Orla Barry is the Europe correspondent for The World. She has been a producer with the BBC World Service for six years, working on Outside Source, World Have Your Say and Newsday. Orla has been a national broadcaster on the Irish radio station Newstalk, where she presented the daily morning show and a weekend arts and culture show.Orla has produced a series of documentaries from East Africa, including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. She also presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary on the Irish women who built Britain. She previously worked as an independent producer for NBC and Arte. Orla has been a columnist with two Irish national newspapers, the Irish Examiner and the Irish Independent. She has a Master’s degree in politics and development studies.
Two decades ago, France introduced a law banning the hijab and other religious symbols in public schools. Today, with French athletes prohibited from wearing any religious items while competing at the summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, the issue is more divisive than ever.
Sweden’s gun homicide rate is 2 1/2 times higher than the European average and 75% to 80% of deadly shootings remain unsolved. But local communities and former gang members are working together to find answers and fight back.
Surrogacy is banned in Italy, but the government of Giorgia Meloni is now trying to go further: outlawing the practice of having babies through surrogacy abroad. This will likely have an outsized impact on members of the LGBTQ community, which many believe is the point.