When I call Tony Hardy, it’s a sunny day. As he often does during the summer months, he’s wearing a pair of shorts in the office. “We wear shorts all the time,” he says. Tony runs a branding agency in Northumberland, with nine employees. His company, Canny Creative, doesn’t have a dress code. Instead he…
To say China’s women are outnumbered would be an understatement. With a staggering 30 million more men than women, one of the world’s most populous countries has a deluge of unattached males. The odds are heavily stacked against them finding a date, let alone a wife – something many feel pressured to do. To make…
The personal has become very political in Zambia. Mourning and the build-up to a funeral is never an easy time, but throw in the fallout from a long-standing feud between the country’s two top politicians – President Hakainde Hichilema and his now-late predecessor Edgar Lungu – and you have an explosive mix. The animosity was…
It’s hot, dusty and feels like a desert at the Agarak border crossing between Armenia and Iran. There are dry, rocky mountains surrounding the area – no trees, no shade. It’s not the most welcoming terrain, especially for those who have travelled long hours to reach Armenia. A woman with a fashionable haircut, with the…
A wave of disinformation has been unleashed online since Israel began strikes on Iran last week, with dozens of posts reviewed by BBC Verify seeking to amplify the effectiveness of Tehran’s response. Our analysis found a number of videos – created using artificial intelligence – boasting of Iran’s military capabilities, alongside fake clips showing the…
If Israel’s recent claims are confirmed, the assassinations of Saeed Izadi and Behnam Shahryari represent a major blow to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the elite Quds Force, its overseas operations arm which has ties with armed groups in the region. Izadi, a senior Quds Force commander responsible for coordination with Hamas and…