Gary O'Donoghue meets local newspaper editors in America to hear about the challenge of reporting during a divisive presidential election campaign. In Kansas, Gary visits Eric Meyer, the owner and editor of the Marion County Record. In August 2023 the paper’s offices, and the home of its 90-year-old owner, Eric’s mother Joan, were raided by the town's five person police department. A "good old fashioned newspaper war" has been playing out in Westcliffe, Colorado, where Gary meets Jordan Hedberg, editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune. In the same town, the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel, promises “a different view from the same mountains”. Gary also hears about how trust in local news, which has traditionally played a big part in local politics, is being eroded.

Rampant abuse and 'mafia' style intimidations: these are the conditions thousands of women working in one of India's film industries allegedly faced for years. Following a damning report into Kerala’s Malayalam-language movie scene, BBC India reporter Sumedha Pal has been talking to actors, directors and producers to understand what's going on, and how the MeToo movement has changed the working environment for women in the wider Indian film industry.

Produced by Alice Gioia and Caroline Ferguson.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

On 7 October 2023, Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 more hostage. Israel responded with airstrikes and by sending troops into Gaza. The aim was to destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and to secure the release of the hostages. The impact in Gaza has been devastating. Thousands of people have been killed. The United Nations estimates that around 90% of Palestinians have had to leave their homes and are now living in temporary accommodation. We begin with the stories and words of three Palestinian women, whose lives we have been tracking through voice messages.

Peter Adamski seemed to have it all. At 19, he had met Kathy, the love of his life and the woman he would marry. In his 20s, he landed a prestigious job with the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, jetting around the world in first class for business meetings. He had a healthy baby boy, John, his wealth soared into the millions, and he owned three houses. He was living the American dream. But everything changed when he and Kathy received the news from a doctor: "Kathy, you have early-onset Alzheimer’s." The future they had envisioned together was abruptly replaced by the prospect of a long, painful farewell. After Kathy’s passing, Peter felt as though he had lost all sense of meaning - until one night, he felt a profound call from God. At 65, he became a Catholic priest, and he believes his life has never been more fulfilling.

A bonus episode from the Lives Less Ordinary podcast. British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori spent years in one of Iran’s toughest prisons after being snatched off the street by security forces. He was falsely accused of espionage, but realised he'd become a pawn in a game of global politics.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar

In May, riots broke out in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia - a group of islands in the South Pacific. Protesters were calling for independence from the European nation that has ruled the archipelago for more than a century and a half. Amid the violence came an unusual claim - that Azerbaijan, a seemingly disconnected nation thousands of miles from both Paris and the Pacific Ocean - was stoking the violence online. BBC Trending asks if there is any truth to the claim. And if so, what might Azerbaijan be hoping to achieve?

Jakarta is facing all sorts of problems - deadly floods, land subsidence, extreme pollution, notorious traffic and overcrowding. Indonesia’s outgoing president has come up with an extreme solution: moving the country’s capital a thousand kilometres away, to the middle of the rainforest. Will the new city be a futuristic utopia and a model for sustainable urbanisation - or an eye-wateringly expensive, ecologically disastrous ghost town? BBC Indonesia reporter Astudestra Ajengrastri travels to the island of Borneo to find out if the ambitious plans will live up to reality.

Panama is one of the wettest countries in the world. It also has a world famous shipping canal which earns it billions of dollars a year. With big money and high rainfall combined, it should be straightforward to meet the water needs of its four million plus people.

But hundreds of thousands of Panamanians don’t have access to piped water. With a growing population and a drought, last year the Canal Authority reduced the number of ships passing through by a third, losing it and the country hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

The Authority says this was done to protect drinking water for the 2.5 million people who rely on the same water supply the Canal uses to work its massive locks. With uncertainty over the impact of climate change, Panamanians are asking whether there’ll be enough fresh water to satisfy the enormous demand from the canal’s locks with the basic need to have regular access to clean water.

Jane Chambers travels to Panama to meet the people involved in the struggles for access to water.

Ian Rankin is on a deadline to complete his next Inspector Rebus thriller. He is happy with the first draft: “at the moment, it is perfect!”. But what will others make of it? In the second of two episodes recorded across Scotland over several months, we follow the bestselling crime writer to the remote, coastal town of Cromarty. He comes here to escape reality, and to write without distraction. But on this occasion, there is a crime fiction festival taking place. Will he get any work done?

Ian Rankin has been called “the king of crime fiction”. His Inspector Rebus books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, translated into 37 languages. And yet, as he embarks on writing the next in his series, he reveals that “sitting down and actually writing the books is hard… and it's not getting any easier.” Where does he begin and where might the series end? Recorded across Scotland over several months, we follow Ian Rankin as he gets his next novel into shape.