BBC

The Dead Ringers team are back to train their vocal firepower on the week’s news with an armoury of impressive impressions.

This week: Farage goes to a new school, The Snowman takes Keir Starmer on a Christmas journey, and Alan Carr: Special Negotiator.

This week's impressionists are Jan Ravens, Jess Robinson, Kieran Hodgson and Josh Berry.

The episode was written by: Nev Fountain and Tom Jamieson, Laurence Howarth, Tom Coles, Sarah Campbell, Sophie Dickson, Jon Holmes, Alice Bright, Rachel E Thorn, Jennifer Walker, Joe Topping, Alex Buchanan and G Watson.

Created by Bill Dare

Producer: Jon Holmes

Executive Producer: Richard Morris

Production Co-ordinator: Caroline Barlow

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4

European Union leaders strike a deal to give Ukraine a $105 billion loan after failing to agree on using frozen Russian assets. Zelensky welcomes EU backing. Putin tells BBC the West is "making Russia the enemy." Also: TikTok owners sign deal to avoid US ban. We travel down into the deep tunnels in Finland where nuclear waste is to be buried. The Bank of Japan raises its interest rate to its highest level in 30 years -- but it's still less than 1%. A mysterious object from outside our solar system heads to its closest point to Earth. Known as 3i Atlas, it's travelling at more than 200,000 km/h.

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]

TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance has struck a deal with US and global investors to keep the app operating in America. But who really comes out on top?

Could Japan’s interest rate hike offer relief to struggling households?

Shipping giant Maersk has sent its first vessel through the Red Sea in two years.

And how could a new EU finance deal strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Russia?

Presenter: Leanna Byrne

Producer: Niamh Mc Dermott

Editor: Justin Bones

Traveling within Africa on an African passport remains a challenge, according to the African Development Bank Group.

Their research shows that Africans can travel without a visa for only 28% of intra-African trips, while 51% of Africans need a visa before crossing borders within the continent.

In this episode, we speak to Ras Mubarak, a former Ghanaian MP, who is currently on an epic road trip across Africa. His mission? To highlight the difficulties of African visa systems and advocate for freer and faster movement across the continent.

Presenter : Nkechi Ogbonna

Producers: Carolyne Kiambo

Technical Producer: Jonathan Mwangi

Senior Producer: Priya Sippy

Editors: Samuel Murunga and Maryam Abdalla

European Union leaders have agreed to loan Ukraine $100bn to cover the cost of its military and public services, but they failed to reach on a deal on using frozen Russian assets.

They instead opted to secure the oan against EU borrowing rather than Russian assets. What signal does that send to Moscow?

Also in the programme: We'll hear from the Ukrainian widows cut off from compensation because their soldier husbands took their own lives; excitement builds in Morocco as it prepares to host Africa's biggest football tournament; why the boxing influencer Jake Paul may be risking more than his reputation in tonight's big fight.

(Photo shows Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen, European Council president Antonio Costa, and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at the EU Council Summit in Brussels, Belgium on 19 December 2025. Credit: Olivier Hoslet/EPA)

Also, Rory McIlroy wins BBC Sports personality of the year.

The Chinese-owned app TikTok has agreed to sell its US operations to overcome the threat of a ban prompted by national security concerns. The joint venture will be led by American investors. ByteDance's video-sharing platform boasts over a billion users worldwide, including more than 170 million in the United States.

Also: US Democrats release another batch of Epstein photos. Australia announces a gun buyback scheme in the wake of the Bondi Beach mass shooting. Violent protests erupt in Bangladesh after the death of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi. We meet the Ukrainian war widows who are fighting for their husbands legacies. And how researchers are using drones to investigate the health of whales in the Arctic.

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]

Imagine being able to see your place of worship, but not be able to reach it. For many Palestinian Muslims in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, stricter Israeli security measures, rising tensions with settlers, and movement restrictions introduced after the 7 October attacks, have made access to mosques increasingly challenging. Reporting from Hebron and East Jerusalem, Emily Wither explores how these pressures are reshaping the spiritual lives of worshippers living at the heart of one of the world’s most contested religious landscapes.

Volodymyr Zelensky has called on EU leaders at a crunch summit urgently to agree to a multi-billion euro loan in frozen Russian money to fund Ukraine's military and economic needs. Andrew Peach hears from EU leaders and an expert in Brussels.

Also, Bolivia ends two decades of fuel subsidies, introducing tough measures to stabilise the public finances, but will people put up with paying more for fuel?

And the economic challenges of making guitars, as Hoffner - famous for making Paul McCartney’s iconic violin-shaped bass guitar – has filed for insolvency in Germany.

(Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference during the EU Council Summit in Brussels, Belgium, 18 December 2025. Credit: OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA/Shutterstock)

European leaders are locked in to negotiations tonight about seizing frozen Russian assets to help fund a major loan for Ukraine. But opposition remains, including from Hungary's Prime Minister Victor Orban.

Also on the programme:

The bookmakers favourite, Rory McIlroy, is the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. We'll have reaction from a former Irish golfing champion.

Why are younger people the most lonely in the UK? We put that question to three people in their 20s and 30s.

And English Heritage draws flak from historians - for promoting an erroneous theory about Christmas.