Russian missile and drone strikes in western Ukraine have killed at least twenty-five people and injured more than seventy in the city of Ternopil. Two apartment blocks were hit, leaving upper floors destroyed, buildings on fire and rescuers searching through rubble for survivors. Also: Britain reports that a Russian ship operating on the edge of the UK's territorial waters has directed lasers at air force pilots sent to monitor its activities; a major global study links ultra-processed foods to...
Nov 19, 2025•27 min
Both houses of Congress in the US have passed a bill that aims to force the publication of files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Once President Trump signs it into law, the Justice Department will have a thirty day deadline to release the documents. Also: Donald Trump defends the Saudi Crown Prince on his first White House visit since Jamal Khashoggi's murder; violence rises between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank; five hikers die in Chile's Patagonia; a rep...
Nov 19, 2025•27 min
British politicians have been warned by the security services that they face a significant risk of espionage from the Chinese state, after an MI5 alert identified two LinkedIn profiles it says have been operating on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security. The UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis has warned that the government won't tolerate covert attempts by China to interfere in the UK's sovereign affairs. In the Philippines, prosecutors have charged several people in connection with an ongoi...
Nov 18, 2025•28 min
The UN Security Council has approved a US-drafted resolution to move to the next stage of Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan. It aims to set up a transitional administration and international stabilisation force, but the details remain vague. Israel has taken issue with parts of the resolution and Hamas has rejected it. Also: Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank; students are kidnapped from a girls' boarding school in Nigeria; an explosion in Poland fuels fears ...
Nov 18, 2025•27 min
Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death. A tribunal in Dhaka found she had ordered security forces to kill protesters during student-led anti-government demonstrations in 2024. The UN estimates up to 1,400 people died during the uprising, most by gunfire. Sheikh Hasina was tried in her absence and has been living in exile in India since being forced from power. She has dismissed the court's verdict as politically mo...
Nov 17, 2025•27 min
Ecuador's Los Lobos drug cartel leader, Wilmer "Pipo" Chavarria, has been captured in Spain. He'd been hiding in Europe after faking his own death. The arrest came as Ecuadorians voted not to allow foreign military bases in their country. Also: President Trump calls for the release of the Epstein files; violence erupts in Bangladesh ahead of the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's trial verdict; an auction of items from Nazi concentration camps is cancelled; Chile's election results; we visit...
Nov 17, 2025•25 min
Donald Trump has spent this year trying to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine. So far, Vladimir Putin doesn’t seem interested in the US’s proposals. One man who has successfully negotiated with Russia – and with many of America’s adversaries – is Roger Carstens, former Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. From 2020 to 2025 he worked to free dozens of US citizens taken hostage and wrongfully detained around the world, including in Russia. Securing their release often required c...
Nov 16, 2025•28 min
Thousands of indigenous people and activists demonstrate against global warming in the Amazonian city of Belém, where COP30 is taking place. It's the first time since 2021 that people have been allowed to protest outside the UN climate talks. Also: Palestinian families suffer, as heavy rains destroy camps in Gaza; Pakistan's Balochistan province bans child marriage; Mexican cities see protests over growing violence and insecurity; Ecuadorians are set to vote on allowing foreign military bases ba...
Nov 16, 2025•27 min
We speak to a woman who saved the life of a kayaker, after spotting him floating face down in Idaho's Snake River. Rachelle Ruffing says knowing CPR allowed her to 'make a miracle' which has changed her, and everyone should learn how to do it. She says she still finds it hard to believe that the man made a full recovery and that attending his recent wedding was a privilege. Also: the Afghan women's football team returns to the international stage, four years after the players fled the Taliban. F...
Nov 15, 2025•27 min
The US President has said he will begin legal action against the BBC within the next few days after receiving an apology but no financial compensation over a misleading edit in a documentary about him. Lawyers representing Donald Trump had asked for a retraction, an apology and a payout after it was revealed that his speech at a rally on 6th January 2021, the day of the Capitol riots, was edited to give the impression he'd made a direct call for violence. Meanwhile, leading Democrats have accuse...
