BBC

Susie Wiles, one of the most powerful people in Donald Trump's team, gave a rare insight into the administration in a candid interview with Vanity Fair. The White House chief of staff described the president as having an "alcoholic's personality" and Vice President JD Vance as having been a "conspiracy theorist" for a decade. Wiles has now claimed the magazine disregarded "significant context" to create a "disingenuously framed hit piece". Mr Trump said he had full faith in Ms Wiles.

Also: Donald Trump says he's ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, escalating his pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro. Funerals have begun in Australia for the victims of Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach. Nick Reiner, son of the Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle, has been charged with their murder. Why having difficulty concentrating or losing personal confidence in midlife may put a person at an increased risk of dementia, according to a study. How a picture of Miss Finland sparked a row over racism and a PR crisis for the Nordic nation. The singer Lizzo is celebrating a legal victory after a judge dismissed allegations of fat-shaming made by three of her former dancers. And after six centuries of male voices, King's College Cambridge finally gets an all female choir.

As the USA and Soviet Union race for supremacy in the 1960s, Premier Khrushchev sizes up his rival, President John F Kennedy. Presenters Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the superpower leaders, explore their rise to power - one wealthy, smooth-talking and Harvard educated, the other a hardened Soviet war leader from a peasant family. As they prepare to meet for the first and only time as world leaders, the stakes could not be higher: they are fierce rivals in the race to build ever more devastating missiles. This is the personal and political history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nina Khrushcheva is the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev and Max Kennedy is the nephew of President John F Kennedy, and the son of Robert F Kennedy.

To hear more episodes, search for The Bomb, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

British-born Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Rabbi Yaakov Levitan are to be buried on Wednesday, the Chabad of Bondi has confirmed. Australian officials are investigating claims that the two gunmen took part in military-style training in the Philippines.

Also on the programme: The BBC understands that the UK is set to rejoin the EU's Erasmus student exchange scheme, five years after leaving it as part of the post-Brexit deal with the European Union. Water voles have been spotted for the first time in almost two decades by conservationists in Oxfordshire. And, we speak to the Welsh couple who have defied odds of more than 24 trillion to one, and won the National Lottery for a second time.

Why are black women are being hit hardest in today’s jobs market? With African American unemployment at a four-year high, we hear from women searching for work.

In Japan, a “human washing machine” could soon be hitting the shops.

The European Union waters down its own plan to ban petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.

We hear how the trucking industry is changing in Canada.

And Ed Butler speaks to an 11-year-old farmer travelling from Ireland to Brussels by tractor with his dad, ahead of a major protest.

Researchers from Yale University say there's evidence that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been trying to cover up mass killings in the Sudanese city of El Fasher by burning and burying bodies. We hear from one of the researchers who analysed satellite images of the area.

Also in the programme: the gunmen who carried out the deadly Bondi Beach attack in Australia spent most of last month in the Philippines; and why next year King's College, Cambridge, will have a new choir - of girls.

(Photo: Handout photograph of a woman and baby at the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur. Credit: MSF/Mohamed Zakaria/Handout via Reuters/File Photo)

Pat offers some pearls of wisdom, and there's tractor trouble at Bridge Farm.

Australian police say one of the Bondi attackers, Sajid Akram, was an Indian citizen. He and his son Naveed spent weeks in the Philippines, where there's been a long-running Islamist insurgency, before Sunday's deadly attack on a Jewish festival. Also: millions are at risk of starvation in Afghanistan this winter; peace talks continue in Berlin aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war; and the US says it has carried out more strikes on boats it suspects of trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean.

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 Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its long-awaited data, showing mixed signals for the US jobs market. The unemployment rate is at a four-year high of 4.6%, up from 4.4%.

The European Union is set to soften its planned ban on new petrol and diesel cars, giving carmakers more time to move away from combustion engines. We hear from Wolfgang Weber, CEO of German electro and digital industry association (ZVEI).

And the last vehicle will roll off the assembly line at Volkswagen's plant in Dresden today. First time ever the German carmaker closed a manufacturing plant in its home country.

You can contact us on WhatsApp or send us a voicenote: +44 330 678 3033.

Presenter: Leanna Bryne

Producer: Victoriya Holland

Editor: Justin Bones

Search efforts for missing people continue in Morocco's Safi province after weekend flash floods. This, even as the country is set to host the African Cup of Nations - AFCON football tournament in a few days. We hear from residents in Safi, and whether the disaster has dampened the mood ahead of the continental soccer event.

Also, are solar-powered vehicles the solution to transportation shortages in Benin? We speak to an entrepreneur at the forefront of bringing renewable energy to the country's transport industry.

Presenter : Nkechi Ogbonna

Producers: Bella Twine, Basma El Atti and Ayuba Iliya

Technical Producer: Jonathan Mwangi

Senior Producer: Charles Gitonga

Editors: Samuel Murunga and Maryam Abdalla

Australian Jews are now fearing for their safety after the Bondi beach shooting in Sydney, a survivor has told the BBC.

One of the two men suspected of carrying out a mass shooting at Bondi Beach was originally from southern India but had "limited contact" with his family there, police sources have said. We'll look at what's emerging from the investigation and what the attack means for Australia's Jewish community.

Also in the programme: The scourge of forced marriages in Kazakhstan; Donald Trump files his multi-billion dollar law-suit against the BBC; and 250 years after her birth, we'll look at why Jane Austen still means so much around the world.

(Photo shows an Israeli flag among candles at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on 16 December 2025. Credit: Hollie Adams/Reuters)