Iranian women's marathon struggle

Pascale Harter introduces stories from Iran, Norway's Svalbard archipelago, France's chestnut groves and the northern highlands of Laos

The mass protests against mandatory hijab rules which shook Iran in 2022 may seem to have petered out - but in public spaces and at sporting events across the country, there's still visible and widespread defiance of the regulations. Faranak Amidi spoke to some women who took part in a recent marathon race in Kish, off Iran's southern coast, where very few competitors covered their heads. Why did they run, and what did it mean to them?

Chestnuts are a beloved part of France's food heritage - and the demand far outstrips supply. Once they were a mainstay for peasant communities too poor to afford wheat bread. These days they're a delicacy - made into cakes, bread, soup, stuffings and some memorable seasonal desserts. But the crop's future is at risk, as climate change makes harvests unpredictable, as Julius Purcell found out in the groves of the Cevennes.

The landscape of the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean, is rugged in the extreme - but it's home to an array of wildlife, from migratory birds to walruses, seals, foxes, reindeer ... and polar bears. The bears now enjoy new legal protections, but as a changing climate melts the sea ice their hunting and mating habits are affected - and their population's under threat. Beth Timmins considered their past - and future - on Spitsbergen.

At the heart of southeast Asia, Laos is a nation home to many different ethnicities and an intricate tapestry of religious beliefs - as well as having complex relationships with neighbouring China, Thailand and Vietnam. In the northern highlands, Sara Wheeler travelled through a region where the majority of people belong to the Khmu language group and many still hold to an ancient animist world view.

Picture: The growing number of women and girls not adhering to hijab regulations has become increasingly noticeable in Iran. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)