Nov 15, 2025•27 min
Russian drones and missiles hit an apartment block in eastern Kyiv, killing at least six people. President Zelensky has accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians. Also: The UN approves a formal investigation into allegations that the Rapid Support Forces massacred 2,000 people in the Sudanese city of El Fasher; Japan summons the Chinese ambassador, as a row over Taiwan escalates; high blood pressure in children has doubled in 20 years; and the Japanese woman who 'married' her AI boyfrie...
Nov 14, 2025•26 min
The BBC has sent a letter of apology to Donald Trump, saying it regrets the way a programme spliced together parts of his speech from the day of the Capitol riots. But the corporation's lawyers have rejected Mr Trump's demand for compensation. The president has threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn over the edited clip. Also: The former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has denied committing crimes against humanity. New analysis from COP30 has shown that 1,600 delegates from the fossil fuel ...
Nov 14, 2025•28 min
A series of events are being held in Paris to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the worst attacks on French soil in modern history. The Islamist terror attacks, in which 130 people died, began at the Stade de France with three explosions caused by suicide bombers. They then spread to restaurants, cafes and bars, and to the Bataclan theatre where 90 concertgoers were killed. Also: new figures show that the world's burning of fossil fuels is this year set to release more carbon dioxide than eve...
Nov 13, 2025•32 min
President Donald Trump said the country has "never been in better shape" as he signed a funding bill re-opening the government. Democrats had said they would not support the bill unless Republicans restored healthcare subsidies for lower-income Americans. But this week a handful of Democrat lawmakers crossed the aisle, voting to end the shutdown. Also: the White House accuses Democrats of creating a "fake narrative" after parts of the Epstein files are leaked. The documents include emails in whi...
Nov 13, 2025•27 min
Democrats in the US Congress release three emails by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein mentioning Donald Trump. One of the emails says the president spent several hours with a woman described as a victim of Epstein's sex trafficking. The Democrats say the communications raise serious questions about what the president knew at the time about Epstein's behaviour. The White House says the emails represent a "false narrative" and their release is an attempt to smear the president. Also...
Nov 12, 2025•27 min
One of the world's most advanced aircraft carriers has arrived in the waters off Latin America as President Donald Trump ramps up the US naval presence in the Caribbean Sea. He says the US military is firing on drug traffickers. So why does Venezuela say he's trying to bring down its government? Also: California Governor Gavin Newsom is at COP30, to present his own vision of US climate policy. The mayor of Istanbul faces 2,000 years in prison over charges that his supporters say are politically ...
Nov 12, 2025•26 min
Pakistan's interior minister says a suicide attack has killed 12 people and injured many more near a crowded courthouse in the capital, Islamabad. Mohsin Naqvi says the authorities were not treating this as "just another bombing". Also: India hunts those involved in Monday's car explosion in a crowded street in the capital Delhi which killed eight people. COP30 looks at how to help poorer countries adapt to the impact of climate change as extreme weather takes an ever bigger toll. Evidence that ...
Nov 11, 2025•29 min
The BBC says it will respond in due course to a threat of legal action over a documentary which misrepresented a speech made by President Trump. The BBC chairman apologised for an "error of judgement" over an edit of comments Mr Trump made to his supporters who stormed the Capitol building in January 2021. Also: the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is in the US to hold talks with President Trump. The BBC has been speaking to minority groups in Syria who say he's failing to protect them. A cour...
Nov 10, 2025•31 min
After getting the red-carpet treatment at the UN in New York last week, the former al-Qaeda fighter who now leads Syria is about to hold an election. But is Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, really about to transition the country into democracy? Or does he have other plans? The BBC's senior international correspondent Orla Guerin joins us from Damascus, where she’s been speaking to Syrians about the country’s future. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the ...
Nov 09, 2025•28 min
In this Happy Pod special we're in Munich, Germany for One Young World. We speak to survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and their families as they turn their painful memories into a call for peace and the end of nuclear weapons. They're part of a group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024. Also: The young Argentine harnessing Artifical Intelligence to spot wildfires; Zaynab Mohamed - the first Muslim woman elected to Minnesota's Senate at just 25; the 'TikTok Mayor' using social media ...
