My name is Lee Hawkins. I've been a journalist for over 25 years. On my new

podcast, What Happened in Alabama, I get answers to some of the hardest questions about how things

came to be for many black Americans and the truth that must come before any reconciliation can

happen. I investigate my family history, my upbringing in

Minnesota and my father's painful nightmares about growing up in Alabama. What happened

in Alabama is a new series confronting the cycles of trauma for myself,

my family, and for many black Americans.

Listen now. Remind me again why is Russia's economy doing so well when it's been sanctioned so much?

Hello, I'm Leanna Byrne and thank you for tuning in to the Marketplace Morning Report and we are

live from the BBC World Service. Yeah it's quite a

contradiction. Russia is the most sanctioned country in the world and yet this

year its economy is set to grow faster than all advanced economies. That's

according to the International Monetary Fund.

This week President Vladimir Putin is hosting an international economic forum

in the Russian city of St. Petersburg and this BBC's Steve Rosenberg is there.

At an economic forum in St. Petersburg, something rather odd is happening.

On the hour, every hour, a gigantic robot, it looks like something out of Transformers, bursts into life,

and wax is lyrical on the state of the Russian economy. Can you smell that? he says.

I just love the scent of economic success.

The Russian economy and economic success. Now that's a combination that may surprise you.

Today I'm authorizing additional strong sanctions. After Russia's full-scale

invasion of Ukraine Western leaders imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow

...