Global News Podcast

Researchers in Australia say there were 11.4 million new dementia cases in 2023. They expect that number to more than double to 24.7 million by 2050. Women and people from lower- and middle-income countries are most likely to be affected. We speak to Professor Henry Brodaty, co-author of the study, who tells us this is because of "an epidemic of ageing". Also: the BBC reports from the frontline of the conflict in Yemen. US federal agents have raided the home in Washington of the Democratic congresswoman, Ilhan Omar. Elon Musk has given what's believed to be a record amount of money to Republican groups ahead of the US midterm elections. We're in Hungary, six months on from the defeat of Viktor Orbán's party in parliamentary elections. And the actress Selma Blair is charged with assault after an alleged incident on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the

Major French supermarket chains have reported being hit by a cyberattack that caused their refrigerators to defrost. More than 150 Intermarché stores were targeted, along with almost 100 Coopérative U outlets. The hackers may have also hit other major chains in France and neighbouring countries.Also: Saudi airspace remains heavily disrupted, as Yemen's Houthis continue a barrage of missile attacks. President Zelensky says Washington has to make Russia respect the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump, after Russian strikes hit Ukrainian power plants overnight. Thousands have rallied in Delhi for what they call a March for Democracy, aimed at removing the head of India's electoral commission, following fraud allegations. Why AI data centres could be a major issue for voters in the US midterms. Pakistan detains the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after sacking him and his government and declaring a local emergency. We speak to the president of Microsoft about the dangers of AI going rogue.

The main international airport in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, is attacked on consecutive days by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. More than a dozen people have been killed and hundreds injured. The Houthis say they launched the strikes because of the Saudis' support for government forces in Yemen's civil war. Also: a BBC investigation looks into the circumstances surrounding the shooting of mourners in Kenya at a national farewell for a former prime minister. The Pope is to undergo surgery to remove a lump on his lung. A boat carrying hundreds of migrants from Djibouti to Yemen sinks, leaving almost 140 people dead. And why are shark bites on the increase in Australia?The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.Photo: Surveillance footage shows smoke and fire as people react to

At a recent Meta product launch, Mark Zuckerberg promised that the company’s smart glasses would give wearers “new superpowers”, but what are they? Amid criticisms of its privacy and child protection policies, Meta is betting big on smart glasses as a way to restyle the company’s image, but they too have caused controversy – dubbed by critics ‘pervert glasses’ because they have been used to film women without their knowledge. So why are Meta and other big tech firms investing billions in this tech? Who is it for? Lily Jamali, the BBC’s North America technology correspondent, joins us to explain. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

A major diplomatic row has erupted between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. After Mr Zelensky criticised a decision by Mr Trump to buy Russian diesel, the US president lashed out. He called for a new leader in Ukraine, and said Mr Zelensky was prolonging the war with Moscow. Mr Trump warned the Ukrainian leader not to bomb Russian oil refineries. Also: people in Mexico are bracing themselves for another hurricane. The Indian government stops a protest calling for the resignation of the head of the election commission. An AI agent sends a fake tip about an unsolved murder to police in the US city of Philadelphia. And would you like a tattoo that you can turn on and off?The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twic

A Nigerian man has completed a 168-hour dance marathon in a bid to set a new world record. Benjamin Daniel - better known as 'Ben Dancer' - moved and grooved for seven days straight in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest individual dance marathon. The 33-year-old would dance for eight hours before taking a 40-minute rest break. There were many times Ben wanted to give up, but he was spurred on by cheering crowds at Freedom Park in Lagos.Also: How Dolly Parton's dream of every child growing up in a house full of books is gradually becoming a reality. The 11-year-old chess prodigy who's made history as the youngest Woman Grandmaster ever. How an usher went from sweeping the aisles to performing on stage in the same theatre. And the grand reveal of a prank between friends that lasted 25 years.Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.Image: Ben Dancer dancing on stage at Freedom Park in Lagos. Credit: SAYCHEESEPresenter: Helena Burke. Music compo

President Trump is temporarily lifting a number of sanctions on Russia in a deal which will see Moscow supply the US and global markets with diesel to try to bring down energy costs. President Zelensky of Ukraine said easing sanctions without a clear de-escalation agreement was weak and would allow Russia to continue to wage war. Democrats on the US Senate foreign relations committee called the move a total betrayal of Ukraine, European allies and American national security. Also: the US imposes sanctions on the International Criminal Court hours after one of its former judges wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Prosecutors in the UAE say the co-pilot on the hijacked Flydubai passenger jet was planning a suicide attack on Israel's Tel Aviv airport. Manchester City manager, Enzo Maresca, insists his club will eventually be cleared of breaking football's financial rules. Lost notes indicate Rosalind Franklin understood a DNA breakthrough before her rivals. The tech firm Anthropic raises eyebrows by announcing it will b

