and how the tournament could also be affected by US‘ immigration policy. We also hear from fans in Cape Verde, which has qualified for the tournament for the first time, and in the Ivory Coast about the barriers they have faced when trying to get tickets to World Cup matches.

    Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Mora Morrison, Maria Clara Montoya and Chelsea Coates Editor: Verity Wilde

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    12 mins
  • Just checking in…are my emails holding me back at work?! xx
    Dec 22 2025

    Are your work emails too polite? Do you use unnecessary punctuation and emojis? Career experts have told the BBC that using multiple exclamation marks can seem fake or could impact credibility.

    The BBC’s Culture reporter Yasmin Rufo has been looking at how the emails you write might be making you come across as less competent and less professional.

    Plus we’re joined by William Lee Adams who describes what it’s like communicating with people from all over the world at the BBC World Service and considering the email or message culture of different countries.

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

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    11 mins
  • Ethiopia arrests TikTok creators over ‘indecent’ outfits
    Dec 19 2025

    At the end of November, Ethiopia’s biggest social media creators gathered in Addis Ababa for the Ethiopia Creative Awards. It was supposed to be a night celebrating the thriving digital culture but the outfits of the attendees stole the spotlight. A few weeks later six creators were arrested and detained for wearing “indecent attire” at the event and undermining public morality - but what exactly does that mean?

    Kalkidan Yibeltal, a BBC journalist based in Nairobi, tells us about cultural expectations for clothing in Ethiopia and why the outfits sparked so much controversy there. Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Benita Barden, Chelsea Coates and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Verity Wilde

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    9 mins
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