BBC

US media reports say what's being considered is a 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran, which could set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations. A senior member of Iran's parliament has dismissed it as a "wish list", while a foreign ministry spokesman said Tehran would share its views of a US proposal with Pakistani mediators. Pakistan's foreign minister said his country was "endeavouring to convert the current ceasefire into a permanent end to this war".

Also: Three women with links to the Islamic State group have been arrested after arriving in Australia with their children after years in detention in Syria. Vigils are held across Australia for a five year old Aboriginal girl who was allegedly murdered. And, Ukraine looks at banning surrogacy for foreign parents - amid concerns that poor vulnerable women in a country at war are being exploited and there are not enough protections for the babies.

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 subscribe now and never miss a moment.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Three women with links to the jihadist Islamic State group have been arrested on returning home to Australia following years in detention in Syria.

Also on the programme, Newshour goes to Baltimore to speak to families affected by the 2024 bridge collapse and now avoiding deportation, and protests against the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine rock the Venice Biennale.

(Photo: Islamic State-linked families return to Australia, Melbourne, 7 May, 2026. Credit: Joel Carrett/EPA-EFE)

Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of the low cost carrier, has been speaking to the BBC. He says the current high fuel costs are more complex for the airline to manage than covid was.

Danish shipping giant Maersk says it will be able to adapt if charges are introduced for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

And the African nation of Madagascar is struggling to deal with fuel shortages as a result of the war in the Persian Gulf.

Also, the latest on the cruise ship struck by an hantavirus outbreak.

Misha Glenny and his guests discuss the most famous oratorio of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and his librettist Charles Jennens (1700-1773). For his libretto, Jennens drew from Old and New Testament texts: prophecies about the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the nativity, the suffering of Christ and his death and the Day of Judgement and redemption for all. Handel's Messiah had its premiere in 1742 in a secular Dublin music hall to great acclaim with a packed audience and Handel continued to adapt his Messiah for later performances, often shaping the work to the choirs or individual singers available. Messiah proved to be one of his most popular works, becoming a favourite of massed choirs around the world far beyond the scale of Handel’s original.

With

Donald Burrows

Emeritus Professor of Music at the Open University

Ruth Smith

Trustee and Council Member of the Handel Institute

And

Larry Zazzo

Countertenor, and Senior Lecturer in Music at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Donald Burrows, Messiah (full score, 2 vols, Hallische Händel Ausgabe, forthcoming)

Donald Burrows, Messiah (Edition Peters, 1987)

Donald Burrows, Messiah, Cambridge Music Handbooks (Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Donald Burrows, Handel: Master Musicians series, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2012)

George Frideric Handel (ed. Donald Burrows et al.), Collected Documents vol. 3 (1734-42), vol 4 (1742-50), (Cambridge University Press, 2019, 2020)

G.F. Handel, facsimile ‘Messiah’: the composer’s autograph manuscript (British Library, 2009)

G.F. Handel, facsimile the composer’s Conducting Score of Messiah (Scolar Press, 1974)

Arthur Holroyd, Reassuring 18th-Century Protestants: The Librettist’s Intended Message for Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Quacks Books, 2018)

Charles King, Every Valley: The Story of Handel’s Messiah (Doubleday/Bodley Head, 2024)

Jens Peter Larsen, Handel’s Messiah: Origins, Composition, Sources (Adam and Charles Black, 1957)

Richard Luckett, Handel’s Messiah: A Celebration (Victor Gollancz, 1992)

Watkins Shaw, A Textual and Historical Companion to Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Novello and Co, 1965)

Ruth Smith, ‘The Achievements of Charles Jennens (1700–1773)’ (Music & Letters, 70, 1989)

Ruth Smith, Charles Jennens: The Man behind Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Handel House Trust/The Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, 2012)

Ruth Smith, Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1995)

Calvin R. Stapert, Handel’s Messiah: Comfort for God’s People (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010)

Judy Tarling, Handel’s Messiah: A Rhetorical Guide (first published 2014; Punnett Press, 2025)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios production

Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

For years, Ukraine has been one of the world’s leading hubs for commercial surrogacy - attracting couples from around the world with lower costs and more relaxed laws. Despite Russia’s full-scale invasion, the industry has continued to operate. But now, a proposed law being debated in Ukraine’s parliament could ban surrogacy for foreign parents. Also: Rumours are swirling that a US-Iran deal could be close. Scientists have verified the existence of the second largest tsunami ever. CNN's founder Ted Turner has died. And a robot has become a Buddhist monk.

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 subscribe now and never miss a moment.

Get in touch: [email protected]

The Kremlin’s pursuit of a “sovereign internet” has raised fears of a digital Iron Curtain. After months of mobile internet shutdowns, Russian authorities have moved to block major platforms like YouTube and Telegram, along with the VPNs people rely on to bypass restrictions. We explore what’s driving the push to isolate the largest country on Earth from the global internet and unpack the political, economic and military implications of the country’s tightening digital borders.

Contributors: Daria Mosolova, Howard Gethin, Gleb Borshchevski, Evgeny Pudovkin

Producer: Kriszta Satori

Presenter: Krassi Ivanova Twigg

Music: Pete Cunningham

Ted Turner, founder of CNN died today. We hear from Brian Selter, CNN media correspondent and Lisa Napoli who was an intern in its early days to look back on his life and legacy.

It’s also been another turbulent day with oil prices fluctuating dramatically as President Donald Trump believes they’re nearing a deal with Iran.

Aluminium hit a four-year high due to the Middle East conflict too. How will this affect the price of cars and canned goods?

And with six weeks to go before the Fifa World Cup, hotel booking across the USA are seeing lower hotel bookings than expected.

With important midterm elections happening later this year, we look at immigration in Baltimore. It's a defining domestic issue in President Trump's second term. One of his boldest pledges was for mass deportations - to send anyone who'd entered the US illegally back to their home country. We meet one Guatemalan woman facing that prospect.

Also in the programme: how some of Baltimore's derelict housing is being spruced up; and the US broadcasting mogul Ted Turner has died at the age of 87.

(Photo: Zoila Guerra Sandoval, living in Baltimore but facing deportation to Guatemala. Credit: BBC)

The UK Health Security Agency says two British passengers who were on board the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak, are back in the UK and self-isolating at home. We hear from our correspondent and from a cruise ship medic.

Also on the programme: Iran says it's reviewing new US peace proposals as Donald Trump talks up a possible deal.

And we hear about the German man who's struck a blow for victims - of all natonalities - of sunbed hogging.