This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African former UN human rights chief. The Nobel committee said Ms Pillay had shown that legal measures could help prevent acts of war and violence. At a news conference after being awarded the prize, she warned against growing political attacks on international law.Also: More airlines are suspending flights to Saudi Arabia after three people were killed in two Houthi attacks on Riyadh's international airport. The US Defense Department is facing criticism over plans to livestream the execution of a man who killed 13 people at an army base. Demonstrations are taking place in New York after ICE agents shot and wounded a man with his child inside his car. The BBC speaks to Ukrainians rushing to leave Kyiv before winter. Malaysia shuts schools as haze from Indonesian fires chokes South East Asia. How technology which can track the division of cells in a mouse could help scientists understand how diseases take hold in humans. And the artist be

Nidal Hasan, a former army psychiatrist who killed 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas, will not only be the first person to die by a US military firing squad since 1945. His execution, which is set for December, would also be the first to be seen by the public in the US for 90 years. Also, cars have been set on fire and shops owned by foreigners were reportedly targeted during violence in South Africa because of tensions surrounding illegal immigration. Police in Britain have accepted that they behaved unlawfully when they searched the homes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles and former prince who was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He denies any wrongdoing. Microsoft has been suspended from a US visa programme that hires skilled foreign workers as the Vice President, JD Vance, accuses the software giant of giving away American jobs. And could Jonathan the tortoise, who is 194, help humans live longer lives?The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking ne

At least 30 people have been killed in a Russian air strike at a bus stop in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. Eighteen others were wounded. The attack follows a dramatic surge in Russian attacks across the country and a heavy increase in civilian casualties. President Volodymyr Zelensky says the attacks will not go unanswered.Also: Israel has downgraded the British consulate in East Jerusalem, after threatening to close the site completely over the UK's decision to sanction Israeli goods from illegal West Bank settlements. It’s been nearly a year since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but most of Gaza remains destroyed as a peace deal continues to stall. Recent successful recovery efforts show that species loss can still be reversed, according to a report by the environmental group WWF. The veteran Indian actor Nana Patekar, one of the most outspoken figures in the Indian film industry, has died aged 75. A BBC investigation has found workers in South East Asia are being paid less than $2 an ho

Hundreds of protesters have demonstrated outside parliament in Madrid after the death of an 87 year old woman who became a symbol of Spain's housing crisis. Maricarmen Abascal was forcibly removed on a stretcher from her apartment of more than 70 years last month after she was unable to afford big rent increases. The company that owned the flat later offered to allow her to return at a lower rate - but she was unable to sign an agreement as she had been admitted to hospital. Also, US prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against the former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores for the alleged torture of American citizens. And a judge in the US state of Tennessee has ordered officials to preserve all evidence from the botched execution of Christa Pike last week.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health

Israel has been remembering the deadliest single day in its history on 7th October 2023 when Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups stormed communities along the border with Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The anniversary comes weeks before an election in which the question of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal culpability for the country's worst-ever security failure will be a central issue. Also: the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described Moscow's latest round of attacks on his country as ''the Russian army's birthday gift for Vladimir Putin''. The World Health Organization has requested more information from Russia following unconfirmed reports that a second employee at a plague research lab in Siberia has contracted pneumonia. Malaysia pushes ahead with a ‌controversial move to repatriate thousands of migrants from Myanmar, where they could face persecution. The BBC visits a men's community group in South Africa where participants are encoura

President Macron holds an emergency meeting after more than a quarter of a million French people take part in fresh school protests. Although most gatherings were peaceful, there were sporadic clashes, with police using batons and tear gas to disperse crowds. Lawyers for Christa Pike, the American woman who survived a botched execution attempt last week, say she's regained consciousness and is able to talk. They say she's receiving critical care and remains handcuffed to a hospital bed. Events are being held in Israel to mark the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks that triggered the war in Gaza. The Oscar-winning actress and one of the last survivors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Eva Marie Saint, has died. She was 102. And one of football's greatest ever players, Lionel Messi, makes his final international appearance for Argentina. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Polit

