BBC

Can new tougher measures announced by Sierra Leone's President Bio really be effective in combating kush, the illegal psychoactive blend of addictive substances that is devastating the country.

What caused the fatal helicopter crash in Ghana that killed eight people, including two high profile government ministers?

And why has Senegal dismissed the IMF’s debt restructure plan as "a disgrace"?

Presenter: Audrey Brown

Producers: Sunita Nahar, Yvette Twagiramariya, Mark Wilberforce, Joseph Keen and Stefania Okereke

Technical Producer: Philip Bull

Senior Producer: Patricia Whitehorne

Editor: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

What implications does that have on patients?

One of the world's most advanced aircraft carriers has arrived in the waters off Latin America as President Donald Trump ramps up the US naval presence in the Caribbean Sea. He says the US military is firing on drug traffickers. So why does Venezuela say he's trying to bring down its government? Also: California Governor Gavin Newsom is at COP30, to present his own vision of US climate policy. The mayor of Istanbul faces 2,000 years in prison over charges that his supporters say are politically motivated. And we look at the Israeli bill which would impose the death penalty on people convicted of terrorism.

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 government wants more young people to be offered "gold standard apprenticeships". The plan was unveiled at the Labour party conference as the Prime Minister ditched the ambition for half of young people to go to university.

So we're looking at the financial side of apprenticeships, from how much they pay to what they can mean for a family's finances.

Felicity Hannah is joined by Ben Rowland, the author of Understanding Apprenticeships and also the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, a trade body for organisations that train apprentices. And also Rachel Kayes, community manager for the Association of Apprentices, an apprentice support body with around 50,000 members.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah

Producers: James Graham

Editor: Jess Quayle

(This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Radio 4 on the 15th of October 2025).

We examine how the longest shutdown in the US history has affected the airline industry and hear from stranded passengers and furloughed air traffic controllers.

And, on day two of the COP climate conference in Brazil, we talk a South African minister on what it will take to help poorer nations fund the transition to clean energy.

A London NHS trust has been fined more than £500,000 and a ward manager convicted of health and safety offences over the death of 22-year-old Alice Figueiredo in Goodmayes Hospital. We ask whether the NHS could be doing more to stop preventable deaths in care.

Also on the programme:

Amid reports of a post-Budget coup against Sir Keir Starmer, Number 10 says the prime minister won’t go without a fight.

And are the BBC's history programmes failing to present a full view of the nation's past? We hear from two historians: Professor Lawrence Goldman, Emeritus Fellow in History at St Peter's College, Oxford and Dr Tessa Dunlop, author of Lest We Forget: War and Peace in 100 British Monuments.

Survivors who fled El Fasher in Sudan have described witnessing atrocities as the city fell to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces last month. The RSF has denied killing nearly five hundred patients and staff at the Saudi Maternity Hospital after capturing the city from the army. We hear a special report from Barbara Plett Usher in Nairobi.

Also in the programme: German songwriters score a victory over AI; and Iraq goes to the polls.

(Picture: Remnants of a shell that targeted the refugee centre, in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025. Credit: REUTERS)

Joy tries to change Susan’s mind, and Amber needs time to think.

Pakistan's interior minister says a suicide attack has killed 12 people and injured many more near a crowded courthouse in the capital, Islamabad. Mohsin Naqvi says the authorities were not treating this as "just another bombing". Also: India hunts those involved in Monday's car explosion in a crowded street in the capital Delhi which killed eight people. COP30 looks at how to help poorer countries adapt to the impact of climate change as extreme weather takes an ever bigger toll. Evidence that speaking more than one language can delay the ageing process. Britain aims to phase out animal testing in medical and scientific research. And the Portuguese football superstar, Ronaldo, says next year's World Cup will be his last.

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]

Leanna Byrne gets reactions as a woman known as the Chinese crypto queen has been sentenced to jail in London for laundering billions in stolen bitcoin. Qian Zhimin was convicted of trying to launder more than sixty thousand bitcoins now worth around six and a half billion dollars.

In Germany, OpenAI faces a legal setback after a court ruled it infringed copyright by reproducing song lyrics without permission.

And Japan's SoftBank cashes out of Nvidia.