Nov 08, 2025•30 min
Messages in a bottle from two Australian World War One soldiers have been found on a beach and are now back with their relatives. Debra Brown's family were cleaning up on Wharton Beach when they found a thick glass bottle with the notes inside. Herbie Neville, the great nephew of one of the soldiers, says it's unbelievable to receive the letters. Plus, the memorial unveiled in the UK for veterans who were expelled from the armed forces because of their sexuality. The oldest woman to finish the I...
Nov 01, 2025•27 min
Doctors at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London have used microchips to help blind patients regain the ability to read. Also: the woman who played the clarinet during brain surgery, helping the doctors fine tune their treatment for Parkinson's; Thailand's water buffalo beauty contest; and how polystyrene boxes that keep fish fresh are being replaced... using mushrooms. Happy stories and positive news from around the world - our weekly collection. Presenter: Jannat Jalil. Music composed by Iona Hamp...
Oct 25, 2025•27 min
A singing group designed for women with post-natal depression has been shown to deliver long lasting improvements in their wellbeing. A three year study found that it helped them with symptoms like low mood, stress and anxiety and that these benefits lasted for several months after the sessions ended. Also: big celebrations as Cape Verde qualifies for the men's football World Cup. It's the second smallest country by population to reach the finals. The women reviving Aztec traditions on Mexico's ...
Oct 18, 2025•28 min
We hear how a man's search for his birth mother ended in an unexpected but familiar place - his favourite local bakery. Vamarr Hunter was shocked to discover that the bakery's owner, whose company and motherly advice he'd enjoyed for years, was the woman who'd given him up for adoption when she was 17. Lenore Lindsey says being reunited has made her a warmer person and it feels like they were never separated. Also: The international football star who cycles to work, uses public transport and wea...
Oct 11, 2025•28 min
An 18-year-old entrepreneur who has helped more than twenty thousand teenagers get skills, training and mentoring has been recognised with a global student prize. Adarsh Kumar grew up in poverty in rural Bihar and says he was inspired by wanting to solve the problems he saw around him - and the example set by his hardworking single mother. He plans to use the ten thousand dollar prize to help improve the lives of even more people - and believes the first step in changing the world is to change h...
Oct 04, 2025•28 min
To mark two years of the war in Gaza, our correspondents bring you this special episode of the Global News Podcast from the BBC Bureau in Jerusalem. Jon Donnison is joined by our Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf, our International Editor Jeremy Bowen, and our Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell. They discuss the history of the conflict, their memories of the October 7th attacks, and respond to questions from BBC World Service listeners. As talk of a potential ceasefire brokered by the US P...
Sep 30, 2025•32 min
For the first time ever, a successful treatment has been found for the devastating brain disease, Huntington's. The inherited condition, which resembles a combination of dementia, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease, affects hundreds of thousands of people in the US and Europe. The scientists who developed the new gene therapy, and people who have the disease, say its a huge breakthrough that could give people a better quality of life for decades. Also: we meet the teacher who's launched a Hap...
Sep 27, 2025•27 min
A nurse in the US state of Kentucky has gone viral after she saved a baby raccoon who became 'drunk' on fermented fruit. The cub had passed out after eating peaches, thrown away by a distillery. Also: we hear from Bárbara Hernández, a cold water swimmer from Chile, known as the Ice Mermaid. She's front crawled her way to a Guinness World Record, completing the farthest ice swim ever by a woman. Plus, the man recreating a childhood photo, the 81-year-old woman who planted 4,000 trees; and Carlos ...
Sep 20, 2025•28 min
A man who survived alone on a glacier for six days after a near death fall says it's made him appreciate what really matters. Alec Luhn slipped during a solo hike after deciding to mend his broken shoe with tape, rather than turn back. He says his only regret would have been not spending more time with his family, and urges others to understand how fragile life is. Also: a rare discovery of a huge store of fresh drinking water, deep under the Atlantic Ocean, that could help tackle the mounting g...
Sep 13, 2025•27 min
A new blood test could dramatically improve survival rates for women with ovarian cancer by detecting it much sooner. The researchers tell us it's a game changer that could go on to save tens of thousands of lives around the world every year. Also: we meet the female Muslim jockey breaking new ground and inspiring the next generation. Khadijah Mellah has just made her amateur debut. Plus the woman who underwent a rare triple organ transplant talks about the joy of getting back to normal life; ho...
Sep 06, 2025•28 min
