Newshour

Will the re-opening of a pipeline pumping Russian oil and the unfreezing of an EU loan to Ukraine, change the dynamic of the Russian-Ukrainian war? We hear from a Ukrainian MP and from Keith Kellog, the former US general who was Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine.

Also on the programme: The funeral of a child killed in the occupied West Bank turns into a confrontation; and the Foo Fighters on the new album, My Favourite Toy - for one band member, its Lego.

(FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference in Middelburg, Netherlands on April 16, 2026. CREDIT: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

Conflict Insights Group tracked Colombian mercenaries fighting in Sudan for the RSF via their cell phones. They were recruited and trained at the behest of the United Arab Emirates, the report claims, allegations refuted by Abu Dhabi.

Also in the programme: European Union ambassadors have approved a $100 billion loan to Ukraine; and a playwright who dramatised Leicester City's improbable Premier League title of a decade ago, on how the club have been related to the third tier of English football.

(Photo: Supporters of Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), arrive for a meeting in Aprag village, Sudan, on 22 June 2019. Credit: Reuters/Umit Bektas)

There's still no sign that either the US or Iran are sending negotiating teams to Pakistan for a new round of negotiations. President Trump has announced an extension to the ceasefire with Iran until talks come to a conclusion. In a social media post, he said the US blockade of Iranian ports would continue until Tehran presented what he called a "unified proposal".

Also in the programme: Hungary's LGBTQ community welcomes a likely end to years of repression. And why has the boss of a big US tech company been branded a global supervillain by his critics?

(Photo: Pakistani security officials stand guard on a road leading to the Red Zone, where most diplomatic missions and government offices are located, including the venue for the expected second round of US-Iran peace talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan, 21 April 2026.Credit: SOHAIL SHAHZAD/EPA/Shutterstock)

A senior Iranian military officer says the country's armed forces are ready to deliver an immediate response to any renewed hostilities by the US and Israel. The commander, Ali Abdollahi, was speaking with a two-week ceasefire between Washington and Tehran due to expire on Wednesday. It is still unclear whether peace talks in Pakistan will go ahead. We hear from Nate Swanson who served on the Trump Administration’s Iran negotiating team.

Confusion surrounds the second round of talks scheduled in Pakistan between US and Iranian officials.

Also in the programme: We speak to Arab Barghouti, son of the prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti. In 2004 an Israeli court found Marwan Barghouti guilty of five counts of murder as well as membership of a terrorist organisation. The court found there was insufficient evidence connecting him to  21 other deaths on the original indictment. He is currently serving five consecutive life sentences in an Israeli prison.

We also hear about the immunotherapy that could save cancer patients; and comparisons between the King of Horror, Stephen King and Shakespeare.

Photograph: Pakistani security officers outside Islamabad's Red Zone, where most diplomatic missions are based. Credit: Shutterstock

The BBC's Lyse Doucet has been speaking to the senior Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Azizi, the Chairman of Iran's Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. He calls America "the world's biggest pirate".

Also in the programme: A BBC investigation finds that British soldiers stationed in Kenya fathered children with local women and in some cases, abandoned them. And a robot wins the Beijing half marathon - is this technological progress or a dystopian nightmare?

(Photo: Iranians walk past an anti-USA and anti-Israel mural on a street in Tehran, Iran, 20 April 2026. Conflict between Iran and the US over the Strait of Hormuz continues as Iran again closed the Strait. Credit: Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/Shutterstock)

President Trump says a US delegation will arrive in Pakistan on Monday for negotiations with Iran. The White House says it will again be led by Vice-President JD Vance. But reports from Iran say hardliners in the leadership are against attending as long as America's blockade of Iranian ports continues.

Also in the programme: The party of the pro-Russian former president, Rumen Radev, is on course to win Bulgaria's general election and more than 150 authors leave a prominent French publisher, but why?

(Photo: A police officer gestures to a vehicle at a check post along a road near Faisal Masjid, as Pakistan prepares to host the U.S. and Iran for the second phase of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan April 19, 2026. CREDIT: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro)

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, which it calls a "breach of the ceasefire". We'll hear from inside Iran from Lyse Doucet.

Also on the programme, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat to his leadership; and, amid our modern technology, people rush to independent record stores to celebrate vinyl records. 

(Photo:The Malta-flagged tanker Agios Fanourios I, an oil tanker that sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, arrives in Iraq’s territorial waters off Basra,Iraq April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Aty)

Iran's navy says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US blockade on Iranian ports is lifted. It says the continuing US blockade is a "breach of the ceasefire" and warns that ships approaching the vital shipping channel "will be targeted". We hear from our Chief International Correspondent in Tehran.

Iran's central military command has said it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, accusing the United States of continuing its naval blockade of ships sailing to and from Iran's port.

We hear the latest from our correspondent in the Middle East and we speak from a captain on one of the ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.

Also in the programme: the perils of using AI chatbots to diagnose illnesses; and China's love affair with snooker.

(Photo: A drone view of a tanker arriving in Iraq's territorial waters after sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. Credit: Mohammed Aty / Reuters)