Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

This year's Winter Olympics are the first to rely entirely on snow made by machines.

Our correspondent meets with a snow consultant, a powder obsessive who's pioneering a simpler

and more sustainable way to line the slopes.

And in Bollywood there's a lot of talent that's heard and not seen.

The most celebrated so-called playback singer of them all was Lata Mangeshka.

Our obituary's editor reflects on the woman who gave voice to a newly liberated India.

Just up though.

In Afghanistan this week the United Nations voiced concern for the safety of a group of

women who've opposed the Taliban.

Nearly three weeks after their disappearance there is still no news about the whereabouts

and well being of four women activists and their relatives who were detained or abducted

in Kabul in connection with the recent women's rights protest.

The growing threat to women and their rights is far from the only tragedy unfolding.

The last American troops left Afghanistan more than six months ago and is the machinery

of government and the economy of ground to a halt under the Taliban people are starving.

A hospital in Kabul is doing what it can to treat children.

One man says my child has been suffering from malnutrition for two months.

We have no money.

There's something like 22-23 million people in the country who at the moment don't have

enough food and adequate to more than half the population.

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