As fighting surges again in Yemen, government forces supported by Saudi Arabia say they've been making significant gains in an offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis. We hear how the conflict is affecting people in one of the key battlegrounds - the southwestern city of Taiz, which is surrounded by the Houthis. Also: protesters and police clash in several French cities, as students, parents and unions join demonstrations across the country calling for more investment in schools. The space scientist Dame Dr Maggie Aderin on the remarkable story of the Hubble Space Telescope - the subject of a new podcast. Protests spread in Japan over the murder of a woman on the island of Okinawa, allegedly committed by a US marine. We hear tributes to Jeffrey Archer, the British politician and author who died on Monday, and look back at the rises and falls in his life. And a study finds that book bans are on the increase in US public schools. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it hap

Iran-backed Houthis claim they hit several targets in Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh Airport, while Saudi-led forces attacked Houthi military strongholds on the Red Sea coast. The Yemeni government has launched an offensive against the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa. Also: Student demonstrations intensify in France ahead of a national day of protests. The Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded to Karl Deisseroth from America and Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel from Germany for their work in the field of optogenetics. Russia downplays reports that a lab technician who died last week may have been exposed to pneumonic plague. The bestselling British author and politician, Jeffrey Archer, has died. A concert pianist invents a "Standing Grand" piano and dust off your CV if you'd like to be Finland's official 'smeller'.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, tech

Investigators believe the co-pilot accused of trying to take over a Flydubai plane heading for Israel was a "lone wolf" extremist who wanted to fly the aircraft into an airport or tower block. Also: why did the US military withdraw expensive bombers from a base in the UK? Oil exports from the Middle East are getting back to levels last achieved before the US began bombing Iran. Spain's prime minister calls an election over a housing crisis. Researchers try to find out why more young people are getting cancer, and what lemurs in Madagascar and trained human singers have in common.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscri

Brazilians voted on Sunday in a high-stakes presidential election pitting incumbent left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against the right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro amid a regional shift to the right. Bolsonaro won the first round, but failed to win an outright majority, with a run-off scheduled for 25 October.Also: The US has pulled its B1 bombers from an airbase in England which was the target of a suspected terror plot. Israel has barred the British Green Party leader after his party passed a motion defining Zionism as racism. Ethiopian troops entering Mekelle have sparked regional fear of a return to active civil war. Tech giants are paying workers in India to record their physical actions so AI can learn human movements. Glastonbury tickets sold out in under an hour despite being the most expensive ever at more than 500 dollars each.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politic

Climate scientists have put out a dire warning about this year’s El Niño; that it will likely be the worst in recorded history. And if previous ‘super’ El Niños are anything to go by, that means that this cycle will bring extreme weather - flooding, drought, wildfires, and hunger- across the world. But how do scientists know what the effects of an El Niño will be? And how do they communicate that information to governments and the public in a way that causes calm preparedness instead of panic? Tom Di Liberto is a former climate scientist for the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a science communicator, who specialises in monitoring El Niño phenomena. He joins us on today’s show.

Christa Pike's botched execution has reignited the debate surrounding the death penalty in the United States. Tennessee's head of prisons is to resign amid growing scrutiny. Also: Ethiopians fear a return to civil war after government forces take control of the Tigrayan regional capital. Tens of thousands of people protest against the housing crisis in Spain. Investigators say the co-pilot of the FlyDubai plane attacked his captain with an axe kept inside the cockpit. Nearly 200 people are under medical observation after a Russian lab worker reportedly died from pneumonic plague. Germany's Oktoberfest is handing out shorts to female riders after a surge in upskirting videos. And a new species of lizard has been discovered living high up in the Peruvian Andes. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert anal

Fat Bear Week is back! The annual contest sees people around the world vote for their favourite bear, ahead of hibernation season. More than two million votes were cast this year's tournament which is based at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Also, meet the tattoo artist covering people's scars with artwork to make them feel more confident. Cath Bowie, aka GrumpyGran 1948, tells us how she got into streaming and the game Fortnite. She's just been recognised by Guiness World Records as the world's oldest female Fortnite streamer at the age of 78.Plus, 'Walk with a Doc', a scheme that gets people out walking with their local doctor and, have you ever heard an Elephant's rumble? We find out what it means. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.Image: Fat Bear Week winner, 'Backpack'. Credit: Katmai National Park and Preserve/Explore.org