dc

Donald Trump has stepped up his diplomatic assault on the government of Brazil's left- wing president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. He's signed an executive order which brings total tariffs on Brazilian goods to fifty percent. At the same time, the US Treasury has imposed financial sanctions on the senior Brazilian judge overseeing the criminal case for coup plotting against Brazil's former leader, Jair Bolsonaro. We speak to Brazilian ambassador to London, Antonio Patriota.Also, we speak to Yehuda Cohen - the father of an Israeli soldier taken hostage on October 7th -- who tells us he thinks the recognition of a Palestinian state will help pressure his government to get his son home. And the actor Stephen Fry on playing a formidable aristocratic woman in Oscar Wilde's most famous play, the Importance of Being Earnest.(Photo: President Trump and Brazilian then-President Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago in 2020. Credit: Getty Images)

Developments in the Middle East have come thick and fast this week. On Tuesday the IPC - a UN-backed monitor group - warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine" is unfolding in the Gaza Strip. Britain, meanwhile, warned that unless Israel met a number of conditions before the UN General Assembly convenes next month, it would join France in recognising a State of Palestine. Meanwhile, the Israeli occupied West Bank has received little international attention since the war in Gaza began. Attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians living there are on the rise - up by 13 percent over the past year, says the UN. We examine attacks in one village and a town.Also in the programme: Why is Greece detaining all migrants arriving from North Africa? And the English city of Birmingham says goodbye to Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne.(Photo: Locals inspect a burnt car in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 28 July 2025. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Taybeh and set two vehicles on fire and spray-painted racist slurs on walls. Credit: Alaa Badarneeh/EPA/Shutterstock)

The UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza", its prime minister Keir Starmer has said.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move "rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism".Also in the programme: As tsunami waves reach the US west coast after Russian earthquake, we'll look at what's behind the earthquake and tsunamis; and the UK gets its first female astronomer royal in 350 years.(Photo shows Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking during a press conference in Jerusalem, Israel on 21 May 2025. Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters) )

UK will recognise Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a Gaza ceasefire and other conditions. Israel says the move rewards Hams.Also in the programme: Ex-Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has been found guilty of witness-tampering; and an Australian woman - Joan Anderson - who went largely uncredited for her leading role in the creation of the hula hoop has died at the age of 101.(Photo: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer making a statement in Downing Street, London, following a Cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza. The UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September before the UN General Assembly, unless the Israeli government takes steps to end the "appalling situation" in Gaza, the Prime Minister has told the Cabinet. 29 July 2025. Credit: Toby Melville/PA Wire)

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has said what it calls "the worse case scenario of famine" is now unfolding in Gaza. The UN's World Food Programme says that the unfolding disaster is reminiscent of famines seen in Ethiopia and Biafra, Nigeria, in the last century. Also in the programme: Google launches a new AI search tool in the UK; and as England's women's football squad celebrates its triumph at the Euros with an open-top bus parade in central London, we'll look at how the game is growing commercially around the world.(Photo: Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen. CREDIT: REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi)

President Trump said there is 'real starvation' in Gaza that cannot be ‘faked’, contradicting claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that reports starvation in the territory was exaggerated. We hear from the Doctors Without Borders on the ground in Gaza city, and one of the first Israeli rights groups to label Israel's campaign in Gaza 'genocide'.Also in the program: Thailand and Cambodia announce an immediate ceasefire after days of border clashes, and the Shaolin Temple's chief monk is stripped of his position after accusations of embezzlement and breaking his vows of celibacy.Picture: A Palestinian child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at a healthcare center, amid widespread hunger, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

More aid trucks have been seen crossing into Gaza where Israel has eased its blockade and military operations under intense international pressure, but humanitarian organisations have warned that the supplies are nowhere near enough to ease the hunger crisis gripping the Palestinian territory.Also in the programme: as France describes the European Union's trade deal with the US as "submission", the EU's top negotiator tries to make the case for the deal; and Google admits its earthquake warning system failed to alert millions of people in Turkey before the devastation of 2023.(Photo shows trucks carrying aid lining up near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on 28 July 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Desperately needed aid has been trickling into Gaza after international outrage over starving Palestinians led to Israel easing its blockade and military operations. We will hear from a former Israeli Prime Minister - and talking to an Israeli philosopher about the impact of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on Israeli public opinion.Also in the programme: The US and EU have agreed a trade deal which will see a blanket US tariff of 15 percent on imports from the bloc; England have retained the Women's European Championship title after a nail biting penalty victory over Spain in the final; and concern in the fashion industry after an advert in Vogue uses AI models. (Photo: Internally displaced Palestinians carry bags of flour near a food distribution point in Zikim, northern Gaza Strip, 27 July 2025. Credit: Mohammed Saber / EPA / Shutterstock)

Israel says it's opening limited aid corridors to allow in food and medicine, as Gazan medical officials say at least nine people were killed in Israeli fire while awaiting an aid convoy. We hear from a humanitarian worker in the north of the strip. Also on the programme: Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces announce they're forming a government; and Spain faces England in the final of the women's Euro 2025 soccer.(Photo: Egyptian Red Crescent lorries with humanitarian aid, bound for the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at the Rafah border crossing, in Egypt, in this handout image released July 27, 2025. Credit: Egyptian Red Crescent/Handout via REUTERS)

Israel says it will allow aid drops into Gaza by air, saying Jordan and the United Arab Emirates could facilitate. This comes as at least 5 people are reported to have died from malnutrition in the last day, bringing the total to 127 since the beginning of the war. Also on the programme, Iran is tackling a severe water crisis; and, one of Lebanon's most celebrated composers, Ziad Rahbani, has died.(Photo: Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)