Global News

The Happy Pod: AI helped find the siblings I didn’t know about

Avtar Singh, who was born in India and is now 66 years old, grew up not knowing his Kenyan-born mother, because his father had separated from her and not told him anything about her. One day he typed the few details he had into AI, and found a blog by…

22 Aug 7AM 27 min

Russian drone attacks kill 16 in Ukrainian shopping centre

Search and rescue efforts continue in Ukraine after Russian drone attacks kill at least 16 in a shopping centre in the city of Kryvyi Rih. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack on his home town cynical and despicable. Also: Donald Trump wins the latest round in an ongoing legal battle…

21 Aug 11PM 31 min

El Niño could be 'strongest in living memory'

Scientists warn the El Niño event developing in the Pacific could be the strongest in living memory, pushing up global temperatures and increasing the risk of extreme weather. Effects are already being felt around the world - the Indian government is having to import sugar to bolster local supplies. We…

21 Aug 11AM 26 min

Western powers issue a joint rebuke to Israel

Britain, Canada, Germany and others call on Israel to stop bids from construction firms to build homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank that would, in the words of an Israeli minister, "bury the idea of a Palestinian state". Also, Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, returns…

21 Aug 12AM 32 min

Kyiv hit by major Russian attack

Russia launched a big attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, striking blocks of flats, a school and a children's hospital. Ukraine has appealed to its allies for more ballistic missile interceptors. The Ukrainian air force implied that none of the missiles was shot down. Also: captured Ukrainian-born soldiers tell…

20 Aug 12PM 30 min

Israel investigates death of five-year-old girl in Gaza

Israel's military has confirmed for the first time that its troops opened fire on a car carrying Hind Rajab, the five-year old Palestinian child who was killed alongside six of her relatives in Gaza in 2024. The IDF is opening a criminal investigation into the deaths, as well as those…

20 Aug 1AM 31 min

Zelensky sacks key aide as pressure on him grows

Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has fired one of his top aides, who is reported to be the target of a corruption investigation. Iryna Mudra, the president's deputy chief of staff, was sacked after Ukraine's anti-corruption agency said it had raided the homes of a senior official on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile…

19 Aug 11AM 31 min

Meta 'hid the truth' over child safety, US court hears

The technology giant Meta has gone on trial in California over allegations its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, are deliberately designed to keep young people hooked. Nearly thirty US states are seeking changes to the platforms and financial penalties amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars. California's prosecutor told the court…

19 Aug 12AM 32 min

Russia says Ukraine launched over 600 drones towards Moscow

Ukraine says at least 17 people were killed in overnight Russian attacks, with most of the deaths in the north-eastern Kharkiv region. In one attack in the city of Kharkiv at least 10 people - including children - were killed and several others injured after a Russian air strike hit…

18 Aug 12PM 27 min

Meta faces landmark trial on child privacy

A six week jury trial is about to get underway in California, which could pose the biggest threat yet to Meta's operations. A coalition of US states have accused the parent company of Facebook and Instagram of putting profits ahead of children's safety, by deliberately designing platforms to be addictive…

18 Aug 12AM 31 min

Trump envoy in Israel for Gaza peace negotiations

President Trump's Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, meets Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for Gaza peace talks. It comes a day after he held negotiations with Hamas officials in Cairo. Also, China's leader, Xi Jinping, makes a rare reference to the killing of protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in 1989…

17 Aug 11AM 29 min

Trump orders cuts to US-South Korea drills, citing ties with Kim Jong Un

Donald Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in joint US-South Korea military exercises, saying they are "too expensive" and risk damaging his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In a post on Truth Social, he also noted that South Korea had recently declined to join the…

17 Aug 12AM 31 min

The Global Story - Is Iran really trying to kill Trump?

Last month, President Trump secretly swapped planes via a catering truck as he left a Nato summit in Turkey. The elaborate ruse, first reported by the Washington Post, was in response to a possible threat from Iran. But how serious were the US administration’s fears of an assassination attempt? And…

16 Aug 3PM 27 min

Indonesia earthquake: rescuers search for survivors

Rescue workers have been attempting to reach suvivors of a powerful earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Flores in the early hours of Saturday morning. Around fifty people have died and some five thousand have been evacuated from their homes. Also: Israel has carried out its deadliest strikes in…

16 Aug 12AM 26 min

The Happy Pod: How Neil the Seal won hearts across the world

Neil the Seal has captured the hearts - and laughs - of people across the world with his mischievous antics. The elephant seal keeps returning to the Australian island of Tasmania to chew traffic cones, attack street signs, and block traffic with his 1,000 kg body. His hijinks have made…

15 Aug 7AM 27 min

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to CEO shooting

The man accused of killing an American health insurance executive has confessed to the crime in court. Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to two federal counts of stalking resulting in death. He shot the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York street in 2024. Mangione will be sentenced in December;…

14 Aug 11PM 28 min

Netanyahu derides UK as 'Islamic Republic of Great Britain'

The spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has defended his reference to the UK as an 'Islamic Republic'. In a podcast with Israeli Army Radio, Mr Netanyahu recalled meeting the grandson of Winston Churchill, describing him as a 'lover of Israel' and then adding that you won't find…

14 Aug 12PM 29 min

Afghanistan five years after the Taliban return

Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet meets Afghan women and girls who face severe restrictions. Girls can only attend school until grade six - around the age of 12 - and women are barred from university and many jobs. There are even rules over visiting public parks and gyms. But…

14 Aug 12AM 32 min

Israeli soldiers evacuate Palestinians besieged by settlers

The army said it was acting to protect residents in Qusra and that it had demolished two illegal settler outposts. The mayor of Qusra says the village in the occupied West Bank has been declared a closed military zone. Also: Russia's president Vladimir Putin visits an island claimed by Japan…

13 Aug 11AM 30 min

BBC speaks to anti-Putin Russian journalist

Russian journalist, television presenter and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 talks exclusively to the BBC. The former editor-in-chief of the now banned independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta tells our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg about life under Vladimir Putin. Also: US Vice-President JD Vance reportedly intervenes to halt Ukrainian…

13 Aug 12AM 33 min