BBC

Every year during Brazil’s carnival celebrations, samba schools are tasked with creating elaborate parades based around a unique theme, from which they build huge floats, compose a song, and choreograph an entire visual spectacle. Tom Raine follows one of São Paulo’s oldest samba schools, Águia de Ouro, in the final stages of creating their carnival parade for their most important event of the year - parading in São Paulo’s iconic Sambadrome in the attendance of thousands of people, and millions more watching on TV across Brazil. This year they have chosen a theme titled Amsterdam: City of Liberty, celebrating the cities’ values of freedom, tolerance and modernity. It is not just a celebration but a fierce competition, with rigorous judging and a football-style league system of promotion and relegation.

This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

In a highly critical essay, Sir Tony Blair says the current government has no coherent plan for the country. We hear reaction from two Labour MPs.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney invokes Brexit as a cautionary tale as he tries to head off an independence referendum in the province of Alberta. We speak to one of the leaders of the independence movement.

And after orbiting the moon, NASA unveils its plans to land - and build - there. What would that involve?

Oil giant BP has removed its chairman Albert Manifold with immediate effect over concerns including "bullying" and "overbearing" behaviour by him

Petrol and diesel prices in India continue to rise, reflecting a weak rupee, heavy taxes and lingering geopolitical risks.

And EU agricultural ministers met in Brussels today to come up with a long-term strategy to solve the rising cost of fuel and fertiliser facing farmers. But will this stop the ongoing protests?

Iran accused the United States of breaching their ceasefire on Tuesday. It warned it was ready to retaliate after overnight US strikes targeting Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats. Newshour hears from a UAE political scientist and from former US state department negotiator Aaron David Miller.

Also in the programme: NASA announces moon base plans; and the man who discovered Sierra Leone's 700 carat diamond.

(Picture: An Iranian woman holds a flag bearing portraits of late Iranian supreme leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, during a memorial ceremony for those killed in the Iran-US-Israel war. Credit: EPA)

Susan enters the lion’s den, and Ian attempts damage control.

Several children and adults have been killed in a collision between a train and a school bus in Belgium. Federal police said the vehicle had been on its way to a special education school. Police have launched an investigation into the crash, with officials saying safety barriers on the level crossing had been down.

Also: Iran vows to retaliate after Monday's US strikes. Israel says it will intensify its attacks against Hezbollah, as Lebanon reports multiple casualties in overnight strikes. A human rights watchdog has found evidence that the United Arab Emirates recruited Colombian soldiers to fight alongside paramilitary forces in Sudan. In Sydney, a light show is cancelled after 89 drones fall into Darling Harbour. And experts involved in the rescue of teenagers from a cave complex in Thailand in 2018 are called to search for seven people trapped in a Laos cave. Protected birds of prey are being illegally killed in Britain, conservationists say. And Ferrari unveils its first fully electric car.

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Former F1 team manager Professor Andrew Graves gives us his take on Ferrari's electric gamble as they unveil their latest product, an electric vehicle they are calling the Luce. And we hear from an Indian fruit farmer as their mango crop is crushed by extreme weather.

Iran has issued a new warning, after the US carried out air strikes on Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats. Also on the programme, how countries around world are adapting to heatwaves and higher summer temperatures; and, on his 100th birthday we ask what made Miles Davis one of the jazz greats from a musician who played with him.

(Photo: An Iranian woman walks next to an anti-Israeli mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, May 26, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

The World Health Organisations says Ebola is spreading faster than originally thought and has declared a public health emergency of international concern. Ebola has also been reported in DR Congo's North and South Kivu provinces, as well as in neighbouring Uganda, where there have been seven confirmed cases. In the last week, there have been incidents where angry crowds attempted to reclaim bodies of loved ones from Ebola treatment centres in Mongwalu and Rwampara. We take a look at how burial traditions are being impacted by the virus and what the recommended proceedures look like.

Also, Burkina Faso's livestock export ban has a direct impact on Eid celebrations in Ivory Coast. What are the alternatives?

Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna

Producers: Bella Twine and Ayuba Iliya

Senior Producer: Charles Gitonga

Technical producer: Jonathan Mwangi

Editors: Priya Sippy and Maryam Abdalla

Also, the problem of overgrown grass verges and is it time to change NI hunting laws?