After rape in Senegal was finally made a serious crime, a pop star dared to tell her own story.

Three African women explain how they have boosted their income by going digital since Covid.

Human rights groups criticise a court that convicted the two stars of "violating family values".

Could audio files be the new digital drugs? New research shows that binaural beats - illusionary tones created by the brain when the brain hears two different tones in each ear – can change someone’s emotional state. The work, published in Drug and Alcohol Review, shows for the first time that people use binaural beats to relax, fall asleep and even to try to get a psychedelic drug high. BBC’s R&D Audio team have created a binaural beat soundscape especially for Digital Planet and we speak to Dr Alexia Maddox, a tech sociologist, one of the researchers behind the study.

Publishing via What’s App – getting female authors recognised in Zimbabwe Getting a book deal may seem like an impossible dream for many budding authors, but in Zimbabwe, for many female writers, this is a reality. Linda Mujuru, a senior reporter for Global Press Journal, tells us how most publishers are struggling in Zimbabwe due to the dire economic situation over the last twenty years and why so many authors have turned to social media as their only way of telling their stories. Samantha Rumbidzai Vazhure set up her own publishing house in the UK as she could not get her work printed. She reads one of her poems in Shona, a native Zimbabwean language, and explains how she now looks for fellow female authors online and publishes their work too.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari.

Studio Manager: Giles Aspen Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

(Image: Music in the mind concept. Credit: Getty Images)

Hassana Adamu speaks to the BBC about feeling neglected on the eighth anniversary of the kidnappings.

Zeinab Badawi is in Nairobi to talk to one of Kenya’s most ground-breaking cultural figures, Dr Njoki Ngumi. She abandoned a promising career in medicine to help set up an arts collective, and believes that creative endeavours can help transform societies. One of the collective’s films exploring homosexuality was banned in Kenya, where gay sex is a crime. So how far is Njoki Ngumi shifting opinions?

Many countries do not record femicide - the most extreme form of gender-based violence - so activists are doing it themselves.

Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud funny, Mission: Joy gives unprecedented access to the friendship between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Archbishop Tutu. The self-described ‘mischievous brothers’ were filmed over five days by an award-winning team who captured a relationship built on truth, honesty and, most importantly, joy.

The film goes behind the scenes at the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala, where Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama recount stories from their lives, both having lived through periods of incredible difficulty.

With genuine affection, mutual respect and a healthy dose of teasing, the two friends impart lessons gleaned from experience, ancient traditions and cutting-edge science to show that it is possible to live with joy in the face of all of life’s challenges, from the extraordinary to the mundane. Mission: Joy is an antidote for our times.

Under former President John Magufuli, young mothers-to-be were forced to drop out.

Aya Yousef was sacked and divorced after she was filmed moving to music at a work social event.

Basant Khaled, 17, took her own life in Egypt after allegedly being blackmailed with faked images.

Protesters are demanding the military step back and allow the transition to civilian rule.

The agency apologises to victims after inquiry finds abuse by aid staff tackling the Ebola outbreak.

In this edition of Business Weekly, we look at why one of the poorest countries in Latin America, El Salvador, decided to make Bitcoin legal tender. We also find out what happened when the cryptocurrency crashed on the first day it was rolled out. We hear about the devastating economic effect of covid in Kenya as it rolls out further curfew restrictions. Also, in a few weeks’ time, the matriarch of European politics, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will step down. We hear what issues are playing on the minds of German voters as they get ready to head to the polls. And for years Lamu, Kenya’s ancient trading port, has been in decline. But government hopes the opening of a vast, new facility means it can be a commercial superstar once more. Plus, the chief executive of Babbel, Arne Schepker tells us why the company is listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and whether lockdowns have impacted on people’s desire to learn languages. Business Weekly is presented by Lucy Burton and produced by Matthew Davies.

During coronavirus, while case numbers have seemed relatively low, there’s been a huge economic impact on many Kenyans. We hear from the BBC’s Michael Kaloki about the particular challenges of the Kibera slum, from single mother and Kibera resident Josephine, who Business Daily has heard from several times since the start of the pandemic. We also hear how reverse migration has meant that some Kenyans have returned to rural areas. Chris Macoloo the Africa director for the international development organisation World Neighbors explains.

(Photo: Kibera resident Josephine. Credit: Vivienne Nunis / BBC)