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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will enter into direct peace talks with Lebanon but that there will be no immediate truce. Donald Trump is reported to have called Netanyahu to encourage him to enter into negotiations. We get the latest from Jerusalem and Beirut.

Also on the programme: US First Lady Melania Trump makes a rare public statement on Jeffrey Epstein.

And we hear about the hardware Russians are using in covert operations near the UK’s vital undersea cables.

The Israeli prime minister says he's ready for direct negotiations with Lebanon, as Iran says the continuing Israeli attacks on Lebanon violate Iran's ceasefire with the US. We hear the latest from Israel, Lebanon and the US.

Also in the programme: the UK says three Russian submarines have conducted a "covert" operation over Britain's vital underwater cables and pipelines; and as the crew of the Integrity spacecraft on the Artemis II mission around the Moon hurtle back towards Earth, we hear from the wife of the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

(IMAGE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 19, 2026. CREDIT: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File Photo)

Alan rallies the troops, and Oliver takes Miranda under his wing.

What phrases do you know with 'money'? Learn some here with Beth.

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The Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Israel's attacks on Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement with the United States, and warns that upcoming negotiations will be meaningless if strikes continue. In Beirut, rescue workers are searching through rubble for people missing after Wednesday's bombardments. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to keep attacking the Iran-backed group Hezbollah "wherever necessary". Where does this leave peace talks, currently planned for Saturday in Pakistan?

Also: millions of people are voting in India's state elections, seen as a test for the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress in Argentina passes a bill allowing mining in areas where glaciers had been protected. We hear from the family of one of Nasa's Artemis II astronauts, as they prepare their return to Earth. A 300 million year old fossil, described as the remains of the world's oldest octopus, turns out not to be an octopus. And outfits belonging to the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II - including her wedding and coronation gown - go on display at Buckingham Palace.

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.

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Voters in Benin will head to the elections on April 12 to choose a new president. The winner of the vote will take over from the current leader, Patrice Talon - who is stepping down after two terms and a decade in power. The two candidates in the poll are 49-year-old finance minister Romuald Wadagni, who will face off against opposition candidate Paul Hounkpè. We hear the priorities of young voters in the election.

And we get up close with Ify Adenuga, mother to British-Nigerian Rapper, Skepta as she shares what it was like raising a child who wanted to be a rapper?

Presenter : Nkechi Ogbonna

Producers: Keikantse Shumba and Blessing Aderogba

Technical Producer: Mbarak Abdallah

Senior Producer: Charles Gitonga

Editor: Maryam Abdalla

For the first time in seven years, India has bought its first cargo of Iranian oil. India hasn't purchased any Iranian oil since 2019 because of US sanctions, but those restrictions were waived last month. Leanna hears from the BBC's Archana Shukla.

Plus, its a big day for K-pop fans right across the globe as BTS, one of the world's biggest boy bands, have officially kicked off their new tour. Leanna Byrne hears from journalist Nemo Kim based in Seoul.

A top Iranian official has told the BBC the US must choose war or peace, as the ceasefire appears compromised. Iran's deputy foreign minister said Tehran had warned Washington, after Israel's massive strikes on Lebanon, that it could not have it both ways. Saeed Khatibzadeh accuses Israel of a "massacre" in Lebanon - 203 people were killed on Wednesday, according to the health ministry.

Also, Argentina's Congress has passed a controversial amendment making it easier to mine in glacier regions, a move environmentalists say weakens protections for crucial water sources.

And a Los Angeles woman dubbed the "Ketamine Queen" has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling drugs that led to the death of Friends actor Matthew Perry.

(Photo: Aftermath of an Israeli strike carried out on Wednesday, in Ain Al Mraiseh in Beirut. Credit: Reuters)

Also, golfer Rory McIlroy begins defence of his Masters title - could he win again?

Misha Glenny and guests discuss one of the most remarkable scientific discoveries of the 20th century: the archaea microorganisms. In the 1970s the American microbiologist Carl Woese (1928-2012) realised that the tiny bacteria-sized organisms he was studying were not actually bacteria but from an entirely different branch of the tree of life. It became clear that archaea, as he named them, share aspects of the cells in all plants and animals even if they often live in places where other life struggles including salty lakes, acidic pools, under the sea bed and in the gut. While aspects of what followed from Woese are still under debate, further discoveries suggest that life on Earth has been on a journey of separation and reunion: that the first cells developed into bacteria and archaea billions of years ago and that some of those later combined to form the complex cells from which we are made.

With

Christa Schleper

Professor of Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Vienna

Thorsten Allers

Professor of Archaeal Genetics at the University of Nottingham

And

Buzz Baum

Group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

John Archibald, One Plus One Equals One: Symbiosis and the evolution of complex life (Oxford University Press, 2014)

Buzz Baum, ‘I’: A Biography of the Biological Self (Allen Lane, forthcoming 2027)

Franklin M. Harold, In Search of Cell History: The Evolution of Life's Building Blocks (University of Chicago Press, 2014)

Nick Lane, Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life (Oxford University Press, 2005)

David Quammen, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life (Simon & Schuster, 2018)

Jan Sapp, Evolution by Association: A History of Symbiosis (Oxford University Press, 1994)

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.