IFC Podcast -Latest Radio Docs

När Fredrike gifter sig för fjärde gången är hon inte nykter. Hon dricker varje dag. Barnen reagerar och lurar henne att träffa en alkoholläkare. Tre kvinnor om vägen ut ur alkoholmissbruket. Trots att ingen av dem trodde att det fanns någon hjälp, kallar de sig nyktra alkoholister idag. Av Lise Indahl, från 2004.

Competitive reindeer-racing is a popular sport across the Arctic Circle. In Finland, the season runs from November to April and good jockeys are local celebrities. They need strong biceps and serious guts: strapped onto cross-country skis they're hauled behind reindeer at up to 60km/hour. Meanwhile, the animals are trained to peak fitness. Owners give their reindeer massages and whisper last minute instructions in their ears. Cathy FitzGerald travels to the snowy north of Finland to find out more about the sport. She visits the little town of Inari, where the cappuccinos come with tiny antlers sketched in the foam and the local bar (PaPaNa, ‘The Reindeer Dropping’) serves pizza topped with bear salami. Each year, the top 24 fastest reindeer compete here to be crowned: The Reindeer King. They fly around a two-kilometre race track carved on the surface of icy Lake Inari to the cheers of hundreds of spectators. There’s a social side to the competition, of course: a winter village grows up around the track, where herders can browse for cow-bells, snow-mobiles and fox-fur hats. And at night, there’s dancing under the northern lights at Hotel Kultahovi, where Eero Magga croons his big hit, ‘Poromiehen Suudelma’ – ‘The Reindeer Herder’s Kiss’ – to an appreciative reindeer-racing crowd. Picture: Competitors and their reindeer set off across the snow, Credit: Kirsten Foster

Als ik de liefde niet heb: De Rotterdamse priester Remy Jacobs en theatermaker Marjolijn van Heemstra speelden enige tijd geleden een heftige voorstelling over het misbruik binnen de kerk. Jacobs, zelf ooit slachtoffer van dat misbruik, doorbreekt na lang beraad met zichzelf het zwijgen, en roept de geloofsgemeenschap en vooral de paus op tot meer openheid en liefde en minder hypocrisie. De voorstelling 'Als ik de liefde niet heb' werd een persoonlijk verhaal over liefde en de afwezigheid daarvan, over machtsmisbruik binnen systemen en de vraag hoe een kwetsbaar individu zich staande houdt tegenover grote structuren. Maar daarmee was het nog niet klaar. In deze documentaire hoort u het vervolg van Remy en Marjolijn zelf. En passant redden ze nog even een mensenleven.

En av Sveriges mest välbärgade och homogena skolor tar emot sina första flyktingbarn. Föräldrar blir oroliga och är kritiska men eleverna håller inte med. Mitt i allt detta börjar Mohamed. När Mohamed lämnar sitt hemland Somalia, för att slippa kriga för terrorgruppen Al Shabaab, så tvingas han ta farväl av sin mamma och sina syskon.Så småningom hamnar han på Äppelviksskolan. Snart börjar rykten spridas bland villorna och alla är inte nöjda med att skolan fått nya elever.Mohameds första tid i Sverige präglas av en högstadievärld där det gäller att prestera högt och passa in, samtidigt som Mohamed oroar sig över att han inte kan få tag på sin mamma.Genom egna ljudinspelningar och texter från hans dagbok berättar Mohamed sin historia. Av Olivia SandellProducent: Robert Barkman

Between 1949 and 1989 the Soviet Union tested 456 nuclear bombs in Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. The area the size of Belgium became known as the Polygon and when Kazakhstan became independent – 25 years ago this week - it inherited the world’s fourth biggest nuclear arsenal. The BBC’s Rustam Qobil visits the Polygon to piece together its remarkable story.

What should the relationship be between Islam and the state? This is the question which dominates political debate in the Arab world. Many traditional Islamic scholars believe in the separation of religion and politics. For the Muslim Brotherhood though – the Arab world’s foremost social and political movement - the goal is to create an Islamic state. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood was elected to power after the Arab uprisings. But its plans quickly ended in failure. After just a year in office, the Brotherhood government faced mass protests before it was deposed by a military coup. As presenter Safa Al Ahmad discovers, these events have caused an unprecedented level of debate between members past and present. She talks to a Brotherhood veteran who believes the Brotherhood should have remained a social movement rather than entering politics and to young members who believe it should be more revolutionary. (Image: Muslim Brotherhood supporter holds a banner with the Arabic slogan 'Islam is the Solution' during a demonstration in Cairo 08 November 2005. Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

Within Shi’ism there is a high level disagreement about the role of Islam in government. Shia-dominated Iran is an Islamic republic, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a senior Islamic cleric. But the Iranian model of government - a theocratic state - is not supported by Shi’ism’s most senior Islamic cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who is based in the Iraqi city of Najaf. “Khamenei is the head of Iranian army. Sistani is not the head of Iraqi army,” explains Iraqi politician Walid al-Hilli. But, as presenter Safa al-Ahmad discovers on a visit to Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Sistani has significant influence on the way Iraq is governed. (Photo: A V-sign for victory is flashed in front of a portrait of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

Presenter Safa al Ahmad is joined by a panel of experts to reflect on the issues raised in her documentary series 'Islam People and Power'. Guests in the studio are: Dr Maha Azzam, former Associate Fellow of Chatham House, now Head of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council Dr Hazem Kandil, Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and author of Inside The Brotherhood Hassan Hassan, Fellow of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror (Image: Safa al Ahmad in the studio. Credit: BBC)

The Kafkaesque story of the brutal killing of a woman who was found dead by the side of a lake in Sweden. Agneta Westerlund had moved some years before to a small village from Stockholm along with her husband Ingemar. The couple had first met as teenagers and had been together for 40 years. Her body had suffered a series of bizarre and horrific injuries: one wound on the side of her back was the size of a wheel. Police arrested Ingemar and accused him of murdering his wife by running over her with a lawnmower and then dumping her body by the lake. So did he really kill Agneta? Open Ear features documentaries from producers across the world being rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. This episode first aired on Sveriges Radio in Swedish. (Photo: Lake shore in Sweden. Credit: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

The anti-government protests that began in the Arab world in 2010 triggered division between the religious scholars of Islam’s largest branch – the traditional Sunnis. Some of the most senior Sunni scholars in the world held fast to the idea that revolution, and even simple protest, was forbidden in Islam. Others decided to back armed groups in Syria, though not the global jihadists of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Presenter Safa Al Ahmad travels to Egypt to meet Dr Abbas Shouman, one of the most senior scholars at Islam’s most famous seat of learning, Al Azhar University. She also tells the story of Sheikh Ramadan al-Bouti, a famous Syrian Islamic scholar whose stance on the uprisings cost him his life. (Photo: Anti-Government protesters in Cairo. Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)