What in the World

For better for worse, for richer for poorer…but first, can we sign a prenup?
You might have heard about them in relation to celebrity divorce scandals, or even in songs, but recent data suggests prenups aren’t just for the rich and famous anymore. A prenup is a legal arrangement made by a couple before they marry or enter into a civil partnership, which sets out plans for how their wealth will be divided if they divorce. Polls in the US, Canada and the UK show that over half of Gen Z would consider signing one and there’s even a growing number of apps to help you draw up the contract.
So — why are prenups on the rise? And what does it say about modern marriage?
BBC journalist Chelsea Coates breaks down the data behind this - and talks us through the reasons why more of Gen Z are considering signing one. Basma El Atti, a BBC reporter based in Nairobi, explains how marriage differs across the African continent and how conversations around finance before getting married are changing.
Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld
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Presenter: Iqra Farooq
Producers: Chelsea Coates and Benita Barden
Video producer: Baldeep Chahal
Editor: Julia Ross-Roy

For more than three months, Cuba has been struggling under an oil blockade by the United States. It had been getting a lot of its oil from Venezuela, but President Trump put a stop to that.
People in Cuba have been living with all kinds of shortages for decades - food, medicine and of course, oil. This blockade though has made things even more tough and people say they’re exhausted. Santiago Vanegas Maldonado, from the What in the World team, brings us voices of young Cubans who are upset about how their lives have changed and the BBC’s Jose Carlos Cueto Lopez, who is from Havana, takes us through the background to the blockade and what it’s like for people in Cuba.
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WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6
Presenter: Hannah Gelbart
Producers: Santiago Vanegas Maldonado, Chelsea Coates, Emily Horler and Maria Clara Montoya
Editor: Harriet Oliver

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.