Newshour

Weather experts describe the developing climate system as an unprecedented event. Temperatures in the Pacific Ocean could climb more than three degrees above normal.

Also in the programme: the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen speaks to Newshour about the legal case against Facebook's parent company for improperly collecting and using children's personal data; and dramatising the colourful life of the British economist John Maynard Keynes.

(Photo: Mexico says mass bird deaths likely caused by El Nino's hotter waters. Credit: Mexican Government/Handout via Reuters)

15 people were killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv today, and the Ukrainian government has made an urgent request for more interceptor missiles. We hear from the BBC’s correspondent on the ground in the capital.

Also on the programme: a new batch of 70,000 vaccines is being sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo to try to contain the fastest-spreading outbreak of Ebola on record.

And the 26-year-old car salesman who has been recognised as Belgian royalty after a DNA test proved he was the son of Prince Laurent.

(Image: Smoke rises in Kyiv during a Russian drone strike, August 20, 2026 Credit: REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has told the BBC that Ukraine needs more help from its partners to protect civilians, after another intense Russian bombardment overnight.

Also in the programme: a court in China has sentenced the founder of the collapsed property firm Evergrande to life in jail; and we ask why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are coming back to live in the UK.

(Photo: Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko visits the site of a building damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, March 25, 2024. Credit: Reuters /Gleb Garanic.)

In a rare move the Israeli military has opened a criminal investigation into how its soldiers opened fire on a car carrying a five-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, and a separate incident in which fifteen aid and emergency workers were killed in Rafah in 2025. 

Also on the programme: a second man is arrested on suspicion of bombing the Nord Stream pipeline, and why thousands of jellyfish are washing up on Europe's coastlines.

(Photo: Hind Rajab, who was killed along with six relatives in Gaza in 2024 poses for a photograph in this undated handout picture. Credit: 

Ukraine's former defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov has called for elections - which are barred in wartime under Ukrainian law. A representative of the Presidential Office has told the BBC that it would be bizarre to plan elections amidst missiles and drones. Earlier, around two hundred protestors gathered outside Ukraine's parliament, in protest against the swearing in of the new defence minister, who replaces Mr Fedorov.

A landmark trial has begun in California with the tech giant Meta accused of deliberately making Facebook and Instagram addictive to children. We'll hear the case for the prosecution and the defence.

Also on the programme: a court in Damascus sentences to death a cousin of the deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad; and how short-sighted tree-shrews could be a big help to humans.

(Photo: A woman holds a smartphone with a Facebook logo in front of a displayed logo for Meta in this illustration picture taken on October 28, 2021. Credit: Reuters)

Nine people have been killed and 23 injured, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on Russia, local officials have said. Russian attacks on Ukraine also killed at least seven people and injured more than 39 on Saturday night. We hear from Kyiv and Moscow.

Also on the programme: Pakistan's Supreme Court orders authorities to move former prime minister Imran Khan to hospital from jail for health check-ups, we hear from his adviser; and, how thieves made off with valuable works by Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina.

(Photo: Ukrainian servicemen repair anti-drone nets damaged by recent Russian strikes Credit: Tommaso Fumagalli/EPA/Shutterstock)

Lengthy talks between President Trump's envoy, Jared Kushner, and the Israeli Prime Minister have failed to achieve a breakthrough on the Gaza peace proposals. We'll hear from Israel and from a former Hamas official in Gaza.

Also on the programme: a prominent Russian anti-war politician, Lev Shlosberg, has been sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony; and the best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells us what governments are missing when it comes to the threat of biological weapons. 

(Photo: US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on August 17, 2026. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)

President Trump's Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, has met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he seeks Israeli backing for the US-backed Gaza peace plan. Mr Netanyahu has rejected the proposals. Israeli officials said today's meeting focused on elements that could be agreed.

Also on the programme: Mr Trump says he's scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea, describing them as "inappropriate and hostile" towards the North; after nearly three decades, opening statements are due to begin later today (Monday) in the trial of the only man ever charged with the murder of the American rapper Tupac Shakur; and and the appeal of the Ferrari without the trademark roar!

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has promised Brazilians he will not stop fighting to secure them a better future as he launched his campaign for re-election. In a speech in a Sao Paulo stadium, the 80 year-old said he understood his fellow countrymen much better than more privileged people - a dig at his main rival, Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president. The right-wing candidate kicked off his campaign on Copacabana Beach in Rio by promising to get tough on crime.

Also in the programme: The 'polar silk road'- a new weekly service that will transit the Arctic passage and bypass the Middle East; and we meet a street performer in Colombia who entertains people with spinning tops. Now he has become an earthquake rescuer, digging people out of the rubble.

(Photo: A supporter of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends the launch of his re-election campaign. Brazil, August 16, 2026. Credit: Reuters/Adriano Machado)