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British politicians have been warned by the security services that they face a significant risk of espionage from the Chinese state, after an MI5 alert identified two LinkedIn profiles it says have been operating on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security. The UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis has warned that the government won't tolerate covert attempts by China to interfere in the UK's sovereign affairs.

In the Philippines, prosecutors have charged several people in connection with an ongoing corruption scandal linked to inadequate or non-existent flood defences. Also: the global vaccine alliance GAVI says it has prevented nearly one and a half million deaths from cervical cancer through a three-year vaccination campaign in low-income countries. How AI could help speed up research into ways of stopping anti microbial resistance. A human rights group accuses the French oil giant, Total, of complicity in war crimes at one of its gas sites in Mozambique. Cambridge Dictionary names ‘parasocial’ as its Word of the Year for 2025 - and should there be a universal scale to measure spice levels?

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]

Global stocks and shares have plunged for the fourth day in a row. The markets are falling as worries about AI valuations, the US economy and central bank rates hit sentiment.

What happens if the AI bubble burst? We hear from the boss of Google in an exclusive BBC interview.

What's next for the global car industry? Next year, one in four global car sales will be electric, that's according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

A court in France will rule today if Perrier bottles will be forced to remove their bottles from shelves.

And in the UK, selling tickets for a profit could be banned.

Presenter: Leanna Byrne

Producer: Niamh Mc Dermott

Editor: Justin Bones

If the artificial intelligence bubble were to burst, every company would be affected, the head of Google's parent firm Alphabet has told the BBC.

Sundar Pichai said, while the growth of AI investment had been an "extraordinary moment", there was some "irrationality" in the current AI boom. Is a bubble burst inevitable and would it be painful?

Also in the programme: the US hails UN security council backing for its Gaza peace plan; and does the world -- or the world's restaurants -- need a universal spice index?

(Photo shows Sundar Pichai during an interview at Google's California headquarters on 17 November 2025. Credit: BBC News)

At least 20 schoolgirls are still missing in Nigeria's north-western Kebbi State after they were kidnapped at dawn from their dormitories at a secondary school. How can mass abductions in Nigeria be stopped?

South Africa fears a "cleansing agenda" after the controversial arrival of 153 passengers from Gaza in the country.

And how Ethiopia plans to tackle its housing crisis, which has been fuelled by rapid urbanisation.

Presenter: Nyasha Michelle

Producers: Sunita Nahar, Yvette Twagiramariya and Joseph Keen in London

Technical Producer: Gabriel O'Regan

Senior Producer: Patricia Whitehorne

Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

China has been on a giant global shopping spree. Since 2000, Chinese state banks have fuelled investments and acquisitions at a surprisingly rate - some four times what was previously thought. Brand new data, shared exclusively with the BBC, reveals that many of Beijing’s state-backed spending has targeted rich countries. Such deals are strictly legal, though not always easy to trace. Observers in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are alarmed at the potential for Beijing to dominate key technologies and turbo charge its technological might. Celia Hatton investigates the sometimes murky ways in which Chinese state money can be traced to sensitive industrial sectors. But she also discovers that shutting out Chinese influence is not easy or desirable.

Nolan talks to safeguarding expert Jim Gamble

When you take someone under your wing, you help them with something or protect them. Learn how to use this expression with Feifei and Phil.

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The UN Security Council has approved a US-drafted resolution to move to the next stage of Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan. It aims to set up a transitional administration and international stabilisation force, but the details remain vague. Israel has taken issue with parts of the resolution and Hamas has rejected it. Also: Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank; students are kidnapped from a girls' boarding school in Nigeria; an explosion in Poland fuels fears of hybrid war; the latest from COP30; an exclusive interview with Google's boss about AI; how to stop ticket resellers ripping off fans; Netflix confirms Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua boxing fight, and what's the word of the year?

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]

50 years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, Spain continues to feel its way towards an accommodation between its once-warring factions. And nowhere in Spain is more emblematic of the lasting divisions provoked by the Spanish civil war than the place known for decades as El Valle de los Caidos – the Valley of the Fallen.

Built partly with the forced labour of political prisoners, this is a monument that symbolised Franco’s fascist victory over Republican Spain. The Valley became a pilgrimage place for people who revered the dictator – especially after he was buried behind the basilica’s altar.

But in the 21st century, the debate has been about the place of such a monument in modern Spain. And since 2018, Spain’s Socialist government has been determined to change the narrative. In 2019, the remains of Francisco Franco were removed. Then the site was renamed El Valle de Cuelgamuros. And just this year - after lengthy negotiations - the Vatican and the Catholic Church in Spain accepted the government’s plans to make the site, ‘a place of democratic memory’, rather than somewhere paying homage to the dictatorship.

But it seems no one is happy. For Assignment, Esperanza Escribano and Linda Pressly explore the story, legacy and future of El Valle de Cuelgamuros.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood laid out a string of reforms to the asylum system that would see refugee status become temporary, guaranteed housing support for asylum seekers end and new capped "safe and legal routes" into the UK created. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mahmood told MPs the current system is "out of control and unfair", and said: "If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred."

Also on the programme: as Syrians search for those who disappeared during the 13-year civil war, questions remain over missing American Austin Tice.

And an off-duty pilot who tried to cut off the engines of an Alaska Airlines passenger flight with more than 80 people on board, after having taken psychedelic mushrooms, has been sentenced.