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Sudan war: Can Khartoum airport reopen just hours after a drone attack?

 

15 years after Boko Haram militancy started, why does a jihadist threat still remain in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state

 

Ivory Coast: With the main opposition candidates barred from running, is President Alassane Ouattara set  for a controversial fourth term?

 

 

Presenter: Nyasha Michelle

Producers: Stefania Okereke, Alfonso Daniels, Mark Wilberforce and Yvette Twagiramariya in London

Technical Producer: Chris Ablakwa

Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga

Editors: Sam Murunga and Maryam Abdalla

China's ruling Communist party is meeting to discuss the country's economic plans, at a time of international uncertainty. The party has a grand bargain with its citizens — people will accept one party rule and restrictions on freedoms in exchange for a better life, but, is that bargain no longer so secure?

Also in the programme: an international force has seized illegal drugs worth an estimated billion dollars in the Arabian Sea, is the Gulf region becoming a major market? And the EU’s top human right prize goes to two imprisoned journalists.

(Image: Delegates in the Great Hall of the People. Credit: Reuters)

Get comfy, make yourself a hot drink – make yourself at home! Learn 'make yourself at home' and more in this podcast.

TRANSCRIPT

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Nolan talks to ex Belfast Lord Mayor Micky Murray and Raymond Neal from trade union USDAW

Humorous and tender, this BBC World Service documentary takes a long-haul view of the lives of modern truckers in Europe – exploring working-class masculinity on the road, all-nighters, and long journeys from inside a truck driver’s cab.

Truck drivers are often seen as symbols of freedom and independence. But how free is life on the road today, when the watchful eye of the system is always upon them?

One of them is Finnish truck driver Tiia Rajala, who has dreamed of the open road since childhood. As we follow her across Europe, she masters her powerful machine and reflects on the stereotypes surrounding truckers. Sociologist Timo Aho explores what these stereotypes reveal about masculinity, class, and identity.

Credits:

Produced by Suvi Tuuli Kataja, Elli Salo

Script: Elli Salo

Sound design and field recording: Suvi Tuuli Kataja

Music: Jussi Liukkonen, Roope Mantere

Background research: Pinja Korhonen, Roosa Stenroos

Thanks to: Jarno Nuutinen, Moving World, Sara Tuomola

President Trump has said he doesn't want a "wasted meeting" after plans for a summit on Ukraine with Vladimir Putin in Bucharest were put on hold. Also: a court in Colombia overturns two convictions against the former president, Alvaro Uribe; the US vice-president JD Vance says he's optimistic that the Gaza peace plan will work, despite the killings of dozens of Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers on Sunday; the tech company OpenAI launches a new AI-powered web browser called ChatGPT Atlas; and a 33-year-old socialist is leading the race for mayor of New York City.

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Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are a type of digital money that has proliferated in recent years. They are mostly unconnected to governments or central banks. Some people treat them as an investment, some people as a bit of a flutter, and many more people don't yet know anything about them at all.

We look at how they work and how the regulatory landscape is changing with the UK's financial regulator the Financial Conduct Authority currently consulting on a range of proposals. It could mean crypto-related firms will be covered by the same requirements as traditional financial firms, boosting consumer protections.

It comes as Action Fraud, which is the UK's national reporting centre for cybercrime, says crypto-related scams jumped by 16% last year. In fact, it accounted for two thirds of all investment fraud reports.

Felicity Hannah is joined by Kate Baucherel, a digital strategy consultant specialising in emerging technologies like crypto, and Louise Abbott, a partner at Keystone Law with a focus on fraud, crypto and asset recovery.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah

Producers: James Graham

Editor: Jess Quayle

Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Radio 4 on Wednesday the 24th of September 2025).

The former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has started his five- year sentence at La Santé prison in central Paris. Sarkozy was convicted of criminal conspiracy to finance his election campaign with funds from the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. He denies wrongdoing.

Also in the programme: A rare interview with the Israeli writer David Grossman on what he calls his country's moral test; and the German pastor who made a startling discovery about his grandfather while watching a documentary about the Nazis.

(Photo: Nicolas Sarkozy has maintained his innocence and has lodged an appeal. Credit: Reuters)

Warner Brothers Discovery, which produced Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Succession, says it’s considering a sale after receiving several unsolicited offers. The US media giant had announced plans to split into two separate entities earlier this year.

How could the leading candidate in New York’s mayoral race reshape America’s financial capital?

Plus, why people are going nuts for pistachios.

(Picture: The exterior of the Warner Bros. Discovery Atlanta campus is pictured in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. May 2, 2023. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo)

Prince Andrew's living arrangements are being scrutinised as controversy continues over his connections to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A Democrat tells us her committee in the US House of Representatives wants to hear more from Prince Andrew about his relationship to Epstein.

We visit the London site of the new proposed Chinese mega-embassy.

And as a White House delegation visits Israel, we examine how fragile the Gaza ceasefire is.