An earlier draft stopped short of calling for fossil fuels to be phased out. Also: Why Myanmar is now the world's leading producer of opium, and the president of a Turkish football club is arrested for attacking a referee at the end of a match.
Dec 12, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast There's widespread anger and disappointment as language promising 'phase out' of fossil fuels is dropped. Also: Polish legislators give Donald Tusk, who heads a pro-European Union coalition, the mandate for a new government, and the Japanese baseball sensation, Shohei Ohtani, signs a record-breaking 700 million dollar deal to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Dec 12, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Supreme Court said the partial autonomy given following Indian independence had been temporary; Also: at COP 28 - a draft climate deal promises to 'reduce' fossil fuel reliance, and relaxed pantomime performances in Edinburgh with the raucousness reigned in for people with additional needs.
Dec 11, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast At his swearing-in ceremony, President Javier Milei speaks of new era after decades of failure. Also: twin children of jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi accept her Nobel Peace Prize, and the tomato that was lost in space.
Dec 11, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The World Food Programme says conditions have made the delivery of food almost impossible. Also: DR Congo leader compares Rwandan president to Hitler, and is it worth collecting Star Wars merchandise?
Dec 10, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, the Italian town of Gubbio lights its world record breaking Christmas Tree. Also: how a medical clinic in Borneo is helping to reduce deforestation. And the loneliest manatee, lonely no more.
Dec 09, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The majority of the UN council supported an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with 13 of 15 members voting in favour. Also: Russians to compete at Paris Olympics as neutrals, and Fairytale of New York sung at Pogues singer's funeral.
Dec 09, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Kremlin official said that an 'astonishing' number of people wanted Mr Putin to continue. Also: the Palestinian health ministry in the occupied West Bank says six Palestinians have been killed in a raid by Israeli special forces on a refugee camp, and the scammers who are taking advantage of bed bugs in France.
Dec 08, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The UN's head of humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, said Israel's military offensive meant there were no safe spaces left for aid agencies in southern Gaza. Also: Blinken and Cameron agree about the dangers of blocking US financial support for Ukraine, and Italian opera is added to UNESCO world heritage list.
Dec 08, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee intense fighting throughout southern Gaza. Also: a meeting between the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the EU highlights differences over trade, international affairs and human rights and, the novelist, poet and playwright, Benjamin Zephaniah has died aged 65.
Dec 07, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Antonio Guterres has invoked a rarely used article, urging the Security Council to act immediately to achieve a truce. Also: President Biden makes an impassioned plea to Republicans to approve funding for Ukraine's war effort. And Time Magazine names the American singer Taylor Swift its Person of the Year.
Dec 07, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast A journalist in Khan Younis told the BBC the ground has been shaking. The UN human rights chief Volker Türk says there's a heightened risk of atrocities. Also: the former British prime minister, Boris Johnson, says sorry to the Covid inquiry into the pandemic, and the BBC has spoken to one of the few families to escape from North Korea this year.
Dec 06, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Residents in Khan Younis have told the BBC they're scared and hungry and don't know what to do. Also: Washington is to refuse visas for extremist Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians, and we hear about the rise of Rolex ripping in central London.
Dec 06, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The World Health Organisation says the situation in Gaza is getting worse by the hour. Also: Britain and Rwanda agree a new treaty aimed at getting the British government's centrepiece asylum policy operational, and 26 years after Grand Theft Auto was first released, it has a female main character.
Dec 05, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Washington says it's too early to say if Israel is heeding US advice to protect civilians as Israel's offensive in southern Gaza continues. Also: the president of the UN climate summit says he's dismayed by what he called the constant attempts to undermine his work, and fears for the future of the Commonwealth Games as Australia's Gold Coast pulls out of hosting them in 2026.
Dec 05, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast The call comes as Israel presses ahead with its military operations in southern Gaza. Also, the harrowing testimony of a Ukrainian soldier on the banks of the Dnipro, and why there will be no giant pandas left in Britain.
Dec 04, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The head of the military says the operation will be no less powerful than in the north of the enclave. Also: Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen say they've attacked two ships in the Red Sea, and a leading figure in Hong Kong's democracy movement goes to Canada to avoid the threat of arrest.
Dec 04, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Civilians in parts of southern Gaza have been told to evacuate as Israel's renewed bombardment continues. Also: Russia media say police raid gay clubs in Moscow, and how does art affect our brainwaves?
Dec 03, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, how hope and perseverance prevailed in the rescue of 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India. Also: a set of earbuds that could revolutionise wheelchair mobility. And celebrating 100 years of Scottish dancing.
Dec 02, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Israeli military says it has struck hundreds of "terror targets" in Gaza. Also: George Santos expelled from US Congress in historic vote, and Putin's favourite conductor is to run the Bolshoi theatre.
Dec 02, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The IDF said the fighting resumed after it intercepted a rocket from inside the Gaza strip, while Hamas say Israel refused to accept offers to release other hostages. Also: world leaders address climate change at COP28, and author Omid Scobie denies naming two senior royals in controversial book.
Dec 01, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The US secretary of state says damage to hospitals and water supplies seen in the north of Gaza must not be repeated in the south. Also: surprise climate cash win for poor at COP28, and Russian court bans "LGBT movement".
Dec 01, 2023•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Three people were killed by Hamas gunmen in Jerusalem hours after the ceasefire in Gaza was extended into a seventh day. Also on the programme: the UN climate summit begins in Dubai, and the former top US diplomat Henry Kissinger dies aged 100.
Nov 30, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Thirty Palestinian prisoners are also due to be freed from Israeli jails. Also: US says it has foiled alleged plot to kill Sikh activist, and astronomers discover "the perfect solar system".
Nov 30, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The IDF says it has killed two Palestinian militant commanders. Also: An EU report lists who experiences the most online hate, and why there's a new dress code in Kenya's Parliament.
Nov 29, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amid scenes of jubilation, the operation was finally completed despite numerous problems and setbacks. Also: Hamas releases 12 more hostages and Israel hands over 30 more Palestinian prisoners on day 5 of a temporary truce, and the wolf spider that decided to lay its eggs in a cruise ship passenger's toe.
Nov 29, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast An evacuation pipe has been inserted into the collapsed tunnel, where the men had been trapped for more than two weeks. Also: the truce in Gaza appears to be holding for a fifth day - after a swap deal between Israel and Hamas was extended, and the first transatlantic flight powered by an alternative fuel has taken off from London.
Nov 28, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Israeli army says that eleven hostages released by Hamas from Gaza are now in Israeli territory. In return, thirty-three Palestinian prisoners are being freed. Also: The government of Sierra Leone blames renegade soldiers for a series of attacks in Freetown on Sunday that left twenty people dead, and the festive video by a family-run pub in Northern Ireland that's getting rave reviews and giving big retailers a run for their money.
Nov 28, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Israel's allies and neighbours are hopeful that the pause in fighting can be extended beyond the fourth exchange of hostages and prisoners. Also, environmental activists say they're shocked at claims the United Arab Emirates has used its role as host of UN climate talks to make oil and gas deals. And six former pupils at a school in France go on trial over their alleged links to the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020.
Nov 27, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hamas and US President Joe Biden say they'd like an extension of the current four-day truce that's seen dozens released, but Israel's Prime Minister says that after the truce, his country will return to war. Also: The government of Sierra Leone says it's back in control, after gunmen attacked a barracks and several prisons in the capital, and The Irish writer Paul Lynch wins this year's Booker prize.
Nov 27, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast