麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces stories from Sudan's battle-scarred cities, Baptist churches in the USA, Bali's hectic roads and NATO training drills on the Canadian prairie.

During almost a year and a half of civil war in Sudan, all sides have been blamed for targeting civilians for extortion, violence and sexual abuse - although more allegations have been levelled against the paramilitary fighters of the Rapid Support Fighters or RSF. Near the battle-scarred city of Omdurman, Barbara Plett Usher recently spoke to a group of women who denounced the plunder and atrocities of the war - and what they see as international apathy.

The ethics of abortion - and the politics of access to abortion - have been controversial in the USA for decades, but in recent years the divisions have grown starker. In 2024 one court in Alabama ruled that even frozen embryos kept in reserve for in-vitro fertility treatment could be considered 'unborn children', and the Southern Baptist Convention declared its opposition to IVF. Ellie House talked to evangelical Christians in Michigan who are thinking over their own positions on where, when and how human life begins.

The Indonesian island of Bali has been popular with visitors for many years, but since the Covid-19 pandemic the numbers have ballooned, and many of the tourists decided never to leave, staying on to live and work as 'digital nomads'. Many villages once full of fishermen and farmers now host hundreds of outsiders and dozens of hotels. The pace of life has grown hectic, and more traffic now clogs the roads. Michelle Jana Chan looks at the changing face of a place once famous for its calm.

And just how do you prepare for chemical, biological, nuclear or radiation warfare? If you're on a specialised NATO training exercise: very carefully, and making sure your protective gear is always intact. Hannah King joined the troops learning how to find and neutralise the threats on a specially-designed obstacle course on the Canadian prairie.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-Ordinator: Katie Morrison

Caption: Women carrying belongings walk down a street in Omdurman (Photo by AFP) (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)